Quick Facts
- Release Date: June 28, 2016
- Page Count: 262
- Publisher: Gorilla Girl Ink
- Kindle Unlimited? No
Although the book started out strong, a huge chunk just described their vacation. The unrealistic and unresolved ending disrupted my enjoyment of the book. Despite this, others will likely enjoy the mystery and relate to the dynamic main characters
Synopsis
Hillary Broome returns in June Gillam’s House of Eire, the third book in Gillam’s Hillary Broome Novels series. Hillary can be defined as a lot of things: mother to her rambunctious and precocious 7-year-old, Claire; wife of her supportive husband, Ed; esteemed ghostwriter for a popular tell-all biography series. But right now, she’s just a woman taking her family on vacation.
Hillary, Claire, Ed, and their close family friend, Sarah, travel to Ireland to learn more about Hillary’s grandfather who grew up in the Galway region. Prior to their trip, Hillary had been in touch with Bridget Murphy, a Galway native that is heavily involved in a growing scandal. Actively fighting against Dermot, an American theme park developer, Bridget works to acknowledge Irish suffering during the historic “Great Hunger” by erecting a memorial inside the new Irish theme park. Unbeknownst to Bridget, her boyfriend, Seamus, is heavily involved as Dermot’s middle man and is trying to hinder her progress.
When Hillary and her family land in Ireland, she takes it upon herself to assist Bridget with her campaign and the two find themselves in some sticky situations.
Review
House of Eire, by June Gillam, is a mystery novel best suited to readers who enjoy travel. I say this because there is a significant chunk of the book devoted to Hillary, Claire, and Sarah’s travels around Ireland’s Galway region. This leads me into one of the aspects I liked least, as I got lost in the details of their vacation and couldn’t understand how they were relevant to the main storyline. I kept waiting for something mindblowing to happen when they were visiting tourist destinations but found that it mostly read like a mom’s personal blog of her family vacation.
Despite this, the book started out strong, introducing and describing the multi-faceted personalities of Hillary, Claire, Ed, and Sarah. Claire was both my favorite character and my favorite part of the book. Gillam gave her so much unique personality, which I sometimes find is rare for books with child protagonists. Claire is definitely not perfect, more often than not getting into trouble with her natural curiosity and exuberance, but she has many quirky and unique traits that made me love her. From her refusal to get a haircut, to her insistence on calling her mother “Maaa” like a sheep, she gave the story some much-needed levity.
I was confused by the ending of the book, as it seemed incomplete. Without giving away any spoilers, I will just say that the end seemed confusing at best and unrealistic at worst. I did not feel the conflict was resolved and was left disappointed. There were also several “don’t go into the basement!” moments for me where I seriously questioned the character’s decisions.
Summary
Overall I am giving this book 2 out of 5 stars. Although the book started out strong, the middle chunk of the book describing their vacation, as well as the unrealistic and unresolved ending, disrupted my enjoyment of the book and prevented me from giving it a higher rating. Though this book did not resonate with me personally, I feel others will likely enjoy the mystery and relate to the dynamic main characters.
Readers should be aware that there is profanity in the book. Although there are some adult concepts, the content is neither graphic nor crude. This book can be read as a stand-alone novel.
Link to Author’s website: http://junegillam.com/
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