Hey 172,
So I guess that 15-month time frame is based on you completing your training in the minimum 45 hours? That may not happen, probably will take you more hours if you do it over a longer period like that, maybe 50-60 hours or so.
Skytrace are good on price in comparison to the others at Weston. Theyre definitely a lot cheaper than NFC and probably a bit cheaper than Flightwise when you take into account their membership fees and slightly more expensive instruction rate.
There is cheaper flying to be had elsewhere though, for example Leinster Aero Club at Trevet. With this outfit you'll have to pay membership but the hourly rate of flying is very cheap, only €120 per tacho hour (which is usually about 0.2 or 0.3 less than start-stop time used in Weston). Also instruction may be cheaper. The downside here is that being a grass strip it may not be usable at all times over the winter.
As far as reading the books your instructor should be able to point you to the relevent chapters as youre progressing through your training. But ya theres no harm reading ahead yourself, youll need to cover it anyway to prepare for the exams. And I think it is much better to have done some flying before you start preparing for the exams as a lot of the material will make more sense.