A Touch of a Brogue by Christine Danse was a sweet read but kept me on the edge of my seat with the conflicts.

Loved this. It was sweet but with an edge because as a reader you're aware of the conflict and as Eric digs himself deeper into a hole you know the fallout is coming.
I adored Colm from the beginning, Eric was harder to like, no that's not true, Eric was just as easy to like as Colm, which made his original act hard to understand.
The setting was very evocative, both the pub and Portland, and I'd love to experience both.
And the scene at the zoo was brilliant.
No steam with a HEA.

Une histoire toute douce, où la romance existe à peine.
Ce qui est mis en valeur ici, c'est l'amour de la nourriture, le lien entre souvenirs familiaux & petits plats. L'ambiance du pub est très sympa, et la relation simple qui se construit entre Eric & Colm est douce comme tout.
Il est quand même difficile de croire qu'un mec passionné comme Eric ait pu se laisser embobiner à ce point par son compagnon, au point de lui faire jeter au feu toute sa déontologie ... Mais bon, cette nouvelle se laisse lire, on passe un moment doux et tranquille, sans aucune prise de tête. :)

"A Touch of a Brogue" is a sweet holiday story with a HEA featuring a pub called The Irish Sisters and a food critic whose bad review of the place has brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.

Christine Danse does a lovely job here of describing a pub that I think most of us would <i>love</i> to visit. The Irish Sisters pub has been painstakingly brought to America and reconstructed and is full of old-country charm and a menu of old favorites with a new twist. All they need is customers ... but a bad review in a prominent Portland publication plus loads of bad Yelp reviews are keeping the customers away.

Although the first part of this tale is a bit slow, Danse sets the scene by giving us a feeling for this pub and what it represents to Colm. Eric's personality is perhaps less developed, and I cannot honestly understand why this kind man who is passionate about food would have written a fake review because his boyfriend (owner of the bar down the street) asked him to do so. But when Eric learns what he has done, he strives to make it right, and the result is a sweet story of second chances. There is little on-page sex but the budding romance between Colm and Eric is nicely done.

4 stars for "A Touch of a Brogue."

I really liked the writing and pacing of this. It felt longer than it was (in a good way). I really enjoyed the characters and found them to be generally realistic and relatable..The food aspects were also great and made me extremely hungry, and also very sad there aren't any Irish restaurants anywhere near me.

Absolutely delightful read! Fun, sweet, and quick. Colm and Eric are adorable. Plus, any stories centered around food and family are a win in my book! This is a perfect evening read in front of the fire with coffee or cocoa!

I did wonder how Eric could be so blind to his ex's manipulation, but felt enough was covered to get the gist of it.

Would love to see a follow-up with Robin and Jamie's story too!

The writing is smooth and mostly error-free!