Read Ireland Book Reviews
Issue 481
3/4 July 2010
New Irish Romance Fiction
Casa Clare by Kate McCabe
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 20 USD / 11 UK; 370 pages
Emma Frazer packs up her job in Dublin and flees to Fuengirola in southern Spain, where she finds refuge in a beautiful little hotel right on the beach, 'Casa Clara'. Here she can escape the mounting pressure from her domineering elder sister Trish who is pushing her into a marriage she herself has grave doubts about. Emma quickly falls in love with the hotel her little room overlooking the courtyard with its vivid flowers and soothing fountain, the cast of quirky guests, warm staff and flamboyant owner. When the post of receptionist falls vacant she seizes the bull by the horns and, with little Spanish and no experience, cajoles her way into the job. She soon discovers a talent for management and Casa Clara flourishes in her care. When Fate brings the man of her dreams to the door, the future looks perfect. But her scheming sister is still busy tracking her down and eventually Emma must face forces that threaten to destroy the idyllic life she has built for herself.
No Ordinary Love by Anita Notaro
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 20 USD / 11 UK; 384 pages [Add To Basket]
Louisa is fed up with every aspect of her life. Boyfriend, job, flat - all these need an instant and radical makeover. And so she decides to change it all in favour of a carefree existence, exchanging her house for a trailer, her car for a motorbike, and her smart clothes for leisure wear. And, most of all, she starts a new business, as a dog counsellor. With her best friends Maddy and Clodagh she embarks on a new regime - to meet different people, discover new places and find a fabulous new man. Her business brings her immediate and extraordinary rewards, as she meets the owners of dogs whose problems often seem to echo those of their owners. But whatever the stresses of her new life, Louisa has the support of her two friends. If only that could last forever...
Where the Love Gets In by Tara Heavey
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 20 USD / 11 UK; 384 pages
In any normal situation Fiona and Sarah would be friends. They are both smart and loving, great mothers, brilliant at life. And they both need a pal. But when Sarah arrives in Fiona's small town on the Clare coast, it's not a normal situation. Sarah is on a mission and before either she or Fiona know it – and without her meaning to cause havoc – that single-minded vision has turned both their worlds upside-down. Fiona and Sarah both discover that just as love drains out of lives that are routine and taken for granted, so it can also flow back into those lives in unexpected and breathtaking ways. And where the love gets in, it changes things forever ...
Sowing the Seeds of Love by Tara Heavey
Paperback; 8.50 Euro / 12 USD / 7 UK; 368 pages [Add To Basket]
Though she doesn’t know it, the day Aoife spots a neglected walled garden is the day her life begins again … Restoring the garden gives Aoife an escape from the turmoil in her head and the ache in her heart. At first, Aoife does not see that those who come to help her are just as in need of the garden’s healing powers. But as they work together to create a little corner of paradise in the city, Aoife’s new friends reveal stories showing her that troubled minds can find peace and hearts can mend. But that doesn't make it any easier when she has to answer the hardest question of all … Can she trust herself to love again?
Seven Secrets of Happiness by Sharon Owens
Paperback; 9 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 374 pages [Add To Basket]
Ruby O'Neill leads a charmed life in a perfect house on an elegant street, married to gorgeous Jonathan who adores her. It is a snowy Christmas Eve and Ruby blissfully decorates their Christmas tree, dreaming of a wonderfully romantic holiday season when she and Jonathan will enjoy lovely lie-ins and start the baby she longs for. Then a telephone call shatters her fairytale existence forever. In the New Year Ruby picks herself up and finds comfort in sewing seven exquisite little velvet bags which seem touched by magic. Through them her life is touched by the lives of others and she learns six secrets which begin to thaw her frozen heart. And little does she know she has a guardian angel watching over her. Though wounded himself, he holds in his hands the seventh secret and Ruby's chance of having love blossom again in her life. Another heart-warming tale of love and friendship from bestselling author Sharon Owens.
Last Train from Liguria by Christine Dwyer Hickey
Paperback; 9 Euro / 13 USD / 7 UK; 400 pages [Add To Basket]
From the bestselling Irish novelist, here comes a sweeping tale of consequences that spans from the 1930s to the 1990s. "Last Train from Liguria" takes us on a journey from claustrophobic Dublin and the tense formality of London, to the heat and bustle of the pre-war Italian Riviera. This is a must-read for fans of books by Rose Tremain and Helen Dunmore. In 1933, Bella Stuart leaves her quiet London life to move to Italy to tutor the child of a beautiful Jewish heiress and an elderly Italian aristocrat. Living at the family's summer home, Bella's reserve softens as she comes to love her young charge, and find friendship with Maestro Edward, his enigmatic music teacher. But as the decade draws to an end and fascism tightens its grip on Europe, the fact that Alec is Jewish places his life in grave danger. Bella and Edward take the boy on a terrifying train journey out of Italy - one they have no reason to believe any of them will survive...
Come This Way Home by Liz Lyons
Large Format Paperback; 13 Euro / 17 USD / 10 UK; 320 pages [Add To Basket]
One wet and stormy Irish summer, the three Miller sisters gather at their grand but shabby old family home, Tobar Lodge. Gina, middle sister and mum to a troubled teenage girl, is doing her best to keep the old country house afloat by playing host to summer visitors who rent converted cottages on the land. Eldest, Lottie, is home to lick her wounds after her latest romantic adventure has ended in disaster once again. Rachel, the youngest, has led a more charmed life but this time is coming home accompanied by a family struggling after the collapse of her husband's business. As family and strangers meet and collide, and a long hidden secret is exposed, they begin to discover that love and life is all about losing, yearning for and ultimately finding a place called home. By the time the holiday season draws to a close, all will realise that complications of past lives simmer just beneath the surface, a rich layer of secrets concealed from the eyes of others but keenly felt in the hearts of those to whom they belong.
Champagne Babes by Amanda Brunker
Paperback; 8 Euro / 12 USD / 6 UK; [Add To Basket]
Eva Valentine is back and Trouble is still her middle name! After surviving a near-death experience, Eva marries the man who nursed her back to health. Living it up in style on their honeymoon she discovers she is already three months pregnant. When little Daisy is born life is far from perfect and soon Eva is struggling with marriage to a man she hardly knows. Thankfully, her best friends drag her away for weekends of fun and lust, and with all the forbidden sex on offer, she no longer feels like a desperate housewife. But it's anyone's guess whose bed she'll end up in next...
The Truth About You by Melissa Hill
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 18 USD / 11 UK; 384 pages [Add To Basket]
One morning in the small town of Lakeview, Ella Harris finds a cardboard box on the doorstop of her café. At first she thinks it's her usual muffin delivery but is shocked to find that the box actually contains a newborn baby. But what kind of mother would abandon a defenceless baby like that, and why? Could it have been newly single Nina who, after being rejected by the father of her unborn child, has no choice but to return to Lakeview to stay with her estranged (and slightly peculiar) dad? Or was it Lakeview-born Hollywood actress Eva Seymour, who on the eve of her triumphant return home from LA, has a completely ill-advised fling with a handsome co-star. A baby is certain to ruin her hard-fought-for career. Or perhaps it’s happily married Jess who, as the only non-mum amongst her friends, finds herself increasingly left out. Terrified that she will lose them altogether, she embarks on becoming a mother too. But is she really rushing into something she really knows nothing about?
Without Him by Fiona O’Brien
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 19 USD / 11 UK; 480 pages [Add To Basket]
One moment, Shelley has everything - three beautiful children, an adoring property magnate husband, and the life of her dreams. Then Charlie's business empire crashes and he vanishes. While their privileged beautiful daughters Olivia and Emma have to come to terms with being broke, eleven-year-old Mac refuses to talk about what happened. When Charlie's estranged mother, Vera opens her doors to the broken family, secrets emerge that reveal there was more to Charlie than meets the eye. But Charlie's shell shocked family aren't the only ones asking questions ...The darkly enigmatic Russian billionaire Lukaz Mihailov arrives in Dublin with some unfinished business. What better way to track down Charlie than befriend his pretty and very vulnerable, abandoned wife Shelley ...Is blood is always thicker than water? Maybe Charlie's family are simply better off without him ...
Jumping in Puddles by Claire Allen
Paperback; 9 Euro / 12 USD / 7 UK; 406 pages [Add To Basket]
When Detta O'Neill returns to Rathinch - a village in Donegal - she is determined to make a difference. Bringing together four lone parents for a support group which has the old biddies of the village scandalised, she tries her best to build bridges and forge friendships among her charges. Niamh Quigley's dream of a perfect life in the country was cut cruelly short with the death of her husband Seán. A woman on the verge of meltdown but with a kitchen island you might just kill for she has to find her way again without the man she never thought could hurt her. Ruth Byrne was left high and dry when her husband ran off with a younger woman. But could his desertion have been a blessing in disguise for Ruth and her children? Liam Dougherty doesn t think so. His wife is the younger woman in question and he would do anything to win her back ... or would he? Which leaves teen mum Ciara Boyle. Everyone is just dying to know who the father of her child is, but does she have a good reason for keeping her secret to herself? Apart from being parents, can the group find anything in common? Can they find happiness and confidence again? And can Detta really make the difference she wants to make?
Rules for a Perfect Life by Niamh Greene
Large Format Paperback; 13 Euro / 18 USD / 10 UK; 336 pages [Add To Basket]
Rules for a perfect life . . . Rule One: Do not ditch the man everyone says is perfect for you because he eats the last yellow jelly-baby in the bag. Rule Two: Do not move to a shack in the country to 'find yourself' and inadvertently become an object of ridicule for the locals. Rule Three: Do not fall for a man who has two children who hate you, a saintly dead wife you can never live up to and a mother who thinks you are the hired help. Maggie wants the perfect life – but if she keeps breaking the rules can she ever have it?
Girl in a Spin by Clodagh Murphy
Large Format Paperback; 14 Euro / 18 USD / 11 UK; [Add To Basket]
Jenny Hannigan might be a good-time party girl but all she secretly craves is a life of domestic bliss and solid respectability – worlds away from her troubled upbringing back home in Ireland. So when she crashes into the arms of Richard Allam – the young, handsome, recently separated politician hotly tipped to lead his party to victory in the upcoming election – she thinks she’s found exactly what she is looking for. But Jenny isn’t exactly politician’s-wife material so Richard recruits the intensely private, charismatic publicist Dev Tennant to ‘spin’ Jenny to the Party . . . and the public. As the election gathers momentum, it turns out that Jenny has more than one skeleton in her closet and Dev is working overtime to try to keep them there. And suddenly Jenny isn’t sure what she wants anymore ...
Please note: Prices were correct at time of original posting but are subject to subsequent change without notice.
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