THE LAST PIECE OF MY HEART

Review published on June 6, 2017.

I have only just recently started reading Paige Toon’s books and I am delighted to have found them, not sure why I hadn’t discovered them before. I have recently read The Perfect Summer and Thirteen Weddings and it was so nice to pick up The Last Piece of My Heart to find that I was able to reconnect with Bridget, who featured in Thirteen Weddings, again. I was absolutely thrilled to receive this book to review and I read it in about two evenings as I really could not put it down. It would also be the perfect summer beach read. Paige Toon’s books are pure escapism from the outside world.

This story follows Bridget, a travel journalist, who has written in the past but is struggling to get anything major published so is writing a relationship blog, when she gets offered the opportunity to ghostwrite for Nicki, who tragically died suddenly after writing her first book and wasn’t able to finish the sequel, as her writing style has been deemed similar to that of Nicki’s. She doesn’t know at first if you wants to take on the responsibility of this task

Bridget is determined to continue with her blog, which involves her finding all of her ex-boyfriends to ask for the piece of her heart back that she gave them in order for her to commit fully and be able to move on from them and gain some closure. Taking on the job of being Nicki’s ghostwriter takes her from Australia to Cornwall and to working in the house with the recently widowed Charlie and his young daughter April.

Bridget is with her boyfriend Elliot who she reconnected with when in Australia searching for long lost exes. This a long distance relationship and she is hoping that once she has got all the pieces of her heart back again she can begin a new life with him.

The story took the reader on Bridget’s travels with her and Paige Toon has a knack of describing the places so that you as the reader feel like you are actually in those destinations with Bridget. The Last Piece of My Heart takes you on a journey taking in Australia, Dublin, Cornwall and Thailand, and it gives you a flavour of all the delights of each destination and makes you want to personally visit each one.

This story is lovely, a real feel good story, and it has so much emotion in it. I had tears of sadness and happiness in equal measure whilst reading it and on several occasions had tears streaming down my face that came out of nowhere. I felt that I could relate to Bridget at times and really resonated with her character. I couldn’t stop thinking about the book when I wasn’t reading it as wanted to know what happened next. Once I had finished it, I sat staring into space for ages taking on board how the story had made me feel and it has remained in my head even a few days afterwards and it will stay with me for a long time. It is the sort of book that I know that I will pick up and re-read time and time again.

If you are already a Paige Toon fan or have yet to discover her writing you certainly will not be disappointed with The Last Piece of My Heart.

I am looking forward to reading more of Paige Toon’s novels during the summer.