Driving Maisie Crazy by Deborah M. Hathaway: Book Review

 **ARC received for consideration. All opinions are my own.

The Book

“What happens on an Irish bus tour stays on an Irish bus tour…”

Maisie King:

Blonde American

Manu creature for a future restaurant

Dress-with-sneakers wearer

Two-time county fair winner for Junior Market Hogs

On her way to the Emerald Isle for the first time ever

And she. can’t. wait.

After three months sampling the best food Europe has to offer, Maisie and her aunt finally arrive for their two-week-long bus tour around Northern Ireland, the land of Maisie's ancestors.

With plans to be chauffeured from pub to castle to historical site, Maisie has all the time in the world to eat all the food, take all the photos, absorb all the inspiration, and find all the recipes she needs for her soon-to-be-opening restaurant. This is going to be a breeze.

Or so she thinks. As her American luck has it, Maisie’s plan to get anything done at all is promptly thrown out the window the second she spies the group’s tour guide—the too-attractive-for-his-own-good Finn O’Meara.

Now, instead of working while being driven around, she’s distracted to high heaven with Finn’s nearly impossible to understand accent and his overly confident smile. Not to mention his constant flirting and his charming flat cap and his dark eyes constantly darting away from hers in the rearview mirror and, well, you get the picture.

But Maisie doesn’t have time to get distracted. She’s there for research and research alone. She’s not about to allow this Northern Irish heartthrob to distract her. But when her aunt has to go home due to a sudden emergency, Maisie's resolve begins to weaken.

Luckily, tour guides aren’t allowed to fraternize with their passengers. Unluckily, this tour guide doesn’t seem to care about the rules…

This is the second book in the clean and sweet romcom Men of the Isles series by Deborah M. Hathaway. Although this Dual POV, road trip, forbidden romance is a stand-alone novel, the books are best enjoyed when read in order as minor spoilers are given about previous characters.

The Author

Deborah M. Hathaway graduated from Utah State University with a degree in Creative Writing, though her love of creating stories began long before that. As a young girl, she devoured romance novels left and right, entirely captured by all things romance, and she hasn't looked back since.

Throughout her childhood, she wrote many short stories, poems, and essays, but it wasn't until after she married that she was finally able to complete her first romance novel, attributing the completion to her courtship with and love of her charming, English husband.

Deborah finds her inspiration for her novels in her everyday experiences with her husband and children and during her travels to the United Kingdom, where she draws on the beauty of the country in such places as Ireland, Yorkshire, and her beloved Cornwall.

Book Review

Driving Maisie Crazy is the second book in the Men of the Isles series. I had not read the previous book in the series and found that I was able to enjoy it just fine as a standalone (though I'm definitely looking forward to going back to spend more time with this fun friend group!)

There are only a few places in this world that I would truly like to travel to, and Ireland is definitely at the top of that short list. This book really only solidified that interest. The author did such a great job of bringing the beauty of Ireland to the pages... and Finn's dialogue? I could hear it in my head, and I loved that! He was definitely charming, and I loved those flirty moments, but I also loved how he tried to take care of his parents too... it made him an easy character to love. Who could blame Maisie for falling for him? These two are just the sweetest together. They have an immediate chemistry, and I loved how they just couldn't help but be drawn together... despite everything standing in their way. It was definitely a quick romance, but it worked for them, and I absolutely loved it. Finn's friends (and family) also added some great humor to the story. I loved the group chats and found myself wanting to spend more time with this fun group. I absolutely cannot wait to see what is going to happen next in the series. 

Driving Maisie Crazy is a closed-door romance with kisses only and no language. 


You can purchase your copy here: https://amzn.to/4i4eSsB