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    The Beekeeper's Ball
    The Beekeeper's Ball
    The Beekeeper's Ball
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Beekeeper's Ball

    Written by Susan Wiggs

    Narrated by Jill Redfield

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs returns to sun-drenched Bella Vista, where the land's bounty yields a rich harvest…and family secrets that have long been buried.

    Isabel Johansen, a celebrated chef who grew up in the sleepy Sonoma town of Archangel, is transforming her childhood home into a destination cooking school—a unique place for other dreamers to come and learn the culinary arts. Bella Vista's rambling mission-style hacienda, with its working apple orchards, bountiful gardens and beehives, is the idyllic venue for Isabel's project…and the perfect place for her to forget the past.

    But Isabel's carefully ordered plans begin to go awry when swaggering, war-torn journalist Cormac O'Neill arrives to dig up old history. He's always been better at exposing the lives of others than showing his own closely guarded heart, but the pleasures of small-town life and the searing sensuality of Isabel's kitchen coax him into revealing a few truths of his own.

    The dreamy sweetness of summer is the perfect time of year for a grand family wedding and the enchanting Beekeeper's Ball, bringing emotions to a head in a story where the past and present collide to create an unexpected new future.

    From "one of the best observers of stories of the heart" (Salem Statesman-Journal), The Beekeeper's Ball is an exquisite and richly imagined novel of the secrets that keep us from finding our way, the ties binding us to family and home, and the indelible imprint love can make on the human heart.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJun 24, 2014
    ISBN9781455837151
    The Beekeeper's Ball
    Author

    Susan Wiggs

    Susan Wiggs is the author of more than fifty novels, including the beloved Lakeshore Chronicles series and the recent New York Times bestsellers The Lost and Found Bookshop, The Oysterville Sewing Circle, and Family Tree. Her award-winning books have been translated into two dozen languages. She lives with her husband on an island in Washington State’s Puget Sound.

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    Reviews for The Beekeeper's Ball

    4/5

    134 ratings13 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Great "summer read"... a little too much romance - all too pat, but I still enjoyed it. A little WWII background made it interesting.
    • 5/5
      The second in the Bella Vista Chronicles, The Beekeeper's Ball focuses on Isabel Johansen in stunning Sonoma Co, CA, as she converts her family home to a destination cooking school, and flashbacks telling her grandfather Mangus's story as part of the Danish resistance during WW2 Nazi occupation. Family truths long untold unfold, and we watch as observers things people do in times of extreme duress that are later judged by history, family members, in the context of peacetime and safety. Susan Wiggs does a very good job threading this needle. I am however very anxious for her to return to this series to see where it goes next. She never disappoints.
    • 5/5
      This novel has many carefully developed storylines touching on historical and contemporary issues and delicately reveals how relationships of the past have long-term effects as they contribute to future decisions.

      Particularly in this time of #MeToo one of the storylines is very relevant, gently handled, and gives hope as only a romance novel can. But "The Beekeeper's Ball" is so much more revealing historical events during WWII which brings the understanding of generational relationships and ends with an amazing and intriguing possibility.

      No review of this novel would be complete without mention of Susan Wiggs deftly and comprehensive handling of facts as to why everyone should be concerned about the global decline of bees and what this could mean in human continuity, food supplies, and maintaining a balanced eco-system.

      To share Susan Wiggs name as an author does not reveal her artistry with words in combining multiple subjects that readers might not have an interest in separately and that could lead to a dry and/or boring presentation but instead incorporates them into an engaging, entertaining, and extraordinary novel.

      This novel should not be missed!
    • 3/5
      Nice book, with a lot of honey in it - honey recipes, honey for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The author could have cut down on the honey and maybe beefed up the characters more. Back and forth about the grandfather's life in Denmark during the war & present day. Twist at the end with Isabel's father...not sure if that will spin out into another book. Off to another BC'r as a RABCK.
    • 5/5
      Wirklich gut verwoben: die Vergangenheit Gegenwart der Hauptfigur Isabel auf dem herrlichen Obstbau-Landsitz Bella Vista in Californien, die Vergangenheit der Großeltern im besetzten Kopenhagen des zweiten Weltkriegs und eine Lovestory zwischen zwei vom Leben geprägten Charakteren.
    • 5/5
      The second in the Bella Vista Chronicles, The Beekeeper's Ball focuses on Isabel Johansen in stunning Sonoma Co, CA, as she converts her family home to a destination cooking school, and flashbacks telling her grandfather Mangus's story as part of the Danish resistance during WW2 Nazi occupation. Family truths long untold unfold, and we watch as observers things people do in times of extreme duress that are later judged by history, family members, in the context of peacetime and safety. Susan Wiggs does a very good job threading this needle. I am however very anxious for her to return to this series to see where it goes next. She never disappoints.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this book. The story line was simple and easy to follow; a good book to read as a form of escape. Susan Wiggs has a way with words that appeals to me. Although it is a romance novel, it still had a . historical slant through the back story of Isabel and Tess's grandparents. I also liked the cooking aspect of the story; Isabel's passion for food and cooking resonated in me. I'd love to visit her vision of a cooking school, if one really existed!

      A little more information; I did not read the first one, and there were some noticeable holes in my knowledge, but I could catch up on the missing information as the story progressed. The ending is a cliffhanger, and know that I know there is a series of these books, it makes perfect sense what the next book will be about.
    • 4/5
      An excellent follow up to The Apple Orchard. The author did a great job getting to the heart of the main character, Isabel.
    • 4/5
      A good book where I found the secondary story set during WWII, far more compelling than the current day storyline. The H/H didn't speak in consistent "voices," and I found them a bit wishy-washy.
    • 5/5
      I truly loved reading this book, just buzzed right thru it and I'm happy to think there will likely be another? The only parts I skimmed a bit were the flash backs to the war, no reflection on the writing, I had just finished ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, and the movie MONUMENT MEN, so I was all done with the war for now. Other then that there were recipes I will try and honey is my all time favorite thing to have daily and read about.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed this long family saga which continues where the Apple Orchard left off. Well done "story of the heart," although I kept feeling I'd read some of it before. Too much overlap with the first in the series? Don't know
    • 4/5
      This is the second book in the Bella Vista Chronicles series. You could read this as a stand alone but the book makes more sense if you read the first book in the series THE APPLE ORCHARD before you read this one. THE BEEKEEPER'S BALL is the story of Isabel, one of the two grandaughters of Magnus. Isabel has never been far away from the apple orchard owned by her grandfather and is busy planning her sister's wedding and setting up a cooking school when Cormac arrives to write her grandfather's biography. The novel is about the present day and the grandfather's life in Denmark during WWII. It's a very good book and keeps you interested, especially the parts about WWII. I didn't like the way that the author brought up something right at the end that will lead into another book. I thought that it was handled very abruptly and seemed very fake. Other than that minor problem, I really enjoyed the book and have enjoyed all of Susan's books in the past.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely loved this book. If you read Susan's first in this series The Apple Orchard you will love this one. 5stars