#BlogTour ‘Lovers’ by Fran Clark

About the book…

A chance meeting sparks a journey of love, loss, and hope in this evocative story that begins in London’s Soho, 1983.

Charlie is captivated by the female singer in a blues band at the Soho Cellar and is about to begin a love story that was never meant to be.

Fast forward to 2020 and the lives of five West London strangers intertwine, pulling them into the heart of Charlie’s story. As they search for friendship, compassion, and love, they must each take a chance and risk it all.

In this heartwarming story of fate and second chances, will a perfect stranger become a perfect lover?

Thank you so much to the wonderful Zoe of Zooloo’s Book Tours for the invite to read and review, ‘Lovers’ by Fran Clark, my first novel by her and definitely not the last. I am genuinely so excited by the idea she has a 4 books series coming out next year, that is going to be something to look forward to!

I was entranced by the gorgeous cover which totally reflects this time of year, and then plunging in to the first person narration puts you in the mindset of a woman who has been through loss, trauma, and is still picking herself back up to do something incredibly brave- moving to London to reset her life.

Ione kicks off the narrative , her first person perspective puts you inside the character and brings a sense of immediacy that pulls you into her story. There is also Marta, a Polish woman, Elliott, a widower and single parent, Charlie, a divorcee who has been left isolated and alone following a bitter divorce, and Lou (not Louise!) who is a carer.

Through music and the most wonderful happenstance that joins people together when they most need to connect, all of these individuals who are bruised and battered, connect through the tiny interactions that make up daily life. Their receptiveness to being friends, lovers, and companions through the journey of life in Shepherd’s Bush is a journey you are happy to take with them, urging them on through their individual chapters where you see life from their perspective, through to how each of the others perceives them

So you have this fully rounded, beautifully realised experience of those who have been traumatised by lost, fake or violent love , to redeem their hearts and try again. As the time slips between now, and the 1980’s , a connection, once forged, because impossible to ignore as the commonality of love in spite of everything these people have been through, makes what are considered by society as ‘outsiders’ and therefore ‘unworthy’, brings the greatest gift of all-love.

I could not stop reading, this is the perfect book to just pick you up and sweep you away and gives you, the reader, hope and a feeling of satisfaction when you close the last page.

Absolutely loved it, thanks Zoe!

About the author…

London born, Fran Clark’s first novel, Holding Paradise, was published by Indigo Dreams Publishing in April 2014. During that year, Fran passed her Creative Writing MA with Distinction at Brunel University. Her second novel, When Skies Are Grey, was shorlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2016.
Fran has been a ghost writer of women’s fiction and has written numerous articles for online magazines.

In 2024 her 4 book series, Island Secrets, will be published.

Under the pseudonym, Rosa Temple, Fran signed a three book deal with HQ Digital an imprint of Harper Collins. Also The Slow Lane Walkers Club published by Simon & Schuster UK.

Fran has worked as a professional singer and song-writer. Still writing and recording music, Fran teachers vocals and runs a contemporary choir.
Now living in the Herefordshire countryside, Fran experiments with vegan cookery, relaxes with yoga and creates stories in the peace and tranquillity of her country cottage.

Links-https://www.franclarkauthor.co.uk/

Twitter @FranClarkAuthor