Juliet Gauvin

Beautiful jaunt in Irelamd

Overall, a satisfying read.

I left 4 stars instead of 5 because the choreography of the love scenes was awkward. They are places with awkward positions that don’t necessarily make sense and take you out of the moment to try to figure out. Heavy emotional issues are resolved a little too easily. Nicknames are bandied about without rhyme or reason. I’d prefer to stick with a name than to vacillate between “names of the day.”

With that being said, I enjoyed the Irishness of the story and Beth’s strength of character.… (meer)

Elizabeth Lara, a top divorce attorney in San Francisco is reeling from grief in the loss of her great-aunt Mags who raised her. The funeral is over and Elizabeth has received a box of 17 letters. The 1st letter reveals that there is a shocking secret that Mags has kept for 35 years and will eventually be revealed if Elizabeth keeps reading the letters. Elizabeth has made a snap decision to take an extended, open-ended leave of absence from her job and rented a cottage by a lake in Dingle, Ireland. She can take all the time she needs to read the letters and heal as the cottage is not only available but available for as long as she’d like to rent it. Her first glimpse of the cottage looks just like the pictures, and walking around the back of the cottage to view the lake already seems like peace can be found here. Then she walks into the cottage and meets Connor Bannon.

The author provides a lyrical quality to her atmospheric writing not only for setting and characterization but also for dialogue. With familiarity of the Irish accent, it is easy to hear the lilt of the voices as one reads. It is a story that begins the reveal of age-old secrets, shares the camaraderie of individuals living in a small town in Ireland, the comfort of old friends, the welcoming of new friends into one’s circle, taking steps forward from the deepest period of grieving, and wondering if friendship can become something more.

7 letters have been opened and read and I’m eager to travel with Elizabeth to London as per the title of Book 2, "The London Flat: Second Chances."

For romance readers of novels, it is a contemporary romance of the steamy variety. Or to provide a note in a different context, in the film world it would be rated "R" for "Restricted" related to content of sexually-oriented nudity.… (meer)