Review: An Irish Heart - Jackie Zack

 

Review: An Irish Heart - Jackie Zack - March 2015

This novel drew me in with the idea of a doppelganger as Greta who is from America - born and raised in Indiana had traveled over to Cork, Ireland as when she was five years old, and her mother died - the last words she heard was "Go to Cork." Twenty years later, Greta applied for a passport and as she looked at her birth certificate - discovered a different name under her father. She tried to ask her Dad about it, but he seemed to shrug it off. Has her whole life been a lie? Now in Cork, Greta heads to a local bar where she is called a different name Iona. It turns out that she looks just like Aeden O'Rian's ex-girlfriend, so much that when she puts on her Irish accent, she could be her. One thing leads to another and Greta ends up staying at the O'Rian's inn where Aeden has convinced his whole family that Greta is, in fact, Iona playing one of her games on the family. The thing is it is just plain old American Greta. During this book, we read as Greta tries to track down her father but has no luck and also she eventually comes face to face with the "real Iona." I have to admit I was hoping for a bit more of a story with Iona and a reason for their likeness but it was glossed over, and the truth about her father was a bit of a letdown too. Other than that you do get a good Irish romance and I did have a chuckle as Greta's mother's real last words are revealed, and it was not "Go to Cork."