Review by alyssajanel13 -- House of Eire by June Gillam
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Review by alyssajanel13 -- House of Eire by June Gillam
[Following is a volunteer review of "House of Eire" by June Gillam.]
A second chance for a dream honeymoon in enchanted Ireland is scattered to the Gaelic winds when a wife and mother finds herself entangled with a villain worse than any mythical monster. This is a charming story with lush imagery and well-paced suspense. The author deftly winds California and Dubin, history and present, reality and dream worlds as she unwinds a story of family, romance and mystery.
House of E’ire: A Hillary Broome Novel by June Gillam is a charming tale of writer Hillary Broome as she travels to Ireland with her husband, daughter and family friend for a much needed vacation for exploring and relaxing. The ladies take up the bulk of the adventure, traveling from city to city, bed and breakfast to pub, and church to town as they explore the land of Hillary’s ancestry. They all learn that although the country is green and magical, there is an ugly history of famine, political cruelty and devastation. The twists come as Hillary tries to connect with her friend Bridget, navigating Irish business hurtles. Days into the trip, Bridget drops out of touch and secrets spill. There are underground dealings of a false front property investment, a sham fiancee and a real danger from this world beyond the world of the pixies and fairies. After an unexpected death, possibly a murder, Hillary has a new mission. The danger they all thought was a fable appears in front of them. This risk is worse than poppets and pixies. Evil becomes real and all the women are reaching for a four-leaf clover for luck and protection. Hillary has to be stronger for herself and her family than she ever thought possible, as another death visits before they leave the Emerald Isle.
Gillam puts out a simple, clear story with lots of heart and so much to enjoy. The settings are gorgeous and the prose and descriptions follow that pattern. Phrases like “flying into dawn’s pink fingers” is one example of her beautiful pen. And I love this character of Hillary. A mother who eats things she loves, thinks about her extra weight but doesn’t dwell on it, and who will drive herself and her family across a new country with noting more than a AAA map is my kind of protagonist. She is a loving mother, but tough, overcoming her own family’s dark places that still haunt her. And handling her daughter’s hair crisis? I was sweating, this suspense scene was written so well. This is definitely the kind of woman I want to step off the page and into my life and have a Guinness with me.
There are some things I would love to see Gillam work through as she grows as a writer. There is a leaning on exposition, characters talking on the phone, over a counter or at a bar about events of the plot that happened, that could be more interesting and engaging. I’d rather see these things happen, rather than hearing characters talk about them. There is some skipping around at points, such as a chapter progressing for pages when all of a sudden a new name is introduced, and it turns out this new character has been at the table from the start but was never introduced. These lapses can be confusing. The author also tries to invoke colloquial and folksy Irish charm by including at random phonetically spelled words (i.e “Jaysus” for “Jesus”.)
This always feels like an amateur writing choice and she doesn’t need it here. My last issue was the 4 times a certain American president’s name was included as a comparative for a brutal business man. This was something I definitely could do without when I’m trying to escape to verdant Ireland.
This was a very solid and capable 3 out of 4 star book. There was gorgeous imagery and well-crafted characters to follow along on a suspenseful journey. Only the overly simplistic dialogue and some plot extreme coincidental kept me from loving it completely. Any fan of strong-female mystery stories will enjoy this, as well as romance fans. It’s a lovely story that stands well on its own in this series. Definitely a book to recommend.
******
House of Eire
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
A second chance for a dream honeymoon in enchanted Ireland is scattered to the Gaelic winds when a wife and mother finds herself entangled with a villain worse than any mythical monster. This is a charming story with lush imagery and well-paced suspense. The author deftly winds California and Dubin, history and present, reality and dream worlds as she unwinds a story of family, romance and mystery.
House of E’ire: A Hillary Broome Novel by June Gillam is a charming tale of writer Hillary Broome as she travels to Ireland with her husband, daughter and family friend for a much needed vacation for exploring and relaxing. The ladies take up the bulk of the adventure, traveling from city to city, bed and breakfast to pub, and church to town as they explore the land of Hillary’s ancestry. They all learn that although the country is green and magical, there is an ugly history of famine, political cruelty and devastation. The twists come as Hillary tries to connect with her friend Bridget, navigating Irish business hurtles. Days into the trip, Bridget drops out of touch and secrets spill. There are underground dealings of a false front property investment, a sham fiancee and a real danger from this world beyond the world of the pixies and fairies. After an unexpected death, possibly a murder, Hillary has a new mission. The danger they all thought was a fable appears in front of them. This risk is worse than poppets and pixies. Evil becomes real and all the women are reaching for a four-leaf clover for luck and protection. Hillary has to be stronger for herself and her family than she ever thought possible, as another death visits before they leave the Emerald Isle.
Gillam puts out a simple, clear story with lots of heart and so much to enjoy. The settings are gorgeous and the prose and descriptions follow that pattern. Phrases like “flying into dawn’s pink fingers” is one example of her beautiful pen. And I love this character of Hillary. A mother who eats things she loves, thinks about her extra weight but doesn’t dwell on it, and who will drive herself and her family across a new country with noting more than a AAA map is my kind of protagonist. She is a loving mother, but tough, overcoming her own family’s dark places that still haunt her. And handling her daughter’s hair crisis? I was sweating, this suspense scene was written so well. This is definitely the kind of woman I want to step off the page and into my life and have a Guinness with me.
There are some things I would love to see Gillam work through as she grows as a writer. There is a leaning on exposition, characters talking on the phone, over a counter or at a bar about events of the plot that happened, that could be more interesting and engaging. I’d rather see these things happen, rather than hearing characters talk about them. There is some skipping around at points, such as a chapter progressing for pages when all of a sudden a new name is introduced, and it turns out this new character has been at the table from the start but was never introduced. These lapses can be confusing. The author also tries to invoke colloquial and folksy Irish charm by including at random phonetically spelled words (i.e “Jaysus” for “Jesus”.)
This always feels like an amateur writing choice and she doesn’t need it here. My last issue was the 4 times a certain American president’s name was included as a comparative for a brutal business man. This was something I definitely could do without when I’m trying to escape to verdant Ireland.
This was a very solid and capable 3 out of 4 star book. There was gorgeous imagery and well-crafted characters to follow along on a suspenseful journey. Only the overly simplistic dialogue and some plot extreme coincidental kept me from loving it completely. Any fan of strong-female mystery stories will enjoy this, as well as romance fans. It’s a lovely story that stands well on its own in this series. Definitely a book to recommend.
******
House of Eire
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas
