I almost DNFd this one. Ultimately I finished hoping it would get better but it didn’t. The FMC was so annoying. She was in Ireland but refused to be excited about anything she saw. Then, when she finally admitted to liking the county and her job and the MMC, she still kept looking for jobs in America because that was her plan and she was sticking to it?

The banter was off as well. It didn’t feel natural. I didn’t feel much chemistry between the two main characters. I also thought a romance set among the staff of a hostel would have more of a found family aspect. But we never really got to know the rest of the staff at all.

Not my favorite romance. And I wish I had DNFd at 25%.

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for the chance to review this ARC.

I am perhaps the harshest reviewer for books that take place in Ireland. One character notes that you haven't truly experienced Ireland until you fall in love with an Irishman - married to an Irishman for 12 years now (his home town is name checked in the book), I have my own perspective on the place. It is a beautiful country, but like everywhere else, has its ugliness and trauma. At one point, love interested Collin teases Chelsea that the locals would not have been a fan of the American wife of a local Anglo-Irish lord (leaving unsaid the far more complicated thoughts the locals would have regarding the lord himself), and I wish the book had allowed for complexities of Irish life.

Leaving that aside, there were a lot of small notes in the book that I enjoyed. I enjoyed that the book shows the importance of Irish sports in the community as well as Irish storytelling. I liked that the book is set in Galway, and the book briefly mentions it's a town full of culture and music. I liked that the book showed some European characters living in Ireland in Flo and Lars, although I wish we had seen more of the Eastern European migration that has become more common in the country.

This book is a lovely vacation read and I'd recommend to fans who dream of an Irish holiday. For fans of Marian Keyes and Nora Roberts.

This was a really sweet read - great for those who love Ireland, new beginnings, enemies(?)-to-lovers, and finding your happily ever after in places you didn't expect to find it. I think our library patrons who like light rom-coms - especially ones that involve travel - will eat this book up. Perfect for Hallmark movie fans, this is a great little escape of a book.

A study in stubbornness.
Our female main character is Chelsea, who is Jewish (which isn’t necessary to know for the story), who was working at a B & B in Boston hoping to be promoted. She finds out the owners of the Bed and Breakfast are closing it in one month, but the woman owner has family member in Galway, Ireland who is running a hostel and is willing to give Chelsea a summer job. After much denial about taking the job, she does, and then constantly moans about going back to Boston to “live” her life while traveling to Galway and then getting to the hostel. She meets the staff which includes the male main character Collin who is like a guide for the guests. Besides all the “I am going back to Boston as soon as I can” that is repeated over and over by Chelsea, the main part of the story is where she and Collin spend time together seeing the Ireland that surrounds her. I felt that the middle of the book was too long and seemed to take longer than the beginning or the ending. But the ending of the story was worth it. Other reviewers have given a synopsis of the story, so I will say that the book is well written, with the two main characters being developed as you would expect. Neither is completely likable at the start, but they do grow on you. Chelsea is very stubborn and doesn’t want to see that she has the opportunity to grow and learn. That takes the entire book to happen. I loved the setting of Galway and the looks at other parts of Ireland- we just returned from two weeks there and the descriptions were accurate. I look forward to seeing if the author will give some of the other characters in the book stories of their own.
I was given an ARC of this book through NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

An Irish Summer follows Chelsea who loses her job when the owners of the Bed and Breakfast she is working at decide to sell the business. She has only ever lived in Boston and has no interest in living anywhere else. She is offered a job working at a hostel in Galway and decides to take it since she can find nowhere else to work and needs a place to live. When she arrives in Galway she has no interest being there and is counting down the days until she can leave…until she meets Collin. His goal to show her the beauty of Ireland and all that it has to offer. This is a story of found family and expanding your world, thoughts, and your future. Experiencing the wonder of visiting new places and seeking new experiences. The question to answer: “what does happiness look like now?”

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and Net Galley for the ARC.

Brings me back to my favorite times 🍀
Chelsea is a planner in all things, especially her life. When the B&B she's been working at since college gives her a 1 month notice, they're closing. All of Chelsea's laid out plans are no longer. She will not only lose her job but also her housing. The owner, however, has a sister in Galway, Ireland, who runs a hostel, the Wanderer. Chelsea has a job and lodging there for the summer if she wants it.
This is NOT the plan! Her career in hospitality and event planning is stalled. Her parents and best friend are telling her to go, give Boston a break, and do something new.
Off to Ireland it is! Chelsea will go to Galway and use this time to find a new apartment and career opportunity in Boston without having to live with her parents in the meantime. She will not fall for the scenery, culture, or people. Just work on getting home to Boston and a new plan.
What Chelsea doesn't expect is to make friends. Collin, an Irishman from a neighboring village who works at the hostel. And Florence, aka Flo, the Italian chef that also came to work at the Wanderer hostel for a season but never left. Chelsea is at a crossroads. Can she leave this isle she's let herself finally see for its wonder and beauty? Can she leave the Wanderer, where she has learned to grow and open herself to new ideas? Can she leave the people she's befriend and fallen for when the time comes? Chelsea is learning to experience life in the now, and that plans change.

Chelsea is living her dream life, working at a bed & breakfast in her hometown of Boston. When she learns it’s closing and the owners are retiring, she’s left in a tailspin of what to do next, not keen to work at her parents’ office and return to her childhood bedroom. After much contemplation, she takes the advice of her former boss to travel across the pond to Galway, Ireland where her boss’ sister operates a hostel. While very much out of her element, Chelsea finds herself drawn to the charming Collin, who is determined to show her what Ireland has to offer.
This had all the potential for a great story but I found the female main character to be insufferable. She constantly complained and always ended up in a “woe is me” mentality, which made the last half of the story much less believable.
Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Overall, this was a decent romance book set in Ireland. The romance between Colin and Chelsea was nice, especially in the beginning with how much Chelsea tried not to like Colin. The setting was sweet and quaint, and Colin brought her around to enjoy the views that Ireland had to offer. Nothing else was really exciting as it was a clean romance besides the implication that something happened. If you're looking for a fast-paced romance book focusing in Ireland, this is it!

This book starts out slow but it’s worth it. It is a romance book but it’s also about figuring out who you are, embracing your life even if it’s different than what you expected, adapting to new goals and aspirations, rewriting what success and happiness looks like for you.

Chelsea started out as a pretty unlikeable character but she starts to grow on you as she starts to figure herself out and Collin is loveable from the very get. No way you, or Chelsea, could fight his irresistible charm.

I surprisingly really liked this book! From reading preliminary reviews it seemed as though the main feedback revolved around the FMC, Chelsea, and her resistance to open-minded change. This was also a new author for me so I didn’t know what to expect. That being said, I actually really liked Chelsea and related to her in a sense of being plan-oriented. It’s really difficult to accept that you expected your life to go one way and it’s now completely been upended. Something like that definitely takes more than a single summer to come to terms with and I thought the author did a good job at slowing edging her toward her fate. Collin was also absolutely adorable and makes me want to book a trip to Ireland asap! I liked the hostel having its own cast of characters that added to the charm of the book also. Overall, very solid summer read and extra enjoyable of reading while traveling (which I happened to do!). I’d definitely recommend and look for more by this author in the future.

I enjoyed the trip through Ireland in this story! It's a good summer read, especially for anyone wanting to read about traveling there! I feel like I learned more about Irish culture through reading this book. I had a hard time connecting with the main character, Chelsea, so I didn't enjoy it as much as some other travel reads, but I would still recommend it! Give it a try and see if it's a good fit for you!

An Irish Summer has a great premise of a our female main character traveling to Ireland as she is working in hotel in America that gets sold and the owner gives her a chance to work in Ireland for the summer. She is very against the idea and the change but decides to go. Colin our MMC, works at the hostel where Chelsea is and becomes her tour guide to make her fall in love with Ireland. I thought their chemistry was good but to me didn’t give me fireworks in the way I love to get. I really liked Colin and his light hearted teasing to Chelsea and his sense of adventure. Chelsea however had this guard around her that made her seem rude to me and way over being there. I loved them going on their adventures and her slowly learning to take it in. I also think Colin was good for her in that regard. I want to thank NetGalley for an E-arc.

This was a delightful little visit to Ireland and great craic, as they say on the Emerald Isle. In addition to a dreamy romance, it is full of the local language, culture, and beautiful locations. I plan to revisit the book when I finally get to travel there in person. Thank you @netgalley and @alexandrapaigewrites for an advanced copy of this book. 

Chelsea Gold has lost her job at a Boston B&B. With no other options at hand to forward her life and career plan, she reluctantly accepts a job at The Wanderer, a hostel in Galway, Ireland. She’s like a kid who was sent to summer camp against her will, not wanting to get to know her coworkers or socialize with them. She wants to spend her spare time searching for the job in Boston that will fast track her life plan as soon as possible. The hostel’s tour guide, Collin Finegan, resident golden retriever, isn’t going to leave her be. He essentially dares the edgy American girl to let him properly show her the country he loves so much and convince her to at least like it and have a bit of the craic (fun). 

Every time their schedules align, they go off together to see the sights. What follows is delightful. Collin is smitten and desperate to win Chelsea's heart over to him and to Ireland. He weaves lovely fairy stories into his tours to enchanting locations. Chelsea futilely resists Collin’s and Ireland’s charms, but she is helpless against his eyes that are as green as the countryside. However, be patient with her. She’s a slow learner. Collin in an Irish delight. I really loved reading this book.

Content: One slightly-open-door scene. And one encounter using strong language.

This was a super cute, and fun read for the summer.

Chelsea finds herself out of a job, but with a summer opportunity in Ireland. It’s not at all what she wants, but decides to go ahead with it just for the summer.

Predictably (in the best way) she finds herself falling not only for Ireland, but for the bartender/tour guide/ Jack of all trades Collin as well.

It’s a sweet and witty slow burn that you can see coming a mile away, which makes it an amazing comfort read when your heart can take the back and forth or heartbreak.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me with a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

An Irish Summer is a sweet and cozy escape to one of the most beautiful places in the world. If you want to better understand Ireland, our tour guide and main character Collin will have you falling in love with the country, the storytelling, and like our FMC Chelsea, a little bit in love with him too. As someone who has traveled to Ireland, I was immediately transported back to the magic of the place. As a seasoned romance reader, this will please folks who are looking for a low spice, comfort read. Personally, I prefer a bit more tension and banter between the MCs in my books, but thoroughly enjoyed Chelsea’s journey of self discovery across Ireland. Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for my gifted ARC.

This was just boring. I wanted there to be something interesting about this one, but there just wasn't. You cannot have the heroine or hero be straight up insufferable in a romance book unless you are doing enemies to lovers IMHO. Unfortunately, the heroine in this one, Chelsea was insufferable. I really needed to know what everyone else saw in her, because she complained throughout this book, acted entitled, above people, etc., but I am supposed to believe that the love interest Collin was into her? It also made zero sense to me why anyone at the hostel she eventually works at even cared that Chelsea enjoyed her time in Ireland. She was that coworker with the bad attitude that everyone would avoid in real life. The other characters were not developed at all.

Also, not that it should matter much, but Chelsea is Jewish and living in Boston before Ireland, I would have been curious about that background to a character, but it's not brought up much. I think it was jarring because the character of Collin is so focused on Chelsea fitting in and looking Irish (she has red hair) and I really was wondering why she didn't bring up her religion and say hey, I don't want to "fit in" and "look Irish." The whole thing kept rubbing me the wrong way.

All in all, not a great read and was glad that it was over.

This was such a good read! I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland so this was right up my alley. I will say Chelsea’s attitude almost had me putting this book down. It was hard to connect with her at times but I did end up finishing it! I was just hoping for a little more from Chelsea but felt like her character growth fell short.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an early copy of this book. I love a good Irish novel and I thought this was really cute! Loved the setting and the Irish man showing this girl around was adorable. The banter was great and I found the characters likable. This got a little too repetitive for me and I didn’t love the characters. Overall this was cute and fun!

An Irish Summer, was a quick summer. While cute at time, I will say I felt Chelsea could be unbearable at time. Colin, was book boyfriend you could definitely fall for. This book had me wishing for summer vacation in Ireland.

3.5 stars

“Temporary, maybe, but as the benefits began to outweigh the drawbacks, the decision was clear as day. I was moving to Ireland.”

Chelsea has just discovered the bed and breakfast she works for is being sold and she is now out of a job and a place to live. One minute she was hoping for a promotion the next she is being handed a pamphlet for a sister location in Galway, Ireland. With no other plans she makes the reluctant decision to go to Ireland for a summer position.

Chelsea was in no way prepared for a summer in Ireland. Once she arrived she was planning her return to the States. This was just going to be a blip on her résumé before her real life restarted. However, she never expected to meet her new coworker Collin Finegan nor anticipated his mission to make her fall in love with Ireland.

“Focus on the easy part. Life is already so hard. If you have something easy, you should enjoy it.”

I loved this story so much. I went to Galway when I was little and hearing about all the places Collin was taking Chelsea reminded me so much of my trip there. It was such a cute love story and now I’m dying to go back!