I’m a sucker for the found family trope, but this book had TOO many coincidences for me to fully enjoy it. Also, the ages of the MC h and her love interest weren’t very clear to me, nor was when this story takes place. Cars and trains and such, but somehow it seemed old-timey almost. Maybe that’s just Ireland in the present and I don’t know it since I don’t live there. 🤷‍♀️ Also, the “magical money” at the LAST second was a stretch.Trigger warnings: attempted suicide by drowning that was thwart...

3.5 stars

Should you read this? ABSOLUTELY. But also ... maybe not? It's complicated.B̷R̷I̷N̷G̷ ✨ 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗪 ✨ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷First things first - a year and a half ago I read another by this author, The Irish Nanny. And I LOVED IT. It was in my Top Ten of the year, y'all. See below:From my review in August of 2021: I'm new to Sandy Taylor as an author but I will definitely be looking up her backlist because I just genuinely LOVED reading this book. Her writing erased the world around me and had me totally...

This book is the sweet, easy going love child
Of later Maeve Binchy books and a Hallmark movie special. Everyone gets a happy ending, all the priests and nuns are wise and kind, everyone slighted is forgiving, and nothing too complex is dwelled on to ruin the taste of Happily Ever After.

52book challenge : Dublin

not my taste

Novel is like eating apple cake for every meal every day, you just get tired of the same sweetness every meal. Supposedly historical fiction but really just Pollyanna fiction.

Mary Kate Ryan had lived with her grandparents on Tanner's Row in Dublin since her mother had abandoned them all when she was a baby, and when first her grandmother, then grandfather died and she no longer had a home, she felt lost and alone. The boarding houses she went to were dingy and dirty, nothing felt right anymore. The day she received a letter from a solicitor, her life changed - the money that was now hers saw Mary Kate buy a beautiful old home that had been left to ruin. Mary Kate had...

I’ve often found that people who grow up with very little are the very ones who have gained the most from what life has to offer. Mary Kate Ryan is a perfect example of someone who had empty pockets but not an empty mind. When her circumstances changed due to an unexpected inheritance, Mary Kate could have chosen to keep it all to herself. Instead, she reaches out to the less fortunate. Living in abhorrent conditions herself, Mary Kate knows all about the horrors of low-income living. Using the ...

Mary Kate Ryan was abandoned by her mother as a baby and was brought up by her grandparents. But when they died, she was on her own and ended up going from one boarding house to another. With no money and her future looking glum she decides that she wants to end her life in the local river. But someone must be looking down on her. She is contacted by a solicitor Mr Renson, telling her that the mother who abandoned her all of them years ago has died and left her an inheritance. She first doesn’t ...

What a wonderful book. This book was lovely. The writing was in such an easy reading style, it was the perfect way to spend a couple of evenings before bed.Sandy Taylor created such warm characters, that you instantly liked and rooted for immediately. The setting of 1950s Dublin was so interesting, and really made me want to revisit the vibrant city and learn more about it's history.Then comes the drama. The family secrets thread that unfolds is shocking and dramatic and utterly compelling.A ter...

What a beautiful story of kindness, hope and second chances! I simply adored The Irish Boarding House set in 1950s Dublin. This is the first novel of Sandy Taylor’s I have read but it won’t be my last. She captured my attention from the first page. I absolutely love her writing style. There is a real warmth in the tone and care for her characters. It was so easy to slip into this uplifting story and get carried away by the drama that surrounds the life of Mary Kate. She is such an admirable pers...