Review: Sweet Franco-Irish romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 4, 2014
Hot Gossip is a standalone sequel to Suzanne O'Leary's first book, Hot Property, set in the west of Ireland. We again meet the characters that O'Leary first introduced, as supporting cast, but they remain very much in the periphery. As another reviewer wrote, it's a: "cleverly economical re-purposing of previously developed characters and settings."Hot Gossip is the story about Janine, a French model-cum-trophy wife trying to escape her past in the backwaters of Ireland. Janine, incognito, has flashbacks, that converge with time present. But her past returns to haunt her with a vengeance. The North African flashbacks, when she is on the run, are intriguing. The tension created in this story is when the main storyline and the backstory converge.Janine Marchand is an interesting character and O'Leary did a good job on plot and character development for her heroine. But the supporting cast remains flat and one dimensional. Janine's love interest, Mick O'Shea (Paudy's brother) is a stand-in, but there's no depth, no character development. Her North African love interest, Jake the adventurer, is a black and white Bogey character, lacking dimension. Her rejection of him is the weakest part of the storyline. One gets the impression that Janine secretly wants to be found as she flaunts haute couture and stilettos in rural Ireland. We also meet again the stars in the first book:  Megan and Paudy; and supporting characters, Boris and Beata, the immigrant odd couple. But they're not fleshed out.O'Leary's writing style has improved tremendously, her few misplaced prepositions are forgivable in a country where prepositions do all the heavy work. My complaint about her first book remains the same in this one. I still don't get a authentic feel for the Irishness of Kerry. Protagonist could pass for an American with her speech acts--except for the occasional sprinkling of French phrases.As I had mentioned in my review of O'Leary's first book, Hot Property, the author is Swedish-born, writing in Irish-English, but her writing voice sounds very American. Quintessential Irish dialogue has not yet percolated down to her soul. Her dialogue lacks poetry. She is still not hearing the music. Regardless, it's still a charming read. A cupcake romance, almost suitable for YA readers--except for the naughty bits. No little grey cells will be displaced in the process but they may suffer from a sugar overload.There's a third story in the works for 2014 to round out the trilogy. I look forward to reading it.