A light-hearted, witty romance that follows Jess Báre (pronouced beret), a self-declared Kiwi girl taking on life in Ireland's capital. Deciding to undergo some investigative journalism, by way of a children's book, her research leads her to a picturesque Irish farm in County Down and an Aran-wearing-farmer called Owen.

I'm always apprehensive of fictional romances based in Ireland and while The Little Irish Farm was cheesy and a little cliché, it was an easy-going read with likeable characters. It did feel a slightly repetitive at times, especially for a short read but if cute, light romances with little at stake are your thing? You'll enjoy it.

The Little Irish Farm was such a sweet book. Will she find her happy ending? Read this one and find out!

In The Little Irish Farm by Michelle Vernal, Jess Báre (pronounced beret), a transplanted New Zealander by way of Australia, who moved to Ireland for her career, finds herself in the middle of writing an article about a tragic event that happened 30 years prior. Jess’s adventures begin when she gets the idea to follow a child’s name written in a book that she purchased to see how the child had grown up and along the way, she learns about true love and finds herself and her career.

In general, the characters are believable, if not a little trite. You have a trio of friends, the married one, the fashionable one and Jess, none of the above. You have two love interests, the selfish, self-absorbed millionaire and then the one who is not. The situation is believable and interesting. The story of Amy, the child, is very interesting and is a good glue for the rest of the story. However, the love interest part of the plot is not new, and it is very easy to see who Jess will end up in the end. The pacing of the story is pleasant, and it is easy to read, fun, cute, but predictable. Parts of the story are very funny, especially the parts about Jess’s mom and her occupation, both literally and figuratively with undergarments. The intended audience of this book is rom-com readers, and it is a cute, fun version of your typical rom-com. I gave the book 4 stars for its humor and the sub-plot of the story of Amy. I would recommend this book to those who like sweet, fun, cute rom-coms.

Overall, The Little Irish Farm was a fun, quick read that gives you the feel-goods.

I enjoyed reading some of the Dublin scenes as it brought back memories of my visits there. The story itself failed to keep my attention. The characters were not particularly likable. There book moved slow and there was a lot of repetition.

It was a nice story, although I found it a little slow and things were repeated a lot. The characters were interesting and funny. A journalist looking for the original owner of a fairytale book and wanting to write her story was different. I loved the happy ending. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

This story has a cutesy title, a gorgeous cover and a mouthwatering blurb - all convinced me to request this book, and I feel they were all deceiving me.

Jess is a journalist from New Zealand with an interest in Irish fairy tales and children's books, hence why she moves to Dublin. She gets it into her head to find Amy, the owner of an old edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with her name and address scribbled in. Instead she finds Amy's brother Owen, a pig farmer, and for a while dithers between him and a tool called Nick.

This story takes place in the year 2013. I feel it's important to mention that because it takes the author one third of the book to let us know, and by that time I was already up in arms about the wrong adding up of ages.

I'm sorry but I just couldn't get on with the people in this book.

I heartily disliked Jess. There is something wrong with her world view, she is extremely judgemental, makes disparaging remarks about beggars on the take and old people ("the woman had a face like a pushed-in jam tin"). She goes on about the innocence of bygone eras, defends the racist Noddy books and thinks the Brothers Grimm actually wrote their fairy tales instead of just collecting them. She tells Amy's story but somehow makes it all about herself. (BTW, did we really have to bring The Troubles into a romance book?)

Jess has friends called Brie and Nora who do nothing but discuss men with her and give bad advice. I pity the Bechdel test, it's being trampled on. Nora does things she doesn't like for a man, Brie is consumed by her unruly kids, and they all swear like sailors.

And then there is Jess' Mum who constantly wants to marry her off, berates her in long phone calls (I started to skip them after a while, they were so repetitive) and continuously sends her racy underwear, which I think is gross from your own mother.

I recommend a sensitivity reader goes over, among other things, the stereotypes like the dodgy waiter with the Spanish accent who can't even say Heimlich manoeuvre correctly.

You will like this book if none of this irritates you, you enjoy an easy romance and drooling over a piglet called Wilbur, the runt of the litter, and the strong farmer who looks after him and can even cook! But I'm afraid it wasn't for me.

Firstly thank you Netgalley for this Arc

Another good book by this author

Quirky and a good holiday read

A sweet romance but lt around a journalist wanting to find the owner of a children's book. I enjoyed the characters and story, though a few sections felt a bit repetitive.