“In true Susan Mallery fashion, strong female characters, friendship, and family are at the center of THE VINEYARD AT PAINTED MOON. You’re sure to laugh and cry along the journey and delight in the happy ending.”—Robyn Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Virgin River“The Vineyard at Painted Moon feels like a story about courage—about making hard choices so that you can live an authentic … courage—about making hard choices so that you can live an authentic life.”—Katherine Center, New York Times bestselling author of What You Wish For
Step into the vineyard with Susan Mallery’s most irresistible novel yet, as one woman searches for the perfect blend of love, family and wine.
Mackenzie Dienes seems to have it all—a beautiful home, close friends and a successful career as an elite winemaker with the family winery. There’s just one problem—it’s not her family, it’s her husband’s. In fact, everything in her life is tied to him—his mother is the closest thing to a mom that she’s ever had, their home is on the family compound, his sister is her best friend. So when she and her husband admit their marriage is over, her pain goes beyond heartbreak. She’s on the brink of losing everything. Her job, her home, her friends and, worst of all, her family.
Staying is an option. She can continue to work at the winery, be friends with her mother-in-law, hug her nieces and nephews—but as an employee, nothing more. Or she can surrender every piece of her heart in order to build a legacy of her own. If she can dare to let go of the life she thought she wanted, she might discover something even more beautiful waiting for her beneath a painted moon.
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I always look forward to reading any Susan Mallory book. She writes about believable characters and stories that keep you interested from the beginning. This book didn’t disappoint at all. Mackenzie Dienes, a master winemaker, has everything going for her. Until it all falls apart when her husband, Rhys, wants a divorce. She works at her husband’s family vineyard and lives in the compound there. Now she has to decide what she’s going to do, stay on as an employee at Belle Apres, or start her own place and create her own legacy. I really felt the emotional roller coaster Mackenzie was on. Her sisters in law were also her closest friends and her mother in law had been like a mother to her. I really could not like Barbara Barcellona, the head of the family, at all. I kept hoping that might change. But Mackenzie finds her inner strength and pursues her future with Bruno as her business partner. I hated to finish the book. Well done!
It was too unrealistic.
I don’t even know where to begin with this book. It was such a wild ride from start to finish, I didn’t expect any of the twists and turns!! I loved Mackenzie, who is strong and brilliant and loving but shaken to the core when she realizes her marriage is over. She has given her whole self to the vineyard that her husbands family owns but once she is no longer part of that family, she will need to figure out who she is and how to stand on her own. I loved everything about this book, kept me guessing from beginning to end.
This was a great book. I loved the characters and the storyline of starting over again in life after divorce. I liked how the author let you see when you get divorced it’s not just your spouse your relationship changes with but the whole family or friends. I loved the setting in the vineyard. And I loved the ending. I highly recommend this book.
I enjoyed this book, and I would have given it 5 stars, if Susan Mallery had developed the relationship between Bruno and Mackenzie more and cutback on the intricacies of wine making. The epilogue wraps everything up, but I would have liked to see it play out in the book itself. Characters are easy to like and to hate in this book.
Another hit by Susan. I always read whatever Susan writes and once again this book doesn’t disappoint. It has a ton of family drama and pulls you in. I love Mackenzie, she such a likeable person and didnt deserve what happened to her. I’m glad she had a couple close friends. Barbara, on the other hand, was a mean spiteful person. I hated her. Susan definitely made the characters come to life. I absolutely recommend this book for a great read.
I voluntarily offered to review this book with no obligations and my opinions are honest
It was a great book + a great read !
Mackenzie thought that she had it all: a loving husband and a loving family
As time goes by, her husband became more of her friend than her husband.
When their relationship changed, she had to make a hard decision.
Would she have the courage to leave the vineyard that she cared for so long ?
What about her relationship w/ her husband’s family?
Now, it is time for Mackenzie to think of Mackenzie.
The characters + storytelling were very captivating
It has all the ingredients that you need for an awesome book!
I loved this book from reading the first page!! I felt that I cried every couple of chapters during the story. I cried when one of them was sad, happy and frustrated. I guess that shows how vested I was in this story from the start and all the way thru. SM is just the best at writing these great stories!!!
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book.
The Vineyard at Painted Moon is a must read! Susan Mallery does a great job of making all the characters come to life on the page. This story has some unsuspecting twists and turns and I loved reading all of them. A definite must read!
Love love love! I mean, who doesn’t love family drama when it’s not your own! Susan Mallery is my go to when I need an escape. I drink my hot tea with cream & sugar, always a little lap blanket no matter the weather and I dig in. My family has come to realize that when I have a Susan Mallery book in my hands, they will fend for themselves. I have a grown family so they let me be. In all of her books, I still have one issue with her. She doesn’t seem to take too much notice of this issue! The issue is this…I need more and I need it as soon as possible!
I think if Susan would allow it, while she writes her books, I would love to be her person. I would do everything for her daily. I would make her luxurious meals, breakfast lunch & dinner. I would clean her house spotlessly. Do her laundy, dishes, yardwork. You name it I’d do it. Under one little condition. Except for a few bathroom breaks and sleeping for very few hours, she could not leave her writing area until each book was finished. And quickly!
Thank you Susan for continuing to write books that make me happy. You’re able to make me laugh cry and relate to each of your characters. So much fun to read everything you write!
A nice story. Not one of my favorite Susan Mallery books, but a nice story. I felt that the end of the book was rushed. I was really disappointed because after reading the beginning and the middle of the book I would have liked to spend some time with Mackenzie and Bruno while they built their life together. Now having said that, I loved, loved, loved the characters and their stories. Mackenzie was a great strong female lead, but my favorite was Four. Her outlook on life and the world was fun to read about.
This is by far Susan Mallory’s best book ever. The setting is the wine country – lovely – and background information is well developed. I have visited the area multiple times so it was fun to read about wine making in broad strokes- not technical terms. Who wouldn’t love celebrating Wine Harvest? . The descriptions enhance the story. You don’t need to love a glass of wine to love the story!!
What I really enjoyed about the book is the depth of characters. Not everyone has a pure heart. It is not until the very end of this page turner that everyone’s character is fully apparent.
What an absolutely wonderful book that delves much deeper into personalities and storyline than most books of this genre.
Susan Mallery’s new book, The Vineyard at Painted Moon is amazing! It made me feel all the feels. The book is great in print and really awesome narrated by Tanya Eby on Audible! It’s a fun read that’s hard to put down. With all of the ups and downs of family life, running a family business, loss and love. Will Mackenzie listen to her heart or will get logic win? Pick up this fantastic read and see for yourself.
Grand and glorious, filled with angst. What a wonderful story centered around the wine country of Washington state and a family winery. A painful uncoupling of the vintner and the cherished son provide much of the drama along with an evil matriarch. I loved the story, very realistic and touching.
Everyone gets what they deserve and that is perfection.
This authors books are always an experience. In this one we see how Mackenzie goes from having it all to losing it all. We see how she transforms to this strong woman. The reader learns that by taking past experiences and working them to help your future is one of the best skills a person can have. Mackenzie learns how to rely on herself. With some bumps here and there we get to experience how a person can become a better fersion of themselves. Awesome read. 5 stars all the way!
Mallery is a master at creating towns and places that immediately make you want to pack up and move to places like Fools Gold, Happily Inc., Mischief Bay and now to the Bel Apres Winery in WA. I grew up in a family where wine was part of the family work and can not only appreciate the family dynamics of this story, but also the wonderful vineyard and wine descriptions. If you are looking for a story of friendship, family, love and wine, look no further. You won’t be disappointed.
First, let say that I loved this book. Now, on to the rest.
It might be wrong to start out the review like this but bear with me and read to the end.
This book somehow felt different to me from Susan’s other books.
Let me be clear. I, in NO WAY mean that my level of love for this book is different from any of the others. As usual, Susan brings you into the story; though “drags” is a bit more accurate in my case, and I was wearing a smile the entire time.
I would say, along with the humor and characters that I SO wish were my friends, there were a bit more shocking and anxiety inducing moments for me.
I was on the edge of my seat more because of this.
I will always remember this book as a new type of Susan Mallery book and I must say that I am truly looking forward to more like it.
I would highly recommend this book.
Happy reading!
Rating 5 stars
Note: I have voluntarily read and reviewed and ARC copy of this title.
Mackenzie Dienes entire life is wrapped up in her husbands family. Her job is at their family business, her hime is his, her closest freinds are his. Even her dearest family is his mother. And it all falls apart when her husband wants a divorce.
There are all the dynamics of a family. The easy goer, the pleaser, selfish one, the controlling one, the one who never feels as if they belong. I feel like I know them all. Put them in a Vineyard and add the workings of a winery, just makes it all the more interesting. Great writing, engaging characters, good storyline . I only wish the ending didn’t seem so abrupt.
It always amazes me when Susan Mallery makes this middle aged bookkeeper see herself in a winemaker. I’m even tempted to try the wine, and I don’t drink! Definitely a must read for book clubs. I would really love to do the recommended tastings included in the back.
As a whole, women’s fiction is not something I gravitate to, unless it’s written by an author I know will do it justice. Susan Mallery holds the number one stop on that list, and this book helps to showcase why.
Family is always a delicate subject, especially those you are born or marry into, and Mackenzie learns that harsh truth when her marriage ends and the position she’s held in the family vineyard turns out to be just a job, in matriarch Barbara’s eyes. While her character added a bit of fire and someone to dislike, as times she came close to being a characature. That’s one person you wouldn’t mind losing in a divorce!
Mackenzie’s relationship with her sisters-in-law showed that blood is not thicker than water to any of them, and family is who you chose to love. That was the highlight of the book for me by a long shot. There were points where the story dragged a bit for me, but again, I think that’s part of the nature of women’s fiction. But as always, I highly recommend Ms. Mallery’s attention to detail, character development and storyline. This will be a book I loan to quite a few friends and relatives.
When you start The Vineyard at Painted Moon, you meet Mackenzie Dienes, and she thinks she has it all, a husband and creating wine and the vineyard that she loves. But not everything is as it seems, Mackenzie and her husband of 16 years are basically roommates, and after what should have been a passionate reunion after so long, was just a sad goodbye.
So now Mackenzie has decided for the first time in her life, that she is going to be single and finally getting a vineyard of her own, well with a partner. But nothing is ever that simple, with her crazy ex-mother-in-law Barbara trying and failing to destroy her and take away everything she has, only to karma to rear her head. So we follow along with Mackenzie, starting a new life and love at Painted Moon.
The Vineyard at Painted Moon is a beautiful, yet heartbreaking story, that you cannot help but fall in love with and read again and again.