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A review by elspethm
Irish Kiss by Sienna Blake
4.0
I randomly read this book for a romance challenge where I needed to read an Irish romance and ended up loving this one, for the most part. Saoirse was a 13 year old neglected child who ended up in the wrong place the wrong time and got arrested for being left with someone else's drugs. Her police representative, Diarmud ends up finding a kindred spirit in Saorise and they end up spending lots of time together in a brotherly/sisterly way until of course life gets in the way. Diarmud's girlfriend tries to keep them apart and Saoirse is outed as being in love with Diarmud by her. Ava convinces Diarmud to marry her by pretending to be pregnant. Diarmud marries and moves to be a responsible parent, and isn't able to stay in touch with Saoirse.
3 years later they meet up again in a different city and they end up with anther police related connection which causes them to have a different sort of relationship now that Saorise is almost 18, but Diarmud is still married (though separated). Saoirse's father and his illegal businesses as well as Diarmud's job and his (ex-) wife conspire to keep them apart even though they are clearly meant to be together.
Diarmud spends f o r e v e r fighting against his love for Saoirse which gets a bit old. The conflicts of Ava randomly coming back into his life and blackmailing Saorise to stay away, Saoirse's father and his connections, as well as and the police issues are to be expected and don't take away from the book and their relationship but I felt the ending was a bit underwhelming - it was as if Blake kind of tacked on an ending rather than it flowing well from the rest of the story. But I will take a HEA wherever I can get it.
This book of course reminded me of [b:Birthday Girl|39555142|Birthday Girl|Penelope Douglas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1523361696l/39555142._SY75_.jpg|61165395] and [b:Don't Kiss the Bride|56894372|Don't Kiss the Bride|Carian Cole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1612072360l/56894372._SY75_.jpg|86253591] because of the age gap and younger mature woman, but it also reminded me of [b:The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever|110387|The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever (Bevelstoke, #1)|Julia Quinn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1274212433l/110387._SY75_.jpg|1790570] in that Saoirse has always loved Diarmud and she has to fight his psyche in order to get him for herself. Frankly, I don't remember Diarmud ever saying "I love you" while Turner in Miranda Cheever finally does.
I loved the backbone of the story being an Irish folk tale about the selkie and their relationship being based in giving up everything for each other. It really made it that much more romantic, and of course heart wrenching for Saoirse, who had to be on her own and without Diarmud for 3 years in high school and a year in college.
All in all , I loved the characters and the only drawbacks that made it more of a 4.5 rating than a 5 are Ava, the ex-wife coming back into the story over and over, and the random tacked on ending. But I'm happy Saoirse and Diarmud had their HEA. I couldn't believe this was a 7 ? book series. It seems like in each one Blake tries to attack a different romance trope/taboo which aren't necessarily all interesting to me, but I may read a couple more just because I liked Diarmud's friends and I hope Diarmud and Saoirse are mentioned in the future books :)
3 years later they meet up again in a different city and they end up with anther police related connection which causes them to have a different sort of relationship now that Saorise is almost 18, but Diarmud is still married (though separated). Saoirse's father and his illegal businesses as well as Diarmud's job and his (ex-) wife conspire to keep them apart even though they are clearly meant to be together.
Diarmud spends f o r e v e r fighting against his love for Saoirse which gets a bit old. The conflicts of Ava randomly coming back into his life and blackmailing Saorise to stay away, Saoirse's father and his connections, as well as and the police issues are to be expected and don't take away from the book and their relationship but I felt the ending was a bit underwhelming - it was as if Blake kind of tacked on an ending rather than it flowing well from the rest of the story. But I will take a HEA wherever I can get it.
This book of course reminded me of [b:Birthday Girl|39555142|Birthday Girl|Penelope Douglas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1523361696l/39555142._SY75_.jpg|61165395] and [b:Don't Kiss the Bride|56894372|Don't Kiss the Bride|Carian Cole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1612072360l/56894372._SY75_.jpg|86253591] because of the age gap and younger mature woman, but it also reminded me of [b:The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever|110387|The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever (Bevelstoke, #1)|Julia Quinn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1274212433l/110387._SY75_.jpg|1790570] in that Saoirse has always loved Diarmud and she has to fight his psyche in order to get him for herself. Frankly, I don't remember Diarmud ever saying "I love you" while Turner in Miranda Cheever finally does.
I loved the backbone of the story being an Irish folk tale about the selkie and their relationship being based in giving up everything for each other. It really made it that much more romantic, and of course heart wrenching for Saoirse, who had to be on her own and without Diarmud for 3 years in high school and a year in college.
All in all , I loved the characters and the only drawbacks that made it more of a 4.5 rating than a 5 are Ava, the ex-wife coming back into the story over and over, and the random tacked on ending. But I'm happy Saoirse and Diarmud had their HEA. I couldn't believe this was a 7 ? book series. It seems like in each one Blake tries to attack a different romance trope/taboo which aren't necessarily all interesting to me, but I may read a couple more just because I liked Diarmud's friends and I hope Diarmud and Saoirse are mentioned in the future books :)