If you're in the mood for a tender love story with a holiday theme, you might enjoy The Hopeful Romantic, Book 3 of the Village of Ballydara series!
Kerry McCormack, a young
Dublin wife and mother, dreams of trading her cubicle-bound job for a simpler
life. After years of a satisfying marriage, she’s grown apart from her husband Stephen,
the strong, silent type whose practical nature masks his longing for a close
family. Unresolved grief is only
creating more distance between them…just as a dilemma from Kerry’s past suddenly
comes to light.
When Kerry accepts an
unexpected invitation from an old friend of Stephen’s—a friend she once
fancied— to have an American Thanksgiving weekend in the little village of Ballydara, she’s
anticipating an idyllic family holiday with free-spirited Will and his family. Yet
the grief shadowing her makes her a little too susceptible to Will’s charm.
He’s the catalyst that exposes long-buried secrets between Kerry and Stephen,
and the regrets that haunt them both.
As Kerry’s hopes for love
and following her dreams are turned upside down, she wonders: will she have the
courage for a fresh start?
Here's brief excerpt:
Every fix I’ve gotten myself into, every eejit thing I’ve ever done, is
because of my fatal flaw—I’m a hopeless romantic. And just look where it’s got
me.
I gazed at the snowy pasture from the kitchen window, huddled in
Stephen’s old work coat, the one item of his I’d taken with me when I’d left
Dublin three days ago. Okay, there was the ring too—the new gem-studded wedding
band Stephen had surprised me with last month. He’d given it to me over the
holiday we’d spent with our friend Will, when everything had changed. Well,
more like…imploded. But I couldn’t quite go there. Not today. Not on Christmas
Eve.
I rubbed my bare ring finger with my thumb. Why I thought of the ring
as Stephen’s…I’d never felt such a flashy piece of jewelry belonged to me, even
though he’d had Kerry, Forever,
engraved on the inside—such a sentimental gesture for such a prosaic guy. Out
of respect, I’d kept wearing the ring, even after he left. But I’d not worn it
since arriving here at the farm. I’d put the ring into a saucer next to the
kitchen sink and there it had stayed. I would try not to look at it, but
invariably, my eyes would be drawn to the flash of sparkle against the
countertop. Whether my ring was mocking me or guilt-tripping me, I wasn’t sure.
You may ask, why wear a posh wedding band anyway, after your husband
says we need a break? Exactly. But the bigger question was,
what had possessed me to come to the farm at all? On the spur of the moment,
I’d decided that staying here for a few days would be like a…well, a
mini-retreat. On my own, without distractions, I’d find the answers to all my
problems. Instead, following this rash, madzer impulse, I’d gotten myself
completely stranded. Which is where my fatal flaw comes in…
Available at Amazon, Nook, iBooks and Kobo... You'll find more Irish stories at www.susancolleenbrowne.com!
