Blog Tour! Review: The Summer of Serendipity by Ali McNamara

You'll find a warm welcome in the latest novel from Ali McNamara, bestselling author of The Little Flower Shop by the Sea and From Notting Hill with Love, Actually

One summer, property seeker, Serendipity Parker finds herself on the beautiful west coast of Ireland, hunting for a home for a wealthy Irish client. But when she finds the perfect house in the small town of Ballykiltara, there's a problem; nobody seems to know who owns it.

'The Welcome House' is a local legend. Its front door is always open for those in need of shelter, and there's always a plentiful supply of food in the cupboards for the hungry or poor.

While Ren desperately tries to find the owner to see if she can negotiate a sale, she begins to delve deeper into the history and legends that surround the old house and the town. But for a woman who has always been focussed on her work, she's remarkably distracted by Finn, the attractive manager of the local hotel.
But will she ever discover the real truth behind the mysterious 'Welcome House'? Or will the house cast its magical spell over Ren and help her to find true happiness?

Review: I was so excited to read Ali McNamara's latest novel. It has been a little while since I delved into her world and it was so great to be back. The stories that this author writes are feel-good reads with strong female leads with just a little hint of magic about them. This was no exception 

When I mention magic, this might be the fates aligning or might be something more but it really does give you, as a reader, a true sense of escapism. You have to put real life and any sort of cynicism or disbelief you have to one side for the duration of the book and let this author whisk you away into her world. I read this book in just 2 sittings and I'm sure I can say the same thing about her previous novels too because they really do just envelope you and allow you to hide away in whatever world lie within for 300 or so pages!

This is a little bit of a spin off from the last Ali McNamara that I read 'Breakfast at Darcy's' and it was great to be back in Ireland again and to revisit some of the characters from that novel. This is by no means a sequel though and you can definitely read this book despite not having read breakfast at Darcy's. For fans of that book though, it will be lovely to be back in that setting and surrounded by the same kind of Irish legends that we enjoyed in the first book. 

I really enjoyed getting to know Main character Ren over the course of this novel. She is incredibly easy to get along with and easy to relate to because she is her own person and has her own business but we know she has been hurt in some way in the past and therefore has her guard up. I loved reading about someone so really and yet someone I could so easily see myself being friends with. She and her partner Kiki are on this journey together and I loved meeting Kiki too, she is definitely the Ying to Ren's Yang and so the two of them really work well as a team. If anything I would love to read a spin off finding out what happens to Kiki now this novel is over-please?

There are of course a few male characters to get to know in this novel too, always a happy co-incidence. I loved hotel manager Finn and his fabulous dog Fergus. He is very like Ren and so I had high hopes for the tow of them from the start of the novel-not giving anything away though! There are also some real characters in the village and possibly some people to help Ren along her way. 

This is the perfect summer read because of the location and the little touch of magic that lies within the pages and so i highly recommend adding this to your summer TBRs. I am sure you will have just as much fun as I did hanging out with Kiki and Ren and helping them along on their quest to find the perfect house!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US