Barbara Samuel

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.… (mehr)

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… (mehr)

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.… (mehr)

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 ;) )… (mehr)