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modern_miss_granger's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. I remember reading The Library of Lost and Found and loving Phaedra Patrick’s writing. I jumped at the chance to read her new book and it did not disappoint. I love the rich characters and loveable people that fly off the page. This book was all about second chances and moving on and it was beautiful.
jilljemmett's review against another edition
4.0
Mitchell Fisher is raising his daughter by himself after his wife died years ago. He works for the city council and cuts off the locks that people hang on bridges in his town to represent their love. One day when he’s leaving work, he sees a woman attach a lock to the bridge, then fall into the river below. Mitchell jumps in after her to rescue her, but they get separated after he rescues her, and he never learns her name. His daughter’s teacher sees an article about the rescue, and recognizes the woman he rescued as her missing sister. Mitchell and Liza, the sister of the missing woman, search for clues to find the woman, unraveling many secrets along the way.
I loved the premise for this book. It had so much mystery surrounding the woman’s disappearance. There were only a few clues that were left behind so it was difficult for her family to figure out what happened.
I liked seeing so much emotion in the character of Mitchell. He’s had a difficult time since his wife died, and he is constantly blaming himself. He wasn’t afraid to show his emotions, which made him appear stronger in my opinion. I haven’t seen many male characters like that, especially in women’s fiction.
I didn’t really like the explanation behind the woman’s disappearance. I can’t say too much about the ending without giving it away. There was so much tension leading up to it, but I didn’t feel that same tension in the reason that she disappeared. The genre of the book played into this kind of ending. Since it was a lighter story, not a gritty thriller, it had a more positive ending.
This is a great summer story.
Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I loved the premise for this book. It had so much mystery surrounding the woman’s disappearance. There were only a few clues that were left behind so it was difficult for her family to figure out what happened.
I liked seeing so much emotion in the character of Mitchell. He’s had a difficult time since his wife died, and he is constantly blaming himself. He wasn’t afraid to show his emotions, which made him appear stronger in my opinion. I haven’t seen many male characters like that, especially in women’s fiction.
I didn’t really like the explanation behind the woman’s disappearance. I can’t say too much about the ending without giving it away. There was so much tension leading up to it, but I didn’t feel that same tension in the reason that she disappeared. The genre of the book played into this kind of ending. Since it was a lighter story, not a gritty thriller, it had a more positive ending.
This is a great summer story.
Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
theaudioauditor's review against another edition
3.0
Audio book review.
An odd story that didn't quite grip me. I think maybe there was too much happening at once. Plenty of charm, but then some family mystery as well. I think the blossoming love story is charming, and watching how Mitchell interacts with his daughter was interesting. I wanted more of both and a sort of expansion on the grief Mitchell is still wading through. I found the fact he works on bridges where these locks are causing damage was a nice parallel, because he eventually wanted to lock his own on. However, the whole subplot with the girl he rescued and how she's been missing for over a year, that just didn't quite fit nicely with the rest of the book. Overall a fine story, but not super memorable.
An odd story that didn't quite grip me. I think maybe there was too much happening at once. Plenty of charm, but then some family mystery as well. I think the blossoming love story is charming, and watching how Mitchell interacts with his daughter was interesting. I wanted more of both and a sort of expansion on the grief Mitchell is still wading through. I found the fact he works on bridges where these locks are causing damage was a nice parallel, because he eventually wanted to lock his own on. However, the whole subplot with the girl he rescued and how she's been missing for over a year, that just didn't quite fit nicely with the rest of the book. Overall a fine story, but not super memorable.
mickysbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
What a lovely book and so refreshing to have been written from a mans point of view.
It made me smile and cry - such a lovely story.
I loved the characters and how the whole story revolves around bridges and love letters. ❤️
It made me smile and cry - such a lovely story.
I loved the characters and how the whole story revolves around bridges and love letters. ❤️
sweetlybsquared's review against another edition
3.0
What a sweet story! A 30-something widower is raising his daughter on his own in a small apartment in the city, so he can be close to the menial job he's taken so he has more time to devote to her. Instead of being the architect he was trained to be, he now cuts the padlocks that are tributes off the bridges he used to create. The locks may be sentimental to those who hang them there, but they're unsightly and heavy to the fences and structures they cling to.
His whole perspective starts changing after a woman falls into the river beneath one of the bridges as he's rushing to pick up his daughter. Being the only one to see her fall over the edge, he feels he has no choice but to jump in and rescue her. This one action leads to a new view of the padlocks, then new relationships and changes to how he interacts with those people he's known his whole life.
While the story eventually worked to its happily-ever-after, there seemed to be several different ways it could get there, so finding out the real ending was a joy. Unfortunately, several of the characters just felt like place-holders to me. The story was the real draw of this book. Overall, I'd give this one 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was a great pick-me-up story and a distraction without requiring a lot of my attention to untangle the story, characters, or relationships.
His whole perspective starts changing after a woman falls into the river beneath one of the bridges as he's rushing to pick up his daughter. Being the only one to see her fall over the edge, he feels he has no choice but to jump in and rescue her. This one action leads to a new view of the padlocks, then new relationships and changes to how he interacts with those people he's known his whole life.
While the story eventually worked to its happily-ever-after, there seemed to be several different ways it could get there, so finding out the real ending was a joy. Unfortunately, several of the characters just felt like place-holders to me. The story was the real draw of this book. Overall, I'd give this one 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was a great pick-me-up story and a distraction without requiring a lot of my attention to untangle the story, characters, or relationships.
karenika's review against another edition
3.0
this was a quick, sweet read. If you've read Phaedra Patrick before and liked it, you will enjoy this one, too. It's a sweet story of loss, learning to trust, family, and secrets.
shelbyl's review against another edition
4.0
Good story. Good narrator. Felt a little tedious in the middle, but didn’t give up and I’m glad I did. Sweet story. Entire story is a guy dealing with grief.
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last as I loved it.
It's not one of those book that make you fell in love after the first pages, it took a couple of chapter and when the story started going I was hooked.
This is a character driven story and I loved the great job the author did in making her character evolve and change.
The story is sweet, engrossing, heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time. There is a lot of grief and a path to overcome it, there are characters who were hurt and heal facing their sufferance and going on with their life.
It's a book that talks about life, family, friendship, love and how all of them help us to live and evolve.
It was an excellent read, I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to Park Row and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
It's not one of those book that make you fell in love after the first pages, it took a couple of chapter and when the story started going I was hooked.
This is a character driven story and I loved the great job the author did in making her character evolve and change.
The story is sweet, engrossing, heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time. There is a lot of grief and a path to overcome it, there are characters who were hurt and heal facing their sufferance and going on with their life.
It's a book that talks about life, family, friendship, love and how all of them help us to live and evolve.
It was an excellent read, I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to Park Row and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
estellabelle92's review against another edition
5.0
As I try to finish a bit more challenging of a read, I realized I needed a break. Plus, I received some unpleasant news from work so there's that too. I just need something a bit more fluffy. First, I tried a Harlequin, but I grew frustrated immediately with the protagonist and wasn't impressed with the period details either. Oh well. I kept looking through my piles.
This book popped up next and I gave it a shot. So glad I did. Just the kind of sweet but not syrupy read I needed. I easily can see this being made into a rom-com. It would be perfect.
Just a fun, escapist read.
This book popped up next and I gave it a shot. So glad I did. Just the kind of sweet but not syrupy read I needed. I easily can see this being made into a rom-com. It would be perfect.
Just a fun, escapist read.