Vows in Vegas…
Three days before leaving Ireland on the adventure of a lifetime, Fiona Byrne returns to her small Irish hometown to attend the family wedding from hell. When she discovers the drunken vows she exchanged with the groom during a wild Las Vegas trip eight years previously mean they’re legally married, her future plans ricochet out of control. Can she untangle herself from the man who broke her heart so long ago? Does she even want to?
…True Love in Ballybeg.
Gavin Maguire’s life is low on drama, high on stability, and free of pets. But Gavin hadn’t reckoned on Fiona blasting back into his life and crashing his wedding. In the space of twenty-four hours, he loses a fiancée and a job, and gains a wife and a labradoodle. Can he salvage his bland-but-stable life? More importantly, can he resist losing his heart to Fiona all over again?
I
am not a huge fan of a cute and fun read, but every once in a while a book
comes along that gives me the mental break that I need and this time Love and
Shenanagians was it. The romance, humor, twists and surprises were a very
nice balance, giving me a few hours of just being able to enjoy the characters
and their story and not have my mind and heart exercised to the point of
exhaustion.
Gavin
has had his fun in life, he has been to Vegas, love women, enjoyed himself, now
he has found the one he is happy with. Her family approves, he does what
she says, and he has bought everything they need for a future, what could go
wrong? Well the floor is about to drop out from under him when Fiona
rushes in to let him know that not all things in Vegas stays in Vegas.
That fun night they had of drinks, flirting and oh yeah getting married, wasn’t
over, they were still married.
Needless
to say Gavin’s fiancé and her family were not pleased with this and set out to
make Gavin suffer for the humiliation they experienced. Gavin was in his
own hell, not able to see that this affected more than himself and Fiona was
determined to remind him, this has a way of screwing up her life as well.
Nothing is going to come easy for them and there isn’t that instant oh let’s
just make this work. I found a realistic touch to an insane situation
with this story. The funny thing is for all of the pain his fiancé and
her parents were trying to inflict on Gavin, I think that is what pushed he and
Fiona together even more. If you can win against that crew you have a
magical team.
As
the two try to figure out how their marriage was never ended, they have to deal
with the fiancé’s family trying to stick it to him. As if this isn’t
enough Fiona and Gavin find the spark and chemistry is still there. Well what
are they supposed to do with that? Fate has a wicked sense of humor sometimes.
Is it even reasonable to assume they meet in Vegas, get drunk and
married, spend years apart forgetting each other only to find that they never
divorced and still they might have a future together? Crazy and that is their
life.
I
found this story giving us a full range of emotions, from laughing out loud to
sorrow for their pain to downright anger at how people were reacting to the
news. The secondary characters were outstanding in this book and at times
they are what carried the story. I loved the blubber scene and the BFF’s
added so much to the story. Each character was written to show their own
personality and charm and I look forward to seeing if they get their own book
in the future.
After
reading so many dark and twisted or erotic books lately, this was like a sweet
vacation that left me to imagine the scenes and just relax and enjoy the
story. I would highly recommend this book for a weekend getaway where you
want a fun read that will capture your heart.
“Typical,” muttered Gavin. “Bloody typical. He lands me
with an untrained puppy that wreaks havoc in my house, and then he expects me
to keep it under control in his.”
Wiggly Poo treated his nose to a generous lick.
He scowled at him. “Keep that up and I’ll walk down the
aisle with a rash on my face.”
A shriek of laughter from one of the rooms proved too
much excitement for the puppy. He leaped out of Gavin’s arms, slid across the
marble floor, and shot off in the direction of the noise.
“Come back, you blaggard!” Gavin chucked Deirdre’s roses
on the floor and took off after the dog.
He pounded down the narrow hallway that led to the
downstairs guest bedrooms. One door was slightly ajar. He caught sight of a
curly canine arse disappearing behind it.
He barged into the room without knocking.
A chorus of feminine gasps greeted his appearance. Apart
from the French designer, all the women were wearing satin dresses of various
hues. Deirdre was in a lavender creation, complete with puffy sleeves. The
bridesmaids—Olivia, Mona, and Brona—wore maroon dresses that reminded him of
the costumes in the deadly dull Jane Austen adaptations his fiancée adored.
Muireann’s wedding dress was a meringue concoction with skirts that took up
half the room. It didn’t suit her, but he’d lie tomorrow and tell her it looked
great.
The pièce de résistance was the woman poured
into a greenish-yellow frock with a weird fishtail bottom. The bodice of the
dress was so tight that half her breasts were squeezed into view. He drank in
the woman’s face. Her mouth formed an O of horror at the sight of him.
His stomach performed a stunt worthy of an acrobat. He
knew those breasts. He knew that face. He knew that mouth.
Fiona.
Bloody hell! What was she doing at the wedding? What
was she doing in the wedding?
Her intelligent green eyes pinned him in place. A slide
show of memories flashed through his mind—some good, some bad, some X-rated.
“Gavin!” Muireann screeched, jolting him back to the
present. “You’re not supposed to see my dress!”
He flushed to the roots. Had he been remembering sleeping
with another woman while his bride-to-be stood in front of
him? Jaysus. He needed to pull himself together.
Deirdre grabbed a swath of fabric from the speechless
Claudette and threw it around her daughter. “Get out, Gavin. You’ll jinx the
wedding!”
“Sorry for barging in. Wiggly Poo is in here somewhere.”
Muireann’s jaw dropped. “You brought him here? I told you
to leave him at home.”
“Baby, I couldn’t leave him alone,” he said in mounting
exasperation. “He was wrecking the place. He pulled down the curtains and
attacked my stereo speakers.”
“Ah, Gavin. Why didn’t you stop him? He’s only a puppy.”
“Are you sure? I’d label him a hellhound.”
Fiona snorted with laughter. Muireann shot her cousin a
look of pure venom.
No love lost between them.
In a split second, Wiggly Poo emerged from underneath an
antique chair and charged at a basket near Deirdre’s feet.
“Watch out!” Gavin cried. “There he goes.”
“Stop him!” Deirdre screamed, veiled hat askew. “He’s
attacking Mitzi and Bitzi.”
Fiona lurched forward on her high heels and half-fell,
half dive-bombed the dog basket.
The sound of ripping fabric tore a horrified gasp from
the crowd. The material at the back of the dress split open, revealing two
luscious, creamy buttocks.
Zara Keane grew up in Dublin, Ireland, but spent her summers in a small town very similar to the fictitious Ballybeg.
She currently lives in Switzerland with her family. When she’s not writing or wrestling small people, she drinks far too much coffee, and tries – with occasional success – to resist the siren call of Swiss chocolate. 
Thanks for hosting! :)
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