Loving and Hating March

I have a love/hate relationship with the month of March. I enjoy it because it has two sources of celebration which speak to both sides of my family. My Irish half celebrates St. Patrick’s Day, and then just two days later my Italian half celebrates La Festa di San Giuseppe, or St. Joseph’s feast day. Each day involves friends, family, and delicious food. While St. Patrick’s Day is very popular in America (after all, “everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day”), St. Joseph’s Day is still sort of a niche holiday, really only celebrated by Americans of southern Italian descent or people named Joseph on their name day. St. Joseph’s Day is definitely more of a religious feast than a day for debauchery like St. Paddy’s.

The “hate” part of my “love/hate” relationship with March usually hits after these two days have come and gone. I begin to yearn for spring, and even though they say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, it always seems to feel like the lion overstays his welcome. The cold, blustery weather makes you want to stay under the covers and read all day long. So, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here are some books that are either set in Ireland or feature Irish protagonists.

Slainte!

1. Come Monday by Mari Carr. (Contemporary, taboo)

2. The Fitzgeralds of Dublin by Lorna Peel (Historical)

3. Irish Magic II by Susan Wiggs, Roberta Gellis, Barbara Samuel, and

Morgan Llywellen (a Romantasy anthology)

4. To Love an Irishman by Diva Jefferson (Historical enemies to lovers)

5. One Lucky Night by Aria Kane, Ana Blaze, Grace Teague, Constance

Phillips, and Melinda Dozier (another anthology, where the characters all

work at the same Boston Irish pub)

6. Skye O’Malley, by Beatrice Small (Historical)

7. The Devil Himself, by BB Easton (Contemporary, set in Ireland)

8. Souls Reborn, by Renee Vincent (Historical/fantasy/contemporary set in

Ireland)

9. The Gallaghers of Ardmore by Nora Roberts (Contemporary)

10. Crow, by A. Zavarelli (Contemporary, Irish Mafia)