I’m such a hopeless romantic. If you were to look up the definition of hopeless romantic I’m pretty sure my name would be listed there as an example! ☺️

Growing up, my mum would often say that I wore my heart on my sleeve, that I was always eager to find and share love. This behaviour has never changed! I still embrace the concept of love ❤️ So this blog is a little bit of what love means to me and how love changed my life in many ways.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I adore romance, be it in books or movies. It’s my happy place! I can happily rewatch favourite movies, soaking in all the awwwww moments as if I’m seeing them for the very first time! My husband is resolved to my watching them over and over again, he knows that I love to get my fix of romance 💕 and of course I’m a complete addict to romance books too! 📚

My own life could actually have been a possible story for a Heidi Swain style book, as my first love certainly didn’t run a very smooth path, and a happy ever after it certainly wasn’t, however it did lead me to the place that I am in now and ultimately gave me the longed for complete love, which brings me joy and happiness every day ♥️

From the darkness of a failed relationship, the love of a friend not only reached out to support me when I felt most alone, it also gave me the confidence to start again. It would have been easy to give up on love, to become bitter and cynical about love, but his belief in me as a person helped me to begin to love myself. Our love as friends blossomed over the years, until we crossed that difficult junction where friends become lovers, and it was a scary jump to take, we valued our friendship so highly, the fear of loosing it if things hadn’t worked out was ever present and we did have a few wobbly moments along the way, however I honestly believe our partnership was simply meant to be. Years of friendship ( we met at 16 years old at sixth form) the traumatic relationship with my ex all brought us here, married with our two boys. It was difficult, living through those dark times, however it eventually brought me my happy ever after. It’s actually amazing to be married to your best friend. So a romance that actually started off as hopeless became perfect in the end, once I found my knight in shining armour (and had ditched the twonk in tinfoil!) I’m blessed for sure and am incredibly grateful for having the courage to look for love again.

As well as embracing romantic love, I also treasure the other types of love too. The love of my family and friends. I appreciate having so many amazing people in my life, and I hope they all realise how loved they are by me 💜

I don’t think I will ever tire of love! It’s part and parcel of me, I surround myself with it daily, and I share it readily too. Love is best shared in my opinion. By sharing it grows and brings us together in a positive way. In the last two difficult years, isolated from loved ones by distance, love still kept us together, by phone calls, messages and letters – love still found a way to bring us together and kept us connected 💖

This group, Heidi Swain and Friends, was brought about as a result of love. The love of reading started it, closely followed by the love of sharing time with friends that we made in here. Fiona has created an amazing community with her idea, almost two years ago. And I’m sure everyone agrees that we love her for it! Thanks again for setting up such a lovely place to meet up with friends and to share our love of reading 📖

Finally , on this Valentine’s Day I would like to send my love to you all ♥️ Thanks for your love and friendship, may love always lift us up where we belong!