If you’re a fan of Banished Saga by Ramona Flightner as I am, and have read the series so far, you’ll probably know that this series is coming to an end next month with it’s 9^th installment. And although it makes me really emotional, and extremely sad, I know all the good things have to come to an end at one point or the other. I’ve been really enjoying these short snippets of the lives of our favorite characters from the series since Ramona had taken to deliver them to her newsletter subscribers as Christmas gifts for the past few years. Irrepressible Love, being the one before the last installment, makes it even more precious to me.

Irrepressible Love is a short story that focuses on once uppity librarian Hester Loken who has been a recurring character in the Saga for the past few installments. Everybody around her thought she was firmly on the shelf, that she’ll live out her life as a spinster. Even Hester convinced herself that something so magical as the love of a good man is too good to be true for her. She’s not one of those lucky women and never will be, even having friends like Clarissa MacLeod or Araminta Sullivan who have found love in the previous installments of the series. Enter Jim Bailey, a blacksmith who was working for Colin Sullivan, husband to Araminta and brother of Clarissa, and Hester’s life’s plan goes out the window. Only she has no idea whether for better or for worse. Hester longs for this to be a reality, but afraid to hope too much. What will she do?

TBH, I had a hard time remembering Jim from any previous installments so I was a little taken a back with all that has been happening. But it didn’t hinder my enjoyment at all. Hester deserved love and she found someone who adored her back exactly the same, if not more. I couldn’t have been happier for the two.

Irrepressible Love sets the tone for the final installment of the series, Triumphant Love, coming January 2020. I’ll also suggest not reading this story before reading the previous installments because it contains spoilers you may not expect or even like. But highly recommended for the fans of the series.

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Read this short story as a part of the Second Chance Love anthology. My review can be found below:

http://punya.booklikes.com/post/1879377/second-chance-love-review-of-mrs-sartin-s-secretary

(As usual **spoiler alert**!! on the review above)

This story is connected to Wendy's Lords of Chance series.

It's also currently a freebie (at the time of writing this review on August 31, 2019) for those of you who maybe interested in it : https://amzn.to/2LaLcxo

My reviews are honest & they contain spoilers. For more, follow me:

Legacy of Hunger book 1 of Druid’s Brooch is the first book I read by Christy Nicholas. I came to know about the author from a few blog tours I hosted of her books in this series and have always been rather intrigued by the covers... then I read the blurb of book 1 and found it to be a freebie so I grabbed it. TBH it was quite an unexpected journey!

Legacy of Hunger is an odd book. Slow and kind of gloomy but not at all unpleasant. The writing and the research was pretty fair and I enjoyed the pace. But the story was slow-moving and dark because of the subject matter which it centered around. The story is set in 1846, begins in America and ends in Ireland. The heroine (I’m not even sure if I should call her as such… she definitely was the only main character) Valentia had always been moved by the stories her Irish maternal grandmother had told her when she was young. She was fascinated by everything it entailed; the magic, the myth and everything in between. But what Valentia found the most intriguing was the story of an abandoned brooch—a family heirloom—that was left behind when she left Ireland many years ago. Now there was no saying if the brooch even existed or not. What I could gather from the vague recollection of Valentia of her now deceased grandmother, is that she may have encouraged her to look for it. But whatever the reason was, Valentia, now at 23 or 24, wanted to go visit Ireland. If only her ancestral land was her only interest here, that would’ve sufficed. However, Valentia was so obsessed with a drawing of the brooch she was given that she was totally ready to go on a wild goose chase in a land completely unknown to her.

'Memento Amare: All About the Memories' is a short, sweet angst free and just generally free story that the author has made available and while I can be read at any time I strongly recommend reading it after reading Momento Amare as it will put a smile on your face and be far more enjoyable with the background of the original story to support it.

Pennies for Elephants just reached my email and I can’t tell you how excited I was to read it because I knew Ramona was going to write a short story for Richard and Florence’s family. I needed that while I wait for the 5th book of Banished Saga, out sometimes next month. Once again, Ramona does an excellent job of not only giving us a glimpse of some of our favorite characters from the Saga but also incorporating a historical event with the storyline of the Saga quite seamlessly. Then again, because I’ve been a part of this journey since the beginning, I know she’s capable to doing just that. :D

Richard, the second (and the handsomest if I might add ;) ) McLeod brother had married the love of his life Florence Butler long before his brothers Gabriel or Jeremy could marry theirs. It seemed like these two had their HEA and that was all there is to it. They were seen on and off in the installments but never really been the focal point of any of the stories. Pennies for Elephants tells us all that and much more.

Richard and Florence have been very happy with their big, beautiful family. Their 5 rambunctious boys, Ian, Victor, Thomas, Gideon and Calvin are their world. But all wasn’t as it seemed; there indeed have been some tragedies that had cast a pall in the recent years. Even though life had thrown challenges at them, Richard and Florence knew they could weather anything as long as they stick together. Love and support each-other. So when their boys wanted to raise some funds for welcoming the first ever Elephants for the Franklin Park Zoo, Richard and Florence not only encouraged them, but also helped them to the best of their abilities.

Ramona, in the beginning of the story, explains how and why the idea of this story came to her so I will refrain from repeating it. It takes place in 1914, after book 4 Tenacious Love, so I’d suggest reading all the books from 1 through 4 to avoid any confusion and spoilers because this story is not a standalone. And if you’re already a fan of the Banished Saga, you should really read it ASAP!!

Interested in meeting the REAL Mollie, Waddy and Tony? Here they are!

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