Marianne Cronin has once again written a beautiful, heartfelt and emotion story about two generations forming an unlikely friendship over lost love.
This book has fantastic character development (even the minor characters) and easy to follow dual timeline storytelling.
There is so much fun and love in this book. My only critique is the portion of the book with Emmeline, did not find this necessary in the story.
Overall this is a great read. Thank you for a great book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for the ARC.

Eddie Winston is Looking for Love is an absolutely charming novel of love and friendship. It’s also about grief and discovering it’s never too late for a happy ending. The novel features 90-year old Eddie and 24-year old Bella, who form an unlikely friendship. They team up to ease Bella’s grief after losing the love of her life, and to help Eddie find his one true love, lost to circumstances 60 years earlier. The story is told in dual time lines from Eddie’s university days in the 1960s to the present time. Eddie is sweet and funny, and I absolutely loved watching his fashion evolution. I laughed and teared up at times, and thoroughly enjoyed this heart warming story. Highly, highly recommended! 5/5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own. Anticipated publication date: 12/31/24

Marianne Cronin’s follow up to The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot delivers with another emotional filled story. She has a way of giving such life to her characters that keeps you enamored with their background stories.

Unexpected friendships and second chances come alive in this life-affirming story of 90 year old Eddie who volunteers in a resale shop where he meets 24 year old Bella when she brings in the things of her boyfriend who died a year earlier. Through their growing friendship, Bella discovers Eddie has never been kissed. Hope and humanity in a book.

Eddie Winston is a 90 year old bachelor. He is a retired university professor and currently works in a thrift store where he sifts through personal belongings donated by deceased person’s families. . Often he doesn’t have the heart to resell some of the objects he finds. Instead he brings them home and puts them on a special shelf in case the donor has a change of heart and wants to reclaim the item. Eddie is a kind caring and good soul . One day a young woman, Bella , enters the shop and changes Eddie’s life. She is there to donate the belongings of her boyfriend who has passed. Although Eddie doesn’t know the story he senses that Bella is troubled. So he saves her donations waiting for her return. Despite a huge age difference the two become best friends.

Not only has Eddie never married, he has not ever been kissed. At this age in life he is ready and willing to find love but it just hasn’t happened. There was someone in his past but their relationship wasn’t meant to be yet Eddie scours all that enters his shop for a special locket belonging to his only love.

With Bella’s help Eddie has some interesting times enjoying life and seeking someone for his first kiss. The characters in this story are all delightful. The writing is simple easy and lovely. The story is poignant, sprinkled with humor and pathos. I just loved Eddie and Bella and some other folks they met along the way. What a completely charming tale which was an engaging and memorable four star read. I will be seeking out other books by Marianne Cronin. My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. It will be published on Dec 31, 2024. You will be glad you read it.

90 year old Eddie Winston volunteers in a charity shop where people bring belongings to sell once their loved ones die. Eddie loves his job, but sometimes takes a few sentimental objects home to put on the "Eddie Shelf" just in case their owners come back looking for their objects. This is how he meets 24 year old Bella, who is grieving for her boyfriend, and she and Eddie strike up a wonderful friendship. She soon finds out Eddie has never been kissed, and aims to change that, helping him to sign up for a senior dating ap and working as his wingman.

The timeline alternates between present day and 1965, when Eddie meets the love of his life. The story is told from Eddies, Bellas and Bridies (in the 60's storyline) point of view. We meet a number of likeable characters, including Pushkin the guinea pig and I found the story to be delightful. The relationship between young Bella and nonagenarian Eddie is perfect, and illustrates that we can establish close friendships across the decades. Marianne Cronin seems to have a real talent for writing these relationships, as she did in the 100 years of Lenni and Margot, and I would encourage anyone looking for a sweet friendship story with an uplift to pick this one up right away.

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for this e galley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Perennial for the e-ARC! From the author of One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot.

Meet Eddie Winston, a 90-year old who prior to retiring worked in academics and now fills his days at a charity shop that takes in items from the recently deceased. He has a gift for giving the items new life and for identifying those that still have meaning by placing them on his "Eddie Shelf" for safe keeping. Through the charity shop Eddie meets Bella, a 20-something going through the recent loss of her book friend. The two developed a friendship that would make anyone jealous even with the large age gap. Through conversations at lunch, Bella discovers that Eddie has yet to have the experience of a first kiss and makes it her mission to help him have his moment.

There is so much to love about this story. The characters are all very likable. A beautiful cross generational found family story. The story is told in a dual timeline; the 1960s and present day. In addition, there is a bit of a short story feel to the items that arrive in the charity shop. This story takes grief and the end of life (in both people and objects) and restores the hope. It may also make you appreciate ham and cheese sandwiches, cheetah print silk shirts, and heart shaped sunglasses to name a few. 😊

Absolutely delightful from start to finish. Loved the character of Eddie and rooted for him throughout. His intergenerational relationship with Bella is paternal and sweet and honest and tender, all the things you wish it would be. Plus the narrative is realistic even while it feels like a reach.
I recommend it to everyone.

I absolutely adored Eddie and this book is so incredibly charming. Marianne is a phenomenal writer and I could not put this story down. I wish I could visit these characters in real life! Oh, what they could teach us! Marianne is an auto buy and the very best kind of story to handbell to customers. I only wish it was published earlier so it could be sold during the holiday season!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️From publisher Harper Perennial: Eddie Winston is 90 years old. He has lived and he has loved, but he has never been kissed.
A true gentleman and incurable romantic, Eddie spends his days volunteering at a charity shop, where he sorts through the donations of the living and the dead, preserving letters and tokens of love along the way. And it is here that he meets Bella, a troubled young woman who, at 24 years old, has just lost the love of her life.
When Bella learns that Eddie is yet to have his first kiss, she resolves to help Eddie Winston finally find love, sparking an adventure that will take them to unexpected places and, they hope, bring Eddie Winston to the moment he has waited for all his life.
A tale of friendship and kindness that reminds us that those we love are never forgotten and it is never too late to try again.
*****************
My review: I loved Cronin’s first book- The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot so I was happy to get this ARC. Again, the characters are so believable, so real, and also searching. Eddie hopes for love and Bella hopes to move forward. Their friendship is heartwarming and fun. In my head I could picture each "stylish" outfit Eddie wore when he decided to expand his personal style: green satin cheetah shirt, corduroy pants, bow ties with patterns...each one endearing and fun. I hoped for Bella to be able to grieve and move on but loved her supporting Eddie's dating life.
The characters are all deep and human and that made this a lovely, easy read. How long can one cling to the past? How hard does one have to try to look for love? All important questions. I rooted for Eddie, Birdie and Bella and the guinea pig the whole time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for an advance digital copy in exchange for my review.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Harper for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. I read the first book by this author and enjoyed it very much. I felt like she was an author to watch. While I did not like this one quite as much, I very much enjoyed the premise and the writing. Eddie Winston is 90 years old, and have never been kissed. He works in a thrift shop in England, collecting donations. He was a professor when he was younger, but he didn't like retirement and is happy with his life. He does regret the lack of romance. Bella , a young girl . comes into the shop with donations from her late boyfriend.They strike up a friendship and she encourages him not to give up on love. The story is told in flashbacks and current timelines. At times, it can be a bit confusing, as the timelines move around a bit. The story and the writing are beautiful and the characters are well defined. I enjoyed this book very much.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC. I absolutely loved Lenni and Margo and Eddie Winston did not disappoint! Marianne Cronin has such a gift for writing older characters. Eddie was hilarious and charming and his connection with young Bella was the sweetest thing. I loved how both of their stories were given equal focus and couldn’t help rooting for both. This was such a feel good read while still having depth and without being cheesy at all. I can’t wait to read whatever she writes next!

I like this author's writing style, and enjoyed her first book. This one was a little predictable at times, but overall a good story. The elderly characters were well written, which is appreciated. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

One Hundred Years of Lenny and Margot moved me immensely and was a novel that kept coming back to me over the years so I was thrilled to see Marianne Cronin's second title soon to be available! It is a charming read, with the same depth of character and grace of her first novel.

Eddie Winston is 90 years old and he has never been kissed. While working at the local charity shop, he befriends Bella a young woman who has just lost her boyfriend. What happens next is a true friendship and kinship that is heartwarming, joyful and pure. Eddie fell in love with a married woman but kept the relationship platonic out of respect for her and her marriage. Although he has led a full life, he has never had a romantic love.
Both characters are quirky and totally lovable. Any one who read "The Hundred Years of Leni and Margot" will love this as much as I did.

Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love is such a sweet story of romance and friendship. Unlikely pairings forge long-lasting and healing relationships to move beyond grief to future love. A delightful story!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for the opportunity to read this ARC.

By accident, I stumbled upon Marianne Cronin’s first book, “The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot,” and was quickly enchanted by it, so I was thrilled when I was given the opportunity to read an ARC of her latest novel, “Eddie Winston is Looking for Love.” This book was equally delightful! In both novels the characters are quirky and sweet, unlikely friendships blossom into something special, and the writing is so exquisite and you love the characters so much you don’t want the book to end. A summary of the plot doesn’t do this beautiful story justice but I will make the attempt.

In “Eddie Winston is Looking for Love,” Eddie Winston, a retired 90 year old academic, is working at a charity shop that receives the detritus of peoples’ lives when they pass away. One day, Bella, a 25 year old woman with pink hair, comes into his shop to donate a box full of items belonging to someone named “Jake,” who Bella indicates no longer needs the items. Sensing her distress, Eddie gives her a hug, and from there an unlikely friendship blossoms. They meet for impromptu lunches in a nearby park, where Bella confesses that she mourns her deceased boyfriend but couldn’t bear to attend his funeral and hasn’t been able to cry since he died. Eddie confesses that he has never been kissed. Bella sets out to help him find someone to love. During their lunches and trips together, Eddie slowly reveals the story of his lost love, Bridie, who he met in the mid sixties, but couldn’t have because she was married to a pompous professor at the university where Eddie received his PhD and later worked as an academic. For decades he has been on a quest to find a locket that belonged to her.

This book became one of my favorite books of the year, for the reasons I explained above. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves character driven novels about “found family” full of warm prose and delightful characters.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Eddie Winston is a heart-lifting story about the power of intergenerational friendship and finding love in unexpected places!

Eddie is ninety years old. He has lived and loved, but he has never been kissed. A true gentleman and incurable romantic, Eddie spends his days volunteering at a charity shop, where he sorts through the donations of the living and the dead, preserving letters and tokens of love, just in case someone wants them back at some time. It's there that he meets Bella, a troubled young woman who, at 24 years old, has just lost the love of her life.

I absolutely loved Bella and Eddie, who form the most unlikely of friendships! The book goes back and forth from the 1960s to the present. The chapters taking place in the 1960s are marked so there is no confusion.

Many thanks to both #HarperPerennial and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Eddie Winston is Looking for Love It has an expected publication date of December 31, 2024.

This was a delightful read! Despite the heavy topics (loneliness, grief, abuse), there was a clear line of hope that ran through these pages. I can count on Cronin to craft characters that feel like friends and fully realized people. This is a perfect read for anyone looking for some light in an often gloomy, melancholy reading landscape.

_Eddie Winston is Looking for Love_ by Marianne Cronin is a heartwarming and romantic read with sympathetic characters. Eddie Winston is 90 years old, has never been kissed, and volunteers in a charity shop, when he meets Bella, a young woman who just experienced a tragic loss. Together they embark on a journey to find someone perfect for Eddie. This book will leave the reader hopeful and satisfied.