Lyrics for the Loved Ones is the bitter-sweet story of Matilda Windsor (Matty) who has been moved from a mental health institution to a nursing home in Cumbria. She is planning her 100th birthday but due to Covid lockdown plans need to be modified.

It is the third book of the series about Matty.

The story begins as Matty is celebrating her 99th birthday but her thoughts and plans turn to celebrating her 100th. She plans a big function where she can perform on stage. There are also plans for her to be reunited with her daughter she was forced to give up for adoption.

But plans are thwarted when Covid hits and the nursing home goes into lockdown. The Black Lives Matter protests and the Windrush scandal are also featured but without much depth.

It is an emotional read interspersed with humour.

The setting alternates between West Cumbria and Bristol

The writing is good, but its wordiness was a little challenging as was following the relationships between the characters. However, the difficulties with the characters and their background may be due to not having read the previous stories in the series.

Although it is supposed to be suitable as a standalone novel I feel if I had read the two previous books I may have got more from the story. I don’t recall mention of it being part of a series when I requested it through LibraryThing Early Reviewers

This is the main reason for my low rating.

I found the story confusing, but it would appeal to a reader who likes to delve into complex relationships. I also recommend reading the other two first.

Overall, the book didn’t really work for me.

Rating 2* ( )

This review took so long for a couple of different reasons. First, I would get into reading the first 10, 20, 30 pages and by page 40 I was so confused, or off track of the plot, I had to start over again. The second reason was, and the only reason I was able to do this was other LT readers, this is like book 4 in the series!!! Nowhere is it mentioned on the giveaway, and would it have been, I wouldn’t have requested it for this exact reason. So in short, even if the book was good, which it isn’t, the reader is missing a lot of data being that it is part of a series. ( )

This book is billed as a stand-alone novel, but I think it might have been easier to understand if I had read the other book(s) in the series first. It took me a long time to figure out Matty's history but even longer for me to figure out who the other narrators were.

There was an entire glossary for phrases used by Irene, but honestly, I could often figure out what she was saying based on context. Irene often made a lot more sense to me than Matty, for reasons I didn't understand until quite a ways into the book. Again, reading previous books in the series may have cleared up some of this confusion. Matty was too long-winded in my opinion, and I much preferred the chapters in which Irene was narrating.

I wasn't a fan of Gloria--the secret she kept from her son made absolutely no sense as far as why she did it or the amount of importance she placed on keeping that secret. Speaking of which, her son kept a significant secret from her, which if it hadn't been set in the time of Covid, would likely have been almost impossible to not disclose.

The author tried to insert ALL of the major events of 2020 into the novel (Covid, BLM, etc), but she really didn't address any of them with much depth. Gloria once again disappointed with her reaction to the televised BLM march.

There were SO many coincidences about how the different characters were connected, and some were fairly far-fetched. The ending was so abrupt and such a let-down after the buildup throughout this novel that was about relationships. ( )

Lyrics for the Loved Ones: in the last book of the series, Matilda Windsor is preparing for her 100th birthday. No longer in an asylum, she now lives in a care home. While Matty is preoccupied with her upcoming party plans, the world changes. It is 2020, and Matty faces challenges, first from a global pandemic, and again when she learns about Black Lives Matter and the actual history of her country.
There are three parallel storylines, but I don’t even want to go into them because, honestly, I don’t know how to without giving away too much. Too much of the plot, absolutely, but also too much of the FEELING I had when reading this book. So many feelings. Goodwin has a remarkable ability to tell specific, personal stories, while also capturing the mood of the world at the same time. Which made LFTLO a difficult read for me. Goodwin’s writing transported me back to 2020, a time and place I still feel trapped by. However, just like the other books of hers I’ve read, the experience was extremely rewarding.
LFTLO was a perfect ending to Matty’s story. The world has changed around her, and for the first time in ages, she does some changing as well. She is an active participant in life in a way she hasn’t been for so long, which was beautiful to see. And I absolutely cried at the end. Again, there are more plot lines to be had and they are super interesting and heartbreaking AND heartwarming but this has always been about Matilda. It is her story and I’m thrilled I got to read it.
Thank you LibraryThing and Anne Goodwin for the ARC!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

A little too much going on, back and forth, and dialect/-isms to keep track of and be able to truly enjoy the storyline. ( )