2/5 Stars

I wish I could have enjoyed this more than I did, but between the choppy writing and constant talk about romance, I couldn't do it. Truthfully, I should have read the description better, and perhaps waited to see other reviews before I requested it. Because, I never end up liking books like these - one's that revolved around romance, and nothing else.

I wish I could have liked it more, since the cover is beautiful. However, I could not.

I don't know why this one didn't grab me. It took me forever to get started with it and when I finally did start it, the lyrical writing style and ethereal quality of the main character and the setting pulled me in, but it wasn't enough to keep me engaged or to keep me reading.

ARC provided by Netgalley, Thank you!

I was struggling to get into this story, I wanted to like it, but it just was not happening. However, I still plan on looking into more from Kathleen because I am hoping my struggle was just a mood thing....

As someone who left their hometown, I know what it means to be willing to take that leap or even consider it. This is a beautiful story of two women doing the same thing. Great writing, and would be a great beach read.

The Irish countryside, ancient poetry, a whirlwind romance that spans an ocean – what’s not to love, right? Unfortunately, Girl on the Leeside couldn’t stand on its seriously gorgeous imagery alone.

When Kee’s younger sister Maureen died in a bombing, he was heartbroken. If only he said said this, done that, but he knew Maureen saw no life in the Leeside and her free spirit ultimately led to her death. What he didn’t know was that his sister had a little girl, a girl Kee was now the guardian of.

As Siobhan grew, the two became ever closer, each holding on to their sole relative. For Kee, that meant keeping his niece on an extremely tight leash – at 27, Siobhan hasn’t traveled out of their tiny village more than a handful of times. However, one summer and two men, an American professor studying ancient Irish poetry and a British soldier claiming to be Siobhan’s father, change everything.

I really wanted to love this one and I wasn’t joking about the beautiful writing. I truly felt like I was there; I could see the travelers’ caravan, I wandered the rooms of the pub. Kenney has a way with words and her descriptions were breathtaking. Sadly, the characters – namely Siobhan – were the story’s downfall.

My issue with her character came from just how sheltered she had been. I can get behind an introvert – hey, that’s me! I can get behind a character that might have bloomed a little later than the rest. But Siobhan…she went a step too far. This woman is 27, yet throughout the entire novel she acts (and is treated) like a child. In one chapter a close family friend passes and she’s genuinely surprised that grief hurts. She doesn’t understand what love is or what flirtation means. I highly doubt someone could be nearly 30 and be that naive – especially someone who lives above a pub!

Because of Siobhan’s innocence, the romance came off as creepy rather than inspiring and swoon-worthy. Tim is an American professor whose focus is on ancient Irish literature and poetry. Kee’s practically an expect on the subject, a passion he shared with Siobhan. Almost instantly Tim is attracted to Siobhan and she is equally as fascinated with him, though for her, it seems to be more of an interest in someone new in town, someone from a country she’s never seen. He’s divorced, she’s never so much as held hands with a boy. When she begins having feelings for him, she’s curious about love and wants to ask Tim about his ex-wife: does he still care for her, does he miss her? She’s constantly described as being child-like and made Tim seem so much older to the point where reading their interactions completely took me out of the book. Ew.

Siobhan’s father, the poetry, an arc where she tells a huge lie to Tim in order for him to like her, it all took a backseat to her character and I was so disappointed. Although Kenney’s writing and her vivid descriptions of the setting with gorgeous, Siobhan’s extremely sheltered innocence was more than a little hard to believe and had the romance coming off as gross and inappropriate rather than the sweet story it was meant to be. I’m sad to say Girl on the Leeside didn’t work for me at all.

I'll copy in the review that was done for Goodreads. I'm not sure if I'll expand upon this for the Literary Hoarders site, so for now I'll paste what was written on Goodreads. Thank you for the copy of Girl on the Leeside!

I first received this from Netgalley, and then won the paper copy from a Goodreads Giveaway. Yay me!

This was a nice story about a girl who came to live with her uncle after her mother (and presumably her father) was killed in an IRA bombing. Her uncle is overprotective and Siobhan has led a happy yet very isolated and overprotected life on the Leeside.

When the professor of Irish studies from America comes to visit, Siobhan's world starts to open just a little bit, but she's conflicted about letting this man into her life and changing it, or staying in her little world of isolation with her uncle.

Just a nice story, but not a great and gripping read for me. The author loved to liberally use the word "lough" (pronounced like lock). Sometimes it appeared two-three times on the same page! (Seems to be an issue of some irritation for me given that my last read, Grief Cottage, suffered from overuse of grief cottage mentions.) I've seen this listed as a YA read. I wouldn't necessarily say it is at all, but I don't think there's anything inside here that would not make it suitable for a younger reader?

I don't like using the term "chick-lit" (though it might apply here) and instead prefer to use the term "pastel fiction" ... fiction which is soft, gentle, with beautiful prose that paints a nice picture for the reader. This book might typify the 'pastel fiction' label.

Siobhan Doyle has grown up under the care of her uncle, Keenan ('Kee'). in rural Ireland. Her mother died in an IRA bombing and her father was out of the picture before she was born. Kee has been very protective of his beautiful niece, but when an American scholar, Tim Ferris, visits on his research trip studying Irish literature, Siobhan starts to realize that there's more to life than uncle Kee.

Author Kathleen Anne Kenney does a very nice job of bringing the reader into rural Ireland and creates a village as idyllic as I've always imagined and hoped rural Ireland to be. The cast of characters inhabiting the village, whom Kenney shares with the reader, is small, even though Kee runs a small, local pub. But this works well - no need to clutter up the book with characters not necessary to the story!

The story.... In literature, there are four main types of narrative conflict: man against man; man against nature; man against self; and man against society. Sometimes we also consider: man against machine; and man against fate/supernatural. And while it's true that such conflict can sometimes be internal, I'm going to add one more form, specific to 'Pastel Lit': man against his imagination.

What we have here is a 'slice of life' in a pretty setting. The most dramatic event in the book occurs in the Prologue. After that this becomes a 'coming of age' book for Siobhan. But Siobhan is a late bloomer. She is twenty-six at the start of the book (after the Prologue), working behind the bar of the pub. She's an introvert - we're told that straight up - but this coming of age story seems just a little odd, given her age. Keenan is not an over-bearing or cruel 'parent' to Siobhan. In fact he loves and adores her. Her friends love and adore her. The visiting American literature professor seems to love and adore her, but she's confused about her feelings for him because she's never had such feelings before.

Then she does something wrong. She lies about something to the American, and even though she's knows it's wrong, she can't stop herself and she can't admit it. Her reason for continuing the lie never quite rings true for me. Her brain is screaming at her to tell him the truth, "But what Tim did next chased all thought of caution away. He took both her hands in his and looked gravely down into her pale face." For the rest of the book she imagines the worst because of the lie, and it eats away at her, and as though she were seventeen instead of twenty-seven wonders:
<blockquote>"...is it love? How can I know that? It’s so scary and confusing. I’ve never … done this before. How in the name of heaven do people know when they love someone?”</blockquote>
There is one source of dramatic conflict that has the potential to create some real tension, and Kenney does her best to build up this tension. Siobhan's biological father gets in touch with her and requests a visit. Keenan begins to show some of the Irish fire in his blood at the prospect of seeing the man who impregnated his daughter and then abandoned the woman and child. And what of this father who is a stranger to his own family? What brings him out of the woodwork? What conflict will he bring to Siobhan's life?

But this is Pastel Lit. Keenan is calmed and much too easily admits to selfishly holding on to Siobhan and Siobhan's father loves and adores her and just wants her to know that he'll be there for her from now on if she wants it.

One moment in the story came completely out of the blue. When Siobhan encounters two young women in a bookstore talking about a particular Irish poet that one of the girls just loves, but can't figure out how to answer the teacher's question about two particular poems. Siobhan instantly connects with the girls and helps them find the answer and she feels very good about herself and what she does. This will lead to a decision later in the book but the moment itself felt quite unnatural - enough so that I made a note in my book - "why is this here?"

And finally, even the resolution is too easy - soft and pastel. The conflict of how she imagines every terrible thing because of her lie is finally admitted, but even here she suggests a lie ("I wonder if I was wanting you to figure it out the whole time."), and everyone - Tim, her friends - takes it all in stride, as if it wasn't worth being conflicted about in the first place.

There is a market for chick-lit/Pastel Lit (my wife, for one) and those who enjoy the form will find Kenney's writing easy to fall in to. She definitely defines her characters well and will make you believe you are in the beautiful Irish countryside. But I personally like a little more grit and conflict to move my fiction forward.

Looking for a good book? <em>Girl on the Leeside</em> by Kathleen Anne Kenney is a soft, easy to read tale of a twenty-something young Irish woman growing in to love and knowledge. It lacks some conflict/confrontation but offers a lovely diversion in a beautiful setting with a friendly cast of characters.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

In full disclosure, I am personally acquainted with the author.

This is a lovely coming-of-age story. The protagonist has been sheltered from"life" and when she finally finds her own voice,it is magical. The prose and poetry are lyrical and poignant. The setting in Ireland is perfect.

Raised by her Uncle Klee after her mother’s death in an IRA bombing, Siobhan has been protected and coddled. Having little to no contact with young people her own age, Siobhan has learned to be happy studying Irish poetry with her uncle. But that all changes when an American scholar gives Siobhan a peak at the real world outside her uncle’s home. When she lerans her father is still alive, Siobhan must face the difficult decision to stay with her uncle and pretend the world outside does not exit, or strike out on her own to discover the world that has been hidden from her. Lyrical and lovely

Slow paced but vividly descriptive. Definitely brings out the feels for Ireland.