Kindle Edition Download to your Nook (eBook) Amazon www.magicbridgethebook.com Amazon Magic Bridge Category:  Literary Fiction Publisher: Fun House Publishing ISBN-10:  0615536778 Type: Fiction Pages: 220 Copyright: October 21, 2011 ISBN-13: 9780615536774 How far would you travel to keep a promise to someone you love? Magic Bridge, a New Book from Author Thomasina Burke How far would you travel to keep a promise to someone you love? Where do you find the strength to do the hardest thing imaginable to ease the suffering of the one you love at the darkest moment of their life? The characters in "Magic Bridge" are faced with these questions in a compelling and thoughtful story involving love, world travel, and the completion of an epic journey. Characters Bridgette Madden and Matt Decker crash into each other, literally, in the wilderness of Arizona’s Bradshaw Mountains. This begins a relationship full of adventures that circles the globe; castles in Germany, the gentle beauty of Ireland, Nepal’s Himalayas, the seas of Honduras, Italy’s shimmering Cinque Terre, and finally back to Arizona where it all began. At the end, Bridgette finds the strength to honor a commitment to her husband, Matt and return to the places they loved the best. Readers will love both the story and the settings, all beautifully described in a heart-felt and straightforward style. I’ve tried to give the reader a portrait of some of the most amazing parts of the world, inspired by my own travel and life experiences, and a story of love straight from my heart. I hope that they enjoy reading the book as much as I did writing it for them – Thomasina Burke Excerpt "Now was the time for what we had talked about: our pact that we would support each other when the time came for one of us to die. When it comes down to it, this is what love is all about. It isn't your first meeting, getting married, or making love. It is the strength to do the hardest thing imaginable to ease the suffering of the one you love at the darkest moment of their life."

Bella Online-The Voice of Women
Magic Bridge - a Review

“It isn't your first meeting, getting married, or making love. It is the strength to do the hardest thing imaginable to ease the suffering of the one you love at the darkest moment of their life” - Thomasina Burke

Magic Bridge, by Thomasina Burke, is a tale of love and romance, a tale of adventure and travel, a tale of honor and commitment. It will make you laugh. It will also make you cry – a lot. Well, it made me cry a lot, especially the last part of the book. The book opens with Bridgette hiking up the Algonquin Trail. Someone riding a bike up the same trail crashes into her. Mountain bikes are not supposed to be on that trail! Bridgette is a nurse and also works with the local fire department, so she literally saves the life of the man who tried to run her over.

Bridgette, sexually abused by her father as a child, is anything but into dating and serious relationships with those of the opposite sex. Because of bad experiences with men, she prefers not to become romantically involved. But when Matt, the guy who tried to run over her with a mountain bike, appears in the bar she is a barkeeper in, feelings rise up that she tries so hard to extinguish.

What follows is one of the gentlest and sweetest love stories I have ever read. Never does he pressure her into anything. He allows her to guide their relationship from one level to the next. This wonderful man doesn't cure Bridgette of all her fears, but teaches her how to conquer them. Even though she has a fear of flying, he takes her places all over the world. They visit Ireland, Italy, Honduras, the Himalayas, Germany, and so many more.

Matt is a very athletic and serious mountain biker, while Bridgette loves to hike arduous trails. It is a total shock to them when he is diagnosed with cancer. This does not stop them from traveling, though.

I think their trip to the Himalayas is my favorite. Matt rides the Himalayas with his friends, while Bridgette, who learns that she can actually survive without Matt, goes on a hiking tour. There are an assortment of people of all ages and from all over the world in Bridgette's hiking group. They reminded me of the various people who would make up tour groups in an Agatha Christie novel. There were an octogenarian from Poland, a young married couple from Brazil, two female teenagers from Australia, a middle-aged married couple from Canada and their rather obnoxious 12-year-old son.

Matt and another couple guys from his group are biking up a trail in the Himalayas that isn't part of the tour when an herd of goats comes from out of what seems like nowhere and crosses in front of them. Matt hits and kills one of the goats and is thrown from his bike. He is injured, especially his sore arm, and must stay with the family that owned the goat he killed while his two companions go to bring back help. Matt befriends the small boy who was shepherding the herd of goats and is sorry to leave him when the two companions come to accompany him back to the rest of the group.

A while after they return home, they discover that Matt's cancer has returned with a vengeance. Bridgette nurses and cares for him as long as she can, but Matt is in so much pain and is barely hanging on. She lets go of him when the hospice nurse tells her that he is holding onto life for her. Now begins the story of Bridgette's journey to freedom. This is where the tears really begin. Now it is up to her to keep the promise she made to the one true love of her life – to scatter his ashes all over the world, in the most meaningful places they had visited together.

I hid and cried as I experienced how Bridgette went to their favorite places to scatter his ashes, how she made new friendships, how she discovered the tragedies that had happened and almost turned back, how she experienced joy and formed new stong bonds with those that had been their friends.

Thomasina Burke has really written a very emotionally moving novel, a great feat for an author's first published book. This book is written with intelligence and clarity. A book I didn't really know whether or not I would enjoy has turned out to be one of my favorites.

This book was sent to me free of charge by the author. If you would like to purchase your own copy of this really great book, I have provided an Amazon link below. Warning – if you don't like to cry or become emotionally involved with the characters of a book, if you don't want to experience the journey of a lifetime, you might not want to read this one.



Sweep Tight
The Magic Bridge
Often in relationships we find ourselves discussing thoughts, hopes, and dreams. We learn about each others wants and needs, our desires and quirks. A mosaic of ‘what-ifs’ and ‘what-would-you-dos’ arise. Images of breathtaking trips taken, sky-high goals reached, and memories of uniquely happy moments are enjoyed and reflected upon. Regularly, we take these intimate occasions for granted, assuming that those we love will always be within reach. In her book, The Magic Bridge, author Thomasina Burke offers a reason to hold tightly to the precious adventures we share with those we love.



Throughout the book, Burke takes us along during the adventures of Bridgette, a newly widowed traveler, while she honors a vow made to her husband, Matt, to return to the exotic places they loved most. Burke offers beautifully descriptive detail while Bridgette’s epic undertaking circles the globe. While visiting monumental castles in Germany, the serenity and natural landscape of Ireland, Italy’s scintillating Cinque Terre, and finally back to Bridgette’s home of Crown King, Arizona- among other fabulous stops- the reader is provided insight into the strength that Bridgette must find within herself to carry on, and within the memories she holds of the times she shared with the love of her life in some of the most beautiful places on Earth.

This is truly a wonderful work filled with emotion and beauty, and should be enjoyed by anyone in need of a reminder that the memories we hold can carry us through even the toughest moments in life.

You can find this item available for around $12 at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, or directly from the website at www.magicbridgethebook.com.



Once in a Lifetime Travel
“Thomasina Burke owes me two nights good sleep.

That’s right Tommey, you heard me.

I decided to start reading Magic Bridge in the middle of my work rotation with sick kids at home and only two weeks before Christmas. Not the best decision I’ve ever made. A series of more bad choices shortly followed. Those included (but were not limited to) inadequate hygiene, dinners lacking nutritional value and usually involving the microwave, dirty laundry pile diving and staying up until the wee hours of the night. All because I became absolutely obsessed with this book and would do anything to sneak in a couple of pages.

If I could have pawned my kids off for the day at a decent price, believe me I would have done it.

Magic Bridge is the perfect storm of all the things I love. Travel. Love. Human spirit overcoming obstacles. Heartbreak. Tragedy. Healing. At times reading this book made me want to get on a plane and go somewhere, then at the next moment all I wanted to do was hold my family tightly in my arms. Without giving away too much, the main character overcomes her emotionally crippling childhood through the love of a lifetime. Together they travel the world before being torn apart by death. She must again find her inner strength as she fulfills her final promise to him and returns to their special places alone to release his ashes.

This was an amazing book by an amazing woman and first time author. And if that was not enough, Thomasina will be generously donating 20% of her proceeds to Save Vernazza to help with their rebuilding efforts.”