Straighy Up by Deidre Martin was this week's read-n-ride challenge. In honour of the Irish setting for the book, I needed a little Luck O' the Irish myself to get it completed on time....but I did!
♥♥♥ 1/2
Pages read 340
Riding Time 3hour 9minutes
Calories Burned 1,336
Distance Peddled 55.19 miles
Back Blurb
Even a man on the run can enjoy the thrill of the chase...
After getting on the bad side of New York's Irish mob, Liam O'Brien thought he could weather the storm back in Ireland. Working as a bartender in his parent's old village of Ballycraig, he's not looking for any trouble. But he could use a bit of fun.
Aislinn McCafferty has already been scorned by a man once at the wedding altar. Now, any man who tries to woo her is quickly and coldly dispatched. The unknowing Liam soon learns this the hard way--and is immediately intrigued.
Eagerly accepting a wager from the pub's owner, Liam begins a determined pursuit of the stubborn and beautiful Aislinn, who in turn uses all of her wiles to rid herself of the charmingly determined Yank. But neither of them expects this donnybrook of the sexes to turn into an unlikely love...
For My Thoughts
I can honestly say that Aislinn McCafferty – or “The McCafferty” as the townsfolk like to refer to her as “because it’s nicer than calling her the Bitch” is unlike any female lead I’ve read in a long time.
She’s a sheep farmer for goodness sake. She is one hard-working, fiercely independent, prickly as a porcupine tough cookie (hence the nickname from the townsfolk) and should come with a “Beware The McCafferty” sign. She speaks her mind to the point of being harsh and the people who hang out at the local watering-hole she frequents are often on the receiving end of her biting, caustic tongue especially the three local men she refers to as the “Holy Trinity of Arseholes”. And now the new bartender in town, Irish-American Liam O’Brien has arrived to try her patience, but he’s going to need more than his lucky charms to woo this lass. The scenes at the pub were among my favorite in the book.
The first half of this book was great. There was a sense of impending doom as the anticipation just kept building. A bet made by Liam and then a bad decision on his part due to his pigheadedness had me waiting for the other shoe to drop. You knew it was coming and that it was just a matter of time before the fireworks or “The McCafferty” exploded. And she didn’t disappoint.
Watching Liam try to woo Aislinn back and redeem himself while he enlisted the help of the locals as well as Aislinn’s sister Nora was at times comical. I did find this part dragged on just a wee bit too long for my liking. The last half of the book just didn’t pack the same punch for me as the first half did.
Straight Up is a good, solid read with lots of laughs and was worth it just for all the new words I learned: goolies (use your imagination), eejit (idiot) – this was used a lot, wellies and lots of other quaint Irish expressions. I am pretty sure the voices in my head were speaking with a lovely Irish lilt while I was reading this book.
3 comments:
I do love books set in Ireland. I may have to try this one out.
Nice review, Judi. I was going to skip this, because I haven't been impressed by her other books... but this one sounds pretty good :)
And that is a great challenge you're doing - wow!
Thanks Nath.
The challenge to read a book at the gym every week and then blog about it as been a great incentive and keeps me motivated to make sure I get it done.
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