The Cottage of April Showers
(2026)(The fourth book in the Love in Ballymara series)
A novel by Maeve McBride
A damp little cottage, a single dad, and a quiet love like coming home.
April in Ballymara smells of wet earth, fresh paint, and sea air after rain. Sorcha, a nurse craving a quieter life, rents the small gatehouse cottage beside The Seaglass Inn while renovations begin next door. She expects damp walls, early mornings, and solitude. She does not expect Finn.
Finn is a lifeboat volunteer and a single father with tired eyes and steady hands. He has held his family together through storms, emergencies, and grief that arrives without warning. What he does not know is how to want again.
His daughter Daisy decides Sorcha is safe on the very first day.
Sorcha has learned to keep her world tidy. Do the job well. Sleep. Start over somewhere new when things get loud. But Ballymara does not let her stay invisible. The committee pulls her into community meals. The inn's renovation fills the headland with voices and shared purpose. And Finn keeps appearing at her gate with quiet, practical kindness. Never pushing. Never demanding. Simply there.
Sorcha tells herself she is only passing through. Finn tells himself he cannot risk another loss. But the cottage grows warmer, the days grow brighter, and the inn next door starts to feel like a promise.
Healing is not dramatic in Ballymara. It is small cups of tea, shared tools, and the courage to let someone stay.
Sometimes love begins the way April ends: softly, suddenly, and impossible to stop.
Perfect for readers who love: single dad romance, found family warmth, slow-burn healing love stories, Irish coastal settings, and quiet happily ever afters that feel genuinely earned.
Genre: Romance
April in Ballymara smells of wet earth, fresh paint, and sea air after rain. Sorcha, a nurse craving a quieter life, rents the small gatehouse cottage beside The Seaglass Inn while renovations begin next door. She expects damp walls, early mornings, and solitude. She does not expect Finn.
Finn is a lifeboat volunteer and a single father with tired eyes and steady hands. He has held his family together through storms, emergencies, and grief that arrives without warning. What he does not know is how to want again.
His daughter Daisy decides Sorcha is safe on the very first day.
Sorcha has learned to keep her world tidy. Do the job well. Sleep. Start over somewhere new when things get loud. But Ballymara does not let her stay invisible. The committee pulls her into community meals. The inn's renovation fills the headland with voices and shared purpose. And Finn keeps appearing at her gate with quiet, practical kindness. Never pushing. Never demanding. Simply there.
Sorcha tells herself she is only passing through. Finn tells himself he cannot risk another loss. But the cottage grows warmer, the days grow brighter, and the inn next door starts to feel like a promise.
Healing is not dramatic in Ballymara. It is small cups of tea, shared tools, and the courage to let someone stay.
Sometimes love begins the way April ends: softly, suddenly, and impossible to stop.
Perfect for readers who love: single dad romance, found family warmth, slow-burn healing love stories, Irish coastal settings, and quiet happily ever afters that feel genuinely earned.
Genre: Romance
Used availability for Maeve McBride's The Cottage of April Showers