Monday, April 11, 2016

HFVBT Review: The Winemakers: A Novel of Wine and Secrets by Jan Moran

Title: The Winemakers: A Novel of Wine and Secrets
Author: Jan Moran
Format: Paperback
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publish Date: April 5, 2016
Source: HFVBT



What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Many years ago, the Rosetta family’s hard-won dreams of staking their claim in the vineyards of California came to fruition. Now high-spirited, passionate Caterina Rosetta, who has inherited both her mother’s talent for crafting the finest wines and also her indomitable will, wants nothing more than to win her mother’s approval and work at her side. But that can never happen, because Caterina is keeping a secret that could ruin her: a daughter of her own, fathered by the love of her life, who left her without explanation. Just as she feels she has nowhere to turn, Caterina discovers that she has inherited a vineyard in the Tuscan countryside in Italy, from a grandmother she’s never heard of, and she seizes the chance to start a new life for herself and her child.

But the past is not so easily outrun. In the country of her ancestors, Caterina meets the family of the father she never knew, and discovers that her mother is also hiding her own secret—a secret so devastating it threatens the future of everything her family has worked for. As an old murder comes to light, and Caterina uncovers a tragedy that may destroy the man she loves, she realizes her happiness will depend on revealing the truth of her mother’s buried past—if she has the strength to face it."


My Two Cents:

Caterina is living a charmed life in California wine country in the 1950s but she is hiding a deep secret that threatens to upend her relationship with her mother and her reputation. She runs away to the house in Italy that she has just inherited from the grandmother that she never knew she had only to discover that her mother is hiding secrets of her own. This book has all the deliciousness and guilty pleasure of a huge glass of red wine. It's full of secrets that will keep you turning the pages!

While some of the action in the book sometimes seems overwrought and over-explained, the story is well written. I dove into the secrets of Caterina's story wholeheartedly and stayed there throughout the book. There are family fights, secret babies, and a lot of romance all in this book. Moran does a great job of keeping the reader on their toes throughout the book and keeps the narrative moving at a good clip. This is a good family saga!

I really liked the characters. Caterina is fascinating to me. She is only seems to have one fear and that is her formidable mother who runs a tight ship on her winery. She really grows throughout the book and realizes that the truth, difficult as it may be, is much better than hiding or creating elaborate lies that will eventually be found out! Overall, this was a good book to relax with!


 

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for reading and reviewing The Winemakers. Glad you enjoyed Caterina.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for reading and reviewing The Winemakers. Glad you enjoyed Caterina.

    ReplyDelete

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