A Dance in Donegal by Jennifer Deibel

A Dance in Donegal 

By Jennifer Deibel 

Published by Revell 

Description: 

To fulfill her mother's dying wish, Moira Doherty moves from Boston to the rolling green hills of 1921 Ireland to teach in a village school. She doesn't expect to fall in love--or to uncover a scandalous family reputation her mother left behind years ago. 

Review: 

The strongest aspect of this book was the look at Irish culture--the language and the customs were beautifully conveyed. The setting was really, really well written. The plot, however, didn't quite work as well as I hoped it would and there seemed to be inconsistencies that just weren't developed enough to make them feel plausible. For instance, Moira is initially welcomed by a local family--despite them knowing Moira's mother's scandalous secret--and yet, when Moira aids one of her sick students, Aedach, a young man, they suddenly take that a sign that she's immoral and shun her. As for the sick young man, the interactions with him frankly confused me; I never really understood how old he was supposed to be. On the one hand, it was scandalous that she was alone in his home with him, but on the other hand, he's referred to more than once as a child. So, the community's reaction to Moira helping him was confusing as well; if she's helping a sick child, why would anyone be upset about that? If he's not that young, like on the verge of finishing up school and it's truly improper for Moira to be helping him, why aren't others more willing to help? There's a sexual assault in the book that felt somewhat contrived, like it was thrown in without a good enough reason, particularly as the repercussions for it (both what happened to the perpetrator and how the victim would really have to deal with it) weren't addressed. When Moira's "secret" is finally revealed, that revelation came a little too easily, and again, the repercussions weren't really addressed. I liked the opening of the book, and I loved the final scene, but the middle just wasn't as well-developed as it could have been. 

3 stars. 

I read an ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.