Rating: 
Summary: LITE and (ch)EASY
Review: Although I had never heard of the author, I took a chance on this book mainly because I liked the pun in the title and thought the cover photo looked "soothing." However, because I love small town stories, Ireland, and cheese, my "risk" paid off. If you enjoy a pleasant combination of religion, dairy farming, romance, The Sound of Music sountrack, and culture shock, and enjoy stories where the characters' quirks and secrets unfold as gentle as an island breeze, this is a great book for you. The author is able to keep the right balance of humor, tragedy, and romance so I never felt like things were getting too silly, sad, or sappy. Lynch creates great characters and tells a fun and engaging story. I can whole-heartedly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: LITE and (ch)EASY
Review: Although I had never heard of the author, I took a chance on this book mainly because I liked the pun in the title and thought the cover photo looked "soothing." However, because I love small town stories, Ireland, and cheese, my "risk" paid off. If you enjoy a pleasant combination of religion, dairy farming, romance, The Sound of Music sountrack, and culture shock, and enjoy stories where the characters' quirks and secrets unfold as gentle as an island breeze, this is a great book for you. The author is able to keep the right balance of humor, tragedy, and romance so I never felt like things were getting too silly, sad, or sappy. Lynch creates great characters and tells a fun and engaging story. I can whole-heartedly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Must Read for Book Clubs AND Cheese Lovers
Review: I hope my book club will take this on as a monthly selection because I'm dying to hear what my neighbors think of this whacky, eclectic tale. From vegan, virgin milk maids singing show tunes to dairy cattle...to a run-away, come-home-again wife who ditched her louse of a husband in the south seas...to a recovering alcoholic, drug-addicted power-broker turned cheesemaker widower, this book has something for everyone. It's funny, sad, thought-provoking, and simply put a really, really good read. I haven't had so much fun, or laughed out loud so often, reading any other book. I found it on a library shelf but plan to add a copy to my permanent collection. It's a book I'm sure I'll enjoy reading again and loaning to friends!
Rating:
Summary: Must Read for Book Clubs AND Cheese Lovers
Review: I hope my book club will take this on as a monthly selection because I'm dying to hear what my neighbors think of this whacky, eclectic tale. From vegan, virgin milk maids singing show tunes to dairy cattle...to a run-away, come-home-again wife who ditched her louse of a husband in the south seas...to a recovering alcoholic, drug-addicted power-broker turned cheesemaker widower, this book has something for everyone. It's funny, sad, thought-provoking, and simply put a really, really good read. I haven't had so much fun, or laughed out loud so often, reading any other book. I found it on a library shelf but plan to add a copy to my permanent collection. It's a book I'm sure I'll enjoy reading again and loaning to friends!
Rating: 
Summary: Clever title, sweet story, but crying for an editor
Review: I purchased this book on impulse, based on its clever title, although I don't generally read light love stories. Within a few pages, I found that the author did a few things that I found incredibly irritating. Here are the three main problems:1) The book is supposed to be set in several places: New York City, an island in the South Seas and rural Ireland. However, the author has the characters in all three settings speaking exactly the same way, using exactly the same expressions and idioms. So, for example, the hero - a man who is supposed to be born in New England and living in New York - sounds just like the Irish milkmaid, who sounds just like one of the residents of the Sullivan Islands ... all of whom run around saying things like, "Jaysus, you eejit! Don't give me that bollocks!" Once the action had settled firmly in Ireland, I was less troubled by the fact that everyone sounded Irish. 2) The hero is supposed to be a stockbroker. Although the book contains only one (thankfully short) chapter set in the hero's office, not a single word of it rings true. The author manages to get every detail wrong, from the time the stock market opens to the way stock options are exercised (they are exercised, by the way, not cashed up) to the terminology used by the hero's boss (who describes the hero as part of a "broking team." I've never heard this expression before ... perhaps broking teams exist in New Zealand, the author's home country, but they do not exist in the American financial industry). I've been employed in the financial industry since 1990, so I do know a few things about how a brokerage office works and how industry people sound, and in those areas this book completely misses the mark. 3) The events leading to the hero's abrupt decision to go to Ireland are supposed to have taken place in an incredibly short period - only three months. Perhaps things could happen that quickly elsewhere in the world, but there is no way that the chain of events, whereby the hero loses his wife, is fired from his job and evicted from his home - could happen in New York in less than one year. Kit is supposed to be successful, sophisticated and knowledgeable urbanite, yet he seems to be completely ignorant of the law ... and he never once consults or even thinks of consulting an attorney. Never. Now ... there isn't a single American (let alone a New Yorker) who would sadly watch his or her life turn completely upside down without once saying,"Hey, you can't do this to me! I have rights here! I'm calling my lawyer!" But Kit, the hero of the book, seems to simply shrug his shoulders and accept everything passively. Now ... if the guy is such a passive, helpless, non-confrontational, non-aggressive wuss, how could he have possibly become a successful stockbroker? Now, I know it is a novel and a certain suspension of disbelief is required, but these things really should have been caught and corrected by any half-way competent editor. So, I don't really blame the author as much as I blame some of the people she praises in her "Acknowledgements" section: Ann Clifford, noted for "her wonderful editing" and Paul Davenport, who "helped me understand the sort of culture Kit might have worked in," either of whom should have caught and corrected these flaws before publication. Anyway ... if not for the clever title, I'd have passed on this book, but once I started, I kept with it. It really is a rather sweet love story with a touch of sex thrown in, and I imagine that people who tend to enjoy *cheesy* romance novels will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Cheesy--but in a good way!
Review: If you like well-written light fiction, this book is for you! It has humor, romance, good plot twists, and unforgetable characters. Warning: You may find yourself craving blue cheese!
Rating:
Summary: This cheesy romance is amusing
Review: In County Cork, Ireland, Joseph "Corrie" Corrigan and Joseph "Fee" Feehan produce the internationally famous Coolarney Blue cheese. However as the two Josephs age, they worry about their company's future. So they decide to embark on successor planning. Corrie has not seen his granddaughter Abbey in almost a quarter of a century. Currently, she feels abandoned by her womanizing preacher of a spouse spouting the word to natives on a Pacific Island. She knows she needs a change of scenery from her locale and more from her ripping her skin for some alleged sin husband. On an Atlantic island named Manhattan, alcoholic Kit Stephens has lost his way since his wife and child died. Recently he also loses his stockbroker position. He needs a change of scenery to start over. Fate enters the mix and soon Abbey and Kit meet at the Coolarney cheese factory. This cheesy romance is amusing due mostly to the geezers, the cows, and the cats serving as interesting secondary characters. Abbey and Kit seems like nice people, but both sing the blues until they meet each other and see in the other a second chance. Throw in the magic of Eire leading to the audience singing along to the Sound of Music. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: The Hills are alive with the sound of Dairymaids
Review: Perchance is this another in Fr. Andrew Greeley's Blackie Ryan mysteries series? No, but sure there are a lot of gentle Irish folk about. Is it a book about Bret Favre and his devoted Green Bay Packer fans in their funny wedge-shaped headgear? No. `Tis a charming tale of cheesemaking in County Cork. New Zealand (via the Irish Diaspora) new author Sarah-Kate Lynch has cured a fine tale of two modern lovelorn souls brought together out on the Coolarney Cheese and dairy farm of Joseph Corrigan and Joseph Feehan (Corrie and Fee to their friends and devoted customers.) Along the road to true romance, the reader learns a tad about the art of cheesemaking, too. Who knew that the resultant cheese tastes better if it is milked from contented cows by vegetarian dairymaids singing showtunes from *The Sound of Music?* Romance novels are not my cup of milk, but this one has wit and a quaint cheesey charm for even the non-habitue. `Tis a fine cheese - like the star of the Coolarney line - Princess Grace (the Cheese named after the late actress/Monaco Monarch) herself. Reviewed by TundraVision
Rating:
Summary: Delicious!!
Review: This book is a delightful tale of those who need emotional and physcial healing, and the wonderful dairy farm and its inhabitants (some of whom are quite kooky) who provide it. The characters in this book are wonderfully written. The descriptions of the cheeses make one's mouth water. At times during this book I found myself smiling, laughing, and, yes, even crying (sobbing to be honest). It is a fantastic story, very well written, and I highly, highly recommend it. Add another five stars if you love cheese!
Rating:
Summary: Where you belong
Review: This is a funny book and an easy read, however it still has a strong message within. There are several main characters, all with a host of problems, some quite humorous. As the book progresses, the situations become more and more outlandish. In the end, however, the true meaning of the outcome is sincere and down to earth. Each character ends up right where he or she belongs. In Corrie's "final words", we realize that what one accomplishes in a lifetime may not be what one expects, but it is worthwhile nonetheless, and especially if one has done exactly what made him/her the most happy. What you do with your life doesn't have to be huge to have an impact, it just has to be what you believe in.
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