#readingirelandmonth24 – Rosepoint Publishing

Netflix Movie Irish Wish – Holiday Themed #romcom – #readingirelandmonth24

Introduction

Just in time for the St Patrick’s Day holiday, Netflix releases their latest Lindsay Lohan offering. You may remember her for her most successful Netflix holiday rom-com, Falling for Christmas which earned her first Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes in ten years. This one won’t topple her record. Of course, I had to view it for one of my contributions to the annual #begorrathon and #ReadingIrelandMonth hosted yearly by Cathy at 746 Books.

Blurb

When the love of her life gets engaged to her friend, Maddie puts her feelings aside to be a bridesmaid at their wedding in Ireland. Days before the wedding, Maddie makes a spontaneous wish for true love, only to wake up as the bride-to-be.

My Thoughts

Lindsay Lohan photo courtesy Rotten Tomatoes

Madeline (Maddie) Kelly is in love with an author whose book she’s been editing, Paul Kennedy played by Alexander Vlahos.

Alexander Vlahos photo courtesy Rotten Tomatoes

She hasn’t shared that tidbit with her two best friends, only her mother, played by Jane Seymour. She is celebrating his book release party and hoping he’ll confess he feels the same for her. He doesn’t. No, he proposes she edits his next book and when she introduces her friends, there is an obvious connection between him and BFF Emma.

Killruddery House photo courtesy Netflix through House Beautiful

Yes, we rolled out the insta-love and ALL the clichés they could think of for this one! (I think the one that annoys me most is the suddenly clumsy persona.) And just like that, they are on their way to a destination wedding in Ireland, the “Kennedy House.” (The home is actually a historic private estate and working farm known as the Killruddery House and breathtakingly gorgeous.)

Ed Speleers photo courtesy Rotten Tomatoes

Okay, throw in all the usual silliness (including the aforementioned clumsiness), the introduction of James Thomas who will be the wedding photographer played by Ed Speleers. The scene with Saint Brigid is beautiful and I wondered at times if colors were enhanced or scenes graphically adjusted. It is, after all, a travelogue and they don’t miss much including Westport and the Cliffs of Moher.

Well, Saint Brigid worked her magic, but it doesn’t quite work as Maddie is soon to realize. As the priest said, she has a sense of humor…”She may not give you what you want, but she’ll always give you what you need.” In this case, another old saying comes to mind.

The movie also stars Jane Seymour, Elizabeth Tan, and Ayesha Curry, and is directed by Janeen Damian and written by Kirsten Hansen.

The critics have had a field day with this romp into unreality or fantasy borrowing from every slick production tried before. I loved the comments by top critic Kevin Maher Times (UK) who noted on Rotten Tomatoes, “It’s genuinely terrible, but also oddly watchable.” Due in no small part, I’m sure, to the cinematography.

Official Release Poster Irish Wish — Official release poster Irish Wish

I’m still scratching my head over the costume changes from smart, professional to hausfrau once she arrives in Ireland. Irish Wish What was that all about? I didn’t notice the other characters dressing down and for me stood in jarring contrast to the historic majesty of the estate in particular, if not to the support characters.

Rotten Tomatoes, by the way, as of this writing puts it at 35%, although that appears to be changing. Perhaps the viewing public is starved for a light-hearted trope. Indeed, it appears that just days after release the movie hit the Netflix top ten rankings. How long has it been since Netflix had a general change-up of their roster?

Perhaps I should mention that I’m not a fan of Lindsay Lohan, her level of acting in contrast to most of the rest of the notable cast, with some exceptions. If you are looking for a whimsy rom-com with fantasy overload and some adolescent dialogue, you may well enjoy this piece of fluff.

While I would agree Paul was not a good choice (don’t get me started on the would be mother-in-law), neither would I have said an itinerant photographer would be a solid choice. But then, I’m obviously looking on the practical side and I’m telling you, Saint Brigid or not, that couple couldn’t have worked either.

Kinda like the movie.

It’s out now and streaming on Netflix.

Attributes: House Beautiful
Rotten Tomatoes
Games Radar
imdb.com
Official Release Poster

No Strangers Here by Carlene O’Connor – #AudiobookReview – #ReadingIrelandMonth24

County Kerry Mystery #1

Book Blurb:

Set in Ireland’s striking, rugged countryside, USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor’s dark, atmospheric new crime fiction series combines the eerie atmosphere of Tana French and Louise Penny with the compulsively taut plotting of Dervla McTiernan and Lucy Foley, as an Irish veterinarian grapples with life, death, family dynamics, and the secrets at the heart of her small community…

On a rocky beach in the southwest of Ireland, the body of Jimmy O’Reilly, sixty-nine years old and dressed in a suit and his dancing shoes, is propped on a boulder, staring sightlessly out to sea. A cryptic message is spelled out next to the body with sixty-nine polished black stones and a discarded vial of deadly veterinarian medication lies nearby. Jimmy was a wealthy racehorse owner, known far and wide as The Dancing Man. In a town like Dingle, everyone knows a little something about everyone else. But dig a bit deeper, and there’s always much more to find. And when Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien is dispatched out of Killarney to lead the murder inquiry, he’s determined to unearth every last buried secret.

Dimpna Wilde hasn’t been home in years. As picturesque as Dingle may be for tourists in search of their roots and the perfect jumper, to her it means family drama and personal complications. In fairness, Dublin hasn’t worked out quite as she hoped either. Faced with a triple bombshell—her mother rumored to be in a relationship with Jimmy, her father’s dementia is escalating, and her brother is avoiding her calls—Dimpna moves back to clear her family of suspicion.

Despite plenty of other suspects, the guards are crawling over the Wildes. But the horse business can be a brutal one, and as Dimpna becomes more involved with her old acquaintances and haunts, the depth of lingering grudges becomes clear. Theft, extortion, jealousy and greed. As Dimpna takes over the family practice, she’s in a race with the detective inspector to uncover the dark, twisting truth, no matter how close to home it strikes…

My Review:

Oh good grief. You can’t say I’m not consistent. An author I’ve read many times, her cozy mysteries, an apparently gave one to the CE to read in June 2022.

This one.

No Strangers Here launches a series in which the author leaves her cozy mysteries and turns out a much darker story. And you can believe that the author can spin some pretty interesting tales!

Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien is back to lead the investigation into the murder of Jimmy O’Reilly in Dingle. Dr. Dimpna Wilde has returned to Dingle and the veterinarian quickly finds herself embroiled in the apparent murder owing to a possible connection to her family. Her father, also a veterinarian with a long-held practice is showing strong signs of dementia.

Wealthy racehorse owner Jimmy O’Reilly had quite the reputation for himself. He was quite the dapper dancer and the ladies loved it. Including Dimpna’s mother?

Along with a bird’s eye view of the beautiful tourist-drawing countryside and a well-rounded cadre of support characters, the narrative’s undercurrent reveals twists as the storyline progresses through each lead.

I reviewed Book 2 of the series, Some of Us Are Looking and really enjoyed it but I can’t find a Book 3 for this series. I found Book 1 to be a bit slower than the second, but as the start of a series, that’s not unusual. Dimpna has her problems, of course she does, but I found the novel about the Irish animal doctor engaging and either installment could be read as a standalone.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Women Sleuth Mysteries
Publisher: Recorded Books
ASIN: B0B8R282TK
Listening Length: 12 hrs 26 mins
Narrator: Emily O’Mahony
Publication Date: October 25, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: No Strangers Here [Amazon]

The Author: USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. She writes the bestselling IRISH VILLAGE MYSTERIES, the HOME TO IRELAND series, and the new COUNTY KERRY MYSTERIES. Her books have been translated into numerous languages, and optioned for television.

Readers can find her at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086525205106 or through her website: http://www.carleneoconnor.net

The Keeper of Secrets by Maria McDonald – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog