Bøker av Barbara O'Neal

A divorced perfumer navigates an uncertain but fresh new start in life in a poignant and witty novel about self-discovery by the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids.Nikki Bridges has it good. An enviable home in an upscale neighborhood, a heavenly-scented hobby making personal-blend perfumes, a cherished daughter, and comfortable rituals with a husband she loves. How was she to know it would all blow up with her husband's affair, a blindsiding divorce, and an identity crisis she never saw coming?With little money, less work experience, and a modest apartment, Nikki is tentatively moving on. Along the way: a waitressing job, a bond with an empathetic group of friends, and reentering the dating game at fortysomething. Luring her out of her funk is Niraj, an ex-Londoner with twinkling eyes and a hint of cinnamon and ginger. For the first time in a long time, Nikki feels a warm summer flush--and with it, a spark of inspiration.On a liberating quest for self-expression and the courage to follow a dream, Nikki is blending the pieces of a new life into a fragrance that is uniquely and passionately her own.Revised edition: This edition of The Scent of Hours includes editorial revisions.

Two converging mysteries compel a woman's search for the truth in a captivating novel about loss, love, family, and healing by the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids.Biographer Ellie Connor is in Gideon, Texas, to research blues singer Mabel Beauvais who, on the verge of fame, mysteriously disappeared more than forty years ago. Gideon holds another mystery for Ellie. It's the truth about her parents--a restless mother who died young and a father she never knew. They are an unsettled piece of Ellie's own past. Somewhere in this town is the answer to both of her quests.No one is more accommodating than charismatic Laurence "Blue" Reynard, a local with deep roots in Gideon. Sexy and charming, he's also getting under Ellie's skin like a smooth jazz rhythm. Yet beneath his seductive facade is a soul damaged by loss. Tragic, wanting, and beautiful. So wrong for a woman just passing through town. If only his passion and vulnerability weren't so irresistible.As Ellie pieces together Mabel's puzzling life and that of her father, Blue takes the surprising journey with her. What then for Ellie? Follow her instincts and say goodbye, or follow her heart?Revised edition: This edition of In the Midnight Rain includes editorial revisions.

Four women face the turning points of their lives in a warm and wise novel about choices and second chances by the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids.A loving wife and a mother of three accomplished children, forty-six-year-old Trudy Marino has an uncomplicated life--until she's blindsided by her husband's affair. But in Trudy's close-knit neighborhood, she's not alone in navigating the sudden surprises in a woman's life.Her neighbor Roberta has just lost her husband of sixty-two years and struggles with bittersweet memories and grief. Roberta's granddaughter Jade is a divorcée who has taken up a cathartic new hobby to get over her cheating ex. And there's Shannelle, whose creative aspirations are fracturing her marriage.Then Trudy meets Angel, a sensual young man with the vulnerable heart of a poet who awakens her to invigorating new sensations. With a bracing confidence and three dear friends coming together in confusion, anger, and hope, Trudy is encouraged to take control of her life, to reflect on the choices she didn't make, and to fulfill the youthful dreams she abandoned. As a new world opens up, Trudy can only marvel at where to go from here.Revised edition: This edition of The Goddesses of Kitchen Avenue includes editorial revisions.

"A road trip yields surprises and secrets in a poignant and exhilarating novel about mothers, daughters, and sisters by the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids."--Provided by publisher.

An enriching and deeply moving novel about love and loss, the bonds of family and friends, and coming home by the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids.Life didn't turn out the way Jewel Sabatino planned. However long she's been gone, home is waiting.At seventeen, Jewel fled Colorado for New York City and didn't look back. Now she's raising a teenage son alone and is a loving caretaker to her one true friend when she receives a surprising inheritance: her aunt's Pueblo farm and one hundred acres of land. After decades, it's time for Jewel to reconnect with everyone and everything she left behind.Her seventeen-year-old son, Shane, is finally meeting his relatives. Jewel's soulmate, Michael, has a serene haven for his final days. And Jewel's welcome back is one of a strong community embracing rich Sicilian traditions, three ebullient sisters preparing for a summer wedding, and a tearful and anxious mother with open arms. But for Jewel, it also means facing her father, who has never forgiven his favorite child for betraying him. And he may never forgive her.As Jewel's emotional journey begins, an estranged visitor turns her life around again and could heal her wary heart in ways she never expected.Revised edition: This edition of No Place Like Home includes editorial revisions.

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.

"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"--Provided by publisher.

In a novel as warm and embracing as a family kitchen, Barbara O'Neal explores the poignant, sometimes complex relationships between mothers and daughters-and the healing magic of homemade bread. 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.Ramona relies upon a special set of tools-patience, persistence, and the reliability of a good recipe-when rebellious Katie arrives. And as she relives her own history of difficult choices, Ramona shares her love of baking with the troubled girl. Slowly, Katie begins to find self-acceptance and a place to call home. And when a man from her past returns to offer a second chance at love, Ramona discovers that even the best recipe tastes better when you add time, care, and a few secret ingredients of your own.

In this spectacular new novel, Barbara O'Neal delivers a generous helping of the best in life-family, food, and love-in the story of a woman's search for the one thing worth more than anything.At thirty-seven, Tessa Harlow is still working her way down her list of goals to "fall in love and have a family.” A self-described rolling stone, Tessa leads hiking tours for adventurous vacationers-it's a job that's taken her around the world but never a step closer to home. Then a freak injury during a trip already marred by tragedy forces her to begin her greatest adventure of all. Located high in the New Mexico mountains, Las Ladronas has become a magnet for the very wealthy and very hip, but once upon a time it was the setting of a childhood trauma Tessa can only half remember. Now, as she rediscovers both her old hometown and her past, Tessa is drawn to search-and-rescue worker Vince Grasso. The handsome widower isn't her type. No more inclined to settle down than Tessa, Vince is the father of three, including an eight-year-old girl as lost as Tessa herself. But Tessa and Vince are both drawn to the town's most beloved eatery-100 Breakfasts-and to each other. For Tessa, the restaurant is not only the key to the mystery that has haunted her life but a chance to find the home and the family she's never known.

From Barbara O’Neal, beloved author of How to Bake a Perfect Life and The Lost Recipe for Happiness, comes another magical, heartfelt novel—perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah and Susan Wiggs.  After tragedy shatters her small community in Seattle, the Reverend Elsa Montgomery has a crisis of faith. Returning to her hometown of Pueblo, Colorado, she seeks work in a local soup kitchen. Preparing nourishing meals for folks in need, she keeps her hands busy while her heart searches for understanding.   Meanwhile, her sister, Tamsin, as pretty and colorful as Elsa is unadorned and steadfast, finds her perfect life shattered when she learns that her financier husband is a criminal. Enduring shock and humiliation as her beautiful house and possessions are seized, the woman who had everything now has nothing but the clothes on her back.   But when the going gets tough, the tough get growing. A community garden in the poorest, roughest part of town becomes a lifeline. Creating a place of hope and sustenance opens Elsa and Tamsin to the renewing power of rich earth, sunshine, and the warm cleansing rain of tears. While Elsa finds her heart blooming in the care of a rugged landscaper, Tamsin discovers the joy of losing herself in the act of giving—and both women discover that with time and care, happy endings flourish.

From a mother of five children under five and a childcare director with 30 years' experience, a book to give hope to all parents of toddlers