Blog Tour stop for this engaging read of grief, loss and danger
#LovesLongRoad #BlogTour @rararesourses
"Nobody blames her. But that doesn't matter when she blames herself"
Synopsis
Glasgow, 1975. How do you cope when your boyfriend kills himself because of you?
When Bobbie Sinclair’s boyfriend commits suicide and blames her, she vows never to love again.
Instead she chooses to lead a double existence, kind-hearted by day and promiscuous by night.
She increasingly struggles to maintain the balance between light and dark and soon finds herself sucked into the world of a controlling and ruthless crime lord from which she must escape.
Set against a vibrant but seedy 1970s Glasgow backdrop, Love’s Long Road plots Bobbie’s desperate plight. Starting a new life but constantly afraid of her past catching up with her, she battles danger, adversity and drug addiction on the long and perilous road back to love.
Love’s Long Road is about dealing with the guilt of terrible events in your past and the risk of being corrupted by the world around you; it is a story that captures to perfection what it was like to be young and single in the 1970s.
My Review
This is the first novel I've read by G D Harper and as this will be over the next few months a triple book read a review for me and am so happy I will not be waiting long to delve back in to this authors writing.
Glasgow in the late 1970's a time of change for women in the workplace and in general, while I do not know Glasgow, this era echos the stories my mum told me of her youth, as was born just in to the 80's my mum's teenage years spills through this time.
So the descriptions of clothing and how the characters behaved felt very familiar.
Bobbie is a young girl filled with guilt following the tragic suicide of her Ex boyfriend, a death which she blames herself for after breaking up with him.
While trying to deal with these issue Bobbie plays the perfect person during the day just like she was before but changes herself and lifestyle dramatically on a evening making bad choices and taking risks including swearing off love,only having one night stands mixed with drink and drugs.
Even in this era of kind of "be who you want to be", Bobbies choices are extreme and leave her in danger.
This whole tale documents her downward spiral due to guilt, loss and grief and the redemption about learning to forgive yourself.
I liked the authors captivating style this whole read felt very real, the very intense and vivid descriptions of the 70's, the music and fashion of the era added real sense of authenticity to the read.
Author Bio
I was placed third in the 2015 Lightship Prize for first-time authors, won a 2016 Wishing Shelf Award Red Ribbon, been shortlisted at the UK Festival of Writing for Best First Chapter, longlisted in the 2017 UK Novel Writing Competition.
In 2017, I was one of twelve authors selected for Authors in the Spotlight at the Bloody Scotland book festival in Stirling, showcasing who they considered to be the best emerging talent in crime fiction, and was the only self-published author to be chosen.
I have spoken at numerous other book events, including Blackwells' Writers at the Fringe at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; a stand-alone slot at the Byres Road Book Festival in Glasgow, and the Aye Write! Book Festival, also in Glasgow.
I went to Glasgow University in 1975 and lived in the city’s West End, the time and place for the setting of the majority of Love’s Long Road.
Social Media Links – www.gdharper.com
Facebook: @gdharperauthor
Twitter - https://twitter.com/harper_author
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Thank you to the Publisher and Author for sending me an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel and for the opportunity to review these works.
All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.