Tips for Tuesday - Books: An Irish Summer & Come Knocking; & Movie: A Season for Love

We may have been given complimentary copies and/or access for review purposes to any books, products, and/or any other visual or audio media mentioned below. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

Books: An Irish Summer & Come Knocking

Today, we recommend An Irish Summer by Alexandra Paige. When the bed and breakfast where Chelsea has been working since college unexpectedly closes, she takes a temporary job at a hostel in Galway, Ireland, until she can get her life back on track. At first, she hates everything. However, tour guide Collin is determined to show her all that Ireland has to offer, and she quickly finds herself drawn to the place, the people, and especially the man, although she is still determined to go home at the end of the summer.  

This is a sweet and charming romance, albeit largely predictable. Chelsea and Collin make an adorable couple, even though you can see the end coming right from the beginning.  It is nice, however, that the third act conflict is actually believable in terms of the story and not some annoying and unnecessary contrivance that comes out of nowhere.

There are plenty of touching relationships and great family vibes as Chelsea and her coworkers quickly become like family. She also has an extremely supportive best friend from back home, who is like a sister to her.  It is nice how close they remain despite the distance and the fact that their lives are quickly diverging. 

The book also functions as a kind of travelogue. You can get a taste of Ireland just from reading it.

On the whole, if you are a romance fan and not necessarily looking for something new and different but happy to enjoy a tried-and-true formula romance, you should enjoy this book. 

Today, we recommend Come Knocking by Mike Bockhoven. Come Knocking is a unique and interactive theatrical experience as well as the hottest ticket around. Then, it all comes crashing down in one horrific night of violence. Intrepid reporter Adam Jakes is determined to uncover the truth of what happened. 

This is an intriguing thrill ride of a story, but definitely not for the faint of heart. Much of it deals with the absolute worst of humanity, and therefore, it can be hard to read. It is, however, quite unique and exciting. 

The story is told through a series of interviews. While this allows the reader to get into the minds of a variety of characters, it also distances the reader from the story since you don't get a clear overall picture until the end of the book. This can be a good thing; however, as it slightly blunts the impact of the extreme gruesomeness of the story, otherwise, unless you are a psychopath, the horror of it all is too much to take in all at once. 

The book may be triggering if you or a loved one has been a victim of guns, fire, a severe beating, or other types of violence. However, if this does not apply to you and you are looking for something completely unique and you are not afraid of a book that is loaded with descriptions of extremely appalling violence, you may enjoy it. 

Movie: A Season for Love

Today, we are talking about A Season for Love. This film starts out as a sweet romance between a highly motivated doctor and a slightly awkward filmmaker, who is refreshingly free of macho posturing. However, it quickly devolves into soap operaish territory. The ending is both unsatisfying and unclear, as the actor playing the filmmaker mumbles his lines although he has done this throughout the movie, it becomes a particular problem now as it makes it hard to determine the final line of the film without the ability to go back and listen to it again, maybe even more than once.

And that's our view. An Irish Summer and Come Knocking will both publish next Tuesday, July 1. A Season for Love is available on DVD and digitally for rental or purchase now.

Tune in tomorrow for Where-To-Go Wednesday.

All images except film images used in this post are our own.  Film images have been sent to us from publicists, artists, and/or  PR firms. If there is a problem with the rights to any image, contact us here, and we will look into the matter