Month: February 2022

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the Lady of Galway Manor, by Jennifer Deibel, 2022, Revell (Baker Publishing Group

the Lady of Galway ManorAn English lady falls in love with an Irish man in 1920 Galway.

Forbidden Love

Her father has been assigned the position of landlord and moved the family to dwell in the Irish manor. Lady Annabeth has lived the life of a titled daughter in England, and all that was entailed for her. That was actually quite a restricted life. She was expected to dress well, eat only the best foods, and do only those activities appropriate for one of her class. The expectations even went so far as who she could marry. So far, she’d received one proposal, from an older man who was also titled. He could give her a posh lifestyle, but could she learn to love him? He’d given her a year to answer.

As long as the family lived in England and their lives revolved in this society, it was normal to Annabeth. But here in Galway there were no other families like themselves to associate with. Seclusion in the manor was stifling. Her father, seeing her restlessness, took pity on her and arranged an apprenticeship with a jewelry maker.

The son of the jewelry maker was disillusioned with love. Selling rings to lovers only sickened him. He wanted out of the business. But then, along came Annabeth… You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens between them.

History

War between the Irish and the English has gone on for centuries. The Irish want independence; the British want to rule them. Annabeth had been taught quite a different view of the Irish from what she found out when she worked amongst them.

Deibel captures a bit of the history of the era in Galway, bringing it alive through this tale of forbidden love. I wonder if the story is anything like that of some of my own English and Irish mix of ancestors. By 1920 my father’s parents lived in Canada. Both of them were from a mix of English and Irish descent, so the history would go back pretty far. Could one of my own great great grandmothers have been an English lady who fell in love with an Irish man?

To find out more about the author, go to JENNIFERDEIBEL.COM. You can sign up for her newsletter and see what her plans are for future books.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me this beautiful paperback to read and review. I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is my unbiased review. See more books published by Revell at www.RevellBooks.com.

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This website is a participant in the Indigo Affiliates Program which allows it to earn commissions from Indigo if you make a purchase on indigo.ca after linking through this website. 5 for $25 Select Fiction Bargains (Ends March 28) Find this book at https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-lady-of-galway-manor/9780800738426-item.html?ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0#algoliaQueryId=4debc309a7ed35c3929f66a28927a700.

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Sisters, by Danielle Steel, 2008, Bantam Dell (Random House)

Sisterly Love

This book is about sisters, their mom, and their dogs. Very, very special relationships. A strong love like no other. Supporting and rooting for each other above all else.

Sisters

As you can see, this particular paperback has been well-loved. It was given to me by my son. He walked 10 kilometers to one of those little free libraries to find it for me, so he was glad to see me happily reading it.

As with the four sisters in this novel, my own sister is the closest person to me, and our mother was very dear to us. As did these sisters, we aspire to honor our mother and the love she had for us and our family.

Though each of these four sisters is very different, their strong, sacrificial love for each other is compelling. They are there for one another through thick and thin. Especially throughout this year of crises that they go through in this story.

The sisters actively support one another through death, blindness, fame, boyfriends, false relationships, rape, romance and dogs.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, in case you wish to read it. I recommend it for you if you can relate to sisterly love, or any type of family love. In the mix of the story are themes of death, blindness, fame, boyfriends, false relationships, rape, romance, and dogs.

Although it deals with heavy topics, I found it a light read, and read the 400 pages within a week. LOL incidents are sprinkled in for flavor. A particularly amusing bit for me, was when one of the sisters, who in her mid thirties has given up hope of finding a good man, meets a born-again Christian. He’s been divorced four times and has seven children. The caps on his teeth are the size of chicklets and he has a woven-in hairpiece. He keeps asking her if she’s found Jesus, and she wonders where he went, thinking ‘Hasn’t he been here all along?’. Hehe. Other amusing scenes center around other character descriptions and incidents, especially to do with the dogs.

Thanks, Nathaniel. I look forward to reading the other books you found for me too. As the mother in the story loved her four daughters, I love you and your brother. As this mother said, that their sisters were the best gift she could give her daughters, the best gift I could give you and Paul was each other.

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