[.ca] Fair Haven (ISBN 0671786113)

The love between friends can be that strong!:
This was my 1st JoAnn Ross to read- and it won't be my last! After arriving home to spend some time with her family, Dr. Erin O'Halloran receives a request from a dear friend to travel to Western Ireland. After years of working on the front lines of war, Dr. Tom Flanner is now dying at a young age from the effects of gas warfare. He says that his reason for requesting her to come is for her to help with his medical practice as he slowly loses his strength and becomes bedridden but there's a hidden agenda. Michael Joyce has come home after spending years as a Pulitzer Prize Award photographer from the front lines of war needing to recover physically and emotionally from the effects of war. He has escaped to his family farm but the ghosts are even there. His childhood friend Dr. Tom Flannery is dying. While Michael is having to face the future loss of his best friend Tom, he is approached by his old girlfriend's mother accompanied by a little girl. He discovers that the past girlfriend/lover was killed in a bombing at her wedding and has left a daughter who she claimed was Michael's by blood. Michael who never wanted to marry, much less have kids, now finds himself with a daughter he did not know existed to raise. After leaving Coldwater Cove, Washington, Erin travels across the world to Castlelough, Ireland. She is introduced to Michael at the airport by Tom and her first impression of Michael is one of his being a cold- hard man. But as time goes by she learns that he does have a warm heart and they have a lot in common from what they both experienced with war. As time goes by Erin feels she has come home and known Michael forever, which can not be since they just met- and there is a little mystery there that I will leave for the reader. It is a story of the love between friends, father-daughter, lovers, family, etc. The setting being in Ireland is delightful. I really enjoyed this story! and highly recommend it to the reader. I will go back and get the prequel A Woman's Heart- I enjoyed the story that much.

The best!:
I thought that A WOMAN'S HEART was JoAnn Ross's best book, until I picked up FAIR HAVEN. Her newest story actually manages to transcend the romance genre, grab you by your heart in the first chapter and never let go. It is about more than just boy meets girl, or the power of love, it speaks about the power and majesty of life. Erin & Michael are both scarred and weary souls, who meet in this place because a good friend of thiers is dying. Michael has become a hermit to avoid all of the painful things in the world he has seen, while Erin, arrives determined to work tirelessly to save their mutual friend. She has found relief from her demons in work. The sparks they generate between them are as much about thier diffrent reactions to the troubles they have seen, as to sexual tension. If these two characters were not enough, Ms. Ross has set this book back in Ireland. Besides being part of the HOME PLACE triology, it is also a sequal to A WOMAN'S HEART. The best thing I can say about this book is that the minute I finished it, I was ready to start reading it again!

Pulitzer photojounalist hero & relief aid physician heroine:
I have been branching out to a wide variety of new authors. I had only read one of Ross's books prior to Fair Haven. It is the prequel to this book, A Woman's Heart. A Woman's Heart earned a five star rating when I reviewed it on Amazon. Fair Haven, however, will not rate as high. Joann Ross is a very good author and writes charming, personable stories full of Irish history and fables. But Fair Haven was a fairly boring book. The Irish history was interesting but I admit that I am not drawn to ancient Irish myths, fairies, guardian angels, and ghosts of relatives. There are many very old Irish tales told in this book by my more than one character. I know it is to draw me into this slightly magical world of Ireland in present day. But the tales were lackluster and the appearance of the dead or the reliving of lives through reincarnation was wearisome rather than intriguing. I state all this upfront for you to understand my reasons for rating this book three stars. This is a story of family, recovery, death, love, and magic. It reads like a novel rather than a romance novel. The romance is only a portion of this book (probably a third) and the remainder of the book concentrates on secondary characters, characters from the previous book in this series, and - as mentioned before - the telling of many, many Irish legends. Michael Joyce, the brother of Nora from A Woman's Heart, is the hero of Fair Haven. He is a celebrated photographer who has covered the wars across the world and has become cynical and withdrawn in the process. Although he has won a Pulitzer Prize for his work and published books, he no longer wants to be associated with the dredges of war and ethnic cleansing. He has returned to his farm in Ireland and spends all of this time alone attempting to find a life again after becoming a shell of a man. Erin O'Halloran is a physician who has worked the hospitals on the warfronts of the world in relief aid. She too has seen the atrocities that Michael has seen and is burning out. Her best friend and former relief worker, Tom Flannery, also a physician, is dying in his home country of Ireland. Erin goes to Ireland to assist Tom in his medical practice and to find a cure for Tom. She is a rather stubborn, single-minded lady who has known little but school and medicine in her life. She first meets Michael when Tom picks her up at the airport. Michael is a best friend of Tom's as well and he has accompanied Tom to assist in the driving. Erin recognizes Michael immediately although they have never meet. He is quite a celebrity as a photojournalist and she casts him in the same mold as all journalists - only out to record the horrors of the world on film and make themselves famous in the process. Michael and Erin clash almost immediately. It is difficult for them both to recognize any attraction between them. I found the first half of the book to be very slow and somewhat tedious. I made a few notes as a read and read, hoping to finally find the story moving forward. Page 181 - I must consider Ross's books as more fiction than romance. It's page 181 and the leads don't even really think they are attracted to one another yet. At this point, this book would be no more than a three star review. Page 230 - I still don't like Erin, the heroine. She has just made such an immature, bratty, and unfeeling remark to the hero that I feel like giving up reading anymore of this book. I continued reading however, and thank goodness I did because the last one-quarter of the book was tender and intriguing reading. Erin makes a sudden and almost unbelievable shift in her attitude towards Michael and life in general. But it allows the romance to develop and Michael's daughter gradually assumes a larger role in the story. If Fair Haven had been my first Ross book, it would have been difficult for me to read another. However, A Woman's Heart was my first Ross book and so precious that I will still seek more of her books for reading.

A romantic tale....:
As a relief doctor, Erin O'Halloran has seen things that most people only see in their nightmares. When her best friend and mentor calls from Ireland and tells her that he is ill, Erin flies over to find something to save him. She is ill prepared for the magic of Ireland, nor for Michael Joyce, whom she is drawn to like she has been drawn to no other man. Michael Joyce has gone into seclusion at his home. Away from prying eyes and gossipy mouths, Michael is content with his solitary life. When the mother of one of his ex-lovers shows up with an eight year old girl in tow, Michael sees is solitary exsistance dissolving as if it never exsisted. When he first sees the lovely Dr. O'Halloran, Michael vows to stay away from her, as his life has enough complications. Ross brings the reader to the magic of Ireland, again, where anything is possible, from having guardian angels to talking with people that have passed away. She brings together Erin and Michael in an unbelieveable story that she makes the reader believe. The reader will also love Shea, Michael's daughter, from the first page she graces. I can't wait until Ross's next book about Ireland comes out!

A True Delight!:
This book was wonderful! All the characters - Michael,Erin, Tom, Shea, - were "real" and the whole story was believable. Even the Irish magic that was woven in. Michael and Erin's love story was sweet and passionate. My special favourite was Shea: what a litle charmer! She had all the insecurities 8 year olds have, though. Sometimes kids that age act so mature and grownup that you forget they need to be constantly reassured about family security and love. Ross' style reminded me of Nora Roberts and Maeve Binchy. She's an excellent writer and this is truly an exceptional novel. Bravo!