The Irish in Me and My Books – Eliza Daly

When Olivia Doyle’s father dies under suspicious circumstances, rather than inheriting a family fortune, she inherits a new identity. She learns they were placed in the Federal Witness Security Program when she was five years old. Her father was involved in an art forgery ring and testified against the mob. Brought up not to trust anyone, Olivia has a difficult time relying on U.S. Marshal Ethan Ryder to protect her, and to keep her secret. She fears her father may have continued his life of crime through her art gallery. She has little choice but to depend on Ethan when she realizes someone is now after her. Olivia’s search for the truth leads her and Ethan across country to a family and past she doesn’t remember.

 

At the age of ten, Ethan witnessed a brutal murder. He vowed when he grew up, he’d protect people in danger. Protecting Olivia is difficult when she won’t trust him. He soon realizes his desire to protect her goes beyond doing his job, but if his judgment becomes clouded by emotions, her safety could be jeopardized. 

 

Can Ethan and Olivia learn to trust each other when they uncover secrets that will change their lives forever?

 

Identity Crisis is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, All Romance, eBooks.com, and Kobo

 

 

The Irish in Me and My Books

 

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh! I’m a day late in wishing you a happy St. Paddy’s Day, but I’m sure people are still celebrating somewhere in the world. I have to admit, I’m still recuperating from yesterday’s festivities. My sister Sandy came to town and we kicked off the day with a full Irish breakfast and a Magners—Irish Cider—and then did a pub crawl to all of Milwaukee’s Irish bars, enjoying traditional Irish music and a few beers. It was great craic!

 

My mom is Irish and my dad is Irish and Scottish. In 2007, we took our first trip to Ireland. We knew very little about our Irish ancestors except that the Flannerys were from Castlebar, County Mayo, and the Dalys were from Kilbeggan, County Westmeath. We visited a cemetery in Kilbeggan where my ancestor’s brother is buried and his tombstone provided some genealogy leads. I said, “Hey, wouldn’t it be neat to come back one day and visit living rellies rather than dead ones?” And so my ancestry research began. I have traced three family lines forward and have been back to Ireland twice with my mom to visit our living rellies.

 

My Irish background often makes cameo appearances in my books. In my romantic comedy, Under Her Spell, the book’s hero Reed is part Irish. He reminisces about taking his mother to Ireland and participating in a sing-along at an Irish pub. I have a few Irish pub CDs, which I sing along to in the privacy of my car. The first time Reed and Monica make love, there’s a bit of Irish involved. Hmm… You’ll have to read the book to find out. In my current romantic suspense, Identity Crisis, the heroine Olivia discovers she was placed in the Federal Witness Security Program when she was five years old. She meets her newly discovered family and learns about their Irish background. Her grandma’s maiden name is Flannery (sounds familiar) and she was born in Ireland. Olivia’s grandpa is second generation Irish American.

 

I decided that rather than merely sprinkling my books with wee bits of Irish, I am going to set an upcoming women’s fiction book in Ireland. My ancestry research sparked a story idea. While researching the small town in County Westmeath where my Coffey rellies lived, I came across an article about a group of Irish land tenants that conspired to kill their English landowner and mistakenly killed his sister-in-law. Thankfully, I didn’t find any skeletons in my Coffey closet, or at least they weren’t charged with the crime. In my book, the heroine is descended from an Irish tenant family and the hero is from an English landowner family. Secrets are discovered which will either end a century-old family feud or deepen the conflict. I think I should probably rent a writing cottage in Ireland for inspiration and research purposes.

 

Thank you so much to Fatin for having me here today and helping me celebrate the release of Identity Crisis. I will be giving away a $10 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to one commenter. To enter to win, please leave a meaningful comment or question–writing related or personal. The winner will be announced March 22.  Thank you for stopping by!

 

 

Author Bio

 

Eliza Daly’s first attempt at creative writing was in fourth grade. She and her friends were huge Charlie’s Angels fans and she would sit in her bedroom at night writing scripts for them to act out at recess the following day. She was Kelly Garrett. Fast forward to the present, she’s still writing stories about beautiful women who always get their men. The journey from fourth grade script writer to published author wasn’t an easy one, but it was always an adventure and the final destination was well worth it.

When Eliza isn’t traveling for her job as an event planner, or tracing her ancestry roots through Ireland, she’s at home in Milwaukee working on her next novel, bouncing ideas off her husband Mark, and her cats Quigley, Frankie, and Sammy.

 

You can find Eliza on the web at Website, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

 

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