Welcome to Love Heart Lane…
When Flick Simons returns to the small village of Heartcross she only expected to stay for a few days. The white-washed cottages of Love Heart Lane might be her home, but the place holds too many painful memories, and of one man in particular – Fergus Campbell.
When a winter storm sweeps in, the only bridge connecting the village to the main land is swept away! As the villagers pull together, Flick finds herself welcomed back by the friends she once left behind. And as the snow begins to melt, maybe there is a chance that Fergus’s heart will thaw too…
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Many thanks to Harper Impulse via NetGalley for my copy of Love Heart Lane to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
It's been ages since I read an entire book in a day and that's simply because a) I haven't had the time and b) there has been no book recently that has made me want to do this despite reading some very good books over the last few weeks. That all changed the minute I began reading the brand new book from Christie Barlow Love Heart Lane, from the first page I knew this book was going to be brilliant. Sometimes you just get this feeling from the word go that this is going to be a special read and that you will love everything about it and want to shout about it from the rooftops, this is that book for me and really it is Christie Barlow at her very best.
Not one fault could I find with this book and truly it was a story with such fantastic characters and a unique setting that really reminded me just why I love reading so much. I'm always such a stickler when it comes to rating a book and I don't give out four or five stars that easily. But here hands down Love Heart Lane is five stars all the way as between its pages there is a story that you will relish and become completely immersed in so much so that you dread any interruption whilst you are reading for fear you will have to put it down and tear yourself away from an engaging, interesting, emotive, marvellous and unputdownable read.
Felicity Simons has worked at Little Browns department store in London for the last eight years after arriving from Scotland on a whim. Her boyfriend now her ex, Adrian, has recently moved out of her apartment as they have come to the conclusion it was wrong him moving in six months ago. As Felicity sits in her bosses office, the dreaded Eleanor Ramsbottom, she knows she is at a new juncture in her life. She needs two weeks off so she can go back to Heartcross, a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands, as her beloved grandmother Bonnie Stewart has passed away. But it's not easy going back to a place where you left such heartbreak behind and literally fled but she owes it to her grandmother. Instantly my interest was piqued.
What made Felicity flee? Why hadn't she been back except for very brief visits where she engaged with no one except her mother Rona and her Gran? What could have happened to make her leave everything she knew on a whim especially as the further we delve into the book we discover just how special Heartcross is and of course the people who live there too. For Felicity this is a major step to go back but as it is only for a fortnight she feels she can do this and then escape back to the safety net she has created in London. She wants to avoid certain people especially a man named Fergus. Little does she realise what action and surprises Heartcross has in store for her and for the reader. Twists and turns aplenty which keep you hooked and keen to know how things will unfold.
Felicity arrives back to the village just as a snowstorm hits and the bridge to the village becomes dangerous to cross. For a little while the community, already isolated, will be cut off. But not to mind that just means that Felicity's not given the opportunity to run away at the first sign of confrontation. For that is really what needs to happen. She had been so embedded in the village, that to up and flee without a word to anyone especially considering what had happened left many people devastated, heartbroken and angry. Fergus springs to mind here and also her friend Allie who works in the pub with her parents. Isla, another friend, is more accepting of her coming home as she knows the trauma Felicity experienced. Yes the way she handled things was divisive and to run away was not the correct answer but it was all she could think to do at the time.
I thought it was brilliant that people who had been affected by Felicity's actions didn't at first welcome her with open arms. She had caused too much pain for that to happen and then she acted for eight years as if Heartcross nestled amongst mountains, glens and waterfalls didn't even exist. Felicity had to prove to people that she could and had changed and that was very realistic. I thought it would have been fake and too over the top for everybody to forgive her instantly because that doesn't happen in real life. We need to work at things, to seek forgiveness, acceptance and understanding for past actions before we can reconcile and come to terms with how we are in the present.
Of course I felt sympathy for Felicity, and as I guessed what had occurred, this only deepened but I could also understand Fergus' point of view as to why he wasn't willing to fully extend the hand of friendship given how damaging Felicty's actions had been. For someone that would have given the world to Felicity now he can barely make eye contact with her. Her guilt only deepens as she discovers Bonnie's Teashop, which she ran from the front room of her cottage, has been shut down and the dust left to gather. Rona couldn't keep it going when Bonnie was sick and now so many memories for Felicity are gone. She wonders why didn't her mum tell her how bad things were both financially and on a personal level? It's a stark wake up call for Felicity as she knows she now has many bridges to mend. Heartcross may offer comfort, belonging and a wonderful sense of community but will Felicity be welcomed back into the fold or has too much water flown under the bridge for her ever to find the happy place she once occupied there.
This was a woman who needed to work for what she wanted and needed back in her life and it wasn’t going to be easy. It sounds terrible to say but I enjoyed seeing Felicity having to work hard to find her place and to be big enough to say sorry and to explain the reasons behind her actions. It felt true to life as really it isn't all plain sailing. She really had been too caught up in her own little world and given Heartcross was so far away from London she pushed it and everyone there to the back of her mind because she believed she was the only one hurting but she wasn't. She felt she would cause too much damage if she stayed but really by leaving she caused a significant amount more. How can she rectify all this?
I loved how Felicity wasn't all perfect and that slowly but surely she admitted her faults and that she had made bad decisions and just maybe she did miss Heartcross and all it stands for. She had learnt to block out her sadness for many years but the feelings she once had are still there waiting to be reignite but she has an awful lot of work to do before she can be content in her own skin. She feels like an outsider and that she has lost her place and let's be honest about it, she had. Did she really expect to waltz back in as if nothing had changed and everything would be perfect and all rosy in the garden? She needed to work hard at mending fractured relationships in order to assume her place once again that's even if she wanted to stay. Can Heartcross work its magic or will a devastating event prove too much for all?
Said event proved a real turning point in the book and I loved how everyone came together as one to fight for what they believed in. The village may be small but at its centre it has a big heart and a sense of friendship and strength in the face of adversity. Might this be exactly what Felicity needed to show everyone that people can change and the very person she wants to prove this to is Fergus? A steep learning curve coupled with plenty of new life experiences is in store for Felicity as she attempts to face up to things. The transformation of Felicity was a joy to behold as she found strength, courage and her voice in the face of so much adversity. But one question remained can the person she hurt the most ever find it in their heart to forgive her?
Love Heart Lane blew me away as to how much I enjoyed it. At times I become jaded with some of the storylines in women's fiction as they become so routine and run of the mill but this was fresh, exciting, emotive and heartfelt and I devoured it. Christie Barlow has created a wonderful setting that you can visualise so easily in your head so much so that you feel as if you are right there experiencing everything the characters are going through. There is a superb cast of supporting characters, too many to mention here, but ones that I hope will be feature in future books. I say books because I fervently hope there will be more than one sequel to Love Heart Lane. I feel that this is a series that could potentially run and run as it provided both comfort and escape for me which is what I look for in a book but it was also so highly readable and one that deserves to be consumed in one go. Foxglove Farm will be book two in the series and I am already impatiently awaiting its release. Please Christie Barlow write it as quickly as you can, I just can't get enough of Heartcross and want more more more as soon as possible.
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