Nor is there any sordid, soft porn sex scenes to tittilate voyeuristic lust. She builds her love scenes as a gradual, gentle and deeply insightful awakening. She reveals romance in an elegant, classy and very tasteful manner that engages the reader in the reality of the eventual mating without grossing out the reader with the vulgarity found in Stephanie Laurens or even Nora Roberts show-all-tell-all graphic manner that forces some readers to skip those "steamy" pages. Delinsky's books are like opening a box of treasures and never being disappointed or repelled by the contents.
Delinsky also has a wonderful sense of philosophy about family relationships and the manner in which to build strong ones despite setbacks and condemnation by said family or friends. In this book she examines the greatly flawed assumptions that middle aged children dump on their elderly 76 year old mother when she elects to marry her vineyard manager and childhood lover after the death of her husband and father of the kids.
Also this fascinating story is about the labor intensive work of farming a vineyard and the whole issue of sacrifices made by a very strong woman for her entire life to ensure a long term goal of security which makes this story very empowering to women.
I did not care for the manipulative, self pitying, pathological liar Olivia, a photo restorer, who happens through connection to her retiring boss to find a position in the vinyardist's own household for the summer to help organize memoirs, restore old photos and write the book that will explain to Natalie's adult children why she is marrying Carl and the truth about their biological father. Olivia's learning disabled and dysfunctional child dropped into the mix is just plain annoying, but the author deals with this difficult topic in an informed and proactive way. Then, there is Simon, the sour, recalcitrant, rejecting vineyard co-manager whose lost his mother, wife and child in a freak sailing accident caused by drunken sailors in another watercraft. After 4 years he is still wallowing in anger and self pity. Both Simon and the child Tess make the book grating at times, especially the kid's rebellion against authority and her special education teachers. Then there is Olivia's whining about her long lost alcoholic mother whose rejection has forced her to live in fantasyland her entire life. She even fantasizes that she is a long lost member of Natalie's household. This is all a bit much.
However, I do recommend this book for the elegant prose and style that the author brings. She makes me think of Guy Gavriel Kay's exquisite writing style as she unfolds a story in a rich tapestry of life in a microcosm. I will definitely read more of her stories.
At 35, Olivia Jones is a single mother working hard to provide for her 10-year-old daughter Tess. Olivia knows art and photography. She's been doing photo restoration for Natalie Seebring for months, although they've never met. Through her work, Olivia has grown very attached to the Seebring family. She can only imagine what each family member is like and imagines herself as a Seebring herself. She jumps at the job offer to work at the vineyard for the summer. The pay will be more than enough to hire tutors to help Tess with her dyslexia.
With Olivia at her side, pen in hand, Natalie's story of love, heartache, struggle and perseverance slowly unfolds, revealing a few secrets along the way.
Meanwhile, Olivia is searching for her own mother as well as dealing with Carl's son, Simon, now the vineyard manager. Simon lost his wife and daughter 4 years ago in a sailing accident and having Olivia around with young Tess only stirs up the pain he's worked so hard to bury.
This is truly a story so well told that you laugh at times and cry at others. There's so much detail on a variety of topics. The reader learns a bit about growing grapes, sailing, hurricanes, the Great Depression and World War II. Each character is so well-written, I feel that if I were ever in Rhode Island, I could simply drive up and pay the Seebrings a visit. Great people book.