Barbara SamuelRecensioni

Barbara O’Neal’s books have quickly become an automatic read for me. This book was first published in 2002, and revised in 2024.

I love how some books seem to enter your life just when you need THAT sort of read. This book was that for me. If you follow me, you know I love a good emotional read. This book hit all the feels. O’Neal paints a picture of the Sabatino family, a tight knit, large Italian family. Jewel, the wild child, returns home with her teenage son and her gravely ill best friend. Estranged from her Dad, what transpires next more than she could ever dream of.

Family is at the center of this book, both the family we are born into and the family that we choose. I so enjoyed the big family and how there was so much love going on behind the scenes. Friends that become our family when times are tough and are always there for us, no matter what. Jewel made a tough decision at a young age, and had to live with the fallout. Things come full circle in a heartbreaking way bringing with it an unexpected but heartwarming ending. This story was beautifully written and so relatable. Very rarely do I read a story that I fall in love with all the characters. There is a tough facade to all but a softness underneath. This is a love story of parents, family, friends and lovers that come into our lives at perfect times. Jewel is so unapologetic with the decisions she made in the past, she owns it and makes no excuses. But she has grown up and now knows what she needs to do. She is in no rush and let’s things play out organically, which I appreciated. This shows how differently we look at things and people at different points in our lives.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

Bed of Spices by Barbara Samuel is a 1993 publication.

I found this book in the KU program and snapped it up immediately. Oh, how I miss these stories! I’m so happy to see these books digitized so I can still enjoy them!

With the ever-present danger of the encroaching plague threatening in the background- Rica and Solomon’s fateful meeting will lead them down a path of immense heartbreak and danger as Rica has been betrothed to another man, and Solomon is Jewish. Despite the odds against them, they continue to see each other every chance they get knowing their love is forbidden and their days together are numbered…

If you have not read any Medieval historical novels, I do highly recommend them- romance or no. This book is a romance- but it is also about antisemitism during the Black Death and forbidden love- with intrigues and manipulations as well as epic heart seizing dramas that had me glued to the pages. These stories capture my undivided attention, my heart- and nothing written today seems to immerse me this deeply into the story. They just don’t write ‘em like this anymore. Sigh…

This is a fantastic story- so good that I might have a little bit of a book hangover- something I have not experienced in years and years. I love being swept away into the past- a past where there are still lessons to be learned and where love conquered all…

5 stars

Sometimes a book creeps into your soul and lives there for a time - this is one of those books for me.

For me, No Place Like Home started a bit sluggish, but given that Barbara O'Neal has written some of my all-time favorite books, it was nothing to hang in there with her; I am so glad I did.

Coming home is never easy, coming home after being cut off from your family for twenty years is unimaginable, and that's exactly how Jewel felt when she packed up her life in New York, along with her 17-year-old son and her best friend Michael, whom she was caring for through the end of AIDS battle. Now living in her great-aunt's house in Pueblo, Jewel is starting again; widowed, broke, and the pariah of her family, according to her father. But all bets are off once Michael's 6-6 brother Malachi shows up on his motorcycle. Be still my heart.

The storyline is good, but the book's meat is Jewel's love story. Anyone who has ever felt less than what they used to (bigger hips, thicker thighs, wrinkles, saggy boobs, flabby belly) will relate to how Jewel overcomes her own perceptions and allows herself to once again fall in love with herself, her life, her family, and a man.

Originally published in 2002, the simmering heat is unlike O'Neal's later novels and it took me by surprise, but in such a good way [she says with a wink]. And like any good love story, No Place Like Home left me in tears, twice.

I will relish this book's hangover.

Please, Barbara O’Neal, continue this story!

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

Regardless of if you have ever wanted to be a princess, could you imagine finding out after your parent passes away that you are an heiress, like with a 37-room mansion with land and a title - countess - that comes with it? Oh, and of course, it’s in England. (Sigh.)

That’s the book. And it is as fun and romantic and filled with twists and turns as any centuries old house and family is; just brilliant. And so well-written.

I am a huge Barbara O’Neal fan, “When We Believed in Mermaids” one of my favorite books, but now, I need to set The Art of Inheriting Secrets beside it. Just wonderful. (Obviously, I could continue effusing, but that would take you away from reading. Go. Read this book. You can thank me later ;) )

The Lost Girls of Devon is a feel-good story written by an excellent author, Barbara O'Neal. Set in Axestowe, England, we follow four generations of women in the Fairchild family.

Lillian, the matriarch, who later in life (love that - she was in her 40s) became a celebrated author of mystery books and, unfortunately, is in the beginning stages of dementia.

Poppy, think hippie sunshine chick, is Lillian's only child and has returned to Axestowe after leaving her daughter to Lillian's care to find herself.

Zoe, Poppy's daughter, who Lillian raised since she was 7, now has a 15-year-old child of her own, lives in New Mexico, is divorced, and is disinterested in other relationships; until she runs into her old fling in Axestowe.

Isabel, Zoe's daughter, holds a devastating secret that has torn her apart.

The disappearance of Zoe's childhood friend, Diana, brings the women all under one roof. There are so many beautiful threads to follow in this story of love, forgiveness, and new beginnings, that it is hard to put them all in one review. Suffice it to say, each of the women answers the other's need for closure, understanding, and self-healing.

While not my favorite O'Neal book (if you haven't read When We Believed in Mermaids - do it!), it is still great. (Mermaids just hit my personal heartstring.) The Lost Girls of Devon is totally worth the read and will leave you with a beautiful sense of female dynamics within the family.

I am a huge Barbara O'Neal fan, her writing technique resonates with me. She draws me in, locks me in place, and leaves me with all the emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, love, compassion, and empathy. Ms. O'Neal is a fabulously gifted author.

This Place of Wonder did not disappoint. I can't say I understand the title as it relates to the book, but no matter, the book is fantastic, the cover beautiful, and the title, well, maybe I'm just daft.

Set in modern-day California, This Place of Wonder follows a family of women, a mom, and two grown daughters, along with an outlier, the dad's girlfriend, after the death of Agustus, the loved by everyone, larger than life chef. The story is easy to follow as it is realistic and simple without unnecessary plot twists. But it is also complex, as is life, in the way it peels the layers away from each character until the reader sees the full picture of each person: The 16-year old runaway, the average suburban housewife, the pregnant alcoholic, and the thirty-year-old having an affair with a 67-year old.

Nothing in this novel is an overreach, and in Ms. O'Neal's lovely way of crafting a story, the reader can find their place amongst the characters and identify with one or more of them in an almost personal way to where you wonder if Ms. O'Neal had been a fly on your wall at some time.

This Place of Wonder will not solve world peace or cure any social issue, but it will make you think about family, and where people are in their lives, and how they came to be. It will stay with you, and you will become a Barbara O'Neal fan.

A very well-written, easy-paced read that keeps the reader engaged. I would recommend this book, Barbara O'Neal has done a good job and has a good read here.

SPOILER ALERT - or maybe this is more of a personal reveal - I think Ms. O'Neal was a fly on the wall regarding my lost sibling. A subject few, if any in my circle know about even decades after the fact, but one that shaped my life as a young adult - the effects of a missing sibling presumed to be dead.

Unlike the protagonist, Kit, and while I appreciate this book was not intended to be a true account or hard-hitting for that matter, learning the sibling you thought for years dead is not only alive and thriving, but had conveniently just decided to hide from their grieving family for years, is far more a punch in the gut and unfathomable than in this softball pitch. That harsh statement aside, Ms. O'Neal broached the subject superbly and gave this reader much to think about in her real life.

If you read this book and have experienced this type of personal "loss," be prepared to have far more questions than answers and to be left with a pit in your stomach. In that regard also, Ms. O'Neal nailed it. Nicely done.

3.5ish hey I liked this stars!

This is my first Barabara Samuel book and her writing was lovely! This books has two larger sections - the beginning is in the "past" and the second is in the "present." Much of the past section is so good but I think it could have been shortened a little bit to give more of an edge for the present scenes. I bought this book because I wanted to begin reading Samuel AND because this cover is absolutely stunning! (also Judith Ivory blurbs it! and I don't even give a shit about blurbs but I did scream when I saw Judy on the cover)

An okay book about sister?s of a sister believed to be dead, but has reinvented herself. She is now clean, sober and a wife and mother with a new name. The sister finds where her sister is and must come to terms with the deception that sister has created and how it effects the mother and sister she left behind. Goodreads: From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth.Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news�Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It?s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit?s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. Her resemblance to Josie is unbelievable. And unmistakable. With it comes a flood of emotions¥grief, loss, and anger¥that Kit finally has a chance to put to rest: by finding the sister who?s been living a lie.After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins her journey with the memories of the past: of days spent on the beach with Josie. Of a lost teenage boy who?d become part of their family. And of a trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives.Now, if two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.

This was the first book of my vacation. I loved it. It's a sweet story and I have been thinking about going home to bake bread since I finished it.

It took a little getting used to though, that the main character, a grandmother, was only 40!

I liked it enough to download the author's other two novels right from my beach chair (but I didn't start to read them yet.)

I liked the unique plot, but I got a little tired of the "Leave. No, don't leave!" "I'm leaving. Wait. I'm not leaving." It just happened too many times.

Another great story by this author! She doesn't take the easy way out and smooth over confrontation between long-time friends, Phoebe and Suze. Their friendship is multi-layered with ups and downs like real relationships are.
I love the portrayal of later-in-life women revamping and enriching their lives, and how much we have to offer in our later (and wiser) years.
I felt like I was there on the Oregon beach, and now it's on my bucket list of places to visit!

DNF @ 16% - I dunno, I just found I didn't care about the characters. And things were purposely written vaguely "to make you wonder" I guess. I would have liked the characters to be introduced properly - like what happened to Dylan, or her parents? Might revisit this one in the future, but a DNF for now.

I've had this audiobook for a long time and finally got to listen to it. Although, not perfect, it certainly kept me listening.

Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I had a little bit of a hard time connecting with these characters (maybe because I was reading it during midterm week and was distracted?!). While I didn't mind picking it up at the end of the day I also didn't find myself thinking about it during the day as I do with books that truly captivate me. And then everything magically gets wrapped up in the last couple of pages and everything is happy. There was so much build-up in so many arcs and then it almost seemed like the author didn't know how to end it so it was just done, it was a little odd. It was a good read overall though.

Barbara O'Neal is one of my favorite authors ... but although I gave this five stars because I like her writing....this ONE book was just on the slow side....it took so long for things to happen and it sort of kept repeating the problem(s) between Phoebe and Suze, over and over. Fortunately, the ending was absolutely perfect.......

wtf? just as it was all getting AWESOME the book ended!! BOOOOO!

read 2023

Quick read.

O'Neal writes her characters so completely---you feel as though you know them inside and out, especially as all of their "secrets" are revealed in the story. From earthquakes to surfing and to California and Auckland....great settings for a story that was hard to put down.

Like any good tale, this novel is a lot of things. It's about family. About healing. About second chance romance.

It feels a bit dichotomous: Not quite British, not fully American. Which makes sense, I guess, as the characters are a mix of both, as is the author's family.

Enjoyable. Good. Not especially memorable, however. But still worth a read, especially for those who enjoy stories about family.

I think I won this in a Goodreads giveaway or something a while ago and I just now read it without knowing it was a romance which is just so silly because that's not what the book was sold to me as and also I am very sleep deprived and this isn't making much sense but there were a lot of underdeveloped plotlines and all of the big reveals had already been revealed to the reader so it was no surprise, and it felt like a trashy thriller erotica combo which is just horrifying to think about. It was kind of interesting at points but like. I don't recommend this.

Absolutely a wonderful book!!!! The women, all four of them, truly come to life in O'Neal's hands...well, words. I feel as if I KNOW them. I can see them and how they think.

Mothers and daughters. Romance addiction but actually a well written enjoyable book.

The story line felt contrived.½