The Art of Inheriting Secrets

So charming and easy to read and get into

I love the characters and it was a sweet and satisfying read. I feel connected to the main character, I too broke my leg and I have a limp, but more than that she's personable. An easy read, fun, inviting. Some mystery, some romance, a lot of soul searching.

3.5 stars. I forgot how much I enjoy Barbara O'Neal (aka Barbara Samuel, aka Ruth Wind). She always produces intelligent Women's Fiction novels featuring women at the crossroads who find unexpected realms of strength inside themselves as they make significant changes to meet the challenges they face. Olivia Shaw, reeling after the sudden loss of her mother and the long-term physical impact of a serious car accident, is suddenly thrust from her life in San Francisco to the strange new role of English countess to a crumbling estate. Facing mistrust from some neighbors and open smiles from others, she has to make a decision about her future and that of the centuries-old Rosemere, while also trying to figure out why her mother left it all behind forty years ago.

Loses half a star for cramming a little too much plot into one book and then sacrificing much of it to focus on the admittedly hot romance between Olivia and Samir Malakar, a roof thatcher who has hidden depths. O'Neal cut her teeth writing romance novels as Ruth Wind, so she's very good at it, but some readers who like more traditional Women's Fiction may be a tad peckish after reading so many love scenes. And the pages devoted to Olivia and Samir leave little to no space for the numerous plot points that are added on top of the central mystery of why Olivia's mother never told her daughter about her past.

Despite the stuffed plot that doesn't deliver on everything it promises, The Art of Inheriting Secrets was an engrossing, enjoyable read. I don't know how O'Neal fell off my radar screen of auto-read authors but I'm glad to rediscover her work.

Olivia has just lost her mother, but she is about to learn some shocking secrets. Her mother was an English Countess, and Olivia never knew! She lived her entire life thinking that her mother was just an artist, a friend, and a confidant.
When she arrives in England to take a look over the estate and figure out what she is going to do, there are several issues to confront head on. Not only is her relationship at home falling apart, but she is alone, and treading water in territory that she has no clue as to navigate.
When her kindly older neighbor takes her under his wing, she begins to learn and understand more about the life that she has been thrust into. But her mother did not let things just lie - there are secrets and decades old skeletons to uncover.
Olivia must decide if she will rise to the challenge of becoming the Countess of Rosemere or if she will sell out and abandon the past that her mother fled from...

This was an interesting read. It held my attention from the beginning. Enjoyed reading through and getting to dive into a different world all together.

An evocative tale of an American magazine food writer who travels to a small English village to discover the secrets of her mother's past, and finds love in the process.

Poignant.

Sneaky Book Hangover. This is one of those books that has a way of sneaking up on you, in all the good ways. In the beginning, we're thrust into the world of a food editor who has just arrived in England after only recently finding out that she has inherited a full English estate and title. Throughout the book, we discover things as she does, and through the first half of the book what we discover is mostly that she is falling in love with both the countryside and its resident thatcher. The “secrets” come mostly in the back half of the book, and they are tragic yet beautiful. While the timing of my own reading of this could have been better (reading a book about falling in love with the English countryside over July 4...), this really will make a great read anytime, but particularly (for my own tastes) as a late summer read - which means its release in mid July is timed nearly to perfection.