When Gabrielle “Bree” Valentine awoke in a hospital bed with a newborn baby, she centered herself and rebuilt. Bree didn’t think about her mental breakdown, lost memories, or the features of a stranger emerging daily in the face of the son she is raising alone. Five years later, on a weekend in the Hamptons, a chance encounter with a man unlike any other jars her—bone deep. Daniel Hawthorne Baird … Baird II, wealthy, dangerous, British aristocrat, gravitates to Bree like caviar on crustinis. In his relentless obsession with Bree, their lives entwine despite Bree’s resistance. With the unconditional support of friends she calls ‘family’, Bree confronts the most difficult questions of her life. Unearthing the painful mysteries behind: who fathered her child, who the real Daniel Baird is, and the irrepressible desire driving her towards a man destined to be the end of them both.
Author Bio:
Nell E. S. Douglas has possessed a deep, abiding love for written words since childhood. The transition from reader, to writer, was a natural one. Her first stories, penned on the lined pages of class notebooks, were inspired by her mother’s poetry and epic tales of travel, and a professorial inquisitiveness inherited from her father. Following college in Florida, Nell exited the world of pure imagination, and entered the one of business, successfully establishing a career in sales, and developing a cup-a-day habit (of coffee) that has served her well in the road she didn’t know lie ahead. Today, Nell writes during the spaces in-between domestic goddessing, and contributing as a managing partner to a thriving small business. Nell resides in Florida, with her husband and their children, passing on the traditions of her mother, and sinking her feet in the sand whenever possible.
Her favorite books are Pride and Prejudice, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Her favorite movies are Gladiator, The Outsiders, Pride and Prejudice, and Bridesmaids.
What is In the Land of Milk and Honey about?
It’s a love story, at it’s heart. But there are mysteries to solve first. It takes off from there—that question—who fathered Bree’s son? True to life, answers aren’t always answers.
What is your writing background?
For all relevant intents and purposes, this book. I’d done minor copy work, previously. And before that, loads of poetry and short stories in my youth.
Why would someone want to read In the Land of Milk and Honey?
The characters. The ‘family’ surrounding Bree, as she struggles to solve her life’s riddle. Who wouldn’t want friends like that? The mysteries (more than one). And then there is Daniel Baird, of course. Just typing his name give me chills! Not all bad ones. Daniel’s character emerges in a visceral way. The son of a British Lord has that effect.
Who will like your book?
I think non-readers will enjoy it. But I think readers of romance, adult and new, will enjoy it, and people who enjoy mystery, intrigue. It’s an escape. If you’ve read both Gillian Flynn and E. L. James, I hope I’m not being forward when I say: swipe right—it’s a match.
Where can In the Land of Milk and Honey be purchased?
Amazon Kindle EBooks. Follow me on Instagram (@nellesdouglas), Twitter (@nellesdouglas), for forthcoming updates on print, Barnes & Noble, Google, and iBooks.
What was your experience writing In the Land of Milk and Honey?
Haha. Well. Like purging myself of Bree’s life story, as though she were a real person whom I had all this empathy for. Crazy. I’ll add this quote:
No one can write decently who is distrustful of the reader’s intelligence or whose attitude is patronizing.
– E. B. White
I’m extremely confident of the people who read our genre—the women who read stories about love. Easy love, sexy love, complex love. I’m one of them. At no turn do I underestimate them. Reversing E. B.’s quote, I hope the conclusion is that I have written it well, for them.
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I have mixed emotions about this book. The blurb was very intriguing, as was the story, and for me, it was kind of addicting. I wanted to know what was going on, what the heck was happening, but there were also parts of the story that was just odd. It is a pretty long book, and it took me awhile to read it, but I did find it enjoyable.
Okay, so… in the first part of the book, it’s getting to know the characters, and there are a lot of side characters and getting to know the main character Bree. Daniel comes into the picture and I don’t know what to think about him and because Bree is missing pieces of her life, the pieces Daniel was in, it’s all very mysterious. Daniel is… he does some things that seem so very un-redeemable. I have a hard time dealing with what he puts Bree and her “family” through. You really don’t get to know Daniel a whole lot in the first part of the book, you get more of him on the outside. What he shows everyone, but that’s it. And honestly, he just seems like a rich, pompous a-hole. Towards the end of the first part of the book, a new character is introduced, and he’s odd. Lol. Actually, his name and Daniel’s dad’s name are both short names starting with the same letter, and I kept getting confused, like wait…totally thinking of the wrong guy and having to go back and re-read.
Anyways, the second part of the book seems odd to me. Almost like the whole thing is some sort of acid trip. Like, a dream or like I said, it was written while high on something lol. You get to know Daniel in this part and more of Hunt, his equally odd friend, and the way they talk is very…I don’t want to keep saying odd, but it is. It’s almost like they speak in riddles, or like they’re from another time period, it’s just not like how most people would talk. It felt like it was written at a different time than the first part of the book, but it also might be just that we never really meet Daniel and see the real him until the second part of the book. Anyways, once you finally see Daniel for who he is, I actually forgave him pretty quickly. Yea, I know right? Sucker! Lol. Even though what he did to Bree was really effed up, I feel like, he did it thinking he was doing the right thing. He had people in his ear telling him things that weren’t true, and it takes him awhile to realize he’s being deceived by the wrong side.
I’ll give it to the author, she had me completely intrigued and though I found bits of it strange, I couldn’t put the book down. Oh, I have to say. I thought Jill was kind of a jerk. While I initially liked her in the beginning, some of the things she said and did really irked me and I disliked her after all the drama that happened. She came off as a spoiled rich, biatch only worried about her social status, and I think Bree deserved better. Okay…rambling. So many things swirling around in my brain after reading this lol, it’s confusing. It was a good read, a little wordy at times, and heavy in certain parts, but kept my interest and was glad I gave it a shot!
#B2BKristina
***Review***
For all *other* reasons, I reconfirm: f*ck this shit.
I’m glad she never finished the ff. She would’ve ruined it.
The hero is unredeemable.
The heroine is a doormat.
Still too many questions.
The book is waaaaaay too long and it needs editing, like A LOT. There are an unbelievable and embarrassing amount of typos and errors. (At some point the heroine was addressed as Mr. Valentine.)
Returned for refund.
Don’t waste your time and money.
***Pre-review***
This story was never completed and here we are, 9 years later, forced to buy a book to know the continuation/ending.
F*ck this shit.