Smiling Irish by Katy Regnery

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Title: Smiling Irish
Author: Katy Regnery
Series: The Summerhaven Trio #2
Published by: Indie
Release Date: April 1st 2018
Format: eARC
Pages: 280
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Source: the author
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound
My rating:

Blurb:

Tierney Haven and Burr O’Leary come from completely different worlds…

…but there’s a reason they say “opposites attract.”

Bookish Tierney Haven has always preferred places to people, and she especially loves the peace and quiet of Moonstone Manor, an estate museum located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where she is head docent, chief historian and live-in caretaker. The very last thing she expects to find on the doorstep at midnight is bruised and bloodied stranger, Burr O’Leary, in desperate need of her help.

Against her better judgement and at the risk of her brothers’ wrath, Tierney offers Burr sanctuary at Moonstone Manor, and nurses him back to health, surprised to discover that the dashing, enigmatic stranger loves the history and peace of Moonstone as much as she. But Burr has a dark history, and those who hurt him will stop at nothing to eliminate him...placing Tierney in grave danger until he is well enough to find them first.

My Review:

I received a free copy through the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

3.5 stars — This one started off really strong, I was loving how Tierney and Burr met and how their relationship developed.  But somewhere along the way, my mood changed and it became harder to concentrate on this book.  I’m not convinced it was the book in this case, more like I was just too distracted.  It had all the makings of another hit by Ms. Regnery for me, so I guess I’ll have to reread it later to see how I really feel.

I had a hard time turning off my brain and just getting into the flow of this one…  I kept noticing tiny little continuity errors, or I kept wondering about the STUPIDEST stuff, like what clothes was Burr wearing while he stayed with Tierney?  How did he pay for things?  Where did he live while undercover?  Why didn’t Tierney’s brothers freak out when her phone was broken?  What happened with the Vet?  See?  Seriously stupid stuff.  I feel like this always happens to me, where I start a book one day and everything is AWESOME, and then I go to bed, and I wake up as Mr. Hyde, and everything is different.  NOTHING CHANGED!  GAH!  I HATE IT!  And this has stopped being a review and more just a rant at my brain.

ANYWAYS.  Tierney was a very interesting character.  I really liked her, but I didn’t love her as I was expecting.  She had all the makings of a heroine that I would completely fall for: quiet, introverted, a bit of a loner, but sassy.  So I’m not sure what happened.  I think sometimes her emotions caught me off guard or something…like something didn’t quite fit.  But I can’t pinpoint it, so it could just be my mood.  But OMG, I loved how sassy she was!  Her little barbs here and there made me grin, I cheered during the spatula scene and with Burr’s Dad!  I loved that she was this mix of withdrawn but when pushed, she was strong.  I almost wanted a bit more with her brothers, b/c I really loved their interactions in the first book, but we did still get some.

Burr was a bit of a contradiction for me.  I felt like he started off one way and kind of morphed into something else.  But I don’t think that actually happened, I think he was just adjusting to being able to be himself again, you know?  Not having to be on guard all the time.  He ended up being pretty sensitive, and sweet, and I felt for what he was going through as his life went into an upheaval.  It was actually kind of an interesting storyline, and I loved what Ms. Regnery did with it (although I seriously have so many questions).

I LOVED the sweet romance and connection between Tierney and Burr, and I really felt their feelings and butterflies.  But for some reason I wasn’t all in on the steamy chemistry…don’t know why, it just didn’t hit me in the tummy as I was expecting.  And I will admit that for some reason their boneheadedness at the end bothered me more than usual.  I couldn’t believe how long it took them to figure shiznit out, and how someone else basically had to do it for them.  It’s a typical romance storyline, but for some reason it irked me this time.

See?  Now that looks negative.  But it wasn’t!  There were so many adorable interactions, and interesting plot elements…  I just had a hard time personally, but the things I loved I really loved, you know?  I will say I am super excited to read Ian’s story…I have some theories there, but not sure how those will play out.