Maeve Gallagher O’Neill is an Irish romance writer whose debut novella, The Boys in the Band, explores small-town music, friendship, and love along the Donegal coast.
She writes under the Finnegans Forge Imprint.
The Books:
When two friends, Claire from Toronto and Mia from Boston, wander into a tiny coastal pub in County Sligo, Ireland, they expect a quiet pint and a bit of local colour. What they find instead are the musicians who will turn their holiday into something unforgettable.
At O’Hanlon’s Pub, the air hums with reels, laughter, and the kind of chemistry you cannot fake. Claire is not looking for love, certainly not with Declan Hanlon, the fiddle player whose eyes hold the sea and whose music stirs something she cannot name.
As music spills into the night and friendship deepens into something more, Claire begins to wonder whether this was meant to be a passing fling or the start of her own Irish love song.
Set against the wild beauty of Ireland’s Atlantic coast, The Boys in the Band is a witty, romantic escape about friendship, fate, and the power of music to bring two hearts into tune.
When American music journalist Meagan Carter arrives in Ballyshannon to cover a small Irish music festival, she expects fiddles, drizzle, and maybe a story. She does not expect Ronan Byrne, the local frontman with a voice that cuts straight through her defences.
He is supposed to be an interview, not a heartbeat. Yet as the weekend unfolds between sound checks and pints, Meagan finds herself torn between professional distance and the pull of something real.
In a town where the rain never quite stops and the pub lights never quite go out, Meagan discovers that authenticity can cost everything, and that sometimes the truth sounds a lot like love.
Warm, witty, and drenched in Irish atmosphere, Whiskey in the Rain is a story of music, trust, and the kind of connection that changes how you hear the world.
Bundoran. The Irish coast. A summer that was never meant to last.
When Shannon arrives in Bundoran for a holiday with her best friend, she plans on sea air, music, and maybe a few too many pints, not a local lad with a laugh that could warm the Atlantic. Then Ruairí walks into her life, tall, broad-shouldered, and reckless enough to make her forget herself.
What begins as a sun-soaked fling becomes something harder to leave behind. Between surf sessions, late nights, and the hum of music spilling from O’Hanlon’s pub, Shannon and Ruairí find something that feels real, even as summer fades and reality waits beyond the waves.
But Bundoran has a way of keeping its secrets, and every tide must turn.
Young Hearts Run Wild is a seaside Irish romance full of laughter, heartache, and that one summer you will never forget.
When Danny O’Connell answers a text on a quiet Monday, he thinks he is just clearing the air.
By Saturday, he belongs to her.
Danny’s life is simple. He works at the garage, pays his bills, and keeps to himself.
Then Amber Murphy walks back into it. She is beautiful, controlled, and dangerous in ways he feels in his chest before he feels them anywhere else.
One word from her changes everything.
Beg.
What begins as a single Saturday night in Cork turns into a secret arrangement neither of them can leave behind.
Blindfolds, restraints, heat that builds until it hurts.
And the one rule Danny cannot stop breaking: do not fall for her.
Amber keeps her walls high. Saturday nights are business. Masks, cameras, control.
But Danny sees the parts she never shows the world. The cracks, the softness, the want she refuses to admit.
As the money grows and pressure builds, the line between performance and something dangerously real begins to blur.
They must both decide how far they are willing to go for the one thing they never planned to feel.
A story about power, trust, desire, and the kind of connection that ruins you in the best possible way.
Amber and Danny lit up the screen in Fifty Shades of Amber, but once the rush fades, real life brings new complications. Passion is not enough, and the real challenge begins.
Shannon and Ruairí step into the spotlight with their own spark and a tension they can barely hide. What begins as a practical partnership quickly turns volatile, and every look and touch threatens to cross a line none of them planned to test.
Amber feels the shift. Danny sees it too.
Roles change, jealousy builds, and friendships strain as ambition and desire collide.
Partnership turns to pressure.
Pressure turns to temptation.
Temptation becomes a risk for all four.
Fifty Shades Deeper explores what happens when heat meets reality, and when loyalty, vulnerability, and ambition threaten the very bonds that brought them together.
Hotter, bolder, and far more dangerous.
Cillian never expected his quiet life to be shaken apart by a single encounter, but Aisling changes everything from the moment she steps into that Donegal café. Their connection is instant and unsettling, a spark that should have been simple but grows into something fierce, tender, and dangerously real.
Aisling has spent years keeping her past locked away. Cillian has spent just as long avoiding anything that forces him to face who he is beneath the surface. Together they find something rare, but one truth is waiting to break it open, a truth that could bring both of their worlds crashing down.
Secrets unravel. Loyalties tremble. Each reveal hits harder than the last. What begins with a quiet conversation spirals into a journey of trust and fear, of desire and doubt, of choices that cut right to the bone. Cillian must confront everything he believes about love, about courage, and about himself.
This is not a traditional romance.
It is richer, rawer, and far more human.
Twists and turns will leave you gobsmacked.
The emotional punch will stay with you long after the final page.
And it is absolutely worth the read.
A seagull, a splash of batter, and a rivalry that’s about to get deliciously personal…
Aoife Brennan is Dingle’s keeper of tradition. Her café, The Harbour Hearth, is a monument to proper Irish baking and her mother’s legacy. Everything is as it should be. That is, until Barry Donovan opens Dingle Barry’s directly across the street.
Where Aoife sells respectability, Barry sells chaos with a smile. His menu features “Leprechaun Poop,” “Fairy Farts,” and his infamous “Salted Caramel Balls.” He is loud, inappropriate, and infuriatingly handsome. And he is stealing all her customers.
Their feud is the talk of the town, a daily battle of wit and will. But when a rogue seagull causes Aoife to accidentally drench Barry in lemon drizzle batter, their rivalry goes viral. And things get complicated. Because beneath the barbs and the banter is a spark that is impossible to ignore.
Now, forced to work together for a community event, they discover their chaos and tradition might just be a perfect recipe. But when a crisis threatens everything Aoife holds dear, Barry’s plan to save her might just ruin everything instead.
Welcome to Dingle, where the coffee is strong, the baked goods are to die for, and love is the messiest, most delicious thing on the menu.
Sometimes the most important conversations happen without words.
Gabriel Marchand has everything a chef could want: a Michelin-starred Dublin restaurant, critical acclaim, and a reputation for flawless French cuisine. But perfection has left him empty. With his head chef leaving, Gabriel is running out of time and inspiration.
Nuala Donnelly has traded the high-pressure kitchens of Paris for a quiet B&B on the shores of Lough Erne. Here, she cooks from the heart, guided by instinct and the rhythms of the land. She is done with stars, reviews, and men who think they know better.
When Gabriel arrives in Enniskillen on a rain-lashed Friday night, he expects to scout a talented chef. What he finds is a woman who challenges every rule he has ever lived by. Their first encounter is all sharp words and simmering tension. Her soup is not smooth enough. His critique is not welcome. But beneath the clash of techniques and tempers, something else begins to whisper.
From a chaotic dinner service cooked over open fireplaces to the quiet intimacy of a cottage by the wild Atlantic, Gabriel and Nuala discover that the most honest meals are not made from recipes, but from trust. Yet between his world of precision in Dublin and her life of instinct in Enniskillen, they must decide if love is enough to build a new kind of kitchen and a new kind of life together.
Whispers by the Lough is a heartfelt, slow-burn romance seasoned with the flavours of Ireland and the quiet magic of finding your way home. A story for anyone who believes in second chances, the language of food, and love that whispers until you are ready to listen.