Susanne O'Leary

Virtual Strangers is a very interesting book from a number of perspectives.

As an author and a user of social networking platforms, I'm familiar with much of the subject matter in this book (except the murder!) I've indulged in `Authorspot' (Authonomy) and all the associated carry-on, compulsive networking, disreputable behaviour, virtual relationships and flame wars.

The alternating narrator style works well throughout this book. It's a team effort and the differing style of the co-authors show more makes for two very convincing main characters. There's a love-hate relationship between Annika and Seabee that is real.

I felt the impact of each murder or attack (not sure if I was the victim or the perpetrator though). I laughed as the weekend invitees scurried to get onto their computers in a last ditch attempt to curry favour with the ever-elusive publishers (social networking meets Agatha Christie). I urged Seabee to curb his excesses and prayed that Annika wouldn't get in too deep with Archie. The mix of romance, chick lit, murder and thriller provided by O'Leary and Zaltin satisfied my broad tastes. No surprise there, considering their respective backgrounds of widely published author and Wallander TV scriptwriter. It shows how yin and yang make a perfect balance. show less

Favorite Quotes:

Sylvia is pretending to turn eighty-five yet again and she wants it to be very special.

She had felt that she had to constantly prove that she was able to do even the simplest tasks with Hugh watching over her shoulder all the time. As if he was waiting for her to make a mistake in order to give him a chance to criticise.

She found it hugely amusing the way Sylvia always managed to turn doing something wrong into a virtue if it was in her own interest.

My Review:

I fell right show more into this tale and received a free trip to Ireland without having to experience the arduous travel or rainy weather. The writing style was easy to follow and engaging, and populated with characters who were realistically flawed and likable, even when I didn’t like what they were doing. I enjoyed the characters so much that I have amassed all the previous installments of the series and plan to indulge in the rest of the family secrets. show less

I picked this up after laughing at a blogpost written by the author. Since she entertained me there, it seemed a good bet that she'd entertain me in her novel too. It was a good call.

I rarely read romance, mainly because it seems to be necessary to the plot to have the woman behave in a way that would make me want to holler at her "NO NO NO! You're doing it AGAIN!" Still, I was determined just to enjoy a fun read (all my friends tell me romance novels are a great escape,) and this story show more delivered on that pretty well.

Maybe I'm just too practical to enjoy the machinations of a romance novel though. The story opens with Margo making her escape from her verbally abusive husband. Go Margo! The portrayal of how she ended up with the jerk was pretty realistic - a young, naive girl, flattered into an infatuation... it's a common setup, and well chosen because it happens so often in real life too.

But I guess on the rare occasion that I read a romance novel, I want the heroine to figure it out, even if in real life, women like this frequently do not, and end up dating the same kind of man, wash-rinse-repeat.

*Spoiler warning, don't click the spoiler if you don't want to know my objections to the ending. Seriously*

I was quite irritated that the resolution had her falling in love and getting together with another verbally abusive man. A smile and an oopsy does not make that man NOT verbally abusive, it just makes him quicker to go into the apology cycle. The ending that would have made me happy? "Sorry buddy, you used up your one chance to call me stupid. Sayonara!"

There were a couple of odd, dangling plotlines too: the storyline with the almost perfect brother Francios just seemed a bit non-sequitor, and Fiona popping in and out - it would have been nice to have a little more development of her character before dropping her little bomblet, it would have felt a little less too-convenient.

See? This is exactly what I said I wasn't going to do when reading a romance novel - analyse the storyline. I suppose I'll have to spend a little more time practicing reading these novels like watching sitcoms. show less

This book was an easy read and it had everything it needed to be a good book - a well written plot, a bit of romance, a bit of mystery plus a beautiful friendly town. The descriptions of Ireland were so beautiful that I felt like I was there and that I should pack my suitcase and make a trip to this rugged area on the Irish coast.

Laura was a nurse and a care giver to Josephine after her stroke. They spent two years together and became good friends. When Josephine died, she left Laura a show more cottage in the beautiful village of Sandy Cove on the west coast of Ireland, a painting and her beloved old dog Ken. Laura decides to visit the cottage and falls in love with the town and the people who lived there. She misses her old friend and needs to recuperate from her loss. Even though Laura was in her 50s, she was still happily single even though she still hoped that she would find love in the future and the town has several men who could make that wish come true. The painting is a bit of a mystery because Josephine asked her to find out who is in the painting and to return it to its real owner. As she learns more about the painting, she finds out that its very valuable and was painted on the beach below her cottage. But how will she find the real owner? As she is falling in love with her new town and one of the men in town, Josephine's only son is planning to contest the will claiming that Laura somehow got his mother to leave valuable items to her instead of her family. Laura isn't sure whether she'll be able to stay in Sandy Cove or lose the ownership of the beautiful cottage.

Laura is a well written main character - she works hard and appreciates all she's been given. Her upbeat personality makes it easy for her to become friends with everyone in the village and she's overall just a nice person. The descriptions of Ireland are beautiful and made me wish (for a short time) that I was living in one of the Starlight cottages. The Lost Mother of Ireland is book 6 in a series but can be read as a standalone with no confusion. I enjoyed this book so much that I plan to read all of the earlier books in the series to learn more about the people who live in Sandy Cove. show less