This is book 2 in the "Song of Erin" story and picks up where book one (Cloth of Heaven) leaves off. It is really one big story, written in two different books. And the author does a great job of continuing the story and also of wrapping it up and ending it well. It takes place in the 1800's and is a story of love, hope, courage and redemption. It centers around 4 people: Jack Kane, a man who runs a powerful publishing empire in New York (and is an Irish immigrant), his younger brother, Brady Kane, who follows his heart to Ireland, but can never seem to get his life in order. Then there is Samantha Harte, who guards her heart from Jack, but finds it to be a battle, and finally Terese Sheridan, who falls dangerously ill on her tortuous journey to America. These four lives will weave their story together and tell a tale of what it was like for immigrants and people of Irish descent in those days. A story of secrets and lies, but also how the Lord can change hearts and turns things out for His good and His glory.

The author did a great job of making you think you were there, in the land of Ireland and in the city of New York and feel the culture and the way things were. It was for me a captivating story, that I had a hard time not thinking about when I wasn't reading. ( )

This book continues the story of 2 brothers who had immigrated from Ireland as children. I think it's a great book for those who think they are "too far gone" for Jesus to save them. I really enjoyed this. ( )

"Wear it to America," Jane had said of the ring. "Wear it...and remember me and the Claddagh... Remember Ireland. For Ireland is not only where you come from, Terese Sheridan—Ireland is what you are."

An unlikely group of people are essentially tied together from across the ocean in the mid-1800s. Prejudice, poverty, and seemingly impossible dreams are only some of the challenges they face in an Irish-American saga that continues in Ashes and Lace, a novel by author BJ Hoff.

This second half of the Song of Erin series is fittingly dramatic with characters that make themselves memorable. The story that began in Cloth of Heaven comes into more of its richness here. But I'll confess that, as was the case in the first novel, much of the reading here felt like a setup for something else, to me. It took me quite a while to reconcile myself to it: "This isn't a setup leading to a story. This is the story." There's a certain redundancy in a lot of it, as the author has a way of saying much at times while barely saying anything new. Still, she'll say it in such a stirring way that you can't be too bothered by it.

However, I did eventually become a little bothered by the overuse of italics. And my main concern was with a plot theme that I've never much cared for in ChristFic romance: "I'm so in love but can't marry him/her because he/she isn't a Christian." It muddies the characters' emotions and motives so that I never fully trust them. And while characters may need to get down to the nitty-gritty of their inner darkness to show their need for God, casting them in such a compellingly negative light doesn't make them prime romantic characters to me. It makes me feel like they need more time to grow and figure out who they are before they turn their focus toward marrying somebody else.

Still, I did enjoy the fitting drama and richness of this moving saga. And given that this author did also write the absolutely magnificent American Anthem, I've every intention of reading more from her in the future. ( )