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The Year of What If by Phaedra Patrick #Review

  I am delighted to join in the celebrations for the latest novel by Phaedra Patrick , The Year of What If. You can read my review of The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper   here and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy  here Can the future be rewritten? On the verge of her second marriage, Carla Carter knows she’s finally found the one. She and her fiancé, Tom, met through Logical Love, a dating agency she founded for the pragmatically minded, and she’s confident that, together, they will dispel an old family curse claiming Carter women are unlucky in love. But Carla’s highly superstitious family insists she visit a fortune teller before her big day, and the tarot cards reveal that a different man holds the key to Carla’s happiness – someone she met while travelling during a gap year, twenty-one years ago. This startling information spurs Carla to trace and revisit the ex-boyfriends she met during that time before she walks down the aisle. From Barcelona to Am...

A Love to Last a Lifetime by Clare Swatman #Review

 

Today I am featuring A Love to Last a Lifetime by Clare Swatman which was published by Boldwood Books on 23rd January. 

The one that she wants...

Adam Bowers; handsome, funny and with the charm of a rock star, from the moment she laid eyes on him, teenage Erin was smitten. But first loves don’t always last, and after a whirlwind romance, Erin and Adam go their separate ways. Yet, Erin never lets go of the feeling that Adam may have been her soul mate...

The one that she needs...

Greg fell in love with Erin in their first week at university. Solid, trustworthy and hopelessly devoted to Erin, he knows he's better for her than the feckless Adam, who is forever leaving Erin broken-hearted, before winning her back with his charm. As far as Greg is concerned, it’s easy to promise the world, but it’s harder to love someone for a lifetime.

The one that got away...

Years later Greg and Erin are married, and although life hasn’t always been easy, Greg’s love for Erin has never dimmed. But when Adam comes back, in desperate need of Erin's help, everything changes.  Erin starts to wonder whether fate is trying to tell her something…

Will Erin risk it all for the man she had thought was ‘The One’?


 My Thoughts

Erin has a dilemma when she meets up again with Adam who she has always carried a torch for. She has a choice to make between Greg, her husband, and Adam who in many ways is his opposite. The Adam of her memory is magnetic, the cool musician, who she felt a huge attraction for. Whilst Greg may have appeared to be the safe choice, in fact he has a flaw which has ruined her trust in him. However, this story is more than making a choice between her two loves. Erin has to learn to make her own decisions and to mature into being her own person.

    I thought that the thread of accessing the past and tapping into memory was interesting. Erin’s mother suffers from dementia. Adam has lost his memory. Erin feels that a way to access lost memory could be through music. In fact, a music score runs through the story which is told through a dual timeline of then and now. Erin’s decision on who she wants may take you by surprise and in the end, Erin’s character lies at the centre of the story as she finds her way through her quandary.

In short: romance, family, challenging past decisions


About the Author


Clare Swatman is the author of three women’s fiction novels, published by Macmillan, which have been translated into over 20 languages. She has been a journalist for over twenty years, writing for Bella and Woman & Home amongst many other magazines. She lives in Hertfordshire. Before We Grow Old, was published in January 2022.

 

You can follow Clare here:  Facebook

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Book link: Amazon UK


Thanks to Clare Swatman, Boldwood Books and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.

 

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