Review of House of Eire

[Kirsi Cultrera]

[Following is a volunteer review of "House of Eire" by June Gillam.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Have you ever dreamed of a faraway place you have only seen in pictures and maybe in your dreams? Our protagonist, Hillary Broome, has long wanted to visit Ireland, this mystical land of rich history, magical folklore, and ghost stories. She might live in California, but her family's ancestors came from Ireland, and the moment has finally arrived for her to see it. She is heading from California's blazing heat to Ireland's green pastures for a belated honeymoon with her husband, Ed. Her daughter Claire and her friend Sarah will travel along. The girls plan to explore the green island while Ed attends a work-related conference. Hillary also looks forward to meeting Bridget, her friend from Galway, Ireland, in person. Until now, she has mainly existed via video chats on Hillary's computer screen.

Hillary, Ed, Claire, and Sarah start their Ireland tour from Dublin. They enjoy their time sightseeing and exploring their whereabouts. They have scheduled to reach Galway and meet Bridget later, but quite unexpectedly, things take a strange turn. For some reason, Bridget is not picking up her phone, and Hillary fears she might be in trouble. Bridget's mention of receiving some threatening messages starts haunting her. Unfortunately, Hillary is about to discover that the reality can be much worse than the ghost stories her daughter Claire loves so much. Suddenly, unanswered questions are floating in the air. Who is Bridget's mysterious boyfriend, Seamus? Can he be trusted? And what has the murky American investor building a theme park in Ireland to do with Seamus or Bridget? Why can't Hillary reach Bridget?

House of Eire: A Hillary Broome Novel by June Gillam mixes Irish folklore and ghost stories into a thrilling mystery, spicing up the mixture with rich Irish history and well-crafted characters. House of Eire is the third book in the series, but one can easily read it as a stand-alone. One of the most outstanding features of this book was the plot of this story. I utterly enjoyed the abrupt plot twists and the element of surprise; there was no way of guessing what would lurk around the next corner.

On the other hand, no matter how surprising they were, the events moved too slowly for my taste. Instead of swiftly proceeding to the next unexpected plot twist, the author took her time and dedicated a lot of space to describing Hillary's fears and emotional reactions to the situations she faced. Unfortunately, Hillary's feelings and reactions felt unrealistic, and I had trouble connecting with her. Overall, the author was quite capable of creating good characters. It was unfortunate that I couldn't connect with Hillary; this naturally affected my enjoyment of the story.

My favorite character in this book was Sarah. She was an older lady with slight moving problems and pains here and there. However, she refused to give up on those hindrances! I know quite a few ladies with a similar mindset, and her appearance made me smile. Another character worth mentioning is Hillary's daughter, Claire. Following little Claire's antics was enlightening. The author succeeded in describing the mental landscape of a six-year-old. For example, I could not stop laughing at her hair episode on the airplane; her long hair got stuck underneath the seat, and she freaked out when somebody mentioned scissors.

I award June Gillam's House of Eire a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. The mystery in this book was enjoyable and well-crafted. In addition, this book was exceptionally well edited. I found no errors in it. However, the story's slow pace and my slight problems with Hillary's character prevented me from giving it a full rating. Those who know Hillary Broome from the previous books and like her might feel differently. Therefore, I recommend this book primarily to readers who have already befriended this character. If you enjoyed the first few books of the series, you'll find this one enjoyable. In addition, readers who like thrilling, slow-building mysteries or detective stories will find this book enjoyable.

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House of Eire
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[Clare Jose]

I haven't read the other books in the series, but your review has intrigued me. As someone who enjoys mysteries, this seems like good choice for me.
Thank you for your review!

[The Keeper Jr]

The story is interesting. I do like mysteries and this one caught my interest. It seems like a real life situation, besides the other factors. Travelling to my dream places is also another reason I liked the book. Your review is great. I hope to get to read it one day.
Thank you!

[Kirsi Cultrera]

I haven't read the other books in the series, but your review has intrigued me. As someone who enjoys mysteries, this seems like good choice for me.
Thank you for your review!

In that case, this is definitely a good match for you. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment my review!

[Kirsi Cultrera]

The story is interesting. I do like mysteries and this one caught my interest. It seems like a real life situation, besides the other factors. Travelling to my dream places is also another reason I liked the book. Your review is great. I hope to get to read it one day.
Thank you!

Thank you for your kind words!