The Wishing Tree in Irish Falls
by Jen Gilroy
Sometimes happily ever after is only a wish away . . .
There’s a wishing tree in Irish Falls. The bits of paper tied to its gnarled branches hold the hopes and dreams of everyone in town . . . except Annie Quinn.
Single mom Annie has spent years rebuilding her life and trying not to have regrets. After giving up her dream of music stardom, she returned to her Adirondack hometown—and convinced herself she’s content with a simpler life.
The last thing she needs is a man to remind her of the heartbreak she left behind.
A divorced dad, Seth Taggart used to be a successful LA songwriter. But now his reputation is in tatters, he’s burnt-out and estranged from his adult son. Inheriting a small-town radio station just might be the do-over he needs.
Although he always planned to go back to LA, when working with Annie turns into sharing music and more, Seth realizes second chances—and home—are where he least expects.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
“He’s got a face and body to match his voice, too. The word at yoga last night was he sent Lisa Drysdale into a hot flash when she bumped into him in the produce aisle at Nolan’s grocery. I can sure see why.” Holly grinned and fanned herself with a potholder.
“We don’t know for sure, but Duncan might have prostate cancer… Duncan doesn’t want anybody to know because he’s a man and, well . . .” Her cheeks went red. “He’d be uncomfortable with people, family even, talking about his . . . equipment.”
Hannah gave him a hopeful look, mixed with the kind of face Seth remembered Dylan making a few years back. Like adults were a different species and teenagers only tolerated them because they were a source of food, money, and rides to wherever the kid wanted to go.
My dad wouldn’t have wanted me to give up on a dream. He always told us to reach for the stars. Even if you didn’t get there, he said you had to try and maybe you’d catch the moon instead.
“The new bank manager seemed interested.” “Please. Although I might be able to overlook his Star Trek obsession, he wears white socks with brown sandals. That should be illegal.”
My Review:
Jen Gilroy is an expert storyteller, she quickly drew me into her small-town tale of contemporary romance with flawed yet endearing characters, relevant and compelling family issues, and interesting storylines. While I didn’t enjoy living in the tiny and inbred rural hamlet of my youth, I do seem to enjoy reading books featuring small-towns, albeit these small towns are far more entertaining and genteel than the harsh, backward, and uptight landscape of my childhood memories. Nor did it have a rich heritage or an imaginative draw like an epic and magical wishing tree. Ms. Gilroy’s engaging writing style and interesting story threads tapped all the feels and kept my curiosity primed while alternating between squeezing my coronary muscle and putting an amused smile on my face. I’m hoping this is just the start of a new series with more tales to come.
Growing up under the big sky of western Canada and spending summers in a little Ontario town, books were my passport to other worlds. Pioneering Laura Ingalls, Jo March and her sisters, the English girls in Noel Streatfeild’s books and L.M. Montgomery’s independent, nature-loving heroines all became friends.
I started writing poems and stories in elementary school and, as a teenager, reached the semi-finals in a local short story contest. Even after all these years, I still remember the thrill of the judge encouraging me to keep writing.
I earned undergraduate and graduate degrees, setting fiction writing aside to teach at universities, write and publish academic research and work in marketing communications and international business development.
Along the way, I read romances, escaping into a world where a happy ending was guaranteed. One day, though, I realized that by losing my creative writing, I’d also lost part of what makes me who I am.
Now I write the kind of stories I like to read–heartwarming romances about finding home, family and community–where ordinary women overcome sometimes extraordinary challenges to earn their happy ever after.
I’m an RWA® Golden Heart® finalist 2015 in Contemporary Romance, and that manuscript sold to Hachette Book Group USA, Grand Central Publishing, Forever. It releases on January 31, 2017 as THE COTTAGE AT FIREFLY LAKE.
I’m a member of RWA® and the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA). And despite a few detours along the way, I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do since childhood.
After many years in England with my husband, a tech guy who’s still a small-town boy at heart, and our tween daughter, an English rose, who teaches me to cherish the blessings in the everyday, I’ve come home to my roots and live in a small town in Ontario’s Rideau Valley.
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