(SPOILERS) The Lady of Galway Manor by Jennifer Deibel

Book Synopsis:

In 1920, Annabeth De Lacy's father is appointed landlord of Galway Parish in Ireland. Bored without all the trappings of the British Court, Annabeth convinces her father to arrange an apprenticeship for her with the Jennings family--descendants of the creator of the famed Claddagh Ring.

Stephen Jennings longs to do anything other than run his family's jewelry shop. Having had his heart broken, he no longer believes in love and is weary of peddling the ÒliesÓ the Claddagh Ring promises.

Meanwhile, as the war for Irish independence gains strength, many locals resent the De Lacys and decide to take things into their own hands to display their displeasure. As events take a dangerous turn for Annabeth and her family, she and Stephen begin to see that perhaps the "other side" isn't quite as barbaric and uncultured as they'd been led to believe--and that the bonds of friendship, love, and loyalty are only made stronger when put through the refiner's fire.

My Review:

3/5 stars. I had high hopes for this book. I love historical fiction, I love Ireland (I've never been but it's at the top of my bucket list), and the premise sounded intriguing. Unfortunately, while the vibes were lovely and the main characters were enjoyable, this story did not live up to my expectations. The biggest sign I wasn't going to enjoy it was how long it was taking me to get through. It took me over a month to read this. The pacing was fine, but the story was a bit predictable and didn't hold my attention.

One thing I did enjoy was, as mentioned, the setting. I loved the small Irish town with a fish and chips shop, and the bar where they danced to Irish folk music. I wished we could've seen more of the setting. I also liked the main characters for the most part. They both had flaws, but you could understand why each of them thought the way they did.

The Christian elements were also nice. They weren't central, but they were woven in a bit, like characters saying quick prayers or thinking about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. I would have liked more, though, so that it didn't feel as abrupt when faith content did come up.

Now I'll move on to the things I didn't like, though. The first tiny thing that stood out to me in a negative way was what I'll call Irenglish. There were little bits of Irish words replacing English words, such as old becoming auld. It wasn't frequent enough to be an consistent writing style choice, but it was in there enough times to be noticeable. I know this is nitpicky, but I wasn't a fan.

The romance, despite being the main plot, was lackluster. It felt a bit like insta-love. They're immediately attracted to each other, which I can understand, but then they're both in love with each other soon after that. I wanted more from them, but Stephen was too brooding and closed off most of the time for there to be many substantial interactions.

Similarly, the ending romantic resolution was simultaneously dragged out and rushed. Leading up to it, there was so much annoying back and forth with "Stephen loves her," "Anna loves him," "He wants to marry her, but she can't," "she wants to marry him, but now he can't," "oh, we can now." I wanted them to just get to the resolution already. Then, when it finally happened, it only took about a page and a half and then the book ended immediately (excluding the epilogue).

Before that, there was some frustrating miscommunication. Stephen's whole arc throughout the book is that he was scorned once before and now doesn't believe in love (which is also a very cliche plot). But then Anna makes him rethink everything and be open to love again. He proposes, and she says she can't because she's already accepted an engagement. Then, before she even has any time to explain that it was out of obligation, Stephen storms off and immediately goes back to his old "love is a sham" ways, undoing all that character growth.

Another unrealistic element was how caricatured each side of the Irish vs British battle was. Besides the believes of the two main characters, which I will recognize had nuance, the opposing sides were so one-note. Anna's father hates Irish people and thinks they're uncivilized scum; Stephen and the Irish rebels hate the British because they invade their home and try to change them. The Irish were more valid in their opinions, but there was still no nuance.

Finally, my last criticism is another one related to Anna's father. His character growth came out of nowhere. He went from hating the Irish the whole book and getting so angry when Stephen proposed to suddenly being okay with the proposal and being a playful, happy grandfather in the epilogue. I understand his family lost everything and that probably changed his perspective, but we never saw that or got inside his head enough for it to be a believable change.

Content:

Language: None

Sexual Content: Closeness, touches, thinking about/wanting to be close, kisses (lips, hands, neck, and shoulder) but nothing detailed

Violence/Gore: Mentions of death, a housefire, minor injuries, an angry mob tries to attack

Drugs/Alcohol: Smoking cigars, drinking