The House of Second Chances
Author: Esther Campion
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Release date: 12th February 2018
Pages: 389 pages
R.R.P: $29.99
Can a house heal heartache?
Their grandmother's stone cottage was always a welcome retreat in the childhood summers of Ellen and Aidan O'Shea. After a trip home from Australia, Ellen is keen to bring the neglected property back to its former glory and enlists the help of her dear friend and one of Ireland's top interior designers, Colette Barry.
Aidan is already begrudging the work on the house he has avoided for nearly twenty years. The last thing the builder needs is an interior designer who seems to do nothing but complicate his life. With their own personal heartaches to overcome, will Aidan and Colette find the courage to give the house and themselves a second chance?
My Review
Thoughts on the book: The House of Second Chances is the second book by Esther Campion which continues with characters from her first book Leaving Ocean Road. Ellen and Aidan O'Shea have been given their grandmother's stone cottage but the catch is they have to do it up. They are both perfectly fine doing this with Aiden doing all the building work that needs to be done but clash when it comes to the interior designer they need. Ellen employs her dear childhood friend Colette to do this but Aidan and Colette seem to but heads over ever decision that needs to be made. Ellen is the mediator between the two despite being in Australia while everyone else in West Cork. As the remodel goes on we get to delve deeper into Aidan and Collete's lives. Both are hiding such heartache from everyone and are struggling to get through each day. Aidan is getting over a relationship that left him heartbroken years ago and struggles with weight issues while Colette is getting over a bad marriage that caused her to leave her life behind to make a fresh start doing something she loves, interior designing. But when a young girl goes missing during a charity event that the two are holding for a mutual friend's son they all must band together and put grievances aside to find the young girl.
A massive thank you to Alana from Hachette Australia for sending me a review copy of The House of Second Chances by Esther Campion and picking me to be apart of this amazing blog tour and allowing me to ask Esther some questions. Before being asked to be apart of this tour I hadn't heard of Esther Campion or her first book Leaving Ocean Road so I hadn't been introduced to any of the characters or the setting yet. I think that this was best as it let me start The House of Second Chances with fresh eyes and with no favourite characters. I was confused when I first started the book as there seemed to be so many points of view thrown straight at me straight away and I didn't understand how they all fit into the storyline. But as I continued reading I got my head around it all and really started to enjoy the storyline and the secrets that everyone was hiding from each other. The longer you read the deeper we get to delve into everyone's secrets and some of the secrets are whoopers. That mixed in with the big moment of the missing child made this story along with the will they or won't they relationship between Aidan and Colette a fantastic novel. Esther Campion should be congratulated on her amazing writing that draws you in and keeps ahold of you long after you have finished the book. I have very high hoped for more books set in this amazing world of characters that she has created.
Rating: 4/5
GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42372751-the-house-of-second-chances?from_search=true
PURCHASE LINKS
AU
Kobo
Apple Books
https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/the-house-of-second-chances/id1421691218?mt=11
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Esther_Campion_The_House_of_Second_Chances?id=BjhnDwAAQBAJ
AUTHOR BIO
Esther Campion is from Cork, Ireland and currently lives in north-west Tasmania. She attended North Presentation Secondary School in Cork and has degrees from University College Cork and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Esther and her Orcadian husband have lived together in Ireland, Scotland, Norway and South Australia. They have two grown-up children in Adelaide and the youngest at home in Tassie. Esther loves sharing her life on a small property with an over-indulged chocolate Labrador, a smoochy cat and a couple of ageing mares, all of whom she firmly believes are living proof that dreams really can come true. The House of Second Chances is Esther's second novel, following Leaving Ocean Road.
AUTHOR LINKS
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TammyRobinson76
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esther_campion_/
Q&A with Esther Campion
Thanks very much for the opportunity Jessica and I must say that I loved your questions!
Congratulations on the release of The House of Second Chances. For those people who may not have heard of your new release yet how would you describe it to them?
The House of Second Chances is essentially a story told around the renovation of an old farmhouse in Ireland where brother and sister, Aidan and Ellen O’ Shea spent their childhood summers. Builder Aidan is teamed up with his sister’s friend, interior designer Colette Barry. Since Ellen lives in South Australia, the pair are left to get on with the project despite the fact that they’d both prefer not to be working together. From the outside, Colette appears to be a woman focused on building her career and reputation, but she is also overcoming the hurts of an unhappy marriage. Aidan, who has spent nearly twenty years avoiding the house, begrudges working on the place and indeed his sister’s enlisting of Colette’s help, “Sure wouldn’t a few fancy cushions in the parlour and a few bits of decent bed linen do the job?” For Ellen, the house is away of connecting with her past and a possible way of securing a future with old flame, Gerry Clancy who has recently come back in to her life.
The House of Second Chances was an interesting title for the book. What inspired you to call it this and to write the story accompanying it?
The title actually came last after the drafting and editing. I had learned from my debut novel, Leaving Ocean Road, that this is quite normal, so I had a working title of ‘Fabulous Four Walls’ which of course is the name of the interior design agency in the book. Although I loved the glamour of the sound of that, I knew it would probably change. It was only once I’d finished the book that I really appreciated how important the house itself had been to the story, like a character in itself. The house gives the main characters the opportunity for healing they desperately need.
I loved all of the different character storyline's you have written into The House of Second Cahmces. Which was your favourite to write?
I think, apart from the main characters’ storylines, I enjoyed writing Shane’s the most. Despite casting himself as the belligerent teenager we might prefer to see the back of, he is a vulnerable young man with his own hurts to heal.
You have a very clever way of writing where the big defining moment in the book just hits you. Do you have any other books in the works? Maybe one about Grace and Ben?
Thank you for that compliment. I really appreciate it. I have another couple of novels ‘in the works’ as you say, but I am getting to know a few of the characters a bit better at the moment, so won’t give too much away. I write by the seat of my pants, so nothing is planned out in advance. The only thing I will say is that I am enjoying setting my Work In Progress in Tasmania as well as Ireland this time. Don’t be surprised if Grace and Ben pop up somewhere down the line.
Finally who are your go to authors and go to books when you want to read a good book?
Go to authors and books? The late Maeve Binchy would have to be top of my list just for the sheer warmth of getting wrapped up in the stories of her very human characters. I also like Nicholas Sparks for a good love story. Australian authors, Natasha Lester and Pamela Hart have got me into historical fiction recently. So many amazing authors and wonderful books - just wish there were more hours in the day to enjoy them.
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