I don't read a lot of rom coms but I'm so glad I read this one.  It's just a sweet, simple story.  You can't help but feel good after reading this one.  I loved the unlikely friendships, the dual timelines, the London setting.  Finding love is what brought these people together for a fun, feel good story.

Such a great romance book! This was one of the first contemporary romances I have read in a long time and it won't be the last, I loved the storyline, plot, characters everything! I am glad that it was a breath of fresh air for me, something whimsical to get lost in. FABULOUS

This heartwarming novel will have you believing in second chances. Libby Nicholls arrives in London after an unexpected breakup. She meets Frank on the bus, and he tells her about a missed love connection with a woman he met in 1962. Libby decides to help Frank find his lost love while finding a fresh start for herself and forging new friendships.

The Lost Ticket is a beautiful story of found family, love, grief, and redemption. I truly loved this entire story and couldn't put it down. The story follows Libby as she arrives in London with two bags filled with her belongings after her boyfriend breaks up with her during dinner she thought he was going to propose. She ends up staying with her sister and helping to watch her young nephew. While on the bus, she meets Frank who tells the story about the woman he met in 1962 and their plans to meet up, but he lost the ticket with her phone number on it. 

From there, Libby makes it her personal mission to find the woman and reunite Frank with her. During that time, she finds a group of friends that become her found family. 

This story is incredibly moving and beautiful. It was a fun book to read and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

4.5/5 stars
Thank you Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC.

I enjoyed this one at first but the over-simplistic nature of this writing style started feeling unexceptional after a few hundred pages. It's a lovely story but it needed something more to make it something special.

There are some books that you read and just fall in love with the book and the characters.  This is definitely one of those books.  Give me an elderly character looking for their first love and I'm hooked.  Give me great characters to help them along their journey and make it a found family type situation and I'm in love.  The lost ticket was so cute, heart-warming and while it may have also had me tearing up a time or two I'd definitely recommend this for a feel-good read.

Sometimes all you need is a feel-good story to remind you that you are not entirely cold-hearted. That’s me! I was unsure of what I was about to read, but I was hooked from the first chapter. The unlikely friendship between Libby and Frank is perfect. I can relate to this since one of my reading buddies in her late 70’s and we meet up for pink lemonade and book chats. So, I loved this part of the book.

For the past 60 years, Frank has been in love with the idea of finding the one that got away. During a rough time in Libby’s life, she meets Frank and helps search for the beautiful redhead girl he has been searching for. There are so many unique characters and an abundance of unlikely friendships that make this story so sweet. The book is sweet, uplifting and just what I needed.

P.S. I hated Libby’s family!

P.P.S This would be such a sweet holiday movie.

This was a lovely story. It takes place in London. A London bus line is a key part of the plot. In 1962 Frank met the woman of his dreams and it ended up being a missed connection because he lost the ticket with her phone number. Fast forward 60 years and Libby, fresh off an unexpected breakup, meets Frank on the bus. He rides it regularly in the hopes he will find his lost love. 

Libby offers to help in his search. It gives her something meaningful to focus on as she's struggling to figure out what comes next in her life. And she meets a wonderful community of people invested in supporting Frank. 

I loved the themes of found family, hope, connection, and getting to know the heart of a person (aka don't judge a book/person by it's cover). 

Content warnings- There's also a character with dementia and some references to physical and emotional abuse. 

This was a feel good novel and I know I will recommend it to many. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a complimentary copy.  All opinions are my own.

The Lost Ticket by Freya Sampson was one of the most beautiful stories I have read in a long time. I cried, but it was a sweet cry if that makes sense. Libby meets Frank and he tells her a story that just sticks with her, so she offers to help him find out about the love of his life. A missed date leads to new friendships and support as Libby gets closer to Frank and his caregiver, Dylan. At a crossroads in her own life, Libby begins a journey of self discovery and self worth that is central to the story of Frank and his missed opportunity. 

Delightful, sad and sweet... I hope The Lost Ticket touches your heart as it has touched mine.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing and Freya Sampson for this review copy for me to read and enjoy. As always, my opinions are my own and my review is voluntary.

If you are looking for a good book for the long weekend, this month, or the start of fall, here you go. The Lost Ticket by Freya Sampson is a wonderful read that just made me smile.
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If you have followed me at all, you know I am a sucker for stories about sweet old men and the lives they impact. One of the main characters in this book, Frank, ranks right up there with the best of them.
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Back in the 1960’s in London, Frank met a girl on the 88 bus and they agreed to meet at the National Gallery. The girl gave him her number to call and set it up, but when he arrived home, he couldn’t find that ticket with her number anywhere. She had made such an impact on him in their brief meeting, that he has been riding that same bus off and on for the last 60 years, hoping to see her again.
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Libby meets Frank on the bus just after she is tossed out by her boyfriend and headed to her sister’s house. As he seems to do with everyone, he made an impression on her. So when they meet again, she has an idea to help him find his “girl on the 88 bus”.
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Libby has lost her job and boyfriend. She’s staying in London with her sister. One day on a bus ride on the 88, Libby meets Frank. Frank is an older gentleman who rides the 88 frequently in search of a woman he met many years ago that left a lasting impression. Libby is taken by the story and along with Frank’s carer, Dylan, the two join forces and are determined to find the woman.

This is such a heartwarming story! It’s a story about loss, love, friendship and hope. At times my heart broke for Frank, not just because he is saddened that he has never found the “woman from the bus” but also because he’s dealing with dementia. As for Libby, she was a heartbroken woman with no home and no job and by the end she was more confident and living her life for herself, not others. There was also a little slow burn romance between Libby and Dylan that was an added bonus! 

A huge thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Overwhelming melancholy took away from the funnier "bits". If you want a book about the strange bedfellows made on public transport in London with queerness as a "twist" I recommend Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting. It was much better.

A heartwarming story about two strangers meeting on London’s 88 bus.  Libby lost her home when her boyfriend decided he needed a break.  Libby moves to London to stay with her sister, Rebecca and her family.  While riding the bus, she meets Frank, an older man who tells her the story of how he has looked for a woman he met years before.  Libby, along with Frank’s carer, Dylan, begin a search for the woman to help Frank, hoping they will find her before his dementia takes hold.  There are funny scenes, tearful scenes and you will feel hope once you read this wonderful story.  I highly recommend and thank NetGalley for the ARC.

On the day her life is tuned upside down, Libby meets Frank on the 88 bus riding through London.
From here, she learns of the girl he lost contact with 60 years ago.  She is so moved , she’s determined to help hi, find her.

Along the way, she gains a new family of the heart in Dylan, Esme, and  Frank,   

His story is filled with love and loss, friendship gained and lost then found again.  

I truly enjoyed this novel.

Libby thinks her boyfriend Simon is going to propose. Instead, he asks her to move out. Shattered, Libby arrives in London to stay with her sister, Rebecca. On the 88 bus, Libby meets Frank, an elderly man who says that with her wild, red hair, she reminds him of a woman he met on the bus in 1962. She was independent, determined, and so beautiful. They made plans to meet at the National Gallery, but he lost the bus ticket on which she wrote her number. Since then, he’s been riding the 88 hoping for another glimpse of his lost love.

Captivated by Frank’s story, Libby decides to initiate a search for his lost girl, complete with flyers, an ad in a missed connections paper, and Internet searches. Helping her is the least likely candidate—Dylan, a mohawked man she angered on the bus on her first day in London, as well as an army of well-wishers whose lives were touched by Frank’s kindness over the years. Libby’s search, though, takes unexpected urgency when Frank’s dementia progresses. 

As Libby works with her new friends to make Frank’s dream come true, she realizes that she’s lost sight of her own dreams. She’s made choices based on what’s expected or what’s easy, not necessarily on what she wants, but her new life in London, full of surprises, teaches her she deserves better.

THE LOST TICKET is near perfect, a book about found family that provokes tears and inspires hope. It challenges stereotypes and dares you to ask for more. It’s about the pain of aging and letting go. Some scenes made me want to pump my fist in the air, such as when Dylan and Frank defended Libby against a drunken, rude Simon who crashed her birthday party. Others were funny, such as when Dylan’s friend, Esme a young woman with Down’s Syndrome, made sure Libby passed muster. I did wish that Libby’s family has a little more growth. The only part of the book that I didn’t like—and I will admit that this is triggering content for me—is Rebecca’s infertility journey. When it is included in a book, I think it needs to be done with great care and sensitivity, and here I think it was a little too brief and unrealistic. 

Sampson’s last book, THE LAST CHANCE LIBRARY, had moments that have stayed with me since I read it when it first came out, and I expect that THE LOST TICKET will be even more long-lasting. If you want a book that gives you hope and happiness, look no further.

Frank has been riding the number 88 bus for over six decades. While a young man, he made a connection with a lovely woman/ Sje aspired to be an artist and even sketched him while riding on the bus. She mentioned how much she loved art and art museums so the two were to meet up at the local gallery. She wrote her number on a bus ticket, but sadly Frank lost the ticket, thus began his sixty-year search.

One day while riding the number 88 bus, Frank meets Libby. As the two talk they become fast friends. Libby is currently at a crossroads in her life. Her boyfriend of eight years has broken up with her, claiming that he "needs a break". Also, Libby worked for him, and that ended too. So, for the time being, Libby is staying with her sister and her family. When Libby hears Frank's story, she finds it utterly fascinating and decides to do whatever she can to find the woman of his past.

Frank is not the only man that Libby meets. She meets his carer, Dylan, and the two have a connection. However, Libby soon finds that her personal circumstances are far more complicated than she could have imagined, so her desire is to focus on Frank and the missing woman in his life.

What a lovely story by Freya Samspon! Each of our primary protagonists were well developed. The story of finding Frank's lost girl was utterly engaging, and the slow burn of romance between Libby and Dylan was handled quite well. I also enjoyed the drama that was plaguing Libby and how this drama affected her relationship with her family. Very well done! Captivating, impossible to put down, and heartwarming.

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Please enjoy my YouTube video review - https://youtu.be/12Ac56wgf6o

This was a really cute story that really leans towards a women’s fiction story, but it has some great romance moments as well!

Libby and Frank meet on a bus. Libby finds out that Frank has been riding the bus since the 60’s looking for his lost love…💔…right?? So Libby begins a search for Frank’s lost love, and she teams up with another person, Dylan, who is also connected to Frank.

I really enjoyed this story, and I loved the heartwarming actions and the lovely characters! Libby’s drive to help Frank out of the goodness of her heart was so beautiful, and it really drove this story. While this is about Libby helping to find Frank’s lost love, there’s also a great character journey for her. I enjoyed it all!

The Lost Ticket by Freya Sampson was a comforting read, but not something I would pick up to recommend for a patron.

THE LOST TICKET has a whimsical cover, and much of the story was portrayed that way. Libby and Dylan work together to find the girl Frank had a chance meeting with on Bus 88 sixty years before. She’s his lost love. This is a heartwarming tale of love lost and found, and the friendships made on simple bus rides over the years. 

The story is set mainly in London. The friendships portrayed in this story are heartwarming. Dylan is Frank’s caregiver since Frank has dementia and is fighting his daughter about being evaluated and going into a home. Libby encounters the pair on Bus 88. We get to know Libby’s family since she’s currently living with her sister (after Libby’s boyfriend of many years broke up with her and she had nowhere else to go.) She’s lucky to be rid of Simon, but of course he has his own agenda and is seemingly trying to destroy her life even though they are no longer together. Her relationship with her sister is sometimes fraught, and she can do nothing right in her mother’s eyes, though her nephew is a cutie and wise beyond his years.

There are many storylines being woven together as the search is on for Frank’s lost love, and Frank doesn’t even know her name! Frank has touched many lives through his rides on the bus. He rode it every day for the sixty years he’s been looking for her. He gets to meet some new people through his search, and some of the stories being told are touching. The story has wonderful closure and really satisfies.

Ms. Sampson takes us on trips around London, pointing out many sights along the way.  The characters have a realism to them and seem to come alive. I love the way their lives intertwine, their unlikely friendships delightful. And I was surprised by the ending. Next up for me will be Ms. Sampson’s first book, THE LAST CHANCE LIBRARY.

Thank you #NetGalley @BerkleyPub #BerkleyWritesStrongWomen #BerkleyBuddyReads for a complimentary e ARC of #TheLostTicket upon my request. All opinions are my own.

When twenty-nine-year-old Lily boards bus 88, she is heartbroken after breaking up with her fiance and losing her job. An elderly man (Frank) strikes up a conversation because Lily reminds him of a girl with red hair he once met on bus 88 sixty years ago. Frank lost the ticket that she wrote her number on and he’s ridden the same bus for the intervening years in hopes of finding her. Libby is inspired to help him and an unlikely person joins in the effort. There is a race against time as Frank suffers from dementia. How will this chance meeting and friendship affect Lily’s and Frank’s lives?

First, I love a heartwarming, multigenerational friendship, and I cheered Lily and Frank on as they made plans to find Frank’s “girl.” As Lily opens up to Frank, she appreciates his kind and gentle words of encouragement regarding her recent breakup and starting over. Frank’s part-time caregiver, Dylan, is an interesting young man who is devoted to Frank and wants to help find Frank’s “girl.” Dylan and Lily form a tentative friendship that could lead to more. I loved the author’s nod to attentive and compassionate caregivers such as Dylan and her sensitivity to dementia patients in the stage of needing more care.

I love a multilayered plot that is not completely predictable and has a few surprises. The Lost Ticket doesn’t disappoint. We are engaged in Lily’s heartbreak and attempt to start a new life, her relationship with her sister, her project to help Frank, her growing friendship with Dylan, and her dramatic confrontation with her old boyfriend. Two big questions: (1) Will Lily and Dylan find Frank’s girl before Frank’s dementia increases? (2) Can Lily and Dylan navigate all these complications and build a relationship of their own?

Lovely themes include found family, friendship, aging, sisters’ relationship, kindness, community spirit, first impressions, hope, last wishes, and second chances.

Overall, The Lost Ticket is an endearing and delightful story with tender themes that might bring a tear or two to your eyes. Recommended for fans of women’s fiction (closed-door romance), for readers who love heartfelt stories and multigenerational friendship, and for book clubs.

Content Consideration: dementia, an unexpected pregnancy, an emotionally abusive relationship

Related: I also loved The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson.