Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin

 

What is the last heartwarming book that you have read?  Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin was a heartwarming novel and one of my favorite reads of January.

Eddie Winston is ninety and works in a charity shop in Birmingham.  He befriends a 24-year-old, Bella, as donates her boyfriend’s clothes to the shop when he passes away.  Bella is stunned to learn that Eddie has never been kissed and makes it a goal to help Eddie find love. Will Eddie finally find love and his first kiss?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read Eddie Winston is Looking for Love as part of the Brenda Novak’s Book Group.  She had a great interview with author Marianne Cronin as part of her January Book Group Meeting.  There is a great line up for books for 2025 for this book group and I look forward to reading them all.

·       This novel had short and quirky chapters which were easy to read.

·       The novel is narrated primarily be Eddie, Bella, and Bridie.  Bridie narrates her life and stories in the 1960s when Edie and Bridie fell in love.  Bridie was married to a serial cheater but wouldn’t leave him due to her strong catholic faith.

·       Bella is trying to come to terms with her grief and how to move on.

·       I like how Eddie decides it is not too late to make a change and decides to change his fashion and life.

·       I loved Eddie’s Guinea pig, Pushkin, and how he got a romance of his own.

·       This was a fun book about love, lose, finding oneself, the importance of friends and relationships, grief, and missed chances.

·       This would be a great read for those who enjoyed The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley.

·       This novel was a sweet, heartwarming intergenerational story.  I would love to get to know Eddie and Bella in real life.  This novel had great characters and humor.

·       It was a quick read that I couldn’t put down.

Favorite Quotes:

“’The years fly, don’t they?’ she says with a sigh.  I wonder if they do.  Like birds, forever flapping away from us, off to sunnier climes.”

“Why do we spend so much money on flowers for the dead but barely ever buy them for the living.”

Overall, Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin was a fabulous heartwarming and funny book.  It will definitely be one of my favorite reads of 2025.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com.

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

 

Did you ever have a favorite relative you would stay with as a child?  I used to spend a week in the summer with my Great Grandpa and Grandma Kile in Indiana and I loved it.  We built some special memories together.

Special memories are built between Patrick and his niece and nephew, Maisie and Grant, when they come to visit him for the summer in Palm Springs.  Maisie and Grant have recently lost their mother to cancer and their father is in rehab.  Gay Uncle Patrick, or Guncle, takes the kids and teaches them his Guncle rules for life.  When Patrick’s sister comes to take the children away, will he be able to keep them for the rest of the summer?  Does he want to?

I came into The Guncle thinking it was just a comedy book.  Patrick is very witty and a fun character, but this book is so much more.  It’s a realistic and thoughtful look at death and loss.  The book flashes back to Patrick’s great love, Joe, who died in a terrible car accident that Patrick survived.  Although they were partners, Joe’s  family didn’t recognize their relationship and wouldn’t allow Patrick to be with him at the end.  Patrick has spent the past years closed down, not allowing himself to move on and live his life.  As he helps the children through their own grief, it allows him to work though his own. 

I loved this book.  It was heart warming and a great unique story.  The writing was smart and funny.

Book Source:  Purchased at Prose and Politics in Washington DC.  Thank-you!