I'll Be Home for Christmas

Nice story with interesting characters. Made me want to live on Roone. Well written and a good yarn to curl up with by the fire.

Seventeen year old Tilly boards a plane bound for Ireland 3 days before Christmas to try and find a sister that she has never met and who does not know of Tilly's existence. She lies to her adopted parents about where she is going and she has a secret that no-one knows.

Laura is stressed she is recovering from cancer, her demanding, critical mother in law is coming to stay and she has five young children to look after, so when on Christmas day there is a knock on the door and a stranger is standing there saying that she is her sister she is knocked sideways.

The island of Roone however always weaves its magic and it is great to be back there with the old characters. I loved this book like all of Roisin Meaney's books they are so full of great characters and true Irish storytelling.

I loved this book! It took me a bit to get into it but once I did, I was hooked. So many stories with the details slowly unfolding throughout the book and keeping you in suspense! I loved the setting and really felt transported to Ireland. I think the book ended pretty well with most of the stories tied up nicely but I'd be dying to catch a sequel and find out what happens next when Tilly comes back and find out if John Smith was made to pay for his nastiness!!

It is a fine seasoning for joy to think of those we love.
-Moliere

During the holiday season, our thoughts are on our love ones and friends. We season and nurture our relationships with tokens of appreciation, and well-wishes. The books released this month definitely focus on these heartwarming themes. So after your marathon weeks of cooking, cleaning, shopping and wrapping presents, treat yourself. Pour your favorite libation –eggnog, Irish Cream, glass of wine, or even a sweetly satisfying mug of hot chocolate and be prepared to laugh and cry. There is a perfect book listed here just for you.

I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Roisin Meaney

It's three days before Christmas ...

Tilly boards a plane on the other side of the world. She's determined to reach Roone, a small island off the west coast of Ireland, in time for Christmas Day. Tilly carries a troubling secret and Laura, a woman she's never met, might be the only one who can help her.

Except that Laura has no idea that Tilly exists. And with five children, a mother-in-law stranded on the island and a husband with whom she's barely on speaking terms, an unexpected guest is the Christmas present she's not expecting ...

A storm is heading for the island, but will peace be restored before the snow melts?

Strengths: Multi-faceted characters; Complex familial relationships; Holiday theme; Uplifting ending Measure of Love: Teaspoon Introspection Level: Medium Thoughts: Authentic scenarios, and genuine characters faced with complex situations make this a delightful holiday read.

A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton

In the tradition of Memoirs of a Geisha and The Piano Teacher, a heart-wrenching debut novel of family, forgiveness, and the exquisite pain of love When Amaterasu Takahashi opens the door of her Philadelphia home to a badly scarred man claiming to be her grandson, she doesn’t believe him. Her grandson and her daughter, Yuko, perished nearly forty years ago during the bombing of Nagasaki. But the man carries with him a collection of sealed private letters that open a Pandora’s Box of family secrets Ama had sworn to leave behind when she fled Japan. She is forced to confront her memories of the years before the war: of the daughter she tried too hard to protect and the love affair that would drive them apart, and even further back, to the long, sake-pouring nights at a hostess bar where Ama first learned that a soft heart was a dangerous thing. Will Ama allow herself to believe in a miracle?

Strengths: Unique premise; Complex characters; Historical element; Uplifting ending Measure of Love: Dash Introspection Level: High Thoughts: A riveting counterpointe view of the bombing of Nagasaki. Touching reunion.

Seafront Tearoom by Jennifer Greene

The Seafront Tearoom is an insider secret in small-town Scarborough – a beach-front haven with the best tea and cakes in town – and journalist Charlie Harrison would love to put it on the map with a feature in her magazine. But single mom Kat Murray doesn’t want to see her favorite sanctuary overrun by tourists, and begs Charlie to seek out other options. She offers her help, as a “tea obsessive,” and so does French au pair Séraphine Moreau, whose upbringing makes her a connoisseur of everything sweet and indulgent.

Together the three women will scour the countryside for quaint hideaways and hidden gems, sharing along the way their secrets, disappointments, and dreams—and discovering that friendship, like tea, takes time to steep. But learning too that once you open your heart, the possibilities are endless.

Strengths: Rewarding friendships; Intrepid heroines; life changing events; Uplifting ending Measure of Love: Teaspoon Introspection Level: Medium Thoughts: Very much a feel good story!

The Wedding Tree by Robin Wells

Hope Stevens thinks Wedding Tree, Louisiana, will be the perfect place to sort out her life and all the mistakes she’s made. Plus, it will give her the chance to help her free-spirited grandmother, Adelaide, sort through her things before moving into assisted living.

Spending the summer in the quaint town, Hope begins to discover that Adelaide has made some mistakes of her own. And as they go through her belongings, her grandmother recalls the wartime romance that left her torn between two men and haunted by a bone-chilling secret. Now she wants Hope’s help in uncovering the truth before it’s too late.

Filled with colorful characters, The Wedding Tree is an emotionally riveting story about passion, shattered dreams, unexpected renewal and forgiveness—not only for others, but for ourselves.

Strengths: Second chance at love; Knotty ethical dilemmas; Historical element; Uplifting ending Measure of Love: Teaspoon Introspection Level: Medium Thoughts: Heartwarming story of our resiliency and ability to love again.

Girls Who Travel by Nicole Trivilas

There are many reasons women shouldn’t travel alone. But as foul-mouthed, sweet-toothed Kika Shores knows, there are many more reasons why they should. After all, most women want a lot more out of life than just having fun. Kika, for one, wants to experience the world.

But ever since she returned from her yearlong backpacking tour, she’s been steeped in misery, battling rush hour with all the other suits. Getting back on the road is all she wants. So when she’s offered a nanny job in London – the land of Cadbury Cream Eggs – she’s happy at the prospect of going back overseas and getting paid for it. But as she’s about to discover, the most exhilarating adventures can happen when you stay in one place…

Strengths: Free-spirited heroine; Twenty-something vocational dilemmas; Diverse mate prospects; Uplifting Ending Measure of Love: Teaspoon Introspection Level: Medium Thoughts: Very appealing heroine facing multiple life choices!

The Bette Davis Club by Jane Lotter

The morning of her niece’s wedding, Margo Just drinks a double martini and contemplates the many mistakes she’s made in her fifty-odd years of life. Spending three decades in love with a wonderful but unattainable man is pretty high up on her list of missteps, as is a long line of unsuccessful love affairs accompanied by a seemingly endless supply of delicious cocktails.

When the young bride flees—taking with her a family heirloom and leaving behind six hundred bewildered guests—her mother offers Margo fifty grand to retrieve her spoiled brat of a daughter and the invaluable property she stole. So, together with the bride’s jilted and justifiably crabby fiancé, Margo sets out in a borrowed 1955 red MG on a cross-country chase. Along the way, none of what she discovers will be quite what she expected. But it might be exactly what she’s been seeking all along.

Strengths: Mature heroine; Entertaining road trip premise; Humorous dysfunctional family; Uplifting ending;
Measure of Love: Dash Introspection Level: Medium Thoughts: Plenty of hijinks abound!

Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister

The acid-tongued Dorothy Parker is back and haunting the halls of the Algonquin with her piercing wit, audacious voice, and unexpectedly tender wisdom.

Heavenly peace? No, thank you. Dorothy Parker would rather wander the famous halls of the Algonquin Hotel, drink in hand, searching for someone, anyone, who will keep her company on this side of eternity.

After forty years she thinks she’s found the perfect candidate in Ted Shriver, a brilliant literary voice of the 1970s, silenced early in a promising career by a devastating plagiarism scandal. Now a prickly recluse, he hides away in the old hotel slowly dying of cancer, which he refuses to treat. If she can just convince him to sign the infamous guestbook of Percy Coates, Dorothy Parker might be able to persuade the jaded writer to spurn the white light with her. Ted, however, might be the only person living or dead who’s more stubborn than Parker, and he rejects her proposal outright.

When a young, ambitious TV producer, Norah Wolfe, enters the hotel in search of Ted Shriver, Parker sees another opportunity to get what she wants. Instead, she and Norah manage to uncover such startling secrets about Ted’s past that the future changes for all of them.

Strengths: Entertaining storyline; Droll humor; Engaging Characters; Uplifting ending Measure of Love: Dash Introspection Level: Low Thoughts: Great book for fans of Dorothy Parker. And if you haven't heard of Dorothy Parker, this is great introduction to her witty persona!

***

Learn more about the books mentioned in this post:
I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Roisin Meaney A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton Seafront Tearoom by Jennifer Greene The Wedding Tree by Robin Wells Girls Who Travel by Nicole Trivilas The Bette Davis Club by Jane Lotter Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister

I've never read any of Roisin Meaney's books before but as she was compared to Maeve Binchey I thought I would enjoy this and I wasn't wrong. This is a lovely story of Tilly coming from Australia to meet the sister she has only just found out exists. There are a wonderful cast of characters and Roisin Meaney really captures the atmosphere of that Christmas on the island of Roone. I loved this book and will be looking for more of her books. Thanks to Netgallery for giving me the chance to read & review this book

It's Christmas and we're back on Roone for a third time. I will never ever tire of reading about Roone and it's inhabitants. The magic of this Island seems to just seep through every single page and it has really captured my heart!

Christmas is a stressful time anyway but with 5 kids and a mother in law Laura is really finding it hard. I really enjoyed reading the story from Laura's point of view. We were so used to Nell (whom I also loved) so this was a breathe of frosty Christmas air!

As snarky as Laura's mother in law was I actually loved that she was in this story. She waltzes around in a Hyacinth Bucket (it's bouquet!) fashion making demands and complaining even when her every whim was met! She was a real character and she gave the story a bit of an edge.

On the far side of the world Tilly is boarding a plane hoping to find a sister she's never met and who has no idea she's coming. I really felt for Tilly. She just feels lost, like she doesn't belong anywhere and she hopes that this journey will allow her to find herself.

The story moves back and forth between between the two and the pace slowly builds as the two come closer and closer to meeting. I actually held my breathe my breathe the first time Tilly knocks on the door at Roone.

This was such an immersive story that is full of the lovable unforgettable characters that Roisin always seems be able to create. This book regularly kept me reading till the late hours of the morning. I felt it really captured Ireland and the warmth of our hospitality.

Even though this is the third book set on Roone it could easily be read as a stand alone. Little details are slipped in here and there to give you history of Roone's delightful inhabitants!

As always I highly recommend this book. It highlights the importance of family and friends. Especially at this festive time of year.

Oh, what a book. I so enjoyed I'll Be Home for Christmas.

It is a wonderful tale of two sisters that had never known that the other existed. That was until, while working on a school project, Tilly discovers that she is not only adopted, but has a sister in Ireland.

This is a touching tale showing the bonds of family and how far reaching they can be. And you might not even the most invisible ones mean more to someone else.

I received this copy of I'll Be Home for Christmas by Roisin Meaney from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was expecting this to be just another soppy Christmas romance story, but it's so much more than that! Christmas themed books are sometimes looked down on and dismissed (sometimes unfairly) as nothing more than a 'fluffy' read, but this book has a good storyline with lots of heart and I enjoyed it immensely.

A heartwarming 3.5 stars.

Absolutely wonderful! I so enjoyed this book and was sad when it came to an end. This is a new author for me and I'm thrilled to see she has written a lot of other books. I'm now going to read the two books that preceded this one and can't wait. Highly recommended, intelligent women's fiction.

Over the past few years I have been attracted to Roisin Meaney books when I have spotted them in various Kindle sales, and then unfortunately I have forgotten to start reading them, and so my collection for the author has grown until this book.

I'll Be Home For Christmas is the first Roisin Meaney I have read, and all I can say is I'm so glad I have a stock pile of others to read already, as I need to read more from this fabulous author. This was obviously also my first trip to Roone Island, and I can see why I've seen people raving about the location. There is just something special about this tiny island off the west coast of Ireland, that draws visitors and readers into it.

I'll Be Home For Christmas can definitely be read as a standalone book, I am guessing at what was background info from the previous books, and felt like I knew more than enough to get a good idea of what may have happened. However the main focus of this book is on Laura's family.

Laura has five children, one husband, a menagerie of farm animals, and is recovering from Cancer. She also has her mother in law visiting just before Christmas. Between some awful weather conditions, she last thing she wants or needs is her mother in law stuck on the island for Christmas, and then on Christmas day she gets a surprise visitor.

Tilly had boarded a plane, from Australia, via Singapore and London, to Ireland,three days before Christmas to meet a woman she has never met, and doesn't know that Tilly exists.

The book alternates viewpoints between Laura's and Tilly, and from Tilly's early story we see a lot of kindness of strangers, and some fabulous examples of that famous Irish hospitality.

This is a story of warmth towards everyone, and also of families, of all kinds. Adoptive families, birth parents, extended family and also features some lovely children. Laura's twin girls and Poppy, are all utterly adorable, and Laura although clearly stressed, and scared, is someone who we get to know in great detail. And see her thoughts on the new arrival, and then on other occurrences to the family, and on Roone Island.

I got a great feeling for the island of Roone, and its fabulous community spirit. I think if I was to read the other books set their I would get a stronger feeling of its beauty, which is harder to tell in winter.

I'll Be Home For Christmas is a truly remarkable book, set over the Christmas period. It isn't the sort of book that will make you run out and want to put the tree up early, but it is, a heart warming tale, that you won't want to put down.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hatchette Ireland for this review copy. This was my honest opinion.

Laura has plenty to contend with this Christmas, with five children, a husband who barely acknowledges her presence and a mother-in-law who’s become stranded on their little island off the coast of Ireland, it’s all she can do not to pull her own hair out by the roots. It’s safe to say that a surprise visitor is the last thing she needs. Tilly has left her home behind just before Christmas. She’s looking to find the island of Roone…..and Laura. Laura has no idea that Tilly even exists, but she’s about to get the surprise of her life. Written with Meaney’s deft hand and her deep understanding of Ireland and her people, this is a beautiful story about family that’s no to be missed