This was a comfort reread during my cold - I haven't reread those book in a decade, I think. There was that amazingly long Kobo promotion of books being 40% off until this year and when you consider that these are three books, it worked for me to buy them even though I still own the paper copies. Aside: I should start getting rid of those (I wish we had English UBSes here, I hate throwing a book away even though we have paper recycling - but I'm the only person of my near acquaintance to read these genres in English and sending them off all over Germany is REALLY expensive) as my manga collection keeps growing and needs the space. This was NR doing paranormally touched contemporaries in Ireland. She hadn't touched Ireland as a setting for a contemporary romance series since the "Born In" books, which for me personally are the pinnacle of her pure contemporary single novel trilogies (i.e. not part of a category romance series, and no paranormal touch at all. Also no villains or supsense, just plain ole human relationship drama exquisitely done - you rarely get parents who have that much influence on a storyline in a NR book). Having just recently reread the Three Sisters Island books, which would probably one of the closest equivalents (there it is an island in front of the coast of Maine plus witches and their curse, here it is a very old Irish fishing village plus a fairy and his curse) for this trilogy, I find it fascinating to see that I usually like the first book and first couple best. Jewels of the Sun Jude Frances Murray is a competent shy psychologist dominated by her family into teaching at university, on the verge of nervous breakdown as the ongoing result of the break-up of her six-month old marriage months earlier.
Her family comes from Ardmore, the village whose characters, description and history are one of the most shiningly good bits of the whole trilogy - I am fairly confident in claiming that NR went to Ireland for this trilogy (and had gone there for the Born In trilogy as well). Her grandmother, who understands her best, has just inherited a small cottage from a cousin a bit older than herself who has died after a long, fairly content life.
Jude hasn't told her family that she won't go back to teaching but she's jumped at the chance of looking after the cottage (probably for half a year), to think of what she wants next and at least start a paper on family history and sagas of Ardmore and exploring how they are used as metaphors for all kinds of stuff.
Aidan Gallagher runs Ardmore's traditional pub with his brother Sean and Sister Darcy. Their parents raised the kids, but moved to Boston to help his uncle and have decided to stay there. All three Gallagher children are around 30 years old, I'd say - Aidan has seen the most. He went walkabout for a few years and has now come back and found that he likes Ardmore and Gallagher's best.
The basic set-up is that he just thinks Jude is cute and shy. But she blossoms in the village, due to becoming friends with Darcy and her childhood bosom buddy Brianna McGee and many others in the village - and while she is blooming he can't take his eyes off her.
I love some of Nora's idiosyncratic descriptions. I wish she had more space for them. After this book they become less *sigh*. It's an especially fun quote because good music is a large part of the series.
She sang, mostly to keep herself from screaming every time she came to one of the circles on the highway that the Irish cheerfully called roundabouts. Her brain would fizzle, she’d forget her left from her right, visualize plowing the Volvo into half a dozen innocent bystanders, and belt out whatever tune jumped into her terrified brain.On the route south from Dublin to County Waterford, she shouted show tunes, roared out Irish pub songs, and at a narrow escape outside the town of Carlow, screeched out the chorus of “Brown Sugar” loud enough to make Mick Jagger wince.
4 stars
The Fairy-Tale Part: Fairy Prince Carrick fell in love with farmers daughter Gwen 300 years ago, for real. Three times he offered her jewels as a symbol for his feelings, but her father had betrothed her to a human and because he never offered her the words of his love, she doubted and then it was too late. So before she died he cursed her to stay in the cottage (where Jude now lives) until three couples had accepted each other and only then they would see each other again (... go with it, the fact that everyone else is quite happily dying and lying in the ground with their loved ones going on to Christian afterlife - presumably, and that the ghost of Gwen wanders around weeping - and in the last book actually being pretty commonsensical, until she is reunited with Carrick.... well no one said NR was a master fantasy worldbuilder)
Tears of the Moon
Brenna O'Toole is one of the most happy of jack-of-all-trades craftsmen I've ever come across in a NR novel and the oldest daughter of five. She works together with her dad in their small building and repairing business and has grown up with the Gallagher children. In the first book it was clear she had feelings for Sean for years (he's five years older then her) but in this volume she manages to think a good bout of sex would get it out of her system. She's a go-getter and can't understand why full-throttle after whatever you want isn't the default for everyone.
I loved the way her family, especially her younger sister and her mother played into this story.
Sean Gallgher (whom NR spelled Shawn for whatever reason) is the idea image of the sensitive musician and poet, steeped in the music of his country and never feeling the need to be anywhere else. He is nourished here, and in a nice twist he earns his money by cooking traditional dishes to such a quality that the Gallagher pub is not only famous for its sessions of folk music, but his food.
His music is deeply private and will be one of the major bones between him and Bree, when she finally makes a move on him and he opens his eyes to the attraction that has simmered between them for years.
This is three stars:
Heart of the Sea
I truly enjoyed the visits with the other two couples, the way everyone dealt with Jude's pregnancy (and the way Aidan always calls her Jude Frances), the way the Gallaghers themselves discussed the new opportunities for themselves and their pub, the descriptions of the building of the new theatre and what it looks like. Trevor's parents in the few memories and phone calls we get are lovely, so is Mr. Riley and Brenna's dad.
I cheered for Darcy and her drive and sexuality not being demonised at the start - but that surely is turned around at the end of the story to artificially lengthen the Big Mis between her and Trevor.
Trevor seemed to be cautious, a caring perfectionist who valued family as both extremes had been shown to him in his own family group and driven to succeed in whatever project he really engaged in.
He becomes mule-headed (which I could understand in the case of Carrick and Grace becoming pushy), but I really HATED when his jealousy led to him basically turning Darcy's usual behaviour into an accusation of her as a whore (although not in those words) and that, although of them had the warning story of Carrick and Gwen explained to them and talked with both of them, they STILL both decided to manipulate the other into loving them, instead of putting their hearts on the line and just confessing their love.
For half the book this was four stars, then it fell beck to 1.5 stars, to end at 2 stars. Hence the overall three stars.
