Rather disappointing. The sex is good, the rest not so much. ( )

When her great-aunt dies and unexpectedly leaves her everything, Grace flies to Dublin to sort out the estate and sell her aunt's flower shop. Alone because her bestie cancelled last minute, she intended to get the shop sold and everything sorted as quickly as possible, fit in a small amount of sight seeing, and be back at work in a week. Work is her life and this trip is just an annoyance she can't avoid.



Stepping off the pavement to take a photo, forgetting the cars are on the other side of the road, Grace causes a fiery redhead to drive into a bollard, and so set the scene for a less than friendly relationship with her realtor, Kerry. There is clearly more to the tension that a buckled bumper though, and as the story unfolds Grace gets to see how much the flower shop means to the local community. While she feels some guilt about the lost jobs and impact on Kerry’s family, ultimately Grace has every intention of cutting and running - just as soon as she has kissed an Irish girl.



This is a light and fun romance. The characters are endearing; Kerry’s family and the locals take Grace to their hearts in the way of welcoming small villages, especially as they loved her aunt. Grace is the archetypal workaholic who comes to realise some things are just more important. And along the way we learn a little of her great-aunt’s life and the impact the young Grace had on her when they met years earlier.



We get a great insight into the workings of a small Irish village, different in feel from so many American ‘Small Town’ tales, and the author clearly loved both the atmosphere, the community and the countryside as it is drawn with loving care. The village and surrounds play an important part in the story, grounding and solidifying the characters and sense of belonging, Kerry is very much a part of her landscape.



Ultimately of course the story is one of girl meets girl, resists because it's only a week, gives in and then we suffer the angst of whether they can make it work, how it will resolve. Its a very traditional tale, but with enough of a spin to make it feel original and engaging. The angst is real enough, without being too overdone, the attraction is palpable and there is a lot of very hot sex… after all it can only ever be a week long fling.



Kris Bryant always seems to find something new to say and a new way to say it, taking a very simple story and making it original and engaging. Definitely an enjoyable summer read. ( )

I liked a lot of this book, except for a few parts that really, really annoyed me.

Grace is a creative director of an ad agency in Dallas who is quite the workaholic. Her Aunt has passed in Ireland, leaving her flower shop to Grace. But Grace cannot figure out why at first. Her first meeting with Kerry is quite an explosive meeting as well.

Kerry is the real estate agent who is assigned to the flower shop that that Grace can sell it.

They don't really get on at first, for a bunch of reasons, but slowly they do get closer, but they have a humongous hurdle to get over. Grace lives (and her life is in) Dallas, and Kerry's life and family is in Ireland. So neither are really sure if they should start something that appears to have no way to flourish.

I liked the characters for the most part (would have loved to see more of Morgan, Grace's best friend) and the romance was well paced. But, honestly, the 'Oh my, how backwards and stupid are those in the US' schtick got really tedious. It was harped on repeatedly. The author doesn't have to go over and over that so many times. I get it. Irish are perfect in every way and the US are all idiots. The other thing that drove me crazy was how many times it was either implied or said outright that Grace was wrong to want to work hard at her job and have responsibilities other than her family. Again, we were bashed over the head with it repeatedly.

I have more complex emotions about the ending than usual for a lesbian romance than usual too. I knew that something along the lines of what was going to happen had to happen, and for the most part I guess it was okay, but, I guess how I read the middle of the novel impacted the fact that I didn't totally love the ending either.

It wasn't a bad novel at all, but, I do think that some of it wasn't my style/speed.

I got this ARC through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. ( )