Rose Hawthorne: The Irish Wanders by Shannon O'Gorman Book Review!

 

Rose Hawthorne: The Irish Wanders follows Rose, a celebrity author in her early seventies, who dislikes the limelight but does like Hermes scarfs, round violet sunglasses, and old colonial hotels. One day, she receives a letter asking her to visit Newgrange, Ireland and discover something that has been hidden there for a thousand years.

She asks her granddaughter Samantha to accompany her, but she hadn’t expected her to continually post photos of their progress on her Instagram account. An encounter with an old love and an unexpected discovery leads Rose deeper into the past, where she finds she must make a hard decision about her future. 

Shannon O’Gorman is originally from Winnipeg, Canada but has been living in San Jose, California for the past 10 years enjoying the sunshine. She is currently at work on her third Rose Hawthorne book entitled Lost in Laos: The Asian Wanders which will be available in August 2022.

My Thoughts

The title The Irish Wanders caught my attention as I am obsessed with anything Irish. This novel written by Shannon O'Gorman is about a 70-ish woman who is an author.  In the first book, Rose Hawthorne went to the Seven Wonders of the World where she collected 7 unique marbles that have wonders of their own in each marble.

That part of the story carries over into The Irish Wanders, where Rose is stalked and her house broken into. Whoever did this wants the marbles back. As she tries to figure out who did this, she has planned a trip to Ireland after receiving a cryptic letter requesting her to go to Newgrange and find something that has been there for a thousand years. She decides to take her granddaughter, Samantha, with her. Her daughter and granddaughter maintain Rose's presence on Instagram, posting pics of the author's works.

While in Ireland, she reunites with an old flame, a relationship that happened 50 years ago. He accompanies Rose and Samantha on their quest to Newgrange where they look for a centuries-old medallion. They do find the medallion and Rose and Samantha learn the ages-old story about the medallion, three Druid sisters each had a medallion. Samantha holds the medallion and sees the past and learns where the other two medallions are. Rose gets enough information to put in her next book.

This is a story that is full of Irish lore, which I love, but also focuses on Rose and her old flame. How will they get together? A long-distance relationship? Along with the legend of the Druid sisters, the reader learns more about Rose and her past when she briefly lived in Ireland.

Ireland is a magical and mystical place and there is some of that mysticism in the story. 

I have been to Ireland twice, although we never got to Newgrange, we got to the gift shop but that was it. We did see it off in the distance. 

I loved this story, a fast read, and the author knowledgeable in Irish lore. 

I really enjoyed this story, I actually went and bought the first book in the series.

I give it 4 stars.

I received a copy of the book for review purposes only.