Review by Maddie Atkinson -- House of Eire by June Gillam

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Maddie Atkinson
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Review by Maddie Atkinson -- House of Eire by June Gillam

Post by Maddie Atkinson »

[Following is a volunteer review of "House of Eire" by June Gillam.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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Travelling to Ireland to see her friend, Bridget, Hillary Broom is thrown into a whirlwind of chaos where everything is more than it seems. She only hoped to learn more about her family's past and where they came from. Instead, she ends up learning more about the conspiracies that Bridget has managed to wind herself up in as she is trying to fight a developer from building a theme park that would desecrate the memory of those who died in Ireland during the famine. What starts as a relaxing trip turns into a nightmare full of ghost stories, crime and mystery with many unexpected twists and turns that will leave the reader on the edge of their seat.

What I liked most about House of Eire was that the tension just builds and builds. It always feels like you are about to understand the mystery, but all it does is land you with more questions. June Gillam has a talent for making you want to read on and not stop until the book is done; stopping will just leave you frustrated, wishing you had never stopped and left yourself with unanswered questions. The other thing I really liked about this book was the character development. Hillary's young daughter, Claire, is only six (nearly seven!) and yet she becomes more mature as events unfold, despite being the one left in the dark all the time due to her age. I also liked that each part of the story, which is split into three sections, started with a poem that is written by someone relevant to the plot, such as Yeats. This gives the book a nice touch.

One thing that I did not like, which is a very small thing, is that while the building of tension is good, it did get a bit tedious and dragged in a way that made me lose my place or forget what was happening, but this did not happen very often. To put a positive spin on this, it meant that the suspense was built very nicely. The ending did leave me a bit disappointed as it felt a bit rushed, which meant that it was quite unsatisfying, but this does not takeaway from all the other positive points about House of Eire.

There are a few grammatical errors in this book, so because of these and the couple of negative points about it, I will have to give it three out of four stars. Gillam has done such a good job, so if I could I would have given it full stars!

I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys thrillers and suspense novels, because this story builds the tension very well. I would also recommend it to people who are looking to try out this genre as it is not too heavy and will not frighten you away from it. If anything, it will make you want to read more of it! Readers should note that this is the third book in the series, but not to worry! I did not realise this either and I understood everything. You do not have to have read the previous books to read this one. I love this book very much and I hope to read more by June Gillam soon!

******
House of Eire
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"I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence" - Augustus Waters (The Fault in Our Stars)
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Post by cd20 »

I have thought about reading something from her several times. I do like mystery and suspense. Does she have much profanity in her books? Thanks for an informative review.
Real life is dreadfully tedious, the way it interrupts reading. -Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green
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Maddie Atkinson
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Post by Maddie Atkinson »

cd20 wrote: 17 Jun 2021, 12:21 I have thought about reading something from her several times. I do like mystery and suspense. Does she have much profanity in her books? Thanks for an informative review.
No problem! And no, there is some, but not much, the sort of thing you can read but skip over. There isn't too much extreme profanity either. There were like, one or two, but nothing that really stands out, so I think you would be fine with it!
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Post by cd20 »

Maddie Atkinson wrote: 18 Jun 2021, 06:24
cd20 wrote: 17 Jun 2021, 12:21 I have thought about reading something from her several times. I do like mystery and suspense. Does she have much profanity in her books? Thanks for an informative review.
No problem! And no, there is some, but not much, the sort of thing you can read but skip over. There isn't too much extreme profanity either. There were like, one or two, but nothing that really stands out, so I think you would be fine with it!
Great, thanks for getting back to me. I appreciate it.
Real life is dreadfully tedious, the way it interrupts reading. -Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green
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Maddie Atkinson
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Post by Maddie Atkinson »

cd20 wrote: 18 Jun 2021, 13:45
Maddie Atkinson wrote: 18 Jun 2021, 06:24
cd20 wrote: 17 Jun 2021, 12:21 I have thought about reading something from her several times. I do like mystery and suspense. Does she have much profanity in her books? Thanks for an informative review.
No problem! And no, there is some, but not much, the sort of thing you can read but skip over. There isn't too much extreme profanity either. There were like, one or two, but nothing that really stands out, so I think you would be fine with it!
Great, thanks for getting back to me. I appreciate it.
No problem! I hope you enjoy it!
"I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence" - Augustus Waters (The Fault in Our Stars)
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Post by Dzejn_Crvena »

It started with a supposedly relaxing trip, then BOOM!
I'm interested to know more new stuff from this book.
I haven't read enough about certain places in the world.
Thanks for your review.
just call me "jane" :tiphat:
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Maddie Atkinson
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Post by Maddie Atkinson »

Dzejn_Crvena wrote: 19 Jun 2021, 21:08 It started with a supposedly relaxing trip, then BOOM!
I'm interested to know more new stuff from this book.
I haven't read enough about certain places in the world.
Thanks for your review.
I hope you enjoy it! Being from the UK, reading about Ireland wasn't really that exotic, but it has some fascinating history which I thought was included quite nicely in this book!
"I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence" - Augustus Waters (The Fault in Our Stars)
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