If anyone in your life enjoys cooking good food and reading romances, this may be the perfect gift. Manchester lawyer Hannah Campbell needs a change and hopes to add some non-work skills to her file. She manages to secure a six-week place at the Killorgally Cookery School in County Kerry. The idea is that she’ll stay in THE COSY COTTAGE IN IRELAND with another of the guests, and five days a week, she’ll be a student and helper.

In Dublin prior to heading down to Kerry, Hannah meets Conor Byrne in her hotel. She doesn’t recognise him, but he’s been a TV chef and well-known in Ireland. In a series called ‘Romantic Escapes’ you have to expect a fun romance to get under way quickly, and Hannah is so pleased to be escaping the ordinariness of real life that she does behave like Shirley Valentine – except she’s single. Next morning, she doesn’t know how to handle the situation so leaves without saying goodbye.

The cookery school run by Adrienne Byrne specialises in growing and buying local produce, including its own eggs and meat. Hannah is well out of her depth, but the other students include a mixed bunch, providing interest and camaraderie for her while she struggles with sauces and dough. You guessed it, Conor shows up and he thinks she realised he was part of the Byrne family.

I especially enjoyed the scenic locale, with hill walks, the sandy Inch beach, a kayak trip with a dancing dolphin, and cheerful music in the pubs. The foodie descriptions are scrumptious, and I can thoroughly understand the students’ awakened enthusiasm for herb gardens, free-range eggs and organic beef. Delightfully there is another tourist interlude in Dublin. All can’t be sweetness and light, so suspense enters, but just enough to add seasoning.

As Julie Caplin has now written eight tales in her series, each set in a different place, you may find yourself checking the backlist to see where else you’d like to visit – Brooklyn, Paris and Scandinavia, for starters.  THE COSY COTTAGE IN IRELAND is a fine standalone romance read and highly entertaining as well.