The Luck and Love of the Irish
Sometimes a girl just needs to get away—to encounter new faces in new places—to take time away from the old same-old, same-old. When Assistant DA Joann McCallister did her job well—proving beyond a shadow of a doubt in the jury’s eyes that inmate Ricky Mendoza—a member of the Escarra drug cartel who was currently imprisoned on drug related charges of trying to move a few dozen kilos of heroine over the Colorado-New Mexico border—had tried to shive a fellow inmate, Joann’s evidence and arguments had led to new charges. Those charges amended his current drug related sentence with the addition of 10 years—just when Ricky was anticipating his release—and now, some of Ricky’s friends wanted to “reward” her for her cleverness in front of the jury. And the “reward” for a job well done was to suggest that Joanne, dark-haired and petite—barely over 5 feet tall with shapely curves—needed a vacation and definitely a career refocus—at least that’s what the nice man in the van parked beside her small car suggested when he grabbed her by the throat.
So Joanne, a smart lawyer who with her deep brown eyes could read the message—in her assailant’s words, and also read it in the visible bruising on her neck—that a vacation might be appropriate. And with an accumulation of six weeks of time available plus a little more when combined with holidays of the upcoming holiday of Thanksgiving, she consults with her medical examiner older sister who agrees that now would be a perfect time for Joann to journey to their estranged father’s birthplace in Sandy Cove, Ireland, to check on the sisters’ inherited property—their grandmother’s house. And recently, the sisters had been contacted by a Dublin solicitor with an unsought offer from an unidentified buyer. A working vacation for lawyer and property owner, Joann, might be just what the assailant ordered. And so, Joann packs her bags and heads to the airport, anticipating a few restful weeks at her grandmother’s cottage while investigating who might want to purchase the property, and why the buyer’s identity was not revealed.
After arriving at the Dublin Airport, Joann Ubers to the small town of Sandy Cove where she settles in at her grandmother’s cottage, which still holds the same appearance and coziness as it had when she and sister Jolene had visited as children. And while the caretakers had stocked the fridge, she decides to make her way across the road to the local pub, McCarthy’s, which had been once owned by a relative. After reacquainting herself with the Irish pub fare and brew, she heads back across the road to her grandmother’s cottage, only to almost be hit by a car turning into the adjoining parking area an OB/GYN clinic which was operated by three doctors, all brothers. And, when the driver of the now parked car observes her enter her cottage, follows her across the street not just questioning her sobriety, having just left the pub, but also challenging her right to enter the McAllister cottage, the handsome but infuriating man sets off Joann’s temper. Upon learning Joann’s identity and rightful claim to the property, the tall, broad green-eyed, redheaded man introduces himself as Ronan O’Neill, one of the doctors at the clinic across the street. And, while not revealed to Joann, Ronan is concerned that his unfortunate first encounter with her, one of the two owners, might have ruined everything—he and his brothers are the “unnamed party” who are seeking to purchase the cottage and surrounding property to turn it into a woman’s shelter to assist women, who like many of the clinic’s patients, need a safe place to claim shelter for themselves and their children from the abusive men in their lives.
KC Crowne’s continues the story of the McCallister sisters, Jolene and Joann, introduced in the Doctors of Denver romance series. Now, we follow younger sister Joann to Ireland as she sorts out her family’s past and property holdings only to discover her own future in the green eyes of a redheaded Irish doctor.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review, but I also bought a copy and will enjoy reading it again.