The Art of Inheriting Secrets

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.