Review and Interview: The All You Can Dream Buffet: A Novel by Barbara O'Neal

Morning everyone. Happy Saturday! I hope you all will be enjoying your weekend. It's been a crazy month of March and I for one glad that it is almost over. I got a special guest on my blog today. I had a chance to interview Barbara O'Neal and am for one excited about her new release and the interview. Read on to see my review of her new book. While you are doing it, I am probably on my way to a memorial service this weekend. So sorry for the slow comments, it really has been quiet a month.

1.Where did the idea of blogger and foodie queen Lavender Wills come from?

She is one of those characters who just walked on the stage of my imagination when I needed her. I had the lavender farm in mind, but not really much else, and there she was striding along with her dogs around the perimeter of the fields.

2. How would you describe Lavender to people that have not yet met her?

She is a woman who has never let anything get in the way of living life exactly as she wants to live it, not when she was a young woman in the 60s and became a “stewardess” and had adventures around the world, or when she uprooted the hazelnut trees at her family’s farm to plant lavender, or even when she was in her 70s and decided to learn to blog. She is a powerful woman because she sees life clearly and doesn’t let things get in her way.

3. Why did you chose to integrate food into your novels?

It was never really a choice—my novels have always revolved around kitchens, food, gardens, cooking, the hearth/heart of a home. I love to cook and garden and feed everyone around me, so it’s a pretty natural extension of my life.

4. I noticed you liked to blog about food and drink on your blog :) would you like to tell us about your worse food experiment?

I have had so many terrible failures! It took me years to understand that failing was part of the process, that you have to flop to figure out what works and what doesn’t and experimenting is the soul of a great cook. Sometimes experiments…don’t work.

Worst failure(s): trying to make Yorkshire pudding at 7000 feet. The chemistry is a pain

Also, the first 12 attempts to make a really delicious, rich, meaty-tasting vegan shepherd’s pie for this book. I wanted something good enough that meat eaters would not complain—or even notice.

5. How about your best food experiment?

Oh, by far the duck tamales with cherry mojo that I made for The Lost Recipe for Happiness. My husband is my slave for life over those tamales!

6. What do you like most about writing the books in your chosen genre?

I love the moments of change in women’s lives, from little girls who suddenly find they can’t do what they want to because they’ve suddenly become “young women,” through the challenges of identity (work, men, study, marriage, friends….what?) in the late teens and twenties, into the problems and challenges of marriage, divorce, families of middle aged women, and into the idea of reconciliation and new adventures that show up for older women. It’s endlessly fascinating and challenging, and really, I love to think about being with a woman reader who needs a break, holding her hand, opening a door to an escape. That’s very satisfying.

7. What do you ultimately hope your readers will take away from your book/s?

That they are not alone, whatever problems they face, and whatever they face, they can get through it. Also, a good meal is going to make you feel well-tended and better able to tackle almost anything.

8. Which one of your books would you say you had the most fun writing?

I had a blast with The All You Can Dream Buffet. I took a road trip with my cousin, and we visited an organic farm and a lavender farm and stayed in the supposedly haunted and really funky McMinville’s Hotel Oregon and ate a ton of great food in great restaurants. It was a great weekend, truly. One of my favorite interviews ever was with Chrissie Manion Zaerpoor, who spend two hours with us and showed us around Kookolan Farm and World Meadery. I just wanted to be her—and although she’s many decades younger than Lavender, I’m pretty sure she’ll be capable, powerful and striding around her farm when she’s 85.

9. If you could visit any country in the world based on their food culture. Where would you go?

Italy always wins. There is such a passion for wine and taking time, fresh food, and sitting forever over a meal. Pure heaven!

10. What do you have next in store for us readers? :)

I’m in the early stages of a book about two women at different stages of their lives who are drawn together over a mysterious little girl. I don’t want to give too much away, but there are peaches and pickles and some legends I love…..

The All You Can Dream Buffet by Barbara O'Neal

Published March 4th 2014 by Bantam

Paperback, 380 pages

Series: Stand-Alone

Genre: Chick-Lit
Heat Rating: Kissing to somewhat Steamy.

Source:  I got a copy of this book from the publicist in exchange of an honest review.
Amazon | The Book Depository |  Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads

Popular blogger and foodie queen Lavender Wills reigns over Lavender Honey Farms, a serene slice of organic heaven nestled in Oregon wine country. Lavender is determined to keep her legacy from falling into the profit-driven hands of uncaring relatives, and she wants an heir to sustain her life’s work after she’s gone. So she invites her three closest online friends—fellow food bloggers, women of varied ages and backgrounds—out to her farm. She hopes to choose one of them to inherit it—but who?

There’s Ginny, the freckle-faced Kansas cake baker whose online writing is about to lead her out of a broken marriage and into a world of sensual delights. And Ruby, young, pregnant, devoted to the organic movement, who’s looking for roots—and the perfect recipe to heal a shattered heart. Finally, Val, smart and sophisticated, a wine enthusiast who needs a fresh start for her teenage daughter after tragedy has rocked their lives. Coming together will change the Foodie Four in ways they could never have imagined, uniting them in love and a common purpose. As they realize that life doesn’t always offer a perfect recipe for happiness, they also discover that the moments worth savoring are flavored with some tears, a few surprises, and generous helping of joy.

Four blogger friends meet popular blogger and foodie queen Lavender Wills when she invites them to her Lavender Honey Farms. Lavender Wills has owned the Lavender Honey Farms for years, it is her legacy that she worked very hard on raising and making it into what it is today. But Lavender knows that she will not be around forever and her farm is in trouble if something happens to her and it falls into the wrong hands. So she invites her three closest friends in order to choose which one of them would inherit her farm.

What I liked about the book

- The writing. Barbara O'Neal really knows how to bring the story and the characters to life. From the very first page that I opened the book I found myself completely engrossed. I also found myself very involved with the story and the characters that made it. It was a very character driven book, and I was glad that I walked away connecting with the characters. It made the book that much more rewarding for me.

- That being said, I really enjoyed the characters in the book. From Lavender to Ruby, to Ginny, to Val. Each one was different in what they bought to the story and the problems that they had to deal with. In a way I think each of their stories felt like something some of us understood in one point or another, rather it is from experience personally or through another friends eyes. I liked the age range that O'Neal has used and that different problems that each one of them had to combat. It shows that it doesn't matter what age you are, life will choose what it will present you with.

- I liked that it was a light read. After reading some heavy stuff, this was a refreshing take. Yes, it had some parts in the book that made me really feel for these women, but the story itself was quiet wonderful and flowed very well. I liked watching Ruby grow as a character through the book. She is the youngest of the group and is pregnant with her ex-boyfriends baby. Ruby has went through a lot as a child, a cancer survivor who was never suppose to be able to have kids. Now her boyfriend of many years dumps her. Yes, she is quiet emotional and dramatic about her breakup at first, but continues to grow and forget about him through the book. Plus now there is a Noah in the picture, and oh my is he swoon worthy.

- Ginny! I loved Ginny. I loved that she was a middle aged woman who has never been out of her small town in Kansas. I loved that she finally took charge to break out of her shell and haul in her car and trailer cross country to make it to the Lavender farms. Ginny's story is quiet heart-breaking as well. With a failing marriage and a husband that makes her kind of miserable, I was surprised she stuck around for as long as she had. Proud for her by the end of the book I was!

- The little recipes and blog posts in between some chapter was a creative touch and I really enjoyed it!

Not so much...

- Ruby's reaction to her boyfriend breaking up with her was a little silly and over the top at times. But I guess I understand. She has been with the jerk for a really long time and then he gets up and leaves her for another woman.

- Ginny's choice to see the fire was kind of an odd moment for me, but at the same time it showed that she can still makes mistakes.

There wasn't much that made me scratch my head. I was sure there was a thing or two more but I guess they were so minor that I really don't remember. None of this was really anything that I disliked, just more of something I guess I did not understand.

Overall, I found this to be a very enjoyable read. It had friendship, a bit of a ghostly visiting, and of course sprinkled with a touch of romance. A joyful and warm read!