It Must Be Love

By Sharon Owens
Published by Poolbeg Press Ltd.
2008

Sarah Quinn is about to have a beautiful Christmas wedding at a Scottish manor owned by her fiance, Mackenzie Campbell. All her friends envy her for snagging the gorgeous, older Mackenzie. On the eve of the wedding, Sarah overhears Mackenzie talking to his best friend. What she hears in this conversation prompts her to leave the manor in the middle of the night, eventually ending up at the Irish seaside.

This is where the book really picks up speed. After all, small town life is invariably more interesting than city life; everybody knows everybody's business and the quirks of townspeople stand out far more than in a big city.

Owens' storytelling style is straightforward; no time-shifting, no extraneous information to divert from the story, and in an easy-to-read manner. While this novel is billed as a romance (and there's lots of it), there are also other stories to draw you in - drugs, crime, a bit of a mystery and, believe it or not, even a fetish thrown in for good measure.

Perhaps my favourite characters in this book are Sarah's parents, Agatha and Richard. Owens gives them the best comedic lines and I had more than a few chuckles whilst enjoying sentences such as this description of Agatha's disapproval of a matter:

"Mrs Quinn pursed her lips until she could have fitted them through the eye of a needle."

Owens pulls a lot of characters into this book, but she gives each one a good storyline, one story weaving into the next, with satisfactory resolutions to all stories at the end.

The Tavern on Maple Street

By Sharon Owens

Published by the Penguin Group

First published by Poolbeg Press, Ireland, February 2006

What separates Sharon Owens from the other Irish authors I also adore is the fact that she writes from the Belfast perspective; no posh Dublin life for her.

This story takes place in - you guessed it - a tavern on Maple Street. Jack and Lily, the extremely likeable owners of Beaumont's Tavern, are stunned when a developer from Dublin plans to buy and demolish the entire block and erect a shopping mall in its place. Realising the end is near, Lily decides to go out of business in a big way and, in an effort to bring new customers to Beaumont's, she hires extra staff and begins to host events in the tavern. The staff, of course, are all young, pretty girls who bring their own troubles into Lily's life.

Filled with realistic characters and situations, Owens takes you away to a cozy place where you root for the main characters, enjoy the pub regulars, and wish you could sit in the booth next to the fire with a drink and a good book.

Another lovely read from Sharon Owens.