Everytime I read a book by Carmel Harrington I am astounded both by the story and by how beautifully written it is. Every word in her prose is essential to the story, although her books are on the longish side, there's not one part of them that you might want to fast read or skip because it doesn't add anything to the story. Every word, every paragraph is valuable and important. Wow, such a skill!
The story and the characters are precious (yes, even the ones who are not very agreeable) and I just didn't want this book to finish. Can'twait for the next one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. The characters were all great and the descriptions of New Zealand were so good that I could see the scenery in my head. A wonderful book. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

One of my favourite authors! This was a lovely read. I did find Sheila hard to read at times but that means she was very realistic. You'd avoid her in real life! And as we understood her more, my sympathy grew. I loved all the characters as well as the two settings. An engrossing read with a perfect ending.

This is the first book I have read by Carmel Harrington, I will definately read more.

This was all about family relationships.

A heartwarming book with quite a difficult topic very well written.

📚 Book Review 📚 A Mothers Heart By Carmel Harrington -
🗓Publication Date - 26th May 2022

❤️📚 This is the 2nd book I have read by Carmel. Loved this one just as much as the last!

You know that feeling… when you get in bed and it’s fresh sheets, when it’s freezing outside and you get home and it’s all cosy. That’s exactly what Carmel’s books make me feel like …. ❤️

Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand
While Rachel Butler likes her life in a pretty Dublin coastal village, her heart lies in Hawke’s Bay, where she grew up. Visiting for the first time since tragedy tore her family apart, she and her stepchildren fall for its beauty and outdoor lifestyle.

Malahide, Ireland
As Rachel picks up the threads of her life as a single parent, she can’t shake off the memories of her loving family in New Zealand – and her dream house, the villa on the bay. But it’s time to move forwards with their life in Ireland, close to the children’s grandparents, amid the familiar surroundings they all know well.

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This is a book that pulls on the heartstrings.
Rachel is a step-mother to Olivia and Dylan, their tragedy begins when they first lose their mother but then they lose their father and Rachel becomes not a step-mom but a father aswell.
Thinks get complicated with so many grandparents involved in the story but Rachel is determined to make this a strong and happy home.

A Mother's Heart, story about a mother who is at logger heads with the children's maternal grandparents. Majority of the story builds up to this tension between all charcters however when it comes to a head instead of the expected explosives it is rather emotional and relieving.

Where do I even begin with my review of this fabulous book. It’s a book that will stay with me for a very long time. I absolutely loved it. It has everything I need in a book. Family relationships, trials and tribulations of being a parent, plenty of tears but also some laughs along the way. Carmel Harrington is fast becoming one of my favourite female authors and I just love her writing style. A massive 5⭐️ read for me.

How perceived slights left to fester can cause rifts in a family, especially when children are involved. Rachel has lost her husband, Lorcan and officially adopted his children, whom they reared together. Lorcan's parents are unhappy about this, fearing she will move away to be near her own parents. Well-drawn characters (not all of them likeable) and a plot with surprise twists towards the end make this a moving read. Loved it just as much as The Moon over Kilmore Bay.

All families are complicated. But when you throw in bereavement, adoption and emigration it gets really complicated.

When Rachael’s husband Lorcan died suddenly he had already asked her to adopt his two children who were left motherless when their birth mum died unexpectedly. The adoption is approved but then the children’s maternal grandmother decides she needs to fight for the legal right to stay in her grandchildren’s lives.

This is a beautifully written novel, dealing with some complicated issues. As a reader you can empathise with all of the characters and the heartache they are facing.

Never in Rachel's wildest dreams did she imagine that after marrying Lorcan who was a widower with two children she would end up being a single parent. Rachel loves the children as her own and they call her mom but she has fierce opposition from their birth mother's parents.

Rachel has lived in Dublin village since marrying Lorcan but a recent holiday to her hometown in New Zealand has proved to her how much she misses her own parents and her sister. She hasn't made many friends in Dublin. She has very little contact with her in-laws and the children's other grandmother is making her life hell.
When the children unwittingly tell their grandmother that Rachel was looking at a house for sale in New Zealand, well, life for Rachel is going to get much much harder.

What a good read this was. As an avid reader I usually think I can guess what will happen after a few chapters of a book. Who will fall in love with who etc. Not in this book, I was totally wrong in nearly everything I guessed on.
This is quite a roller coaster of a read. I worried for Rachel all through the book. She was surrounded by love by her family in New Zealand but back in Dublin her life seemed to be so lonely except for the children who are sweethearts.
I understood how much she needed her own family around her but I also ( as a grandmother myself) understood how much the children's maternal grandparents would miss them if they went to New Zealand especially after losing their daughter.
Shelia the grandmother went about things the wrong way and only she could fix them.
There were lovely descriptions in this book especially the ones about the stars. It has me looking up at the sky at night and thinking.
All the characters were likable in their own way. I especially liked Rachel and her family and Jack.
I just love Carmel's books and have a hard job putting them down.

Rachel Butler grew up with her mother Annie, father Joe and her beloved sister Claudia in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. As this story starts she is visiting her family with her two stepchildren, after both of their biological parents had died, Niamh soon after her baby son was born five years earlier and Rachel’s husband Lorcan who had died a year ago. They are having a whale of a time together but soon it will be time to fly across the world to their home in Malahide, a scenic little village near Dublin. Despite their lovely home there, Rachel is lonely in Ireland without her husband Lorcan, and misses her family in Hawke’s Bay.
Now back home in Malahide, Rachel balances her time as a single parent between her children and her online fledgling and blossoming clothing business. She thinks about Lorcan and hopes he would be proud of her. Then her solicitor and Lorcan’s good friend brings her some good news. Before he died Lorcan had initiated the process of making Rachel an adoptive mother to his children and now the solicitor tells her the paperwork is completed. She quickly organised a celebratory party including all three sets of Grandparents. Sheila and Adrian, Niamh’s parents and the children’s biological grandparents who lived very close to their grandchildren, Belinda and Oscar, Lorca’s parents, also biological grandparents and Annie and Joe, Rachel’s parents, the children’s adoptive grandparents. Rachel is very excited to include her family in New Zealand, arranging the time of their online presence.
Sadly the party is a total washout. Sheila is incensed and incredibly tactless. She has never liked Rachel and now she wants to have shared custody of her grandchildren. She sets the ball rolling by engaging a solicitor and threatening Rachel that she will challenge the adoption and seek justice for her daughter Niamh. She will not budge and starts interfering with Rachel’s plans, belittling her and undermining her authority. What happens next is truly heartbreaking, and yes, I cried a mother’s tears as my empathy and compassion for Rachel was consolidated, I thought she was a wonderful, caring and loving mother, full of patience.
I am going to wax lyrical about this engaging and authentic story about a blended family, their triumphs and setbacks. The storytelling was exceptionally good. Carmel’s descriptions of life in New Zealand were superb and I had no problems visualising the stunning scenery of Hawke’s Bay. I loved the characters, but Rachel and her lovely children were my favourites. I disliked Sheila to begin with because she was so forthright and meddling, causing Rachel no end of problems. But as the story developed I began to understand her a little more. I thought the busy storyboard was absolutely stuffed with interesting material: emotion, drama, disappointment, shocks and closely guarded ugly and devastating secrets that finally turned the story up-side-down. There was tension, mystery, poignancy and lots of family love.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher HarperCollins through my membership of NetGalley. Thank you so much for my copy. These are my own honest opinions without any outside influences. This is an exceptionally good read and an all-round 5* review from me. I recommend this novel as unmissable and I thought Rachel was a Saint.

This is an emotional read about a very complex family with Rachel at the centre, split between her adored stepchildren whom she’s the sole parent of, both sets of their grandparents and Rachel’s own parents and sister who a separated by half a world. Rachel is exceptionally kind and considerate of her children and their grandparents, understanding that they are all grieving and struggling even whilst she’s still reeling from the death of her beloved husband too. This is very much a character story with the family split by fear of losing each other and the various reactions are so well portrayed. Overall this is a really well considered family read with some fantastic characters.

What a story! I am not a mother - like Rachel I never wanted children and I wondered whether I would enjoy this story. NZ and Ireland are my two favourie places to read about so this one hit some buttons. But I did. I found it a bit of a disconcerting read as I waited for what was bound to happen. And I found the ending a bit too perfect. But it was very well written and the characters were well developed with a good mix of lovely and horrid and in betweeners too. This is the second book by Carmel Harrington that I have read and reviewed for NetGalley and I tihnk it is the time to look into her back catalogue. .

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

An Absolutely Beautifully Written Book.

What I loved about it was, how Carmel wrote about Rachel abc the relationship between Olivia and Dylan, her two children, as well as the grandparents, all three of them, Annie & Joe, Sheila & Adrian and Belinda & Oscar. They all live and adore the children and want to see them in their lives.

I just couldn’t put it down. The story will make you laugh and cry. There is some twists and it’s packed of family drama.

I highly recommend this book.

A Mother's Heart by Carmel Harrington

A first time read by this author. I can't believe I haven't read one of her books before .
A roller coaster of emotions as we follow Rachel and her step children Dylan and Olivia.
A recent widow , she decided to take them back to the place she was born and bred up in , but others close to them have other ideas.

A heartwarming and heartbraking book of family life.

Thank you to #NetGalley for my advance copy of #AMother’sHeart by #CarmelHarrington
Whenever I pick up a book by Carmel I make sure I’m not going to be disturbed. It’s like falling into a comfy sofa.
You know that you are going to be totally engrossed within minutes and only emerge for coffee and custard creams.
This is the story of Rachel and her two gorgeous children Olivia and Dylan and what happens when family’s get their wires crossed.
Be warned you will cry (well I did🥲🥲🥲).
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️