This is part of a series, which I didn't know. It reads well as a standalone.

The book club comes a little late for it to take such high billing in the title. But it's enjoyable to get there all the same.

I was not aware that this was par of a series, but it works as a stand-alone book.

We follow Pat and Mary, long term friends who both spent time in the USA as teenagers before returned to the small village of Finfarran to marry & live the rest of their lives. Now grandmothers, they have links on both sides of the Atlantic and through Cassie, the only one of Pat’s family who shows any interest in the “old country”, the links are re-established and modern technology brings the two communities back together via a “Transatlantic Book Club”.
The book is a bit slow to start & the pace throughout is gentle, with no dramatic twists. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to the book club till the end of the book, and felt it lacked some energy getting to this point as I think there would have been a good storyline there. It gets confusing at times working out whether we are in the present or the past, but the characters are relatable.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for free via NetGalley. Whilst thanks go to publisher for the opportunity to read it, all opinions are my own.

I didn’t realise this was part of a series until after I had finished it, but don’t worry it works fine as a stand alone novel. It is a bit slow to start, doesn’t really get going until you are half way through but it it worth persevering. There is a lovely mixture of characters on both sides of the Atlantic an it is wonderful to read how the generations help each other with both grief and technology! There is also a bit of a history lesson thrown in.

The Transatlantic Book Club by Felicity Hayes-McCoy

The story is about Pat and Mary who are women in the Autumn of their lives both widowed. Pat the most recent . They have been friends since they started convent school in Finfarran in Ireland many decades before. Just before her husbands, Ger’s death Pat and Him travelled to Toronto to visit their two sons. Whilst visiting they discovered they had nothing in common now and their sons and their families had no interest in them except for their youngest grandchild Cassie who was a bit of a maverick as she was different and did love her grandparents therefore she returns to Ireland with them.

The basic story is well written and so are the characters and their lives I do enjoy books like this one and the ethos of them. I loved the characters. However the story was very slow and jumbled. The best and most straight forward parts were the times when Pat was in America past and present. It did get there in the end if rather laboured to get there . 3.5/5

A wonderful read a book I fell in love with.The characters come alive this reads as a stand alone but is part of a series.This is a new series and a new author for me.I am now a fan of both and will be acquiring as many of her books as I can.#netgalley#hatchetteIreland

Loved this book. Great characters, easy read, uplifting, funny, romantic and charming. A really nice story that is the perfect sumer read.

Beautifully written. This was a lovely book to curl up with for a few hours. The descriptions and the characters are wonderful. I loved the idea of a transatlantic book club. This is the first book that I have read in this series and I will definitely be reading more of them.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This book is the latest in the Finfarran series, which is set around the small town of Finfarran in Ireland. In this book and the previous novels the library is at the centre of the storyline. Although this is part of a series it could very easily be read as a standalone novel.
This book features Pat, who is recently bereaved, and her Canadian granddaughter Cassie, who is staying with her. They visit a small town in America called Resolve, where Pat visited as a young woman. Several Finfarran residents immigrated there. Their descendants are keen to learn more about their ancestors, and Pat is eager to be reunited with old friends. The Transatlantic book club is set up, but before long, past secrets are being revealed.
I enjoyed the historical side to the plot, as I found it very interesting. It was great to reunite with previous characters, and it was good to find out more about Pat, and see her emerge as a strong character, rather than a downtrodden wife. There were moments of comedy at times.
The book is easy to read, although it did seem slow to start with. I liked reading this book, and I hope that there are more books in the series. Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC of this book.

I requested this book because I found the blurb interesting and thought I was going to like it.
As a matter of fact I loved it and I also discovered a new to me author and a lovely series.
The book is engaging, entertaining, and heartwarming.
I liked the concept of a transatlantic book club as much as I loved the well written cast of characters and the plot.
I think will look for the other books in this series and look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Transatlantic Book Club by Felicity Hayes-McCoy is a truly uplifting tale of love, loss and family. Set in the imaginary town of Finfarren on the West Coast of Ireland, we're introduced to Pat and Cassie, a family from two sides of the Atlantic joined together after the passing of Pat's husband Ger.

Part of a series, The Transatlantic Book Club is a perfect standalone novel and is perfect for wet rainy days, curled up in your favourite spot with a hot cuppa and oversized blanket.

Even though I enjoyed this book, I found the storyline to be quite slow and jumped all over the place. I actually enjoyed the parts that jumped back into the past more than what was taking place during the present. I did love the connection the book had to the real world that gave this book its name. It's truly inspiring that there's actually a book club out there that is spread across two continents and was made truly possible due to the advancements of modern technology.

I think everyone is aware of the large numbers of Irish people who emigrated to the United States for generations in search of the American dream, to escape religious persecution or simply out of curiosity. I don't know personally a lot about why people moved, being an Englishwoman but I definitely think Ireland's history whether at home or abroad is fascinating interwoven throughout time.

The characters of Finfarren are the same. I loved the way people's families could be traced back no matter how many generations removed they were from their original roots. My favourite characters had to be Pat Fitzgerald and Mary Casey, two sides of the same coin joined together in widowhood, and a lifetime of friendship. Pat was kind, gentle and honest whereas Mary was all smoke, mirrors and barbed wire. Two vastly different individuals that complimented each other perfectly.

I understand that in all good romances, there's always a love-triangle but I really hated the introduction of Brad, the billionaire Cruise ship guy. He just wasn't needed as we didn't really get to understand Cassie's character fully, as I felt the story focussed a lot on Pat and the past she left behind in Resolve. What would have made this even better was if Jack Shanahan had jumped on a plane to Finfarren and made a life with Cassie instead of acting like a kicked puppy over Skype.

This was a charming book full of life, colour and side-splitting humour. A great quick read that kept me amused for days.

I decided to pick this book up because it seemed like an easy read and it is set to release later this week. It offered a different type of tale then I anticipated. 

The best part of this story, is the unexpectedness of what people have to offer. I will explain a little further shortly. The story is not of one person or a family but a town in Ireland with strong ties (largely due to systemic emigration) to another in the US. Family histories are recited with just the family's names by anyone in the know (which constitutes a large section of the populace). The book club itself only comes into the picture farther in the story itself, almost close to the middle of the entire story. It is a pretty interesting idea that I already have contacted friends of mine (who read) to give it a shot!

In the beginning I found it hard to follow the narration and thought it a little clunky but it turned out that I was making too many assumptions. As the people became more familiar to me, so did their personal affectations which made me enjoy the story. It is not a light feel-good story in its purest sense because there are a lot of faults that rear their ugly heads, even in our main protagonists but that is taken as part and parcel of life itself and therefore just dealt with in a sensible fashion. Every time a person is depicted a certain way, the complacent reader will decide that it is inevitable what would happen next and in a couple of places it seemed obvious like the writer wanted our minds to go down that path (if I had not spotted that in quite a few instances, this would have been a five star read for me). Then the next few pages play a mean trick on the complacent reader and waves the actual turn of events in front of them.

I may not like or agree with everything or everyone in the story (as in real life) but it was a pretty great read.

Thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest review
Totally love this author her description is just out of this world I have read a few of her others and attention to detail is OUTSTANDING again in her new one as well this can be read as stand alone or part of her other works I can't praise it enough and deserves more stars than I can give

This is the first book in the Finfarran series that I have read, and I think it reads well as a stand-alone novel. It’s also the first of Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s novels I have read. But it definitely won’t be the last.
The reading was a little difficult due to the formatting being a bit all over the place (changing to bold or caps mid sentence and having sentence breaks in all the wrong places) but I’m sure that will be taken care of prior to official publication. That aside, it was an enjoyable read with well written characters and lovely details of their different personalities woven into the storytelling. I particularly liked the friendship between Pat and Mary, all the hallmarks of a lifelong friendship and the (at times) brutal honesty between them, always knowing their relationship could take it.
I loved that it was written about a real transatlantic book club too, what a great idea that is and proved to be a superb basis for the story.
I’m hoping that there will be a follow up to Cassie’s story, so I’ll be keeping my eyes open for the next Finfarran book.