It Only Takes Once (A Village of Ballydara Novel Book 1)

In this breezy Irish tale of love, friendship and family, twenty-six-year-old Aislin, a Dublin single mum, is at a crossroads: while a lot of her life needs improvement, what she really needs is a father. Not for herself, mind, but for her young son, daddy-hungry Kevin--and she’s determined to succeed at motherhood, if nothing else. So Aislin follows the mad impulse to track down the perfect father-figure for her little boy...who else but Ben Carpenter, her first love.

As handsome and charming as ever, and a steady kind of guy you can always depend on, Ben is great father material--and is soon mad about Kevin. Still, commitment-shy Aislin is determined to keep things platonic, especially after her truly awful breakup with him seven years ago. But she has a way of mucking up her most inspired schemes. Tucked away in Ben's country manor house in County Galway, Kevin in tow, she finds herself falling in lust with Ben, yet she wonders if she can risk her heart a second time. Then a surprising gesture from her estranged father creates a seismic shift in her relationship with him, and Aislin embarks on a journey with unexpected consequences. In this heartfelt novel of second chances and forgiveness, will Aislin find her own fairy-tale ending?

The Village of Ballydara series also includes the tender holiday novel, The Hopeful Romantic, as well as Mother Love and two short stories, The Secret Well and The Christmas Visitor, all set in the sleepy Irish village of Ballydara. The newest novel of the series (#4), The Galway Girls, is a warmhearted tale of women’s friendship and discovering love where you least expect it.

“Browne has done wonderful work in capturing Ireland’s language, socioeconomic picture and current cultural milieu from pubs to puddings.” —The Bellingham Herald

Susan Colleen Browne is also the author of award-winning Little Farm in the Foothills, a heartwarming, true-life story of modern homesteading, and the sequel, Little Farm Homegrown. Susan's Morgan Carey series, fantasy-adventures for tweens, features ghosts, fairies, magic spells...and The Goonies Anniversary Celebration!