ARC Review: Love and Blarney (Ballybeg #2) by Zara Keane

Married in Manhattan…
Ruairí MacCarthy abandoned his life in New York to deal with a family crisis in Ireland. Twelve months later, he’s traded his three-piece suits and Wall Street career for jeans and a job managing his family’s pub in Ballybeg. When his estranged wife bursts back into his life looking for reconciliation, Ruairí must decide if home is where the heart is.

…True Love in Ballybeg.
Jayme King wants Ruairí back. She’s prepared to battle sheep, floods, and crazy Irish in-laws to get him. Discovering he lied about his past was a shock, but Jayme’s had months come to terms with the betrayal. Letting Ruairí go was the biggest mistake of her life. Can she persuade him to return to America and give their marriage a second chance?

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What I thought about Love and Blarney

I'm falling in love with this series in a big way. Not only are the characters and their stories interesting and less formulaic than most of the other romances I've read, I feel like I've been transported to a small seaside town in Ireland every time I read one. It's like a mini-vacation in a book, and really, what's better than that?

In Love and Blarney, the story centers around Ruairí MacCarthy, local pub owner. Years ago, he left Ballybeg for New York, thinking he'd never return. But now he's back to take care of the pub and some pressing family issues.

Ruairí has some loose ends to clean up.  For one, he's left behind a wife in New York that no one knows about.  He's never told her details about his family, and both of his worlds collide when Jayme shows up in Ballybeg in a last effort to see if their marriage can be saved. 

But before that can happen, they both have secrets they need to share with each other, and Ballybeg is a perfect setting for that to take place.

This story had many elements that I really enjoyed.  The main characters are thirty-something established professionals. They have to make some tough decisions about their lives. Their path back to each other is sweetly romantic as it's clear that both Ruairí and Jayme are still in love with each other. It all becomes a question of whether love is enough to trump all of the circumstances and past history and give them a second chance.


If you like contemporary romance, give this series a read, I think you might like it. Love and Blarney can be read as a standalone.  This is quickly becoming one of my favorite series of 2014.

Can't wait for the next installment! 

This is my honest review. I may have received this book from Netgalley, Edelweiss, a publisher, an author, a promoter or purchased it. How I obtained the book has no bearing on my review rating.