My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
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After such a long adventurous journey with On Dublin Street family, Samantha Young finally represented the final conclusion of the series with Moonlight on Nightingale Way.
It’s kind of bittersweet to pick this book up from my shelf and read it. At one side, I was so eager to see what Ms. Young offered on the last book of a romance series that I love so much while in the other hand reading it meant I was ready to say good bye to this series and I was definitely not ready.
My emotion was all over the place when I started reading this book, knowing it’d be the last time I’d read of the whole family of ODS series. I followed this series time to time from Braden/Jocelyn’s book. Was immediately hooked by them, I continued reading the next book and next and next. I loved how each character in this series had various characteristics yet they got along very well, supported each other closely, and managed to be there through thick and thin of life. Even though not every book was my favorite, I loved the strong friendship that Ms. Young always put in every book, creating such a strong chemistry between each book that it’d be kind of impossible to not want to read the next/previous ones after you read one of them.
Moonlight on Nightingale Way was a story of Logan, who was first introduced in Echoes of Scotland Street as Shannon’s big brother. From the start he already stole readers’ hearts with his protectiveness and selfless act for his sister even though it cost him his own future life. Here in this book, we got a full story of Logan trying to rebuild his life after his sentence was over. Having a steady job and good place of living were a good starter for Logan. Sadly it was not enough for someone with ‘ex-con’ label pinned down to his shoulder by judgmental people. Logan could care less about what those people said about him because after all not everyone was as narrow-minded as them. Say, someone like his neighbor.
Grace was a girl with flawed past working on to rebuild a new life in Scotland after leaving behind ‘all her belongings’ in England. People who were supposedly became her safe haven had failed her in so many messed up ways creating a big hole in her heart that took a long time to mend. Now that she began to pick up remaining pieces in her life, she was met with another distraction. Grace loathed her new neighbor who apparently had very little concern with his surroundings. For the first time in her life, she hated the fact that she worked from home for a living. Her home was no longer a place where she could find peace and comfort. Not anymore since the arrogant guy moved next door, literally creating loud inappropriate noises every night. Grace who hated confrontation –thanks to a lesson from her old life- felt something inside her ignited with rage witnessing all of irritating things her neighbor pulled on every day. She then found herself arguing with Logan, the new annoying yet hot as hell neighbor, which never happened with anyone before.
Heated argument and constant banter-exchange were two things that repeatedly happened between Grace and Logan until one day their ‘usual routine’ was interrupted by someone with past secret that shocked the hell out of Logan. Grace, who happened to be in a wrong time and at a wrong place, later got tangled in a complicated circumstance with Logan. The deeper she was involved, the harder it was to deny her unexpected feeling for Logan. Soon, Grace, the girl who had been trying to stand up for herself, live a new life while mending the past wound, was shaken to the ground by a guy who ironically shared a very good understanding with the fatal issue she’d been facing the whole time. Two people with baggage usually made a real good story of love, loss, and faith. And Logan and Grace might be no exception in this case, if only they let the door opened between them.
Logan was a cold and ignorant guy who was apparently anything but that in the past. His prison time changed him in so many ways even though after all he was still the guy with a warm heart and high responsibility. Though I didn’t love him as much as I do Braden, he was quite likeable guy with his alpha-male demeanor and gentle heart. I loved it when a piece of his past appeared out of nowhere, surprising him big time, but he managed to stay calm and deal with it maturely. I was a little indifferent with Grace at first but then she surprised me with her braveness to stand up for herself at some point. I really liked a girl who can speak for herself and not just keep counting on people around her. Grace gave me that and I liked her.
The plot was neat, kind of fast-paced in the beginning and Ms. Young unraveled the secrets bit by bit. I loved how the one that bring them together was Logan’s past that also something that touched a sensitive issue in Grace’s old wound. Their chemistry was strong, the pull and push was only strengthen the friction between their forces of love. And finally, the ending of their story was great. Everyone finally able to fought their own demons and was ready to see things from new perspective. I liked that not everything magically turned all right in the end; I loved the touch of realistic life there.
I loved Ms. Young so much to put such beautiful epilogue for each couple!
As always, Braden and Jocelyn were the most amusing. I laughed so much reading their older daughter, Beth, outsmarted them in every occasion. She resembled Jocelyn so much in so many ways. And as always, Cam and Jo had the most touching story among all. I remembered crying a river reading their book, and even through such a short epilogue, they still managed to steal a tear or two from my eyes. It’s seriously a bittersweet feeling saying goodbye to all the couple of ODS series. Even though I’m so damn happy that everyone finally got their lasting happy endings, I still wish to read more again and again from them.
Now with a sad heart but smile on my face, I guess it’s time to say goodbye to this series. I’ll just go re-read them when I feel like missing them.
For you who haven’t even started this series yet, it’s not too late to begin now. If you take this recommendation, then I welcome you to ‘On Dublin Street’ tribe!
Love, read, and review,
Cynthia D.
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