Comment

Jan 09, 2018cularien rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Reading Irish Meadows made A Worthy Heart make all sorts of sense. (Funny how that works.) I’d noted in my review of A Worthy Heart that it seemed there were a. ton. of broken engagements, and that fact had rather annoyed me. However, in light of the contents of Irish Meadows … those frustrations went away. Everything had its place and proper context, and that is quite a relief. I also enjoyed filling in the gaps – seeing how certain characters already together in A Worthy Heart got there to begin with in Irish Meadows. It was entertaining knowing the end of the story, wondering how in the world the characters were supposed to get there! (I’m definitely one of those people who will read the end of the book near the start, and spend the rest of my time wondering whether I’d read it right – because how could X Thing possibly come to pass like I thought I’d read?! Of course … this is made much harder when I read an ebook. Hmm. Hadn’t put that together until just this second.) From a purely aesthetic standpoint, I like the cover of A Worthy Heart better than Irish Meadows. (I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that, as a friend of mine pointed out, the A Worthy Heart covergirl looks like Rory Gilmore in period clothing.) But the content between Irish Meadows and A Worthy Heart (or A Worthy Heart and Irish Meadows) is on par with each other, and character development – especially with Colleen’s character – was top notch. Now that I’ve read Irish Meadows, I may need to do a reread of A Worthy Heart just for continuity and to refresh my memory on key elements. I enjoyed it immensely, and it added a new level of depth to the characters I’d already gotten to know. I do wish there had been a little bit more about the character of Adam; he shows up quite prominently in A Worthy Heart, and the events that land him where A Worthy Heart starts are only hinted at in Irish Meadows. I expected more in that regard; he seemed like such a wallflower character that I really couldn’t relate to or feel any sympathy toward him. All in all, a good read, and a great start to the series. Definitely a good setup for A Worthy Heart, the above caveat regarding Adam aside.