Escape to the cozy Irish village of Ballydara, where you'll discover the strength of family bonds, a warm community, and enduring love. In this deeply romantic love story, Kerry McCormack, a Dublin wife and mother, longs to trade her cubicle-bound job for her lifelong dream to live in the country. At 33, she has an outwardly successful marriage to steady, successful Stephen. With an abiding passion for Kerry since the first time he saw her, he has been a steadfast father to her son Jamie.

Yet after a recent, shattering loss, Kerry and Stephen have grown apart. Immersed in his high-powered career to bury his grief, Stephen also struggles with his secret fear that he's never been the love of her life.

Desperate to flee from her own sorrow and her predictable Dublin routine, Kerry embarks on what she thinks will be an idyllic country holiday with her family. Instead, Kerry is stunned by new revelations about her past. She and Stephen must face the long-hidden secrets haunting them both.

Fiercely determined to heal the rift in their relationship, Kerry will risk everything to give her family a second chance. In this heartfelt, deeply romantic novel, will she and Stephen recapture the passion they once shared?

Susan Colleen Browne's Village of Ballydara series, set in a sleepy Irish village, also includes The Galway Girls (Book 4), the sequel to The Hopeful Romantic—a warmhearted tale of women's friendship and discovering love where you least expect it.

Latest Ballydara novel: The Fairy Cottage of Ballydara, Book 7 of the Ballydara series!

"The Hopeful Romantic will transport you to the quaint farmlands of Ireland and to the city life of Dublin... It was a pleasure to read for its engaging characters, its authenticity, and its unforgettable moments—a poignant and, sometimes humorous, old-fashioned romantic story..." Chanticleer Book Reviews

About the Author:

Susan Colleen Browne is the creator of the Village of Ballydara series, cozy romantic women's fiction. She's also the author of an award-winning, country-set memoir, Little Farm in the Foothills, and more Little Farm homesteading books. Susan is a community college instructor and lives with her husband in the foothills of the Pacific Northwest, USA.

When she's not in the garden, Susan is working on a new Village of Ballydara book!