What I love about Dublin – Amanda Laneley

A romance novel published in 2016 and written by Chilean author Amanda Laneley. 
Sara has always dreamt about traveling and touring around the world, but her boyfriend Antonio has already designed a scheme for their future together. Settling down in Chile with a stable job and a wedding to ensure a well-planned existence is the most sensible conclusion Antonio has come up with.

Sara has been putting off her fantasy trip to Dublin and the delay has caused differences in their relationship, leading them to a breakup. As a result Sara makes up her mind to give a try to a job proposal at an Irish university in Dublin, and right then and there she sets off in search of new experiences and whatever fate throws at her.

Upon arriving to the new city Sara rents a room in a house shared by a group of friends from different countries. Among them there is Daniel, a handsome Irish lad eager to visit Australia; and determined to make his dream come true.

My score:

Even though Daniel has no interest in having a serious relationship just yet, a strong attraction arises between the two of them, and the new feeling threatens to destabilize the impetuous Daniel. Especially when Antonio bursts onto the scene, Sara’s former boyfriend, who is now claiming for his "rights".

Romanticism is the main element of this work; Sara and Daniel fall in love so passionately and unexpectedly considering both of them had clear motives to not get involved in some emotional attachment under current conditions. The overwhelming fascination growing between them is stronger than any premeditated resolution and they have so much in common that it is just impossible to resist temptation.

The novel describes in great detail all the stages which someone deeply in love passes through, that is; excitement, expectation, infatuation, disappointment, jealousy, anger and pain. Our Daniel is a fiery and indecisive character who finds reasons in each situation to justify his childish tantrums; I must admit that I have come to despise him utterly. If the writer makes such an impact on the reader it most certainly counts to her credit. On the other hand our heroine is very ‘good’, perhaps too much to my view, and after getting ennoyed by her repeated acceptance of Daniel's misbehavior you eventually pity her because of her lack of determination to put an end to a harmful relationship.

I believe the main characters’ romantic scenes and intimate encounters were conveyed masterfully, the writer evidences a great ability to express and transmit feelings through her words and how she makes the reader feel identified with the roles to some extent. Not to mention the rich description of Irish landscapes and dreamy sites visited by the protagonists will surely pick your curiosity.

If you're the romantic type this book will hook you up from the beginning because in its pages you will find love scenes and deep wrenching pain episodes that will doubtlessly shake you off. In my opinion however, I find the story falling a little into a circle of encounters and misunderstandings of a relationship that takes too long to materialize. As the tragedy lover that I am (Hi!) I would have liked that a critical or disastrous event had taken place and had stated a crucial point in the narrative providing some more pronounced ups and downs to the story.

I will definitely go for this author’s next book!