The All You Can Dream Buffet: A Novel by Barbara O’Neal

• Title:  The All You Can Dream Buffet
• Author:  Barbara O’Neal
• Genre:  Fiction
• Published:  March 2014 – Bantam
• Source:  Publisher

Synopsis:  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?  (publisher)

My take:  The author’s name was the first thing to draw me to The All You Can Dream Buffet  and then the synopsis pulled me right in. I’m a fan of Barbara O’Neal’s novels. Her evocative descriptions always make me feel as if I’m in the background observing what’s going on in each scene.

The characters and their specific issues engaged me from the start.  Ruby, a vegan chef and food blogger, went through a shocking break up with her boyfriend of six years and can’t get over him.  Ginny, a cake blogger and photographer, can’t wait to meet her online friends and is ready to make big changes. Val, a wine blogger, and her daughter are on their way to a new life after suffering a devastating loss. They all meet up at Lavender’s farm for her 85th birthday party. Little do they know she hopes to make one of them heir to her farm. This is a story of change and second chances and I cheered for each woman along the way.

I liked this novel but after finishing wished it could have been longer. Since the book is 400 pages I wonder if a lot had been cut which made the ending seem a bit rushed. All that aside, if you’re a fan of the author, novels with a food theme, recipes and just a touch of magical realism you might want to read The All You Can Dream Buffet. I’m glad I did.

The Garden of Happy Endings by Barbara O’Neal

Title:  The Garden of Happy Endings

Author:  Barbara O’Neal

Genre:  Contemporary Fiction

Published:  April 2012 – Bantam

Paperback – 416 pages

My take:  Reverend Elsa Montgomery is going through a crisis of faith after the brutal murder of a young parishioner. She’s so angry that God would allow such an unspeakable act that she’s not sure she can continue as a minister. She takes a sabbatical from her Seattle church and goes home to Pueblo, Colorado to work through things. When she gets there she finds her sister Tamsin going through a life-changing upheaval of her own. Her missing husband has been charged with running a Ponzi scheme that stole millions. She finds herself homeless, penniless and not sure where to turn.

Elsa and Tamsin wind up living in the small house where they grew up. Elsa reconnects with the parish priest who also happens to be her former boyfriend. He broke off their engagement twenty years earlier when he had a calling to the priesthood. They managed to stay friends and kept in touch over the years. Ultimately he becomes the catalyst to Elsa finding her way back to her faith. Through him she meets many people (wonderful primary and secondary characters) who help her along the way.

Tamsin has lived a life of privilege but is now happy to accept a job in the fabric department at Walmart. She also helps out with a new community garden program at the parish. She learns that she may not have been as happy or content in her old life as she thought. In fact, she realizes how lonely her life had become.

Watching the story unfold as Elsa and Tamsin found their way on such personal journeys made for an emotional reading experience. Barbara O’Neal is a wonderful storyteller. Her characters and story truly resonated with me. I can’t ask for more than that. Recommended.

Disclosure:  I received this book from the publisher. I was not compensated for my review.

How To Bake A Perfect Life: A Novel by Barbara O’Neal

Title:  How To Bake A Perfect Life: A Novel

Author:  Barbara O’Neal

Genre:  Women’s Fiction/Contemporary Romance

About:  (from Goodreads) Professional baker Ramona Gallagher is a master of an art that has sustained her through the most turbulent times, including a baby at fifteen and an endless family feud. But now Ramona’s bakery threatens to crumble around her. Literally. She’s one water-heater disaster away from losing her grandmother’s rambling Victorian and everything she’s worked so hard to build.

When Ramona’s soldier son-in-law is wounded in Afghanistan, her daughter, Sophia, races overseas to be at his side, leaving Ramona as the only suitable guardian for Sophia’s thirteen-year-old stepdaughter, Katie. Heartbroken, Katie feels that she’s being dumped again—this time on the doorstep of a woman out of practice with mothering.

My thoughts:  This is a touching story by a wonderful author about people who are either physically or emotionally wounded and the people who take care of them. O’Neal’s characters are realistic and so is the story. I enjoyed it all. Bonus points for an extraordinary dog.

Recommend?  Yes. I love Barbara O’Neal’s novels. She writes the kind I want to read straight through to the end and then smile and give it a hug. Fans of novels with recipes included will not be disappointed 🙂

Source:  I bought it.

The Secret of Everything by Barbara O’Neal

Tessa Harlow enjoyed leading hiking tours until the hike that had a nightmarish ending. Feeling tremendous guilt and responsibility for the incident she goes to her father’s home to heal. From the time of the accident she has flashbacks from her early childhood – memories that don’t make sense. Feeling a pull to the area where she spent the first years of her life, Tessa heads to New Mexico to scout possible hiking tours and that’s where her journey really begins. By meeting people who are new to her but from her past Tessa starts to put pieces together that lead her to the truth of her early years.

I enjoyed Tessa’s journey of discovery and how she learns to make reparations. It seems that more than a few characters in the book are looking for a way to make amends in their lives and find that they can help each other along the way. The depth given to the major characters had me pulling for each one. My favorite was Natalie, the daughter of Tessa’s lover. Natalie is grieving the loss of her mother and is acting out. Tessa feels a connection and wants to help her. I loved how the author makes that happen.

Barbara O’Neal’s writing is beautiful and evocative. Her descriptions of sights, smells, and sounds give wonderful atmosphere to Los Ladrones – the small New Mexico town where the story takes place.

I enjoyed reading The Secret of Everything and look forward to more novels by Barbara O’Neal.

Review copy from Random House (via LibraryThing Early Reviewers)