Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld for this ARC.

Eddie is 90 years old but still works in a charity shop in Birmingham with his boss/friend Marjie for something to do. He rescues personal items like letters from dead people's belongings by taking them home. He even acquires a guinea pig that way and calls it Pushkin. One day 24 year old Bella comes in to donate some of her dead boyfriend's clothes. There are some personal items in with them that Eddie decides to look after because he is sure that Bella will come back - and she does.

Eddie and Bella become firm friends, spending lunch hours together. She finds out that at his ripe age he's never been kissed although he was in love once. So Bella makes Eddie an online dating account and accompanies his dating adventures.

This story has a lot of the traits of Cronin's first book "The Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot", what with the friendship of young and old and the flashbacks to someone's younger years, only that here we don't learn of Eddie's life from himself but through the eyes of Bridie, a professor's wife when he was a young student. He called her Birdie and carried a torch for her, but she was married and way too Catholic to ever act on her feelings.

The thing that surprised me a little was that Eddie is 90 but speaks, acts and dresses like a sprightly 60 year old. He just takes everything in his stride, whether it takes him to Brighton, Corfu or Pigeon Park in Brum. He is a gentle, warm soul who is even concerned with his guinea pig's love life, and is a match-maker between two of his neighbours. When Bella encounters a man she nicknames Ham and Cheese due to his choice of sandwich, he encourages her to meet up. However, Bella is still grieving, going to therapy and writing letters to dead Jake.

This is a heart-warming and at times funny story of friendship, grief and second chances. It is beautifully written, with quirky, life-affirming characters, and draws you in until Eddie, Bella, Bridie and Marjie feel like your friends. I had tears in my eyes at the end - the funeral and that thing with Jake's shoes, oh God.

"And she will have love, wherever she goes."

Also, I admit that I don't normally pay much attention to chapter headings as they are usually just numbers, but these are exquisite.

"Life is all about timing, in the end."

So true.

I loved this book! Eddie Winston is 90 and has never been kissed. He works in a charity shop disposing of the donations of the living and the dead preserving letters and other tokens of love and friendship. He meets Bella, 24, who has lost her soulmate and who makes it her project to find love for Eddie.

I loved both main characters and their developing friendship was beautifully portrayed.

You find out about Eddie’s past and meet the one he loved but could not have. Their lives cross again ensuring a smile on the reader’s face.

A delightful book - one to be recommended.

Jolly good, what a lovely book. Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love is full of giggles and laughter. What a nice setting of those two main characters, being far apart in age but not in caring about each other. Friendships to keep us going, even for Mister Pushkin. I am glad to add this book to my for-a-rainy-day shelf on Goodreads.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

Fiercely hopeful, funny and brimming with tenderness this is a beautiful book with a unique premise and wonderful characters. I adored every word.

Eddie Winston is the kindest of souls. Volunteering in a charity shop in Birmingham, he works alongside Marjie, his boss who is also his friend, he thinks. When items come into the shop to be sorted, if Eddie feels they might one day be reclaimed, or are a lost love token, he takes care of them and adds them to his “shelf”. Living alone apart from his Guinea pig, Pushkin, Eddie has never been married, but has loved and lost, never forgetting his true love Birdie.

When heartbroken Bella wanders into the shop one day, Eddie knows she will be back, and when she does a beautiful and endearing friendship blossoms.

This book is so lovely, one of my favourite reads of the year so far. Heartwarming, compassionate and full of love, the relationships develop and grow and take you along with them. I absolutely loved it.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK.