Barbara O'Neal

When Olivia Shaw's mother dies, the sophisticated food editor is astonished to learn she's inherited a centuries-old English estate--and a title to go with it. Raw with grief and reeling from the knowledge that her reserved mother hid something so momentous, Olivia leaves San Francisco and crosses the pond to unravel the mystery of a lifetime. One glance at the breathtaking Rosemere Priory and Olivia understands why the manor, magnificent even in disrepair, was the subject of her mother's exquisite paintings. What she doesn't understand is why her mother never mentioned it to her. As Olivia begins digging into her mother's past, she discovers that the peeling wallpaper, debris-laden halls, and ceiling-high Elizabethan windows covered in lush green vines hide unimaginable secrets. Although personal problems and her life back home beckon, Olivia finds herself falling for the charming English village and its residents. But before she can decide what Rosemere's and her own future hold, Olivia must first untangle the secrets of her past.

A Novel

The Art of Inheriting Secrets

From the Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids comes a story of four generations of women grappling with family betrayals and long-buried secrets. It's been years since Zoe Fairchild has been to the small Devon village of her birth, but the wounds she suffered there still ache. When she learns that her old friend and grandmother's caretaker has gone missing, Zoe and her fifteen-year-old daughter return to England to help. Zoe dreads seeing her estranged mother, who left when Zoe was seven to travel the world. As the four generations of women reunite, the emotional pain of the past is awakened. And to complicate matters further, Zoe must also confront the ex-boyfriend she betrayed many years before. Anxieties spike when tragedy befalls another woman in the village. As the mystery turns more sinister, new grief melds with old betrayal. Now the four Fairchild women will be tested in ways they couldn't imagine as they contend with dangers within and without, desperate to heal themselves and their relationships with each other.

The Lost Girls of Devon

The USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids returns with a tale of two generations of women reconciling family secrets and past regrets. Life's beautiful for seventysomething influencer Gloria Rose, in her Upper West Side loft with rooftop garden and scores of Instagram followers--until she gets word that her old flame has been arrested for art theft and forgery, and, knowing her own involvement in his misdeeds decades earlier, decides to flee. But that plan is complicated when the nieces she raised are thrown into crises of their own. Willow, overshadowed by her notorious singer-songwriter mother, has come home to lick her wounds on the heels of a failed album and yet another disastrous relationship. Sam, prickly and fiercely independent, is on the verge of losing not only her beloved video game company but the man she loves, thanks to her inability to keep her always-simmering anger in check. With the FBI closing in, Willow's career in shambles, and Sam's tribulations reaching a peak, each of the three woman will have to reckon with and reconcile their interwoven traumas, past loves, and the looming consequences that could either destroy their futures or bring them closer than ever.

Write My Name Across the Sky

Delighted to be offered her dream job of executive chef at an upscale Aspen restaurant, Elena Alvarez knows that this will be opportunity of a lifetime, and through the delicious food she creates, the friendships she forms, and the trust she learns to place in others, she finds the strength to confront the pain of her past and find healing in body and soul. A first novel. Simultaneous. 60,000 first printing.

The Lost Recipe for Happiness

Determined to find a worthy heir, eighty-four-year-old foodie queen Lavender Willis invites three online friends, all foodie bloggers of different backgrounds, to her farm where she hopes one of them will follow in her footsteps.

The All You Can Dream Buffet

Hoping for a quieter life as a bakery owner after struggling as a young parent and suffering a heart-breaking divorce, Ramona Gallagher finds herself caring for an unruly step-granddaughter by immersing the girl in a network of women family members. By the RITA Award finalist author of The Lost Recipe for Happiness. Original.

How to Bake a Perfect Life

Questioning her worth and identity after a disastrous accident, Tessa Harlow makes her way to a New Mexico town high in the mountains and finds purpose and healing in a culinary life. By the author of The Lost Recipe for Happiness. Original. 20,000 first printing.

The Secret of Everything

From the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids comes an emotional novel about two women facing the betrayals, heartbreaks, and refuge of true friendship. Phoebe and Suze used to be closer than sisters. Growing up in a quiet and wildly beautiful coastal town in Oregon, they shared everything. Until the secrets they couldn't share threatened their bond and complicated their lives. Now, decades later, Suze, a famous actress desperate for safe haven following a brutal attack, is back in town. Phoebe, a successful illustrator and fabric designer, has discovered keeping a secret means she can't let anyone get close, aside from her beloved granddaughter, Jasmine. As Jasmine's move to London looms, Phoebe doesn't know how to face the return of her old friend and all the drama she brings. But Phoebe let Suze down once before and she's not sure she can do it again. Can the two women who've never confronted their past do it now when the choice is between healing and survival? Heartfelt and layered, The Starfish Sisters is a moving story about the complicated nature of female friendship, the joys and heartbreaks of life, and the resiliency and power that women possess.

The Starfish Sisters

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.

When We Believed in Mermaids

Sisters Elsa and Tamsin Montgomery--the former, a minister who has her faith shaken after a murder strikes her congregation, and the latter, a wife whose husband is revealed to be a criminal--find healing in their work at a community garden. Includes recipes. By the author of How to Bake a Perfect Life. Original. 50,000 first printing.

The Garden of Happy Endings

Lady Luck's Map of Vegas

No Place Like Home (Originally published as Barbara Samuel) RITA AWARD winner Sometimes a wrong turn is the only way home. . . . No Place Like Home tells the unforgettable story of a family bound together by tradition_and the emotional journey of an estranged daughter risking everything for a second chance at life and love. Twenty-one years ago Jewel Sabatino left her childhood behind and never looked back. After a magical taste of fame, she found herself alone with a son to raise and not much else. She survived with the help of Michael, her one true friend. But now Michael is too sick to care for himself, and Jewel has run out of options. She leaves New York for the hills of Colorado, unsure if the family she ran from will welcome her back. For Jewel, coming home is falling back into a world that smells of Italian restaurants and home-baked pies. It is the laughter of sisters preparing for a summer wedding, and the peaceful haven for a treasured soul mate's last days. It also means facing the unforgiving eyes of a father betrayed by his favorite child_and letting go of a son who is ready to become a man. But most of all, it is the love she discovers in her own wary heart when Michael's brother Malachi unexpectedly arrives on her doorstep. Told with breathtaking insight and deep emotion, No Place Like Home is a joyful feast for all the senses, a vibrant bounty of love, and a tender life lesson to be savored long after the last page is turned.

No Place Like Home

Against the sunbaked hills of New Mexico, two broken hearts come together in a poignant novel about family, love, and healing by the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids. Luna McGraw struggles to conquer the addictions that destroyed her marriage and caused her to lose custody of her beloved daughter, Joy. After eight years, Joy is back and Luna aims to rebuild everything that fell apart. She has a therapeutic job as a florist, a loving mother's support, and a new man in her life who makes Luna feel things she's been afraid to feel since forever. Thomas Coyote is a gentle soul who has built a little piece of heaven against the beautiful backdrop of the Taos mountains. With an ex-wife married to his brother, Coyote knows a thing or two himself about betrayal and tattered dreams. When he meets Luna, his guard is coming down. But as strong as the attraction is between them, Luna doesn't want to make another mistake. It'll take a while for her to forgive the sins of a manipulative husband, to mend the broken heart of a child, and to open herself up to love again. This time, Luna wants to get it right. Revised edition: This edition of A Piece of Heaven includes editorial revisions.

A Piece of Heaven

The Goddesses of Kitchen Ave (Originally published by Barbara Samuel) Trudy Marino never expected her life to turn out perfectly. But at forty-six, she was content with what she did have: her caring husband Rick . . . twenty-plus happy years raising three accomplished kids . . . and a lovely house in the artistic, vibrantly diverse town of Pueblo, New Mexico. But a heartbreaking discovery and a suddenly shattered marriage now has Trudy looking back on the choices she didn't make --and where she might go from here. Struggling to pick up the pieces, Trudy finds support from a quirky, eclectic group of friends and neighbors --her goddesses of Kitchen Avenue --all of whom are trying in their own unique ways to navigate life's little surprises. There's Jade, a fiery social worker who's finding unexpected strength to deal with her "player" ex-husband, thanks to a most unorthodox passion; Jade's grandmother, Roberta, who has just lost her husband of sixty-two years --and through memory and piercing grief wonders what to do with the rest of her life; Shannelle, Trudy's young neighbor and an aspiring writer, determined to realize her talent despite formidable obstacles . . . including the husband who's afraid her success will be his loss; and Angel, a young, quietly-knowing photographer who makes Trudy uncover a sensuality she never knew --even as he tries to get over the one love he can never really forget. As Trudy faces her future, she discovers that figuring out what to let go and what to keep is just as difficult as moving on. As she weighs what she and Rick still share against new possibilities, she'll surprise everyone -- including herself --as she tries to reconcile the best of both. From an acclaimed voice in fiction, this is a wry, beguiling, heartfelt, and warmly wise novel about second chances, unexpected choices, and the dreams that we all hunger to fulfill.

The Goddesses of Kitchen Avenue

With her faithful dog, Alvin, and her grandmother's recipes, Elena arrives in Colorado to find a restaurant in as desperate need of a fresh start as she is--and a man whose passionate approach to food and life rivals her own. Owner Julian Liswood is a name many people know but a man few do. He's come to Aspen with a troubled teenage daughter and a dream of the kind of stability and love only a family can provide. But for Elena, old ghosts don't die quietly, yet a chance to find happiness at last is worth the risk.

Starfish Sisters

Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah and Susan Wiggs—Barbara O’Neal’s new novel of food, friendship, and the freedom to grow your dreams brings together four very different women longing to savor the true taste of happiness. Popular blogger and foodie queen Lavender Wills reigns over Lavender Honey Farms, a serene slice of organic heaven nestled in Oregon wine country. Lavender is determined to keep her legacy from falling into the profit-driven hands of uncaring relatives, and she wants an heir to sustain her life’s work after she’s gone. So she invites her three closest online friends—fellow food bloggers, women of varied ages and backgrounds—out to her farm. She hopes to choose one of them to inherit it—but who? There’s Ginny, the freckle-faced Kansas cake baker whose online writing is about to lead her out of a broken marriage and into a world of sensual delights. And Ruby, young, pregnant, devoted to the organic movement, who’s looking for roots—and the perfect recipe to heal a shattered heart. Finally, Val, smart and sophisticated, a wine enthusiast who needs a fresh start for her teenage daughter after tragedy has rocked their lives. Coming together will change the Foodie Four in ways they could never have imagined, uniting them in love and a common purpose. As they realize that life doesn’t always offer a perfect recipe for happiness, they also discover that the moments worth savoring are flavored with some tears, a few surprises, and generous helping of joy. Praise for The All You Can Dream Buffet “Charming and genuine . . . Peppered with realistic details about organic farming, blogging, the Oregon landscape, and the very relatable sorrows and joys of being human, this is a sweetly engrossing read with which to curl up.”—Booklist “[A] feel-good story . . . [The All You Can Dream Buffet] rings all the right bells.”—Kirkus Reviews “A top-notch romance . . . [A] satisfying read is in store for all who pick up this book for a fun time and a foodie fling.”—BookPage “Highly relatable characters will draw readers in immediately. The ‘foodie’ background of the story is also fun and contains recipes and photos as well from the characters’ blogs.”—The Parkersburg News and Sentinel “O’Neal’s latest is a sweet tale of friendship and love. . . . The heartwarming novel will touch the soul and resonate long afterward.”—RT Book Reviews “Delicious . . . These thoroughly entertain with moving plotlines and rich character development. . . . I can’t recommend this beautifully written novel enough. It has a deep base of warmth, a cupful of humor, a generous dollop of romance, and a gentle dash of the other worldly. And I’ve found a new-to-me author to savor!”—Romance Reviews Today “The All You Can Dream Buffet is a charming tale of food, friendship, endings and new beginnings, and freedom from all that stops one from being true to oneself. If you’re in need of the comfort read, this is the one.”—BookLoons

Wanneer Elena Alvarez een droombaan aangeboden krijgt als chefkok van een prestigieus restaurant, accepteert ze het aanbod meteen. Het is de kans van haar leven. Elena verhuist naar Aspen, Colorado, met de recepten van haar Mexicaanse oma als geheim wapen. Elenas sensuele en exotische gerechten ontlokken al snel bij iedereen in de keuken verrassende reacties. Terwijl Elena vol passie naar de opening van het restaurant toe werkt, kost het haar steeds meer moeite om de tragische gebeurtenissen uit haar verleden te vergeten. Langzaam begint Elena te geloven dat ze zich kan verzoenen met haar traumatische verleden en dat ze risicos moet nemen voor een kans op ware liefde. Wars over Elenas gladde, blanke rug loopt een gruwelijk mooi litteken. Als een slang kronkelt het van haar rechterschouder naar haar schouderblad en haar ruggengraat. Van daar naar haar ribben aan de linkerkant en naar beneden, naar haar linkerbil. Alsof er ooit een hap uit haar lijf is genomen. Op sommige plaatsen lijkt het litteken net een stuk stevig, oudroze touw; op andere plekken lijkt het bijna onder haar huid te verdwijnen, zodat je aan de oppervlakte alleen een witte kras ziet lopen. Mannen zijn er dol op en vinden zichzelf bijzonder begripvol en lief als ze het litteken liefkozen, terwijl ze eigenlijk gewoon de ramptoerist uithangen als ze dat doen, want het is niets meer dan een gefascineerd en geschokt aanschouwen van een situatie die ze zelf echt niet willen meemaken. Sommige mannen vragen haar hoe het is gebeurd en sommige niet. Maar ze vragen het zich allemaal wel af. Alleen Elenas geesten kennen het verhaal. De geesten die ze altijd op sleeptouw heeft en die ze koste wat het kost beschermt. De geesten die haar nooit alleen zullen laten.

Elena's keuken

The Scent of Hours (Originally published as Madame Mirabou's School of Love, by Barbara Samuel) Sometimes real passion means living the life you've always wanted. Nicole Bridges still can't believe she's taken up residence in a Colorado apartment complex nicknamed "Splitsville." She's still reeling from her husband's affair, a divorce she never saw coming, and having to leave the upscale, comfortable world she helped make for her ex and their teenage daughter. With little money, even less work experience, and no idea what to do next, she takes tentative steps_if only to keep her head above water. Along the way, Nikki unexpectedly finds herself falling in with eccentric new neighbors_and being seduced out of her funk by a charming, elusive ex-Londoner. And through her delight in the sensual elements of perfume, she will discover the courage to form bonds she never imagined. When a discarded flyer printed with the name "Madame Mirabou" provides the spark of inspiration, Nikki dares to blend the fragments of her life into a fragrance that's uniquely and passionately her own.

Barbara O'Neal

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