Henry is going to be 70. As he owns the major hotel on the Island of Roone he starts to plan a party. Not just any party but “the” party that people will be talking about for a long time. As Henry is making his plans we learn about his neighbours – Tilly in Australia due to visit, Laura and her family running their guest house, troubled Eve and Imelda who has just lost her husband, Hugh. We follow their lives, amongst others, as the island goes about a busy summer with plenty of tourists.

This is a book about people rather than events. It is about their characters, how they deal with big events and small every day events from a surprise pregnancy to a toddlers broken arm to burnt scones. This is not a book about big action events but rather one which ambles along at the pace of the Island of Roone.

I loved this book. I am fond of books which look at the every day. I found the Miss Read books in my teens and have enjoyed similar books, such as those by Rebecca Shaw, ever since. This book was, to my mind, similar to the wonderful books of Maeve Binchy and came in a very close second in my opinion.

To make a book like this work the characters need to be excellent. The author needs skill with language so that the reader can picture these people in their everyday settings. I had Roone and its inhabitants clear in my mind. You need to feel that you have got to know these people and they have got under your skin. I felt lost once I had finished this book – I do hope there is a sequel.

Some people don’t like this style of book – fair enough. However if you enjoy the ambling stories of the everyday (and sometimes not so everyday) then this is definitely the one for you. I have already downloaded another book by this author to my tablet.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Roisin Meaney knows how to write characters! It took me a little bit to make all the connections between the numerous characters and keep track of who was who, but the complex relationships and depth of development was unlike most other books I've read. The characters are easy to connect with and pull the reader into their lives.

The setting is as beautiful as the characters are complex - a gorgeous Irish island in the heart of summer. The language used to describe the setting made this book truly an escape and conjured up memories of my own childhood growing up on the water.

This book was so much more than what I expected from the synopsis. Though it was my first foray into the lives of Roone's residents, I plan to go back and read the Meaney's other books set on the island.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Books Ireland for providing me with an ARC.

This seems to be a book in a series, and it's the first book of Róisin's I've read so I can't tell you what the other books based on Roone were like. I do know that this book can pretty seemlessly be read as a standalone, though maybe you'd have a little more insight to the characters if you'd read the previous books too.

The book can be a little hard to get into. There are so many characters introduced in one fell swoop, your head might spin a little trying to remember them all. Everyone you do meet is pretty down in the dumps, too, making it a bit harder to get into. But, it does improve significantly as the book goes on.

This book was a return to the little island of Roone. I've read the other books set in Roone, which I really enjoyed, and while you don't really need to read them before this book it would certainly help a bit with the characters.

I did find it a bit confusing at first with the various characters, and it took me a little while to get my head around who everyone was again as it had been a little while since I read the last one, but I soon got there.

I did enjoy the setting of Roone as it sounded lovely as usual, but a few things niggled me a bit with the characters. Everyone seemed to be fed up or sad, unlike the other books, and some were a bit too opinionated and ready to think the worst of people without any solid facts. I just couldn't warm to the characters, even ones I'd really liked before like Laura. The only character I really liked was Gualtiero, the Italian who was visiting Roone to paint, he was just lovely.

I'm also not sure why it was called 'The Birthday Party', as the actual party was a really tiny bit of the book, nothing to do with the title really and the ending was a bit abrupt and odd, finishing with the guy who'd had the birthday party when he'd hardly been in the book at all. Maybe there's going to be another one in the series - hopefully they'll all have cheered up by then!

So not my favourite Roone book of the series, but it wouldn't stop me from wanting to read the next one (if there is one) in the hope that it's a bit lighter and happier!

This was a great book. In the beginning there were so many characters I could not keep them all straight. After a few chapters it all made sense and I didn’t need a chart to see how every one was connected. I thought the shorty had enough turns to keep me interested. Lauren was the main character that seems to hold it all together. There were a lot of children and an unplanned pregnancy with a twist you don’t see coming.

I have given this a 4* review as I know fans of Róisín will really enjoy this read. However as this is my first of her books I struggled initially with all the characters but soon felt I was getting to know them

The island of Roone sounds a wonderful place and not unlike the many islands we have off the coast in our beautiful country. The locals living in each other’s pockets most of the year then enjoying the influx of visitors during holiday times.

Róisín gets the atmosphere brilliantly

This is a light but enjoyable read with thanks to netgalley and Hatchette for an ARC in return for an honest review

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Books Ireland for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I hadn’t heard of Roisin Meaney before seeing this book on Netgalley, but I will definitely be looking up more books. I felt as though I was on the island of Roone, this book is filled with characters who all have their own struggles. The book is filled with love and friendships which are continually tested. This is a good read, which I highly recommend. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Perfect lovely summer read love family an involving story a wonderful book to relax and enjoy a sunny summer day wrapped up in.#netgalley #hatchetteIreland.

Highly recommended with more than a few twists and turns. Brill feel good summer read . A usual roisin meaney romance which gives you that warm feeling and you don’t want the book to end this would make a great series so look forward to future publications maybe a sequel. 5*****

Meaney captures a place in prose so vivid, readers will feel like they are actually on the island of Roone in this story of love, jealousy and second chances. Tilly plans to spend time on the island with her sister, Laura and Tilly’s boyfriend, Andy, as islanders make ready for a milestone birthday for one of their residents. Trouble erupts when Tilly accuses Andy of cheating on her with his old girlfriend, and Laura gets a surprise visit from her stepmother, who has a secret to share. Meaney’s characters are all very human, and there aren’t happy endings for all of them, making this read a little more relatable to us mere mortals than many other books in the genre

Initially I struggled to get into this book, as each of the characters is introduced individually, so its hard to work out the complex relationships of each. However, as the book progressed I was drawn in. There are several strands to the stories, with secrets and past histories providing a catalyst to events between the family groups.

The book offers a view of Ireland today, and modern families with adopted children, step-children and indifferent parents all featuring. To counterbalance, there are some lovely families where the children are loved and cared for, interspersed between the problems.

I particularly enjoyed the character of Mr Conti - although he did seem to phrase his sentences just like Poirot! I felt for Tilly, with her expectations of matrimony from her long-distance relationship with Andy. Some of the strands seemed a little clumsy - such as Susan and her husband's secret - but overall it was an entertaining read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Books Ireland for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.