Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 355
Irish Romantic Fiction
Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
Hardback; 24 Euro / 29 USD / 18 UK;
The town of Rossmore is a special place, full of character charm. Nestled beside the Whitethorn Woods, the town has grown since the days when it was small and friendly and everyone knew everyone else; now it has chain stories and traffic problems and housing estates. But still, there are the woods, full of spiky bushes and criss-crossed with paths; and there's St Ann's Well, where generations have come to pray or make wishes or just to look back at the pretty little town. Which is why there is going to be such a fuss about the plans for the new motorway. It's going to by-pass Rossmore, cutting through Whitethorn Woods and endangering the well itself. The new road will bring jobs and relieve traffic in the town; for others, it will destroy businesses and leave the town a backwater. The people of Rossmore are divided. There is a lot of land standing in the way of the great road of progress. Quite by accident the decision rests on Neddy Nolan - the most honest man in Rossmore. A man determined to do the right thing.
When the Light Fades by Kathy Rodgers
Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 340 pages [Add To Basket]
Hannah Joyce has been happily married to David for 21 years, they have two children and run the successful Castletown Arms Hotel. Now Hannah thinks it’s time they took a step back from the business and enjoyed the fruits of their labours. But David rebuffs her advances and shows where his true passion lies. Then a national newspaper publishes a shocking story that turns Hannah’s world upside down and when she happens upon David’s old suitcase in the attic she unwittingly opens a Pandora’s Box. Hannah realises that David is possessed by demons he has never shared with her. Reeling in shock, she needs space to think and work out what she really wants. Can they get back to the romance of their early years or has the light truly faded from their marriage? Only Hannah can decide.
Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes
Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 648 pages
The agent Jojo, a highflying literary agent on the up, has just made a very bad career move: she's jumped into bed with her married boss Mark The bestseller Jojo's sweet-natured client Lily's first novel is a roaring success. She and lover Anton celebrate by spending the advance for her second book. Then she gets writer's block The unknown Gemma used to be Lily's best friend until Lily stole' Anton. Now she's writing her own story painfully and hilariously when supershark agent Jojostumbles across it When their fortunes become entangled, it seems too much to hope that they'll all find a happy ending. But maybe they'll each discover that there's more than one side to every story
If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern
Paperback; 9 Euro / 13 USD / 6 UK; 410 pages [Add To Basket]
Elizabeth's life is an organized mess. The organized part is all due to Elizabeth's efforts. The mess is all due to her sister, Saoirse (pronounced Seer-sha), whose personal problems challenge Elizabeth's orderly world and leave her scrambling to pick up the pieces that Saoirse's whirlwind leaves behind. One of these pieces is Saoirse's son, Luke. Age 6, Luke is a quiet, contemplative boy whose all-too serious aunt cares for him well, and whose all-too unstable mother is a red headed blur. When Luke is playing on the front lawn of Elizabeth's home one day, witnessing the latest scene between his aunt and his mother, a friend walks into his life. A friend named Ivan. And this unexpected friend, whose origins are mysterious, will change the boy and his aunt in wonderful ways that neither of them could ever have expected. With all the warmth and wit that fans have come to expect from Cecelia Ahern, IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW is a novel full of magic, heart, and surprising romance
Longshore Drift by Karen Gillece
Trade Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 400 pages
In the blink of an eye, in a busy Brazilian marketplace, a small boy disappears without a trace...His mother's free-living existence, travelling South America with her lover and son, comes to a sudden, brutal end. Two years later, broken from searching for her missing son, Nacio, and desolate at her lover's departure, Lara returns to her childhood home on the southwest coast of Ireland. As she struggles to come to terms with her loss, Lara once again befriends Christy, her childhood sweetheart, who finds himself increasingly drawn to her bohemian nature. But what starts as an interest in her past grows into an obsession. As Lara tries to piece her life back together, never losing hope for Nacio, Christy begins to fall apart. "Longshore Drift" is a tale of passion and betrayal, of the consequences of searching for love in all the wrong places, and of a heartbroken mother's unswerving conviction that her child will be returned to her - even when all hope seems to be gone.
Love Match by Mary Malone
Paperback; 9 Euro / 13 USD / 6 UK; 386 pages
The day Jennifer said ‘I do,’ she never agreed to become a human punch bag to her violent husband George. Will she find the strength to leave him and succumb to the charms of her sexy new admirer?
Yummy mummy Cathy is from a lavishly wealth home, but she is hiding a dark secret. Her mother is a secret drinker and her recently-deceased father had a secret of his own. Can she put a brave face on what goes on behind the closed doors of her magnificent Kinsale home?
Lottery winner Tina should be celebrating but something is holding her back. Will the enormous win change her life? Can it buy her son a coveted place on the local soccer team? And is her beloved husband Ray falling for the charms of glamorous single mum, Cathy?
Three Irish women. Three different lives. And the men who broke their hearts.
Morrigan’s Cross by Nora Roberts
Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 340 pages [Add To Basket]
Standing on the cliffs of 12th century Ireland following the disappearance of his twin, Hoyt Mac Cionaoith is visited by the goddess Morrigan and is charged with the ultimate of tasks: saving his and all future worlds. His enemy - the beautiful but deadly vampire queen Lilith - has had over two thousand years' experience in cruelly killing and changing humans into her own kind - including Hoyt's brother, Cian. Now, Hoyt, a sorcerer, must travel across the world and through time to find and train the five others Morrigan has prophesised will join him as a circle and do battle against Lilith's army of vampires on Samhain in the land of Geall. Fate brings him first to Glenna Ward - a modern witch who can make her own kind of magic. Hoyt and Glenna find themselves drawn together, but is their love strong enough to survive not just the battle ahead but the centuries that separate them...? "Morrigan's Cross" is part of "The Circle Trilogy", Nora Roberts' magical new series of paranormal romances. Six strangers - a sorcerer, a witch, a shape-shifter, scholar, warrior and vampire - find danger, friendship and the chance of love, as they unite in a battle against an ancient evil...
The Honeymoon is Over by Annett Holliday
Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 448 pages [Add To Basket]
When they met at school, gorgeous Gary Warren was a definite ‘nine’ while Geri Murphy struggled to make a ‘six’ – yet now the childhood sweethearts are getting married and Geri can’t believe her luck. As Geri’s dressmaking and organising talents swing into action to plan her dream wedding, she thinks she has it all compared to the disasters her sister and friends experience with men. And any niggling suspicions she may have about Gary, not to mention his lascivious father Gary Snr and tarty mother Pamela, are put to the back of her mind while she maxes out credit cards and transforms into Bridezilla. As the preparations gather pace, cracks start to show. All of a sudden Geri’s dream dress, dream home and dream day become a nightmare, leaving her to pick up the pieces. But how do you recover and move on when what is supposed to be the best day of your life turns into your worst?
Closer to Home by Erin Kaye
Trade Paperback; 13 Euro / 17 USD / 10 UK; 430 pages [Add To Basket]
Kath O’Connor has everything a woman could desire – fantastic job and chic apartment in Boston, good looks and loyal friends. Everything, in fact, except the marital bliss and family life she craves. With a landmark birthday looming, she asks her boyfriend, the suave Carl Scholtz, to marry her . . . but doesn’t get quite the answer she’s expecting. Then a horrific phonecall from home brings her whole world crashing down around her. Before long Kath finds herself back in her native Ireland trying to come to terms with a broken heart, piecing her family back together and facing the greatest business challenge of her life. Meanwhile, her brother David must confront his deepest fear, her sister Bridget reaches crisis point with her husband and children, and their mother Fiona is trying to be strong as she faces losing everything. But none of them are prepared for what is to come. Will Kath win through and find, much closer to home, the love she sought three thousand miles away?
The Betrayal of Grace Mulcahy by Colette Caddle
Trade Paperback; 9 Euro / 13 USD / 6 UK; 470 pages [Add To Basket]
The life and marriage of Grace and Michael Mulcahy has all the signs of being a successful and fulfilled one: a daughter; rewarding jobs; plenty of friends. But when Grace discovers that her partner in her interior design business, 52-year-old Miriam, is embezzling her, the seeds are sown for Grace's bind. When confronted with her betrayal, Miriam begs Grace not to tell anyone in order to preserve Miriam's marriage which will fall apart if the truth outs. Grace agrees to keep quiet but finds it leads to all sorts of complications and misunderstandings that put a strain on all of her relationships both professional and personal. By the time she notices how close things are to crumbling, is it too late to piece together the ties that bind her to those she loves?
The Love Detective by Anne Marie Forrest
Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 384 pages [Add To Basket]
When stalker Mark dies because of his obsession with her, Rosie Kiely turns to Shane, her long-time best friend and romantic fallback for comfort but finds he’s not there for her, as she always assumed he would be. With countless failed relationships under her belt and now lacking the safety net of Shane, Rosie – for the first time in her life – begins to worry that she might never find love and becomes increasingly obsessed with the notion of just what love is and whether it really exists. In a bid to find out, she turns love detective but, while she’s nosing into the love affairs of those around her – friends, family, and colleagues – looking for proof, she unwittingly finds the ultimate proof of all: she falls in love.
Millionaires by Jacqui Broderick
Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 555 pages [Add To Basket]
Stella O’Rourke is determined to escape her humble beginnings and when she meets handsome property developer and horse-owner Rory McFadden, she thinks he’s the ticket to the life she wants – so she ignores his arrogance, bad manners and suffocating jealousy. Her friend Amber thinks love is all about fate, but a string of user boyfriends, her dead-end badly paid job and gigantic credit-card bills are putting real pressure on her faith in human nature. Then struggling horse-trainer Henry Murphy comes crashing into Stella’s life. Just why does her stomach flutter when she knows their friendship can never lead to anything? She couldn’t end up with a man who wears a hacking jacket and drives a rattling jeep that smells of horses. Or could she? It’s time that Amber started living in the real world and that Stella realised all that glitters is not necessarily gold, but it’s hard when you believe millionaires are a girl’s best friend.
Broken Promises by Ger Gallagher
Paperback; 10 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 446 pages [Add To Basket]
Set against the backdrop of the civil war in Dublin in 1923, Anna is a twenty-year old working class girl living with her father and brother on the banks of the Grand Canal. The men in her life – her father, Mr Barry, her brother, Sean and her boyfriend, Joe Maguire – are all staunch anti-treaty supporters. One evening, her much-loved boss suffers a stroke and is left incapacitated, unable to resume his duties at the office. Joe becomes impatient with seeing so little of Anna due to her new responsibilities at work and decides to remedy the situation by a proposal of marriage on Christmas week. Although uncertain about her feelings, she cannot bear the thought of turning Joe down and with slight misgivings, she accepts Joe’s proposal, much to the delight of her father. But when her boss’s son, Daniel, reluctantly agrees to leave his law studies in Edinburgh and come back to Dublin to help run the shoe shop, Anna is in turmoil. Will she keep her family happy by marrying the man they worship, or will she risk it all for the love of an Englishman, the archenemy of her family’s beliefs?
Gregory Carr, Bookseller
Read Ireland
392 Clontarf Road
Dublin 3
Ireland
Tel + Fax: +353-1-853-2063
Customer Services Comments, Criticism and Questions
Subscribe to Read Ireland Book News - Our Free Weekly Email Newsletter