Darlings, I've just had the most fabulous holiday in Ireland. Yes, I can see you're green with envy, and I would be too if I was you! Actually, the whole of Ireland is emerald green because it rains every day. Your brolly and raincoat become your new BFFs there. I saw castles and libraries (those magnificent old books!), learned about Vikings and Celts, famines, the 1916 Easter Uprising and The Troubles, blundered through two film sets, and heard lots of stories - and some might even have been true. I enjoyed terrific dancing and singing, drank Guinness, ate potatoes (they taste far better in Ireland) and saw so much incredible scenery my eyes and heart went into overload.
 |
| The Dark Hedges, Ballymoney, a Game of Thrones scene for 'The King's Highway'. |
I did a literary tour, so drenched myself with literature from Irish greats such as James Joyce, Seamus Heaney, Patrick Kavanagh, Lady Gregory, WB Yeats, CS Lewis, Oliver Goldsmith, Maria Edgeworth, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, JM Synge, the delightful Maeve Binchy - the list goes on and on... At times, as when mired in the fat bio of Patrick Kavanagh, I wondered why on earth I was doing this. But it paid off tremendously. I appreciated Ireland a million times more because of the reading.
However, darlings, I do adore coming back to romance. It is my go-to genre, the one I love and will always come back to between big, fat classics and all other genres. So imagine my delight to discover this pretty green gem at the exchange bookcase at my Dublin hotel:
 |
| Image credit: amazon.com |
I literally pounced on it and then discovered all four authors have signed it. Wow! WOW! I was going to read it and leave it there for the next romance addict, we are many after all, but somehow this little treasure made its way home with me. Whoever left it has my undying love and thanks.
When you travel, do you immerse yourself in the stories of the area? Do you trawl the local bookshops and drool and wish your weight limit was 100kg and you could buy it all? I certainly did, and all the others in the group were also irresistibly lured. Some desperately hoped their carry ons would never be weighed because they were full of books and probably weighed as much as the plane itself. Some tossed out toiletries and clothes (I'm not making this up) to squeeze in just...one...more...book...
 |
| Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, Galway, a treasure trove of new and used books with rooms that went on and on... I spent most of a heavenly afternoon here. |
Since I've come home I've read four more Irish stories; I can't seem to stop and I've loved them all. But the romances are elbowing their way back in and I'm loving them too.
What you do on holidays? Put your feet up with a romance? Read local authors to get the 'local flavour' before and during? Download them then and there onto your Kindle and launch in? Write down every new book you discover and plan to read it when you get home?
Can't wait to hear from you!
Love from Miranda xxx
Love to Love: All things Irish. Seriously.
Love to Laugh: At the Irish blarney. My bus driver told the best jokes.
Love to Learn: Irish history. I was staggered at how much I didn't know.
