In Every Possible Way Summary: A Magical Irish Romance
TL;DR: The Quick Briefing
On the night of her thirty-seventh birthday, Jess walks to her car after a disastrous first date and makes a quiet resolution: she is done wanting things she cannot control.
Minutes later, a violent mugging leaves her unconscious.
When she opens her eyes, she is not in a Florida hospital—she is sitting on a grassy hill in Ireland under an impossibly bright blue sky, wearing her purple date dress, with no memory of how she got there.
In Every Possible Way by Alicia Thompson follows Jess as she navigates this strange new reality, meeting a quiet mechanic named Eamonn who turns out to be the brother of the man from her terrible date.
What unfolds is a story about desire, healing, and the thin places where love finds a way through.
- The hook: A woman in a coma experiences two vivid days in Ireland with a man she meets by chance—then wakes up in a Florida hospital and must figure out if any of it was real.
- The leads: Jess, a guarded law firm receptionist who has stopped letting herself want things, and Eamonn, a gentle Irish mechanic carrying guilt from his past.
- The core question: Was the connection real, or was it a dream her mind built from fragments of memory?
- Themes: Desire, self-forgiveness, the small moments that make a life, and the thin places where worlds touch.
- Vibe: Warm, introspective, and atmospheric, with plenty of Irish folklore and literary references woven in.
In Every Possible Way Summary (Spoilers Ahead)
Spoiler warning: This section reveals major plot points, including the ending.
Jessica works as a receptionist at a Florida law firm. She has an unused art degree and a quiet life that feels smaller than she wants.
On her thirty-seventh birthday, she goes on a date with Niall, an Irish expat she met on an app. The date is a disaster—he criticizes her dress, mocks her love of romance novels, and offers unsolicited “feedback” about her life choices.
After the date, Jess calls her best friend Marisol, an ER nurse, and resolves to delete her dating apps. She decides she is done wanting things outside her control.
While walking to her car in a dark parking lot, a mugger shoves her to the ground and steals her purse. Jess loses consciousness.
She wakes on a grassy hill in Ireland. The sky is impossibly bright. She is still in her purple dress, and her car is gone. She finds a nearby auto shop and meets Eamonn, a wiry mechanic with grease on his shirt and electric blue eyes. Confused, Jess walks into town and learns it is Saturday, March 15—the Ides of March, the day after her birthday.
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Jess uses Eamonn’s phone to call her local Florida takeout spots, trying to prove something is wrong. Instead, she discovers Eamonn’s full name and realizes he is Niall’s younger brother. To avoid sounding insane, she lies and says she came to Ireland for an art project on Irish folklore. Eamonn is suspicious but offers her a ride to Dublin to visit the U.S. Embassy.
The embassy is closed for the weekend. Eamonn lends Jess his jacket and shows her around Dublin. They eat lunch at a pub where the server complains about reading Finnegans Wake. Eamonn shares the legend of “The Wooing of Becfola,” about a mysterious woman who steps through a fairy door into another realm with her true love.
They visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral, discuss Jonathan Swift’s secret love poetry, and walk through St. Stephen’s Green. A street violinist plays “Dreams” by The Cranberries.
They stop at The Winding Stair bookstore, where Jess defends romance novels and Eamonn reflects on how books connect people across time. Near the Molly Malone statue, Eamonn serenades the crowd.
Eamonn opens up about his past. Ten years earlier, he served three years in prison for hot-wiring a car and accidentally starting a fire.
His mother died while he was incarcerated, and he has carried guilt and isolation from his siblings ever since. Jess shares her own history—an abortion at nineteen, her fear of emotional pain, and her unfulfilling job where she feels invisible.
They dance at a Dublin club, then drive to Sligo to visit W.B. Yeats’ grave. On the drive, Jess briefly loses consciousness and sees flashes of a dark hospital room and hears Marisol’s voice. She wakes in a panic in the parked car and clings to Eamonn.
Their attraction culminates in physical intimacy.
At dawn, they visit Yeats’ grave near Benbulbin mountain, which Eamonn calls a “thin place”—a spot where the veil between worlds is thin.
Jess then drives to Eamonn’s childhood home, where they meet Michael and Frances Leahy, the elderly couple who bought the house after his mother died. Eamonn fixes their heating boiler and begins to forgive himself.
They return to Eamonn’s garage as a rainstorm hits. In his loft apartment, they cook pasta, share stale lemon biscuits, and make love. Jess tries to confess her fear that she is actually in a coma, but Eamonn recites Yeats’ “To an Isle in the Water” and promises they will figure it out in the morning.
Jess falls asleep and wakes gasping for air in a Florida ICU. Marisol is beside her. Jess has been in a medically induced coma for forty-eight hours after the mugging. Heartbroken, Jess assumes the two days in Ireland were a coma dream built from fragments of memory.
She decides to honor the emotional growth she felt. Jess quits her receptionist job, returns to painting, takes art classes, goes dancing, and keeps her heart open. Months later, she exits a library after an art class and sees Eamonn standing in the parking lot with grocery store flowers.
She learns their encounter was physically real. Eamonn woke up in Ireland to find her gone and believed he had scared her away.
He worked through a U.S. visa waiver with help from Niall, reconnected with his sisters, adopted a rescue dog named Daffodil, and flew to Florida to find her.
Jess shows him the scar on her head and explains the dual nature of her coma experience. In the epilogue, set the following March, they prepare for their wedding in Ireland, surrounded by both families.
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Characters In This Book
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Jessica “Jess” | The 37-year-old protagonist, a law firm receptionist with an unused art degree living in Florida. |
| Eamonn Gallagher | A 29-year-old auto mechanic and garage owner in Ireland, and Niall’s younger brother. |
| Niall Gallagher | Eamonn’s 37-year-old older brother living in Florida, whose bad date with Jess sets the story in motion. |
| Marisol “Mari” | Jess’s best friend, an ER nurse who cares for her during the coma. |
| Kathleen Gallagher | Eamonn’s eldest sister, an Irish language teacher who helped raise the family after their mother died. |
| Siobhán, Rachel, & Claire Gallagher | Eamonn’s other sisters, who support his reconciliation with Niall. |
| Maura Jean Gallagher | Eamonn’s deceased mother, whose memory shapes his journey toward self-forgiveness. |
| Michael & Frances Leahy | The elderly couple living in Eamonn’s childhood home. |
| Joe | A Dublin pub server who complains about reading Finnegans Wake. |
| Daffodil | A rescue dog Eamonn adopts after Jess encourages him to allow himself happiness. |
Books Like In Every Possible Way
The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson — Another contemporary romance by Thompson exploring emotional vulnerability, grief, and unexpected love during low points.
With Love, from Cold World by Alicia Thompson — A cozy workplace romance with polar-opposite protagonists navigating emotional baggage and chemistry.
Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson — A witty romance centered on an introspective, guarded heroine who must overcome her fear of vulnerability.
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle — A speculative contemporary novel featuring visions, fate, and the ways love reshapes a life.
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver — An emotional story blending dual realities, parallel paths, grief, and the courage to open one’s heart again.
Book Details & Genre Info
- Genre & Subgenre: Contemporary Romance / Magical Realism / Speculative Romance
- Core Narrative Tropes: Coma vision / parallel portal world, grumpy-sunshine dynamics, soft mechanic hero, date’s brother, healing and second chances
- Tone & Atmosphere: Cozy, atmospheric, romantic, witty, emotionally resonant, with rich descriptions of Irish weather and streets
- Primary Conflict: Internal conflict between self-protective withdrawal and the risk of vulnerability, plus the physical separation of a coma boundary
- Pacing Style: Character-driven, with a focused 48-hour parallel experience in Ireland, a reflective recovery phase in Florida, and a reunion in the final act
- ISBN: 979-8217187218
- Pages: 400
- Book Structure: 39 chapters, an epilogue, an author’s note, a dedication, and acknowledgments
Top Quotes
“I think I also need to delete the apps for a bit. My life is fine, you know? I have an apartment. I have a car that mostly works. My job is stable.”
“Because of how good it feels to go through it… It feels… Like survival, I suppose.”
“I don’t want to take the small things for granted… The small things when added up are what make a life.”
“It makes me feel hopeful… Men aren’t trash, multiple orgasms are real, true love is out there, that kind of thing.”
“It’s thought to be a ‘thin place’—a place where the veil between worlds is extra thin, and you can pass from one to the other.”
“I love you… All the way, in every possible way.”
