Member Reviews

Grace Danner a marketing executive from Dallas heads to Ireland to complete the sale of her great-aunt’s flower shop. Only meeting the aunt a handful of times she was left everything in the will. Grace arrives in Ireland to find a thriving business, an adorable rooftop apartment and a whole lot of amazing acquaintances. Grace is all work so even taking a week off to head across the pond is a hardship.

Kerry Mulligan is Grace’s real estate agent. This fiery redhead will gladly take the commission from the sale of Aunt Nola’s shop, but in her heart or hearts, she doesn’t want it sold. She’s conflicted about the loss of the shop to this tight-knit community. Add to the misery, her friends and sister-in-law will be out of work as soon as the deal is signed.

I had a few issues with this one. I felt like I was reading the same chapter later in the book time and time again. What makes this especially frustrating is you had a great premise, beautiful setting and enough heat from the two mains getting off on the wrong foot to have a fantastic story. As the book progressed, that story actually regressed. Once Grace and Kerry see each other’s naughty bits that’s all you have. Sex scene after sex scene. They were hot sex scenes don’t get me wrong, but that was it. Then you have a lack of depth in the plot, the dialogue, and the angst. The angst should be there, it should be there in spades, but it wasn’t, it was just flat. I

Another issue was Grace Danner being a Texan. I despise Texas stereotypes because you always get the cowgirl bs. A female marketing executive that lives in a high rise condo in downtown Dallas does not walk around in Ariat boots every day. That is not her footwear of choice. Sure maybe if she goes to a western theme gala, but in jeans and in daily life, this is a big no. This would not happen, it doesn’t fit the look of the area at all. Now if you went over to Fort Worth, you may see more boots, if you went out to West Texas, that would be the footwear of choice for many, as those folks are real-life ranchers and live a western influenced lifestyle. You might as well say Grace rides her horse to town. Okay, maybe Grace Danner is the one Dallasite that does wear boots every day, but 99% of the rest of us do not. I’m getting down on off my over-sized Texan soap-box now.

Overall, the book had a good start, hot sexy time but was lacking depth and dialogue to make it really amazing. 2.5 stars

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Sweet love story well told. Why have I not read anything by this author before.

I liked how this book managed to convey a clear sense of place. Very likable characters all around. No unnecessary drama, characters behaving maturely. I always appreciate that.

The only thing that is really off is the size of the flower store. I'm guessing conversion error from feet to meters. Also, the use of handy for cell phones in Ireland threw me. I thought that was a German thing.

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This is my second book from Ms Bryant and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

On the face of it, the two leads, Grace and Kerry are opposites but as they get to know one another we start appreciating that the differences are due to their environment, lifestyles, and priorities. As readers, we too start understanding and appreciating these subtle yet important differences and how they impact our goals and life as a whole.

This is not a slow burn romance but rather a bit of push and pull between the two leads before they decide to throw caution to the wind and enjoy the present. This works extremely well and there are no boring moments here. The love scenes are quite hot and well written.

It is hard to say what I enjoyed more; visiting Ireland or loving the characters in the book.

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Sweet romance based mainly in Ireland between Kerry, an Irish real estate agent, and Grace, an advertising firm executive who inherits a flower shop in Ireland. All the elements of a typical romance novel are present: tricky first encounter, breathtaking chemistry, hot steamy sex and beautiful romance. It is a bit predictable but it just hits the right note all the way. You get what it says on the tin.

However, as an Irish resident for almost a decade (and married to an Irish "lassie"), my only concern is the accuracy of some of the author's statements about Ireland. For example, Irish DO call soccer as Americans do, to distinguish it from Gaelic football which is called football for short. Also, her descriptions of Irish weather are very optimistic even for April standards. But this is me being a bit picky and for the non-Irish readers is going to be irrelevant. In fairness, her landscape descriptions are beautiful and picturesque.

Overall, a very good read if you are looking for a sweet romance. 4 stars

ARC provided by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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This story is told in first person, present tense. Had I known that prior to requesting a copy I likely wouldn’t have done so. The style of narration seems to be one of an acquired taste, a taste I’m still learning to palate.

The fact the heroine had to tell me when she was speaking 280+ times drove me to distraction. I’m sure those two little words, ‘I say’, were supposed to fade-to-black but they became more and more glaring as I read on.

Despite my dislike for the narrative, this is a beautiful story with two likable heroines. People who like some spice with their romance can rest assured, Texan blonde Grace, and Irish red-head Kerry, certainly know how to steam up the pages.

The long distance relationship and wondering how they could possibly make it work was a refreshing change from the normal tropes. Morgan is an awesome supporting character. Kerry’s baby nephew being born added an additional feel good touch to the story.

I’m sure readers who have no aversion to present tense narration will be totally enthralled by the characters, setting, and plot.

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2.5 stars.

Grace is obsessed with her work and has no time for girlfriends, nor her fairly homophobic family. When she hears that her aunt has died and left her a flower shop in Ireland, she flies over for a brief visit to sort it out before resuming her life in Texas.

Kerry is a busy real estate agent given the job of getting the flower shop ready for sale, and with looking after Grace while she is in town. It doesn't help that Kerry crashes her car trying to avoid Grace who had wandered onto the wrong side of the road.

After such a rocky start, can the women get past their animosity to deal with their attraction?

This could have been a charming tale of a fish out of water and the person who seduces her into changing her life. However, the leading characters need to be more likable, and more believable for this to happen. I found Kerry to be a bit of a pain, and then she becomes unbelievably accommodating after a one conversation and a sudden change of heart.

Grace is a bit limp, and is clearly out of her element, but it is her passivity that is discouraging. She is written as forthright and active in her work and life in America, and yet once she hits Ireland, she seems to be waiting to be looked after by all the other characters. I really wanted her to be more of an active participant in the goings on; an initiator. It would have suited the character better as was set up in the first chapter.

Kerry's flip from being fairly rude to dropping everything and happily taking Grace everywhere for a few days seems a very sudden shift in tone, and in plot. And to make things worse, the two of them are apparently at each other's throats and then are madly in love. This transition didn't ring true at all, and I didn't believe it.

I think the writing is OK and there is some lovely phrasing in the book, but I wanted to like the characters more, and for their actions to fit how they were set up. I also wanted more internal logic in their behaviour, and a better transition from antagonists to infatuated.

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I love books set in Ireland and I love Kris Bryant. Win-win situation for me! Based on the synopsis I assumed that Grace would be a really tough character to relate to, seeing as she's a workaholic from Dallas,caught up in the rat race. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed her character. She was definitely caught up in the rat race but one she got to Ireland she seemed to slow down. Her meeting with Kerry was perfect and I could totally understand Kerry's immediate dislike for her. The townspeople were wonderful supporting characters and I loved the descriptions of the Irish countryside. This was a lovely book and I'm thrilled I was able to read it!! Thanks Kris for another fantastic read!!

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Grace has a job that's very important to her; as a matter of fact, it's so important that it's consumed most of her time, if not all. Surely even thinking about moving to Ireland and working in the flower shop she all of a sudden inherited from her great aunt is out of the question. She has a career in Dallas, God damn it! Kerry, on the other hand, is very happy where she is - working for the Mulligan Group, a family firm, surrounded by lovely people that adore each other and deeply care for each other. But when those two meet, sparks fly and day by day, it only gets worse for Grace in keeping the promise not to have anything with Kerry because she doesn't do one night stands, and maintaining relationship in this situation is physically impossible.
I have to rate it with 5 stars, I just have to. I immensely enjoyed this one. It's emotional, lovable, warm, there's a certain omnipresent aura of great chemistry, and later, a very deep bond beyond sexual tension between Grace and Kerry, even though they both fight it with everything they have, because there certainly is no future for a overseas relationship. The book is just lovely, that's what it is. It practically reads itself, and it puts a very sweet smile on your face.

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