A few years back, I discovered an author I absolutely adore. Her name is Maeve Binchy. Just say that a few times out loud. It's addictive. Around here, she's a household name for several reasons. One is that her name is just fun to say and Kyle and I like to toss it around. "oh, that Binchy..." "Nothing better than a Binchy" Two, she is one of my favorite authors and I can't get enough of her books!! Good thing she's incredibly prolific! She's also the standard by which all Irish authors are measured and for good reason!

As you might have guessed, she writes about Ireland and about people and neighborhoods and relationships and real life in such a way you're literally sucked right in. You find yourself forcing yourself to turn out the lights at 1:30 in the morning because you can't put it down. You find yourself slightly surprised that you're not, in fact, Irish. You get a hankering for a good cup of hot tea, because her characters are always putting on a kettle of tea or hopping down to the pub. I'm not so much one for pubs, but bring on the tea! (over the last 2 days as I've been reading this book, I think I've had about 6 cups of Earl Grey...I'm due a teeth cleaning for sure!)

Her latest book, Minding Frankie, is in much demand at our local library. I've been on a hold list for weeks now waiting for my turn to read it. Finally, Kyle brought it home to me. I snatched it from his hand like it was a dark chocolate truffle and have stolen moments from the past few days to read and read and read. And I finished it this afternoon while the kids napped. Blissful sigh....I just want to give her a big ole hug.

FYI - if you are considering reading this book, go for it. But also keep in mind that her characters from all her novels are tied together, so you may find yourself at the local library hunting down all the other related books and cloistering yourself at home for a month to read them all. I'm just saying.