JENN: Today's the day!!! LOVE AT FIRST BOOK is finally out. I feel as if I wrote this book years ago - it was 2022/2023. And the trip I took to Ireland also feels as if it were ages ago. It was Nov 2022.
Why is this romcom (which received a starred review from Booklist) about an illness anxiety suffering librarian and a change resistant bookshop owner set in Ireland? I mean I could have written about anywhere, right? Well...I really wanted a vacation. And it had been a long while since I'd been through Dublin, so it felt right. Below are a few of the photos and a story, a short one, that I used in the novel almost word for word.
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| The Fab Four |
My mom, Sue, my college roommate, Annette, and her daughter, Alyssa (or as I call them - the historian, the medic, and the navigator), and I all went to Ireland for a little over a week. In case you're wondering what they call me, I am the driver. Why? Because I thought it would be grand to drive around Ireland, a place littered with roundabouts whose drivers happen to motor on the left side of the road.
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| Me driving and Mom looking super at ease...lol. |
I was so confident about driving that I rented a car and never gave it a thought until the night before we were to leave Dublin. I stared at the ceiling -- while everyone else slept off our pub crawl around Temple Bar -- with the sudden realization that I was going to get us all killed. Panic ensued.
The next morning, I accepted that I had no choice if I wanted to get where I needed to go (the Ring of Kerry) and so we took a cab to the car rental place in Dublin and the lovely man driving us inquired about where we were headed.
Mom: We're going to rent a car.
Him: Who's driving?
Me: Me.
Him: (a slight pause and then) If you could just give me thirty minutes to get off the road.
Yes, we all laughed, even me. Then he offered some advice.
Him: When you're driving, remember you always want to keep your passenger safe. To do that, keep your passenger on the curb side then you'll always be in the correct lane.
Me: That makes sense.
Him: If you have trouble remembering it, just think to yourself, keep the bitch in the ditch.
Me: "Um, that'd be my mom."
Again, more laughter, which was pretty much how the entire trip went. Mighty craic, as they say.
All in all, I drove 1200 kilometers and I only made my passengers scream once, eh, maybe twice. Okay, three times but I swear that was it. And the above conversation with the cabbie? Yeah, it went right into the book.
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| Another thing that went into the book? Sheep in the road. Yup, they really do that. |
Below are some more pics. Please enjoy. And if you fancy a trip to Ireland without leaving your home, pick up LOVE AT FIRST BOOK.
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| The Cliffs of Moher - just as majestic as you'd imagine. |
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| More sheep - cute little bleaters are everywhere. |
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| Gaillimh River in Galway - loved that town. |
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| The bookshop that inspired The Last Chapter bookshop in the novel. |
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| This one is for the Reds, They have a whiskey just for us! Writer's Tears at the Whiskey Museum. |
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| Flower boxes still blooming in November. |
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| Chatting with the Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde - not the dazzling conversationalists you'd expect. *wink* Our historian (Mom) has been to Ireland several times and was an endless resource for information. Invaluable. Everyone needs their own historian. |
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| The medic (Nettie) yes, her nursing skills were required (long story), and the navigator (Lyss) - she talked me through every single roundabout -- I could not have managed this trip without them! |
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| And, of course we had to stay in a castle (Ballyseede in Tralee) which also made it into the book but renamed. As I said to my Mom in regards to staying in a castle (she felt it was a bit bougie for us), "If not now, when?" It was fantastic! Even Mom agreed. |
| I knew the Irish countryside would be beautiful but it was truly breathtaking everywhere I looked. |
 One day we saw eleven rainbows! Eleven!!! Those are the highlights so when you read LOVE AT FIRST BOOK, I hope these pics help you imagine it just a little bit clearer. Now go pick up a copy and come to Ireland with me! |
Here's more about the novel for the curious: When a librarian moves to a quaint Irish village where her favorite novelist lives, the last thing she expects is to fall for the author’s prickly son… until their story becomes one for the books, from the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading. Emily Allen, a librarian on Martha’s Vineyard, has always dreamed of a life of travel and adventure. So when her favorite author, Siobhan Riordan, offers her a job in the Emerald Isle, Emily jumps at the opportunity. After all, Siobhan’s novels got Em through some of the darkest days of her existence. Helping Siobhan write the final book in her acclaimed series—after a ten-year hiatus due to a scorching case of writer’s block—is a dream come true for Emily. If only she didn’t have to deal with Siobhan’s son, Kieran Murphy. He manages Siobhan’s bookstore, and the grouchy bookworm clearly doesn’t want Em around. Emily persists, and spending her days bantering with the annoyingly handsome mercurial Irishman only makes her fall more deeply in love with the new life she’s built – and for the man who seems to soften toward her with every quip she throws at him. But when she discovers the reason for Kieran's initial resistance, Em finds herself torn between helping Siobhan find closure with her series and her now undeniable feelings for Kier. As Siobhan's novel progresses, Emily will have to decide if she’s truly ready to turn a new page and figure out what lies in the next chapter. So, Reds and Readers, if you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go? |
