It’s a pleasure today to be helping launch the blog tour for The Sandycove Supper Club by Sian O’Gorman, and to share my publication day review. Published today (20th July) by Boldwood Books, it’s now available as an ebook (free via Kindle Unlimited), paperback and audiobook. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading ecopy (provided via netgalley).
You might well think that I read and review every book Boldwood publishes under the romance banner – but, although I’ve really liked the look of ALL her books (and have them on my kindle, of course!) this is the first time I’ve read one from Sian O’Gorman. So I don’t have a nice little story to tell you ahead of sharing my review as I often do – but this was a book I was rather looking forward to, as it really did look right up my street…
Do what you love. Love what you do…
After a whirlwind courtship, Roisin Kelly ignored the sceptics and objectors and married aspiring novelist Brody Brady.
Fast forward one year and Roisin’s honeymoon is well and truly over. Brody has become her reclusive, freeloading lodger whilst he pens his masterpiece and she walks on eggshells.
Working in the Council Planning office, Roisin dreams to escape the mundanity of her life. Her true passions are cooking and entertaining her family and friends but she lacks the confidence to take it any further.
When a charity supper club is suggested by best friends Jools and Richard, Roisin has no choice and is reluctantly swept along to be head chef for the fundraiser.
With the help of her friends, Roisin starts to believe that there is more to life that moody writers, hamsters and poor hygiene and that maybe she has a few dreams of her own.
And that just when you think life has nothing left to give, your whole world can change.
There was so much I enjoyed about this book – particularly Roisin herself, although she certainly didn’t realise what she was getting into when she rushed into marriage with Brody Brady. And understandably – when they’d warned her not to do it – she can’t share with her friends that her marriage isn’t everything she wanted it to be (although she still hopes things will change, when that book he’s writing is finally sent off…). Taken advantage of at home, she works at the planning office where arch-nemesis and bully Saoirse makes her life less than easy too – and the planning conundrum she’s given to solve around the future of Lady Immaculate Hall becomes many times more difficult when she finds herself uncomfortably involved with both the developer and the group working to save it.
The real love of her life (other than her actual first love, always impossible because he was her best friend’s brother) is cooking – and when her friends come up with the idea of a charity supper club, it gives her both an escape from life’s complications and the challenge she needs. And by the time the final event takes place, she might just find the bravery to sort things out, to reclaim her life, and perhaps to move forward into a happier future.
There’s quite a large cast in this book – Roisin’s close friends and their partners, her wonderful family, the others who work with her at the planning office, the elderly man she “adopts”, the women who provide meals for the community at Lady Immaculate Hall – and every single one is beautifully drawn, their interactions always entertaining (the author has a real “ear” for dialogue) and driving the story. I’ll admit though that I did find husband Brody a bit of a caricature – well, either that or so singularly unlikeable that I thought he should have been out on his ear far sooner, but maybe I’m not as thoroughly nice as Roisin.
The story is really well told – plenty of light and dark, a few different storylines providing intrigue (and a few surprises), and I felt really invested in Roisin’s efforts to change her life and in the strong friendships that sustain her. The emotional content is really well-handled too – the whole book is infused with a gentle warmth I rather enjoyed, and I always particularly like an unexpected second chance romance. And there really are some of the most wonderful touches of humour – just wait until you meet Fyodor…
The publishers promised “uplifting, warm, page-turning” and that’s exactly what this book delivered – a summer read that’s never too challenging, that’s always engaging, and where you’ll find friendship and love between the pages. I’d like to read more from Sian O’Gorman – I really rather enjoyed this one.
About the author
Sian O’Gorman was born in Galway and now lives just along the coast from Dublin. She works as a radio producer alongside writing contemporary women’s fiction inspired by friend and family relationships.
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I love this cover ❤️
I really should have mentioned it in my review – isn’t it just gorgeous?!