The Half of It is a spicy slow-burn romance set in the small town of Ballygrá, Ireland, perfect for fans of the Irish setting in Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks, the cinnamon roll male main character in Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez, and the heart and heat of Kate Clayborn books.
Blurb: Tough but tender Juniper Martin should have tossed that DNA test. A frustrating workday and one too many cosmos later, she mails a sample that unearths her half-sister in Ireland. Raised in a broken home, Juniper grants trust sparingly. But when she’s assigned a career-changing article about the findings, Juniper travels to the small town of Ballygrá to meet Cara and attend her wedding.
After Aidan McCarthy’s brother died, he dropped out of postgrad to help his parents. Only his best friend Cara knows he wants to pursue photography and not pour pints at his Da’s pub forever, but duty to family comes first. He desperately needs something—or someone—to inspire him and breathe new life into his old dreams.
When Aidan and Juniper must work together and help with Cara’s wedding preparation, neither can deny the chemistry between them. But Juniper can’t stay in beautiful Ballygrá forever—and when a discovery calls into question everything she’s worked for, she must decide how much to open her heart to the family she never knew she wanted and to the man she never anticipated falling for.
Tropes: Small town (in Ireland), Sibling’s Best Friend, Forced Proximity, Found Family, Open-Door Spice, MMC with an accent, Journalist on assignment, City Girl, Only One Bed, Road Trip
Trigger Warnings: The Half of It is a spicy slow-burn contemporary romance that tackles some emotional topics before ending in a Happy Ever After. Listed below is the content that may be triggering for some readers. Some of this content may be minor spoilers for what’s ahead, so proceed at your own discretion.
Mentioned but not shown on page: childhood neglect, parent battling addiction in the past, death of a parent in the past, relative with dementia, emotional cheating by a former partner, building collapse in the past resulting in casualties, death of a sibling in the past, drunk driving, grief, parents separating
Shown on page: passive-aggressive remarks from a family member to an LGBTQIA+ character, covert sexist remarks in a work setting