Book Review - The Charm Bracelet by Melissa Hill

Every charm bracelet tells a story and Holly O'Neill knows this better than most. Years ago, at a difficult time in her life, a silver bracelet in a pretty wrapped box was delivered anonymously to her, a single charm attached. Some time later, another mysterious charm appeared, and the same thing happened many times over the years. Each charm proved to be significant in her life, as if her unnamed benefactor understood she needed some kind of talisman to help her through challenging times. 

Since then, she has added her own charms - special reminders of the most important events in her life. Her bracelet makes memories tangible - spelling out the nuances of cherished moments through the shorthand of each tiny charm. For this reason, Holly's charm bracelet is her most prized possession. 

So when one day, she stumbles across a bracelet that somebody else has lost, she recognises a lifetime spelt out through the very different charms, and knows she must try to reunite it with its owner. In order to try and track this person down, she uses each charm to help discover more about them. But as Holly gradually begins to piece together the details of this person's life, her quest leads her somewhere she never expected.

Check out the Goodreads page here. 

10/10

My Review

(video review at the end of the post)

Wow, Melissa Hill has done it again.  This was an absolutely fantastically amazing book!  The writing was beautiful, the story was beautiful, the cover was beautiful.....  I could go on....   Although this story is based around Christmas time, it is a story that could be read any time of the year...

There are some really great relationships in this story.  There is the relationship between Holly and her son (the father not really being in the picture very much).  Its obvious right from the start that they have a very strong relationship and when Holly sets out to try and find a home for the charm bracelet she finds, her son is right there wanting to help and supporting her.   There are a couple of other really amazingly beautiful relationships in this story that I will not talk about here as I don't want to spoil the story....

There are two main characters in this story.  On the one hand you have Holly (described above) and on the other hand you have Greg who we see at the start as a stock broker coming to the end of his tether.  He quits suddenly as he realises that there is more to life and wants to take up photography, which is a hobby that he has loved since he was a kid.  His girlfriend is not so supportive.

And OH MY GOSH the ending was so beautiful I cried...  Twice.... and a third time with the completely unexpected ending...   I love love loved this story ......

 

Best wishes

Debs :-)