I’m very torn about how to rate this one, I really enjoyed the story but had a few issues with the structure of the story that kept this from being a perfect story for me. I tore through it because I love stories of Ireland and I found Moira to be so endearing and I was so invested in what happened to her.
When she arrives in Ireland, the mystery of her mother’s life and why she left Ireland for America was so compelling. There were good clues along the way and how that story unravels is both interesting and slightly stress as was her fish out of water adventure to learn the language and customs of her new home. I appreciated the word of God being used so liberally and effectively throughout.
I had some small issues with the clarity of the language at times, Gaelic is quite hard and there wasn’t always clear definitions or descriptions in the text itself. There was a glossary but in the text would have been helpful the first time a word or phrase came up would have been helpful.
But my major issue was that I struggled with the quickness of the changes in relationships between the characters there are a few times where friends quickly turn to enemies and vice versa. Emotions were very intense and easily changeable and that seemed like more a YA-type approach than I had anticipated going into this novel. They felt like teenage emotions and these characters were reported as older than that, perhaps it was just small town life but I found it really annoying and perhaps disingenuous. That rankled me a little bit at times, but I could see where it had its role in the plot. So as long as you’re aware of that going in and it’s not a bug bear for you then those parts may not bother you as much as they did me.
Overall a charming story of small town Ireland with a fun toe dip into the lore of magic of the land. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.
I read this one as a buddy read with my grandmother, as her family is from Donegal. She hasn’t finished yet but I’ll post her review when she does. What was your last buddy read?
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