Emma's Review: Escape to the Irish Village by Ann O'Loughlin

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

Can she finally find the home she’s always wanted?

Emma Wilson is running from a broken marriage after her life has been torn apart, and she’s desperate to start over. Escaping to a small Irish village, Emma begins working for seventy-five-year-old fashion enthusiast Judith McCarthy in her beautiful manor house at the heart of the tight-knit community. The quirky locals give Emma a warm welcome and, inspired by Judith’s passion for life, Emma hopes she can rebuild her life in this village by the sea.

As Emma and Judith’s lives intertwine, Emma meets Judith’s brooding son Miles. At first, the two argue over everything, clashing over decisions about the estate and how to support Judith. But when Emma begins to see a different side to Miles – a hardworking man who will do anything for his family – she can’t deny the attraction between them. But can she open her heart and love again?

Soon Emma realises that Judith’s bold spirit is hiding deeper troubles. The village that means so much to them both is in danger of being destroyed, and protecting their home will be the biggest challenge of Judith’s life. It seems the two women have been thrown together when they need each other most…

Can Emma and Judith save the village? And will Emma build a future with Miles? Or will she lose the only place that has ever felt like home…? 

Book Links: Kindle or Paperback

Emma's Review: My Only Daughter by Ann O'Loughlin

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

‘I love you, and you are my daughter, no matter what anyone says. Nobody can take you from me.’

In beautiful Rathmoney House nestled by the wild Irish Sea, Margo sits in her black suit, three strings of pearls at her neck, nodding at those offering their condolences. She never thought she would be here without her beloved husband. All she has left is their beautiful daughter Elsa and a house full of memories. Then, she receives a letter that turns everything she thought she knew on its head...

When Margo learns that her daughter was accidentally switched at birth with an American child and Elsa is not in fact her biological daughter, her world shatters. American Cassie and her daughter Tilly are equally shocked to learn about this tragic mistake, and both parents are terrified about the prospect of their daughters being taken away.

Margo and Cassie know that together they must protect their daughters, both biological and not. Cassie and Tilly fly to Ireland, and with the help of the local community they must learn to support each other through the most difficult times.

Will they be able to find a new version of family, or will the shocking revelation force them apart forever?  

Book Links: Kindle or Paperback

Emma's Review: The Irish House by Ann O'Loughlin

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

My dearest Marianne, have you ever completely loved one person? What I am about to tell you now, I have told no one…

Beautiful Kilteelagh House in Ireland, with its avenue of trees and its acres of wildflowers, was somewhere Marianne thought she’d never be again. At least, not without her beloved grandmother Collie. But when Collie passes away, she has just one request – for Marianne to leave behind her glamorous life in New York and to raise Collie’s orphaned granddaughters in the wild Irish countryside. Heartbroken and determined to fulfil her grandmother’s dying wish, Marianne has no choice but to say yes…

All Marianne and her cousins have left is each other, and letters from Collie that keep arriving from beyond the grave. They become a lifeline for Marianne, and she soon realises that her grandmother still has a lot to still teach her. And after a chance encounter with gorgeous local handyman Jack, Marianne wonders if Collie believed being back at Kilteelagh House would help her find love, too?

Soon, Marianne can’t help but begin to fall in love with this place that is so full of memories, of secrets, and perhaps even a little bit of Irish magic. But then out of the blue, a letter from Collie arrives that changes everything…

Will Marianne ever be able to decide where her heart truly belongs? Or will she have to run away from the only people who have ever truly understood her? 

Book Links: Kindle or Paperback

Emma's Review: The The Ludlow Ladies' Society by Ann O'Loughlin

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

Connie Carter has lost everyone and everything dear to her. Leaving her home in New York, she moves to a run-down Irish mansion, hoping to heal her shattered heart and in search of answers: how could her husband do the terrible things he did? And why did he plough all their money into the dilapidated Ludlow Hall before he died, without ever telling her?

At first Connie tries to avoid the villagers, until she meets local women Eve and Hetty who introduce her to the Ludlow Ladies’ Society, a crafts group in need of a permanent home. Connie soon discovers Eve is also struggling with pain and the loss of having her beloved Ludlow Hall repossessed by the bank and sold off. Now, seeing the American Connie living there, the hurt of losing everything is renewed. Can these women ever be friends? Can they ever understand or forgive?

As the Ludlow Ladies create memory quilts to remember those they have loved and lost, the secrets of the past finally begin to surface. But can Connie, Eve and Hetty stitch their lives back together?

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Emma's Review: The Judge's Wife by Ann O'Loughlin

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

Can a love last forever?

When Emma returns to Dublin to put her estranged father’s affairs in order, she begins to piece together the story of his life and that of Grace, the mother she never knew. She knows her father as the judge – as stern and distant at home as he was in the courtroom. But as she goes through his personal effects, Emma begins to find clues about her mother that shock her profoundly.

A tale of enduring love and scandal that begins in 1950s Dublin and unravels across decades and continents, digging up long-buried family secrets along the way, The Judge’s Wife asks whether love really can last forever.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback  

Debut Spotlight: Ann O'Loughlin

This morning it is my pleasure to introduce you to Irish journalist Ann O'Loughlin as part of the blog tour for her debut novel The Ballroom Cafe which is out now as an eBook and is being published in paperback format tomorrow.

A leading journalist in Ireland, Ann worked for over twenty  years with Independent Newspapers, Dublin, Ireland with the Irish Independent and Evening Herald covering every news story under the sun, including crime.

Probably the most exciting time was when she worked and lived in India. 

She always loved writing and in her school days wanted to be a writer. She got diverted in to many happy years in journalism. She now works with the Irish Examiner newspaper, a great newspaper with the old traditional values of accuracy and integrity coupled with top class reporting in a modern age.

The Ballroom Cafe is her first novel. She lives by the sea in Ireland with her husband and two children.

Find Ann on http://annoloughlin.blogspot.com or Twitter @aolwriter

Sisters Ella and Roberta O'Callaghan haven't spoken for decades, torn apart by a dark family secret from their past. They both still live in the family's crumbling Irish mansion, communicating only through the terse and bitter notes they leave for each other in the hallway. But when their way of life is suddenly threatened by bankruptcy, Ella tries to save their home by opening a café in the ballroom – much to Roberta's disgust.

As the café begin to thrive, the sisters are drawn into a new battle when Debbie, an American woman searching for her birth mother, starts working at the Ballroom Café. Debbie has little time left but as she sets out to discover who she really is and what happened to her mother, she is met by silence and lies at the local convent. Determined to discover the truth, she begins to uncover an adoption scandal that will rock both the community and the warring sisters.

When I was growing up in the West of Ireland I often heard my father say “there is a bit of silence in that house.”

Sometimes he referred to the two elderly sisters who had not spoken a word to each other in decades. Rumour had it there had been a big falling out and not a single word had passed between them since.

My mother was convinced they must have been laughing up their sleeves at everybody having a right natter behind the net curtains, where nobody could spy them.