The Vineyard

Rating:
Summary: The Content was as lovely as the cover
Review: When I first opened The Vineyard, I didn't know I was going to be making new friends. That's how the characters seemed to me and I hated saying goodbye. When Olivia Jones worked on restoring Natalie Seebring's old pictures, she made up a family for herself using the people in the photos. Her own mother ignored her for most of her life, then abandoned her when she graduated from high school. When she married a man more interested in his work than her and their daughter, the pattern continued up until his death. Then his parents refused to believe Jessie was their son's daughter. Added to all this, Jessie had dyslexia and couldn't get ahead in school or make friends. It was at this stage of Olivia's life when Natalie Seebring hired her to come write a book of her life story. Natalie and her hired employee announced their upcoming wedding six months after Natalie's husband died. Natalie's children felt betrayed and hurt and wondered if she had been having an affair while their father was alive. Always the quiet one, Natalie thinks if she puts her story down on paper, maybe they will understand why she is marrying Carl. Olivia brings her daughter to live at the vineyard that Natalie owns, expecting a large family atmosphere. What she finds are phone calls from Natalie's children that Natalie refuses to take and hostility from the vineyard manager who believes Natalie is playing match maker for himself and Olivia. The story develops beautifully from here as we learn Natalie's story and how it makes Olivia emerge from her dream world and face reality. This is one book where the romance wasn't overdone but added to the beauty of the book.