Esther Campion

Esther Campion is an author fans of Cathy Kelly and Maeve Binchy need to check out immediately. Her stories are warm, combining family and friends with life in Ireland or far away. The House of Second Chances reintroduces the reader to some of the characters from Leaving Ocean Road, but will easily work as a standalone. There is never a dull moment as the characters try to negotiate friends and family in a close-knit community.

The story has two main characters, both closely connected to main character Ellen from Leaving Ocean Road. Aidan is her brother and Colette her best friend, both tasked with renovating the interior and exterior of a family cottage in West Cork. Ellen is blissfully ignorant of the storm she’s created by throwing these two together. Aidan is sceptical that an interior designer can do anything truly worthy and Colette thinks him abrupt and distasteful. As they are forced to work together, they discover their own shortcomings and later the best of each other. While this is happening, there are dramas both big and small occurring with their families and friends (like missing children, arguments and surly teenagers).

As the story continues, there is less focus on the cottage and more on the lives of Aidan and Colette. The reader learns about their histories and what drives them to be like they are now. This in turn brings in more and more characters (with their own baggage) to the point where the story is more about the people in their circle than the cottage renovation. (For me, this is a good thing.) The domestic and crime dramas had me far more interested and eager to find out what happened next. I found the first part of the story not quite as interesting for a couple of reasons. First, there are a lot of characters. Many are new to this book and it took me some time to work out how they were related to each other. Perhaps a character list at the front wouldn’t have gone astray (like Penny Vincenzi had in her novels). The second was that Aidan really wasn’t a likeable character initially to me. At some points, he came across as a rude pig – ignoring a woman at dinner, gutsing his way through the meal and then thinking himself hot enough to be worthy of a repeat performance. Just no. I empathised with Colette a lot more and her view of Aidan initially. Fortunately, he does learn some manners and redeems himself otherwise this book would not have been as enjoyable!

The subplots were some of my favourite parts. I enjoyed the redemption of Shane from directionless, unwanted teenager to young man with a purpose. The missing child also added interest, as well as bringing the characters closer together. Overall, The House of Second Chances is an enjoyable, easy read which effortlessly transported you to the magical world of Ireland.

Thank you to Hachette for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (lisätietoja)