NEW Release: Once Upon an Irish Summer

I’m super excited to introduce you to my new release, Once Upon an Irish Summer. Before Covid shut world travel down, I was lucky enough to travel to the Emerald Isle for a visit along the West Coast, accompanied by my son, Jack, and husband, Tim. It was November, so it was hardly “Summer weather,” but we were graced with sunshiny days at least half the time…and a screaming deal on airfare that we couldn’t pass up.

I fell in love with the country and would dearly love to return some day. So much beauty in one place! (During the blog tour, I’ll be sharing our itinerary, in case you want to go too.) I started thinking about an Irish novel more than a decade ago, when I came across the biography of a pirate queen, and it got my historical-fiction wheels turning. But given that I’m on this contemporary romance kick, I just incorporated that into my historical-fan-heroine, Fiona Burke…

Here’s How the Back Cover Reads:

Fiona Burke has long been obsessed with Ireland’s famed, sixteenth-century pirate queen, Grace O’Malley. Now that she’s on the final stretch of earning her PhD in history, all she needs to do is finish her dissertation—with Grace O’Malley as her subject—then return home to Boston to defend it. Once that’s done she can compete for a highly coveted history professor position.

Fiona arrives in western Ireland aiming to interview the locals and find additional folklore to flesh out her work. But when she encounters Grace’s distant relative—the handsome, commanding Rory O’Malley—she gets seriously distracted. Rory shares her passion for history and Ireland, and cares for his grandfather and great-uncle in a winsome way. Unfortunately he also carries wounds beyond his injured leg…wounds that threaten to dismantle every little bit of a relationship that he and Fiona begin to build.

As a famed TV host becomes intrigued with Fiona—as well as convinced she should do guest appearances on his show—Rory starts to figure out that he might be as interested in his own personal romantic future as he is in Ireland’s epic past. But can he take the steps toward the healing he needs before it’s too late? It all remains to be seen…Once Upon an Irish Summer.

Advance Praise for the Book…

“Lisa Bergen has penned an immersive read laced with intelligence and steeped in the myths of Ireland. Transportive and warm, Once Upon an Irish Summer is a thoughtful escapist romance featuring a clever, relatable heroine, an unforgettable hero and intercepted by the history of legendary pirate queen Grace O’Malley. With just enough vulnerability to loan it a deft human touch and backed by impressive research, this is a treatise on quiet heroism and finding home in lush, new places.”
     —Rachel McMillan, author of the Three Quarter Time Series and The London Restoration