Irish Hope
Grade : C-

Irish Hope is the story of a young woman’s search for true love. It would have been nice had the author made better use of the promising setting, but she seemed to settle instead for oft-used plot devices and plenty of predictibility.

The Hope in the title is Lady Hope, who, as the book begins, is plotting her escape. She has before her the option of a safe existence as someone’s proper wife, but what Hope wants the most is to experience true love, so in order to find it, she disguises herself as a boy and sets off along with her dog, Lady. When Hope and Lady run into a band of men and decide to steal some food, they are overpowered, but the men are honorable, and are, predictably enough, led by the same man who has been sent to find Hope. Colin of Shanekill believes the story the lad "Harold" has concocted and soon Hope and Lady have joined the men on their way to Shanekill Keep.

This plot calls for some suspension of disbelief regarding Colin not realizing that the lad "Harold" is, indeed, Hope. I thought this supposedly great warrior rather dense, since there are clues that point to Harold/Hope's true identity. Harold/Hope is very, very quick in gaining respect and admiration from nearly everyone with all the bravado demonstrated, even if it means that Hope ends up bloodied and bruised. Soon it seems that Colin is spending more time with the Harold/Hope than his own men. It turns out that Colin is also looking for love, but he’s definitely not against having his share of fun with women until he finds it.

Hope has more than a generous share of spunk helped along by a way more generous share of coincindence. She is lucky to have run into Colin’s band of men insead of some real ruffians, to get Lady to obey the one and only command the dog knows at the exact time the plot requires it, and to have people who recognize her to play along with her disguise. This proved troublesome for me. I simply couldn’t understand an abbess of all people, laughing off any concerns about a young woman masquerading as a boy, out there on her own, because she’s searching for true love.

Faith, the heroine from The Irish Devil, joins forces with Hope and together they concoct a plan that concerns Colin, which has Hope showing more of her spunk and determination as her true identity is revealed. Despite the fact that Colin and Hope do not make love until nearly the end of the book, they more than make up for it in the last few chapters.

Irish Hope wasn’t a terrible book, but it fell short of being a good read. The setting was definitely of the wallpaper type, and neither Hope nor Colin were fully fleshed out characters. The way too convenient coincidences marred the book as well. Still if you’re a fan of the heroine-disguising-as-a-boy plot, this book might work better for you.

Reviewed by Claudia Terrones
Grade : C-

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date : May 9, 2001

Publication Date: 2001

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Claudia Terrones

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