It Was Only Ever You by Kate Kerrigan

Kate Kerrigan is on the blog today with an historic title that mixes fame, fortune and the quest for love and romance in this new release

It Was Only Ever You

Staring off, the story felt a bit disjointed as it begins with a Holocaust survivor and their struggles and then we find ourselves in County Mayo where we meet a charismatic, handsome and talented Patrick, determined to make his mark on the world as a singer. He’s exciting and different from most, and that is one of the reasons that Rose, a renowned beauty, is in love with him. These two are destined to fail as a couple from the start, since neither is prone to thought or examination of motives, and this makes them far too easily manipulated. With the end of this relationship, Patrick is off to New York seeking fortune and fame.

In New York, Patrick’s desires for love bring him to Ava: wealthy and clever, but not a beauty. His eyes and future are guided by yet another woman, Sheila, who is determined to make every move necessary to have him, and make his dreams of fame and fortune come true. Of course, even with her own issues and the ocean between them, Rose isn’t willing to let the hope for her love with Patrick go.

Confused yet? I was. And it wasn’t helped by the lack of actual build to the characters that was more than stereotype. From the women who were obsessed with ‘winning’ the man, one upping one another and appearing to be willing to do anything to get a win, they were tiring, and I found myself uninterested in the relationship that they each purported to have with Patrick. For his part, Patrick seemed to find himself without the ability to control his heart: an immaturity issue that seemed to be the overriding personality trait of an otherwise flat character. Descriptions of sights, sounds, clothing and setting were wonderful, but even that couldn’t bring me to make the comparisons held in the synopsis of this title. Sadly, this was a miss for me because of the characters that were all too familiar and flat in their construct.

Title: It Was Only Ever You
Author: Kate Kerrigan
Genre: Historic Woman's Fiction, Post World War II
Published by: Head of Zeus
ISBN: 1784082414
Published on: 6 October, 2017
Format:eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Pages: 342
Get Your Copy: Amazon ♦ Kobo
See this Title on Goodreads

Patrick Murphy has charm to burn and a singing voice to die for. Many people will recognize his talent. Many women will love him. Rose, the sweetheart he leaves behind in Ireland, can never forget him and will move heaven and earth to find him again, long after he has married another woman. Ava, the heiress with no self-confidence except on the dance floor, falls under his spell. And tough Sheila Klein, orphaned by the Holocaust and hungry for success as a music manager, she will be ruthless in her determination to unlock his extraordinary star quality. But in the end, Patrick Murphy's heart belongs to only one of them. Which one will it be?

About Kate Kerrigan

Kate Kerrigan worked for many years as a magazine journalist and editor before her first book, Recipes for a Perfect Marriage was published in 2006. Recipes was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year, translated into 25 languages and optioned for film. Her next novel The Miracle of Grace, was also turned into a screenplay, but it was her next project, the Ellis Island Trilogy, featuring feisty heroine Ellie Hogan, that made her a New York Times bestseller. The Lost Garden, The Dress and her latest novel, It Was Only Ever You followed, all to critical acclaim and achieving bestseller status. Kate has a loyal following of readers in the U.K, Ireland, the U.S. and, increasingly, Australia. She is a ‘writers writer’ whose advocates include popular Irish writers Cecelia Ahern, Marian Keyes and Cathy Kelly.

Kate lives and works in Killala, County Mayo on the Wild Atlantic Way. She lives in a house overlooking the sea with her artist husband, Niall Kerrigan, and their two young sons, Leo and Tom. Kate writes every day in a small cottage in her mother’s back garden, in the nearby town of Ballina. She documents her life in a weekly column for the Irish Mail, and on the Irish radio programme, Sunday Miscellany.

A writing evangelist, Kate also teaches and mentors at National University College Galway (NUIG).