A real disappointment!

The story takes place after book #8, Fingal O'Reilly, Irish Doctor, during the 1965 Christmas holiday season. Fingal and his new wife, Kitty O'Reilly (nee O'Halloran) are celebrating their first Christmas as a married couple and their housekeeper is newly engaged to be married. The same main characters from the previous books are present in this story; Lord John MacNeill, Myrna MacNeill, Fingal, Kitty and Lars O'Reilly, Barry Laverty, Sue Nolan, Maureen "Kinky" Kincaid (nee O'Hanlon) and Archie Auchinleck. One of the problems I have with the book is that nothing much new happens to them that we don't already know about from the other books. No wonder the book is so short!

There are a few new characters introduced in the book; Andrew MacNeill and the Driscoll family, Declan, Finella and Jill; however, these new characters don't appear in any of the books set in later years. Are we to assume that they just go back to where they came from and don't become residents of Ballybucklebo?

I was really looking forward to a continuation of the Barry, Sue and Ella Hope Laverty story, among other things. This book could have been set as a continuation of that timeline rather than a jump back to an earlier time. It really wouldn't have made any significant difference to the storyline.

The whole thing just seems like a rush job to turn the project in to the publisher on deadline. What a disappointment!

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A Heart-warming Holiday Tale

This book was much shorter than most of the Irish Country series, which was a little disappointing. It takes place six months after Fingal and Kitty were married, and has all the familiar characters along with a few new ones. This was about family, both the one we a born into and the one we choose, and we see more than one family who need the help of Dr. O'Reilly and crew to heal. This book will warm your heart!

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Boring

I was both surprised and disappointed that the last book in the series was so bad. Oh well, the rest were fantastic.

Short but sweet

I had heard that this will be the last book in this series. I loved it but am sad to see it end if that is true. This book did not have a huge storyline but brought together all of the favorites and is set in an earlier time shortly after Fingal and kitty were married . Although less strong themes than the other books I loved it and hope what I heard to not be so

Disappointing

This was not nearly as good as I had hoped from an author whose works I have enjoyed in the past

In a good place

This summer I completed all of the books in the series except for this one. I made the decision to save this one for the holiday season as a gift to myself. It was truly a gift to me, as all the books in the series have been. Thank you to Patrick Taylor for enriching our lives with this series, and to John Keating for bringing the characters to life with his talented reading.

Not as good as some of the others

I think that this Irish Country Doctor series is starting to lose its appeal. The Irish Christmas customs were fun and cozy and it is always fun to revisit the main characters in the series but the book lacked substance and didn't have a lot to say. Maybe the series has run its course?

Charming character driven novels

If you're needing a long lived series to enjoy while you walk these are perfect. No Gore, drama is sweet, manageable, and resolved by the end of the book. You'll cheer for all the characters you'll meet in this charming Irish village.

it's ok

it's the weakest story in the series, it kinda breaks some cannon from previous books but overall not bad

Good timing but the content was disappointing

The Dr. O’Reilly books have always been highly entertaining with a rich cast of characters and a plot line that more than keeps your interest. The timing of this new title was very welcome yet the mediocre plot, lack of substance and short length made it somewhat of a disappointment.