Portobello Book Blog

I’m pleased to be sharing my review for Sisters of Willow House by Susanne O’Leary. The book is the second in the Sandy Cove series and is available now as an e-book. My thanks to Noelle at Bookouture for inviting me to take part in the tour and for providing a review copy of the book.

Sisters of Willow House is a gentle and enjoyable story. The sisters of the title are Roisin and Maeve. Roisin and her husband Cian are at a bit of a crossroads in their relationship. At a relatively young age, they have sold their business making quite a lot of money in the process and their sons at all at boarding school. To be honest, they are both a little lost with no real idea what to do with their lives. Cian decides to fulfil an ambition of his, one which Maeve does not share. Instead, she goes to help her sister renovate Willow House, a rambling old house in Kerry which belongs to their aunt. While there she begins to question her marriage and what she wants in life.

I enjoyed the setting of the south west of Ireland and could easily imagine walking on the beautiful, windswept beaches and walking in the hills. When I was reading this was when we had quite violent overnight thunderstorms in mid-July so the description of the really wild storm that struck seemed all too real!

Roisin was a character who I warmed to. I liked her determination to persuade the builders that they really did need to get a move on with renovations. She did make some mistakes in her friendship with journalist Declan but it was really naivety and all spiralled a bit out of control. Olga the Russian plumber is worthy of a mention with her mistakes with the English language raising a smile on more than one occasion! I also really liked Maeve and the lovely relationship she had with her husband Paschal. I believe the first book in this series, Secrets of Willow House, focused on her.

Sisters of Willow House is about family and friendship and deciding what matters in life. It is a sweet and heart-warming read. I said above that it is the second in a series. I’m not sure if it is actually planned to be a series but I hope that the author will write more as I would like to know what happens next for the sisters, their aunt and Willow House.

Buying Links         

Amazon: https://geni.us/B07R5PW856Social

Apple Books: https://apple.co/2V68drY

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2Vz4Itj

Googleplay: http://ow.ly/sLIR30oAhM0

From the back of the book

A heart-warming novel about the bond between sisters, set along Ireland’s windswept shores, where romance beckons and secrets unfold…

Roisin McKenna and her husband Cian are taking time apart. Unsure of what she wants, Roisin’s prayers are answered when she receives a call from her sister Maeve who is desperate for her help.

Roisin heads to Sandy Cove to help Maeve restore their aunt’s gorgeous tumbledown mansion Willow House and soon all she has time to focus on are its crumbling walls. Despite a shocking announcement from Maeve and hidden secrets in the house’s rafters, Roisin begins to feel a sense of self she’s been missing for years.

The ties that bind Roisin to her husband seem to be unfurling in the Irish wind, when she unexpectedly stumbles into a mysterious man on the beach. Suddenly, she’s swept up in the idea of another life she could lead…

The restoration may have brought the sisters back together, but as a storm rolls over the coast Roisin feels sure she must make a choice. Will her time at Willow House teach her the precious lessons she needs to return home or has the cove called to her in ways she’d never imagined it could?

Fans of Sheila O’Flanagan, Debbie Macomber and Mary Alice Monroe will be swept away by Sandy Cove.

About the author

Susanne O’Leary is the bestselling author of fifteen novels, mainly in the romantic fiction genre. She has also written three crime novels and two in the historical fiction genre. She has been the wife of a diplomat (still is), a fitness teacher and a translator. She now writes full-time from either of two locations, a ramshackle house in County Tipperary, Ireland or a little cottage overlooking the Atlantic in Dingle, County Kerry. When she is not scaling the mountains of said counties (including MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, featured in Full Irish), or keeping fit in the local gym, she keeps writing, producing a book every six months.

Visit Susanne at her website, http://www.susanne-oleary.co.uk  or her blog, http://bit.ly/11F4e4S 
Find her on Facebook, http://on.fb.me/1A2NAbr and on Twitter, http://bit.ly/1rH67dK