ARC Review: Lost Luggage by Samanta Tonge

Genre ~ woman’s fiction

Featuring ~ eating disorder references, grief, cancer references, death of a close family member

Release date ~ September 22, 2022

POV ~ single ~ 3rd person

Page count ~ 303

My rating ~ 4⭐

My review:

Sisters, Dolly and Greta, have a tradition every year to go to a lost luggage auction and bid on a suitcase to give each other as Christmas presents. This year Dolly is on her own since Greta has passed away. Dolly has been in a bit of a funk these last few months ~ she hasn’t been properly taking care of herself or her house, and this auction was a small effort to get back out there. Is a lost luggage auction really something? It sounds fun.

Dolly is an interesting one ~ her best friends are Maurice, a fish, and Flo who is 11 years old and Leroy. Flo is having trouble fitting in with her peers and Leroy is still sad about his recent breakup with his boyfriend, Tony. They have a great friend dynamic and lift each other up. I liked how they had dance parties in their living room while a record played in the background.
There’s a bit of a story within the story as we read Phoebe’s diary entries, which leads to the meat of the story ~ a list of firsts.

After a bit of a slow start for me, it eventually did pick up and I really enjoyed the beauty of the story. I was delighted to be blindsided by a few twists ~ the biggie I did figure out, but the other two were nice ones. Dolly and Phoebe came into each others lives at exactly the right time. They needed each other in very different ways to help heal. All in all, an uplifting, feel good, heartfelt story.

*Thanks to Boldwood Books, Samantha Tonge and NetGalley for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

⬇Purchase links⬇

Book blurb:

One lost suitcase. Two strangers. And a notebook that will change lives.

For almost fifty years, sisters Dolly and Greta have lived together – getting each other through the good times and the bad.

Except this year, Greta isn’t there and Dolly is feeling lost and alone. In memory of her sister, Dolly heads to the lost luggage auction where she and Greta go each Christmas. But her bid reveals a gift she never imagined.

Amongst the clothes is the notebook of a reclusive woman who has hardly been outside for an entire year, but who isn’t ready to give up on life. The notebook’s contents resonate with Dolly. With the support of her neighbours, retired Leroy and eleven year old Flo, Dolly decides to take on the year of firsts Phoebe had planned.

But, can you have a year of firsts when you’re seventy-two? And is Dolly ready to discover the notebook’s secrets, or are some secrets better left lost at the airport?

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