Aisling Ever After: Aisling gets the perfect farewell in final novel

Kat O'Connor

We say goodbye to the national treasure in Aisling Ever After.

The final book in the beloved Aisling series lands in bookshops across the Emerald Isle this week and we feel like we’re saying goodbye to another friend heading to Oz.

The Aisling series by Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght captured the hearts of the nation and became a crucial part of our culture, just like the Toy Show, chicken fillet rolls, and saying thanks to Dublin Bus drivers.

The books turned non-readers into avid bookworms, they comforted thousands of Irish women abroad when they felt homesick and got many of us through the lonely months of the pandemic. Aisling became a friend we never knew we needed and now it’s time to say goodbye to the iconic character in Aisling Ever After.

Penning the final novel in a much-loved series isn’t easy. Expectations are so high and there are so many storylines to tie up, but Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght did the most perfect job, and then some.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gill Books (@gillbooks)

The authors penned the perfect farewell to Aisling, but it’s an emotional roller coaster of a story. The final novel opens in New York and John has left Aisling speechless when he turns up at her door. We see Aisling tackle some major life decisions- should she return home or continue living in the Big Apple?

Will she take John back or move away from her first love? She’s homesick, but she’s thriving in her career. She’s forming new friendships in New York, but she’s also missing out on her loved ones’ milestones back home. Aisling is facing decisions many Irish women are dealing with which is what makes her such a loveable and relatable character.

Aisling feels like a friend I’ve known for years and saying goodbye to such an iconic character is quite bittersweet. Aisling, unsurprisingly, gets the ending she deserves, but Irish bookworms will be lost without the series. Sarah and Emer managed to end a series on a high after completely sweeping a nation of book lovers away when the first Aisling book was released in 2017.

It has been a comfort for thousands of women abroad who are feeling homesick. She reminds us of the friends we’ve known all our lives, the cousin we can always lean on, and the work bestie who is always there for us. Seeing everything work out for Aisling is a comfort to many.

She’s the friend you love to see succeed, one you’re always rooting for, and the one you’ll miss more than anything when you reach the final page. We’ll miss Aisling, her pinot greej, and the gang in Ballygobbard. It became a home from home for readers and Aisling became a fictional friend that we’ll miss so much.

Aisling Ever After is published by Gill Books on August 31st. It is available in bookshops and online now.

You can check out the blurb below:

Christmas lights are twinkling in the Big Apple, and Aisling is stunned to find her ex-boyfriend John on her doorstep. Can his new-found devotion (and his new six-pack!) lure her back home, or should she continue to chase the American dream with the Irish mafia and Jeff, the ridey fireman?

Meanwhile, in Ballygobbard, it’s all go. Baby showers are the new hen parties, Mammy and Dr. Trevor are more serious than Aisling thought, and the prospect of two evil stepsisters has her doubting her place in the family. With her head and her heart being pulled in opposite directions, everything is changing as Aisling tries to settle on a place to finally call home.