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| Paige Toon - The Last Piece of my Heart. |
When thinking about which book I wanted to review for our first blogpost, this one sprang to mind immediately. This was the first Paige Toon novel I read and it certainly wont be my last. As the chick lit genre goes, "The Last Piece of My Heart" ticks all the boxes - the classic romance, heartwarmingly good, full of twists and turns, that by the end of the book leaves you feeling slightly bereft you've reached the end.
The Last Piece Of My Heart is a contemporary romance. Bridget is a travel magazine writer and an aspiring novelist. Her synopsis for a book about her broken relationships is shelved by her agent, instead Bridget becomes the ghostwriter for a sequel of a successful bestseller novel who died suddenly a year ago. To finish the highly anticipated sequel, she moves to Padstow, Cornwall and finds Nicky's widow and young daughter.
I was hooked from the very first page. The way Paige carves the characters is captivating, and Bridget, Toon's protagonist is adventurous, wearing her heart on her sleeve, strong - minded and independent, making her voice throughout the book so authentic and drawing you further into the story. On the surface of the book, it all seems quite light, but in reality Toon tackles some incredibly difficult issues, such as grief, anger and loss. Charlie's character, as a recently widowed single dad his journey through the story is complex and messy but gives the reader an insight into the process of grieving for a loved one.
The plot is fairly predictable, but this is by no means a bad thing - knowing vaguely what's going to happen takes the stress out of reading so you can just sit back and enjoy. The settings are beautiful and make you long for a holiday yourself; the locations become like characters in themselves, the way in which Toon writes about Padstow is spellbinding, and the location plays such a vital role in the unwinding story. Much like the locations in this book, music also plays an integral role in setting the scene and Toon provides us with a track list at the end of the book, so we can go back and listen along as the novel unwinds.
"The Last Piece of My Heart" is incredibly beautiful story about love, loss, grief and hope. It made me smile, it made me cry, this rollercoaster journey of emotions was just perfect. I instantly fell for the characters and I lived through all the ups and downs with them, I kept my fingers crossed for them, I also got angry with them sometimes, especially when they didn't see what was so obvious. It was filled with adventures, heart - breaking moments and just this overwhelming feel - good factor. I loved this story, and I am sure you're going to love it too - I would highly recommended!
