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WORK TITLE: The Cottage at Firefly Lake
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.jengilroy.com/
CITY:
STATE: ON
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY: Canadian
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15243426.Jen_Gilroy
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Canada; married; children: a daughter.
EDUCATION:Has undergraduate and graduate degrees.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Has worked in higher education and international marketing.
MEMBER:Romance Writers of America, Romantic Novelists’ Association.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
After a career in higher education and international marketing, Jen Gilroy moved back with her family from England to live in the quiet countryside of her native Ontario, Canada. There she writes, as she described it on her website, “heartwarming romances about finding home, family and community–where ordinary women overcome sometimes extraordinary challenges to earn their happy ever after.” Her interest in “independent heroines” grew out of her childhood love of the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, L.M. Montgomery, and Noel Streatfeild.
The Cottage at Firefly Lake
The Cottage at Firefly Lake is the first in Gilroy’s “Firefly Lake” series. The story follows Charlotte (Charlie) Gibbs, as she returns home to sell her parents’ cottage at the lake after an eighteen-year absence. Her old beau, Sean Carmichael, carries a torch for her. Will they have a second chance at romance?
Writing on the RT Book Reviews website, Debbie Haupt observed that “memories, regrets and second chances are front and center in Gilroy’s fantastic debut.” A critic at Publishers Weekly called this a novel “packed with potent emotions” and found it to be “long on charm.” On the Reading Reality website, Marlene Harris pronounced the novel “a book about second chances” with a “lot to love.”
Summer on Firefly Lake
The second offering in the series, Summer on Firefly Lake, takes up the story of Charlotte’s sister, Mia. After her divorce, Mia finds herself back home with her two daughters. Soon she is drawn into romance with her old friend, attorney Nick McGuire, whose career has long been the entire focus of his life.
A correspondent at Publishers Weekly applauded the novel, saying that a “delightful supporting cast . . . and expertly plotted story add depth and richness to this tale.” Haupt called the novel a “fast-paced page turner” with “colorful” characters. She termed the “starting over trope . . . engaging.” Harris, on the Reading Reality website, thought that “Firefly Lake is clearly a lovely place to live,” a perfect location “to find a second chance at love, and a second chance at being sisters.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, January 2, 2017, review of The Cottage at Firefly Lake, p. 44; June 19, 2017, review of Summer on Firefly Lake, p. 98.
ONLINE
Jen Gilroy Website, http://www.jengilroy.com/ (November 2, 2017).
Reading Reality, https://www.readingreality.net (January 31, 2017), Marlene Harris, review of The Cottage at Firefly Lake; (July 27, 2017), Marlene Harris, review of Summer on Firefly Lake.
RT Book Reviews, https://www.rtbookreviews.com (October 22, 2017), Debbie Haupt, review of The Cottage at Firefly Lake; Debbie Haupt, review of Summer on Firefly Lake.
Meet Jen Gilroy
Jennifer_squire_websized (1)
Photo by Sue Phelps Photography
Growing up under the big sky of western Canada and spending summers in a little Ontario town, books were my passport to other worlds. Pioneering Laura Ingalls, Jo March and her sisters, the English girls in Noel Streatfeild’s books and L.M. Montgomery’s independent, nature-loving heroines all became friends.
I started writing poems and stories in elementary school and, as a teenager, reached the semi-finals in a local short story contest. Even after all these years, I still remember the thrill of the judge encouraging me to keep writing.
Then life and work intervened, and I set aside the craft of fiction to study, teach and, most recently, work in marketing communications and international business development.
Along the way, though, I read romances and women’s fiction, escaping into a world where characters grew and changed their lives for the better and found happy endings. And one day, I realized that by losing my creative writing, I’d also lost part of what makes me who I am.
Now I write the kind of stories I like to read–heartwarming romances about finding home, family and community–where ordinary women overcome sometimes extraordinary challenges to earn their happy ever after.
I’m an RWA® Golden Heart® finalist 2015 in Contemporary Romance, and that manuscript sold to Hachette Book Group USA, Grand Central Publishing, Forever. It was published on January 31, 2017 as THE COTTAGE AT FIREFLY LAKE. Two more books follow in the Firefly Lake series—SUMMER ON FIREFLY LAKE (July 25, 2017) and BACK HOME AT FIREFLY LAKE (December 2017).
After many years in England with my husband, a tech guy who’s still a small-town boy at heart, and our teen daughter, an English rose, who teaches me to cherish the blessings in the everyday, I’ve come home to my roots and live and write in a small town in Ontario’s Rideau Valley.
Jen Gilroy Goodreads Author
Born in Canada
Websitehttp://www.jengilroy.com/
TwitterJenGilroy1
GenreContemporary, Romance
Member SinceJanuary 2017
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Growing up under the big sky of western Canada and spending summers in a little Ontario town, books were my passport to other worlds. Pioneering Laura Ingalls, Jo March and her sisters, the English girls in Noel Streatfeild’s books and L.M. Montgomery’s independent, nature-loving heroines all became friends.
I started writing poems and stories in elementary school and, as a teenager, reached the semi-finals in a local short story contest. Even after all these years, I still remember the thrill of the judge encouraging me to keep writing.
I earned undergraduate and graduate degrees, setting fiction writing aside to teach at universities, write and publish academic research and work in marketing communications and international business development.
Along the way, I read romances, escaping into a world where a happy ending was guaranteed. One day, though, I realized that by losing my creative writing, I’d also lost part of what makes me who I am.
Now I write the kind of stories I like to read–heartwarming romances about finding home, family and community–where ordinary women overcome sometimes extraordinary challenges to earn their happy ever after.
I’m an RWA® Golden Heart® finalist 2015 in Contemporary Romance, and that manuscript sold to Hachette Book Group USA, Grand Central Publishing, Forever. It releases on January 31, 2017 as THE COTTAGE AT FIREFLY LAKE.
I’m a member of RWA® and the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA). And despite a few detours along the way, I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do since childhood.
After many years in England with my husband, a tech guy who’s still a small-town boy at heart, and our tween daughter, an English rose, who teaches me to cherish the blessings in the everyday, I’ve come home to my roots and live in a small town in Ontario’s Rideau Valley. (less)
Summer on Firefly Lake: Firefly Lake, Book 2
Publishers Weekly.
264.25 (June 19, 2017): p98.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Summer on Firefly Lake: Firefly Lake, Book 2
Jen Gilroy. Forever, $7.99 mass market (368p) ISBN 978-1-4555-6960-1
Gilroy's sweet-natured second small-town contemporary (after The Cottage on Firefly Lake) has charm to spare. Mia
Gibbs is recovering from a painful divorce when she returns to Firefly Lake, Vt., where she spent childhood summers.
She's happy to share the beautiful spot with her daughters, Emma and Naomi. Lawyer Nick McGuire, the town's bad
boy made good, is recovering from his own divorce--which was partly spurred on by his inability to father children.
After Nick hires Mia to help his mother pack up her house, sparks begin to fly. The two try hard to ignore the potent
chemistry simmering between them, but soon that plan is cast by the wayside. Then Mia's overbearing, unfaithful exhusband
shows up, threatening to fight for sole custody if Mia doesn't take him back. The delightful supporting cast--
particularly feisty young Kylie, who's staying at a camp for foster kids while she's between homes--and expertly
plotted story add depth and richness to this tale, leaving readers eager for another visit to Firefly Lake. Agent: Dawn
Dowdle, Blue Ridge Literary. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Summer on Firefly Lake: Firefly Lake, Book 2." Publishers Weekly, 19 June 2017, p. 98. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA496643892&it=r&asid=359ecb33d43c2f94c61dbbedbd07f428.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A496643892
10/22/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1508688717465 2/2
The Cottage at Firefly Lake: Firefly Lake, Book
1
Publishers Weekly.
264.1 (Jan. 2, 2017): p44.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Cottage at Firefly Lake: Firefly Lake, Book 1
Jen Gilroy. Forever, $5.99 mass market (368p) ISBN 978-1-4555-6959-5
Gilroy's debut contemporary is packed with potent emotions. Worldly reporter Charlotte "Charlie" Gibbs is back in
Firefly Lake, Vt., to sell her parents' summer home after her mother's death, and to try to heal from a devastating
accident incurred in the line of duty. Sean Carmichael has never left Firefly Lake or gotten over his summer fling with
Charlie 18 years ago, though she left him for reasons unknown. Now he's a divorced father with a teenage son and is
running Carmichael's, the family's long-established boating business. When a large foreign developer tries to buy the
Gibbs cottage, Sean knows he'll have to fight to preserve his way of life, but he can't fight his feelings for Charlie. In
the midst of this all, longtime secrets are revealed, bringing into question whether Charlie and Sean's romance will
flourish or remain a thing of the past. Gilroy's protagonists tug at the heartstrings from the beginning of the story and
don't let go. The strong group of supporting characters includes Charlie's sister, Mia, and her daughter, Naomi, whose
stories are to be later told. Long on charm, this story invites readers to come in and stay a while. Agent: Dawn Dowdle,
Blue Ridge Literary. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Cottage at Firefly Lake: Firefly Lake, Book 1." Publishers Weekly, 2 Jan. 2017, p. 44. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA478696514&it=r&asid=fa93207c0053e28d3ded87075439f041.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A478696514
Image of The Cottage at Firefly Lake
THE COTTAGE AT FIREFLY LAKE
Image of The Cottage at Firefly Lake
Author(s): Jen Gilroy
Memories, regrets and second chances are front and center in Gilroy’s fantastic debut. The first book in the Firefly Lake series is complex and mired in secrets. The Vermont setting adds a genuine feel to the story, and the co-stars are highly entertaining. The homebody hero and world-traveling heroine must travel a long and bumpy road to happiness.
Charlotte Gibbs receives a precious second chance when she survives a roadside bomb while on assignment as a foreign correspondent, and she vows to make good use of it. Little does she know that the second chances keep on coming when fate reunites her with her first and only love. The girl who broke Sean Carmichael’s heart 18 years ago is back, and not only is she threatening to open barely healed wounds from the past, but is also quite possibly threatening his family’s marina by selling her family’s cottage on quaint Firefly Lake to a dreaded developer. (FOREVER, Jan., 368 pp., $5.99)
Reviewed by:
Debbie Haupt
REVIEW: THE COTTAGE AT FIREFLY LAKE BY JEN GILROY + GIVEAWAY
POSTED ON JANUARY 31, 2017 BY MARLENE HARRIS
Review: The Cottage at Firefly Lake by Jen Gilroy + GiveawayThe Cottage at Firefly Lake (Firefly Lake, #1) by Jen Gilroy
Format: eARC
Source: publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: contemporary romance, women's fiction
Series: Firefly Lake #1
Pages: 368
Published by Forever on January 31st 2017
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository
Goodreads
Some mistakes can never be fixed and some secrets never forgiven . . . but some loves can never be forgotten.
Charlotte Gibbs wants nothing more than to put the past behind her, once and for all. But now that she's back at Firefly Lake to sell her mother's cottage, the overwhelming flood of memories reminds her of what she's been missing. Sun-drenched days. Late-night kisses that still shake her to the core. The gentle breeze off the lake, the scent of pine in the air, and the promise of Sean's touch on her skin . . . True, she got her dream job traveling the world. But at what cost?
Sean Carmichael still doesn't know why Charlie disappeared that summer, but after eighteen years, a divorce, and a teenage son he loves more than anything in the world, he's still not over her. All this time and her body still fits against his like a glove. She walked away once when he needed her the most. How can he convince her to stay now?
My Review:
The Cottage at Firefly Lake is a book about second chances. Not just the second chance at love that forms the backbone of the story, but also a second chance at family, and a second chance at life. Or perhaps that last would be better referred to as a “do over” at life. You be the judge.
Charlotte and Mia Gibbs have returned to Firefly Lake to sell their late mother’s cottage. It’s the place where they spent their summers, and it’s all they have left of their mother. It’s also a place they both love and resent, and now it represents a chance for both of them to get some financial security at the cost of losing their last connection to their mother.
And possibly their last real connection to each other.
Charlotte and Mia were “summer people” in the community, but for Charlie it was much, much more. Charlie didn’t feel like she fit in with her family, with her perfect homemaker mother and her seemingly equally perfect sister Mia. Instead, Charlie wanted adventure, and she spent those childhood summers with her best friend, local boy Sean Carmichael.
Their intense childhood friendship matured into an equally intense teenage love. But Sean was tied to Firefly Lake and the boat crafting and marina business that had been in his family for generations. Charlie was off to college and a career as a foreign correspondent. And even though she didn’t know exactly where she would end up, she knew at 18 that what she wanted was to travel and explore, not tie herself to the tiny Vermont lake town, no matter how much she loved it, or Sean.
But instead of a natural breakup over time and diverging interests, Charlie left Sean suddenly and inexplicably, and neither of them ever got over it. They’ve never gotten past the intensity of that teenage love, even though Charlie has had a terrific and exciting career, and Sean has been married (now divorced) and has a son turning 16.
There’s too much unfinished business between them.
Charlie and Mia need to sell the cottage. Badly. Mia fears that her husband is about to leave her with their two daughters and no career to fall back on. And she’s right. Charlie recently survived an IED attack while on assignment, and her insurance didn’t cover all the resulting medical bills. Her savings are tapped, and she is all too aware that she has no one to rely on in a crisis except her current shaky self.
But the only offer on the table is one that will change Firefly Lake forever, and not in a way that anyone wants. It’s up to Charlie to find a way to make things work – for the town, for her sister, for herself, and most of all, for any possible future she might have with Sean.
If he can get his head out of his ass long enough to finally figure out that he has to meet her halfway – wherever that might be.
Escape Rating B+: It was terrific to read something a bit light and fluffy after yesterday’s much more serious book. The Cottage at Firefly Lake was a great little pick-me-up.
It also felt more than a bit familiar.
Separated by several states, Mary McNear’s Butternut Lake series (start with Up at Butternut Lake) has the same feel as Firefly Lake. It is also a small town with a lake at its center and heart. And it is also a place where people get a second chance at love, and where sisters get a second chance to find each other, particularly in the most recent book in the series, The Space Between Sisters. Anyone who loves Butternut Lake will also enjoy Firefly Lake, and very much vice versa.
Meanwhile, back in Vermont at Firefly Lake, this story is a lovely introduction to the place and to the series. It’s a story with several threads, and they blend together pretty well.
The big story isn’t the romance, it’s the relationship between sisters Charlie and Mia. They’re sisters, and they love each other, but they are also distant and don’t know each other. There’s also a whole lot of sisterly envy going on, as each of them believes that the other has the “perfect life” and each of them believes that the other had a happier, or at least easier, childhood and adolescence with their late parents.
And there’s a whole lot of family history bound up very interestingly in this story. Not just the Gibbs’ family, but also Sean’s family. And let’s just say that the late Dr. Gibbs was a real piece of work, with all of the negative connotations of that phrase. He’s still messing up everyone’s lives, even from the grave.
One of the great things about this story is the way that the romance develops. Even though Sean and Charlie never really got over each other, they also both recognize that they are not the same people they were half a lifetime ago. They don’t exactly take it slow, but they also don’t gloss over the fact that if they want to have a relationship, it has to be in this present and not the past. Nothing about this is easy.
There’s a lot to love at Firefly Lake. I’m looking forward to a return visit in Summer on Firefly Lake, appropriately scheduled for this summer.
SUMMER ON FIREFLY LAKE
Image of Summer on Firefly Lake
Author(s): Jen Gilroy
Gilroy’s second Firefly Lake novel encapsulates the quaint, busybody small-town feel and the slippery slope of friends becoming lovers quite well. Her costars are colorful, especially some of the feisty kiddos, and the series catch-up keeps readers current. The starting over trope is engaging and that the stars have a little mileage is a definite benefit as they rise from the ashes of their failed past relationships in this fast-paced page turner.
Single mom Mia Gibbs moves back to Firefly Lake, Vt., for a fresh start and to be near her sister. She is not looking for romance, especially with a bad boy turned good guy from her past. To get back to the Big Apple, attorney Nick McGuire needs to get his mom healthy and settled. Only she has other ideas, like keeping him close and matchmaking him with the woman he hired to help her –– his teen crush. (GRAND CENTRAL, Aug., 368 pp., $7.19)
Reviewed by:
Debbie Haupt
REVIEW: SUMMER ON FIREFLY LAKE BY JEN GILROY + GIVEAWAY
POSTED ON JULY 27, 2017 BY MARLENE HARRIS
Review: Summer on Firefly Lake by Jen Gilroy + GiveawaySummer on Firefly Lake (Firefly Lake, #2) by Jen Gilroy
Format: eARC
Source: publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: contemporary romance
Series: Firefly Lake #2
Pages: 368
Published by Forever on July 25th 2017
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository
Goodreads
A Firefly Lake Novel
Sometimes love is better the second time around . . .
Mia Gibbs spent her marriage putting her husband's needs before her own. And now, after a painful divorce, she's building a new life for herself and her two daughters back home at Firefly Lake. The last thing she needs is a man to complicate things. But former bad boy turned friend Nick McGuire-and the one kiss they've shared-has turned everything upside down . . .
Attorney Nick McGuire wasn't meant to be a family man. His career has always been his focus and after taking time out to help his mother, he's ready to get back to the city . . . until Mia and her daughters arrive at Firefly Lake. Mia is beautiful and intriguing, and it doesn't take long to realize being "just friends" will never be enough. As the summer nights turn colder, Nick will have to choose between the life he's always wanted . . . and the woman he can't live without.
My Review:
Firefly Lake is clearly a lovely place to live. It also seems to be just down the road from Mary McNear’s Butternut Lake, in spirit if not in miles. And both of these little towns seem to be perfect places to find a second chance at love, and a second chance at being sisters.
The first book in this series, The Cottage at Firefly Lake, focused on Charlie Gibbs, her teetering relationship with her sister Mia, and her rekindled romance with local resident Sean Carmichael It was a lovely story, with happy endings almost all around at the end. It also feels like it leads directly into this second book in the series.
In this Summer on Firefly Lake the focus shifts from Charlie to her older sister Mia, and Mia’s long-ago crush on Sean’s best friend, the former town bad boy Nick McGuire. Except that Nick has changed from the town rebel to a workaholic lawyer with a failed marriage behind him and a strong desire to leave Firefly Lake again as fast as he can.
He just needs to get his mother settled first. And that’s where Mia comes in.
Nick is absolutely certain about what his mother should do. Gabrielle McGuire is widowed, 62, and has just survived a bout of cancer. Nick is sure that her big rambling house is just too much for her. And while he may be right, it’s not what Gabrielle wants and moving to a retirement bungalow is not what she’s ready for. It’s also not the only possible solution – it’s just the only that Nick can see in his rather desperate tunnel vision.
Nick needs someone to help his mother clean out all the old closets and attics and storage rooms and cabinets and cubby holes at Harbor House that are filled with over a century of family junk. Mia, recently divorced and looking for work, is happy to step in and help. Her daughters will be spending the summer with their dad, her house is currently under renovation, and she needs both a place to stay and the money the job will bring her.
And Mia loves Gabrielle almost as much as Nick does. She’d help Gabrielle anyway, so it’s nice to get paid much more than the job is worth for something that would be a labor of love.
It also provides a reason for Nick and Mia to spend time together. They are friends now, but once upon a time she was the town princess and he was the local bad boy, and of course they had the teenage hots for each other. Nothing ever came of it, but those feelings are still there, down deep. But at the moment, each of them is convinced that their friendship is too important to risk, that neither of them has the time or inclination for a relationship, and that the other is only interested in being “just friends”. And they’re both certain that they are too damaged to be capable or worthy of being loved.
But as the summer goes on, many, many issues, not just between Nick and Mia, but also Gabrielle’s health, Sean and Charlie’s impending baby, and most especially Mia’s relationship with her pre-teen and teenage daughters and the mess that her ex has already made of their lives and wants to make again, change the dynamic.
Nick and Mia both agree that all they want is friendship “with benefits”. But the closer they get, the harder it is to keep their hearts behind that line. Even if only one of them is able to admit it.
Escape Rating B: At heart, this feels like a story about lessons. And not just lessons in love.
Nick needs to learn to let go, which may seem a bit contradictory for the hero of a romance, but really isn’t in his case. Nick is holding onto a whole lot of things that he shouldn’t, as well as trying to hold onto something that he simply can’t.
His mother’s health scare reminded him just how fragile life is. He’s not ready to lose her, so he’s trying his level best to wrap her in cotton wool and protect her however he can. But life happens, and bad things happen in it, and there’s no way to protect someone you love from cancer. It takes Nick a lot of the book, along with a lot of help from Mia, to stop arguing with his mother over what he thinks is best and listen to what she really wants.
He also needs to let go of his resentment at and anger with his father. Not because the man doesn’t deserve every scrap of opprobrium Nick has in his heart, but because the negativity is hurting Nick way, way more than it could ever hurt his old man. Mia, on the other hand, needs to learn to stand on her own two feet and advocate for what she wants and what she needs, instead of placating the strongest voice in the room – usually her ex-husband.
Speaking of Jay, he’s a douchecanoe. And saying that is actually kind of an insult to douchecanoes. He’s not evil, he’s just awful. It’s also ironic but so often true that women see their father’s big flaws (and did her late, unlamented father ever have a ton of them) and say that they won’t marry a man like dad. Then they end up marrying a man just like dad, and he’s just as awful and in just the same ways.
Mia couldn’t stand up to her father, and she didn’t stand up to Jay as he cut her down at every turn, tried to erase her personality, was a constant cheater who in the end got one of his many, many side-pieces pregnant and finally divorced Mia to marry her. As I said, Jay is a douchecanoe. And Mia was his doormat, but she isn’t any longer.
Mia is way better off without him, and she knows it. But when he threatens her custody of their daughters, both covertly and overtly, Mia has to steel herself for the challenge. Not just because she can never be with the asshat again, but because seeing her cave in to him when they all know he’s a lying, cheating, selfish scumbag is bad for her daughters.
It’s terrific watching Mia take charge of her life, even if she does dither a bit about the past at times. She finally learns to go after what she wants. And if Nick is too stuck in the past to see what’s right in front of him, she’ll manage. It will hurt, a lot, but she’ll manage. And that’s just the example he needs to kick him where it hurts enough for him to finally see the light.