“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 loved reading this book. It was hard to put down. Right from the start, the story draws you in making you feel what the characters are feeling. Plus, it has a great ending.
Great book.
Mackenzie is working at a vineyard that is owned by her husbands family. When she and her husband decide to end their marriage her whole life changes.
Mackenzie always wanted her own vineyard and winery so she can make what she wanted in wines.
She is going to hopefully buy a vineyard with a partner if things go okay.
There are other things that are going on in her life that she also has to deal with.
Veteran author Susan Mallery, the queen of romance, delivers an enticing new novel titled The Vineyard at Painted Moon. Mallery is a master at writing wonderful women’s fiction with a side of romance. There are plenty of characters to get to know, adding a touch of drama mixed in with a complicated family dynamic. Being centered within the winemaking industry, you don’t have to be a wine lover to enjoy this book and cherish the happily ever after. I just loved Mackenzie’s journey and celebrate Susan for yet again sharing her talent of story-telling with us.
I am a big fan of all Ms. Mallery’s books but I was SO surprised at how deeply I was affected, and loved, this story. I couldn’t put it down, once I started it, and I still carry the “feels” with me, even a week later. I can’t do the story justice so you will have to read it for yourself but let me tell you what I loved about it.
Mackenzie Dienes – she is an amazing character. She feels so deeply and yet, she seems adrift somehow. When she is focused on her work as a winemaker, she is comfortable in her skin. Take her out of the vineyard, and she experiences all the angst of feeling out of place. Her husband, Rhys Barcellona, and his family, own the winery where they all live and work. It’s more of a community, rather than just a place to work, and the family – Rhys’s family – all live and work there. Most of Rhys’s family is wonderful however…reading about her mother-in-law gave me hives. But it’s all part of the story…
I don’t presume to know anything about the lifestyle that owning a winery accords you but it seemed to be very tightly knit. That can be a blessing or a curse. And in this book, I think it was both.
Mackenzie is so very real. She is a mite bit lost about her place in the world but so very strong in her convictions. I loved everything about her. Loved Stephanie and “Four”, and of course the kids, but I’ll let you decide on the MIL and Rhys characters for yourself. Giorgio was a bit clueless for my taste but he redeems himself (in my head anyway) as the book goes on. ALL the characters just grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. There was MUCH talking back to the book in my house!
I experienced laughs, and tears, but what has stayed with me is the depth of these people. I feel like Mackenzie, especially, is someone I have known and I am SO very happy for her story. Still makes me heart-smile, even today. Loved this book.
One of my favorite Susan Mallery books and I’ve read a lot of them. The story is fresh and funny and tragic….you know, real life! The characters are all so flawed (each in their own way) but that only makes them seem relatable. Each of the main characters has to face a major course correction in their lives and the story makes you feel the struggle each character is going through in order to get where they’re trying to go. But you also feel the excitement and the anticipation each one feels as well. Bruno, my new book boyfriend, was such a surprise…when I realized who he was I almost squealed. I’m definitely Team Bruno! Beware of Barbara though…she is one scary woman. Move this one to the top of your list. You’ll be glad you did.
In The Vineyard at Painted Moon, Ms Mallery introduces us to three women all at a cross roads in life, even if they don’t know it at the time. Mackenzie, Stephanie, and Barbara all seem semi content when we first meet them, but change is inevitable. The questions they face is “are the changes for the better?”
On the surface, Mackenzie’s change appears to be the biggest. As the status of her marriage changes, she has to deal with the implications of being the one who married into the family business and with the fact that not everyone/thing is how it appeared for so many years. I found myself relating to Mackenzie and rooting for her. I was impressed by the insight she had into her own emotions and how she was open to acknowledging hurt feelings even as she had no regrets about the changes taking place.
Stephanie was a harder character to like at first. While she was an adult and mother, she lacked a certain emotional maturity early on. Her evolution was a bit hard to watch, mainly because it was the type of experience that would be hard to go through and Ms Mallery did an excellent job of conveying those feelings.
Now Barbara….. There was almost no question regarding her role in things from the beginning and she stayed true to form from the start. Her character is a great example of the saying “you get what you give.”
Ms Mallery pulls the reader into the experience of these three women and the family/friends that surround them. I appreciated the messages of strength and love that are woven through the story. There are also great messages about how sometimes we undervalue ourselves because we are comfortable in a situation or take the path of least resistence. But, my biggest take away was that our actions speak louder than words and when you show people who you are, they will beleive you.
This was another heartfelt read from Ms. Mallery. As always, I am curious to see what she comes up with next!
***SLIGHT SPOILERS MENTIONED***
Another great story by this author! I love that Ms Mallery’s words are so easy to glide through and her stories always keep you wanting more. This one was no different!!
Mackenzie had an almost perfect life. It was just that she was living with her (what she thought) was good friend rather than a lover. I was a little shocked with the changes that took place with Rhys after the word divorce was mentioned. I really thought the outcome would be a lot different and happier for their relationship turned friendship. There was still a HEA, just not the complete one I expected.
Also, how strangely happy I was when a character from another series “crossed over” into this story.
As always, the author ends on a note that makes me want more. Will we get another story with Stephanie? Even if it’s just a novella, I would love to see these characters again!
Susan Mallery promises a happy ending and this book delivers that. More importantly though, it delivers a satisfying ending, particularly for a character so vile that I couldn’t help but flinch at how she treated others, much less her own family. I really enjoyed Mackenzie’s story of starting over and getting a chance at the life she really deserved.
I enjoyed reading The Vineyard at Painted Moon by Susan Mallery. It’s a page turner for sure, and if you’re a Susan Mallery fan you will remember Bruno from the Blackberry Island series. I was hoping to see Bruno in his own book. You will meet MacKenzie, a wine maker, as her story of heartache and betrayal evolve into love and happiness as her life intertwines with Bruno. A must read for Mallery fans!
This book made me think about life lessons we learn along the way Mackenzie loves her job with her husbands family winery. When he marriage falls apart and she discovers her MIL views her as jus an employee. How does she move forward. This vineyard is part of her dream too. This is more women’s fiction, although there is romance on the side. The focus is more on family and friendship. And finding your dream life
Once again, Mallery writes a story that is deceptively simple but deeply profound.
* Possible Spoilers*I was leery about picking this up. Somehow, the author keeps writing about things that I am going through or about to go through and it makes me not want to read about it. But I am so glad I did! I read this in 1 day and barely got up to feed my kids. There many likable characters ( it was nice to see Bruno again) and a lot of unlikable characters. The mother in law was certifiably crazy and I felt bad for her boyfriend, who seemed like such a good person. Lori, one of her daughters, was too easily influenced by her mom and became a horrible person. The ex, who started okay, if confusing became such a douche.
I liked the friendships and how they helped each other and had real conversations. But while the blurb lists all of these things Mackenzie is losing in her divorce, the only real thing she lost was her ‘family’, but she actually ended up with the best parts without the drama. She was getting 2 million in the divorce and had steady income from her cuts of the wines still sold by Barbara. So while I could feel and relate to all of the trauma she was experiencing, she still had a great support system and made a new one and had money to do what she wanted. That’s not something a lot of people have, so it made me not like her as much because she was acting like it was the end of the world at parts instead of realizing how lucky she was. I was also confused at how her marriage became sexless; she says they just drifted apart, then he wanted it but she didn’t, they didn’t make each other a priority, she wasn’t happy with how he performed. I even thought he was gay for part of the book. But none of the reasons really made sense. I also got the feeling at the end that Barbara kind of forced him to go after Mackenzie so she could get a hold of her talent before everyone else found out about her. Sick.
But at the end of the day, once again, Susan Mallery has created a group of friends that I wish I had and I really wish I had a Bruno in my life.
Susan Mallery hits another one out of the park. It was nice to be among the grapes and the drama at the vineyards in Washington state. The only surprise was the weakness of some of the characters, especially Rhys, Mackenzie’s husband. Whereas she found a home among his family, was the winemaker for the family business, the daughter of the heart of her mother-in-law who turned out to be very caustic, and was best friends with his sister Stephanie and very close with his very artistic and talented sister Four, she was in fact only an employee. When her life turns upside down she manages to pull herself up and reinvent her life and I was happy to see her strength, resilience and inner fortitude. But she in fact, couldn’t have done it alone, or could she?
There are a lot of emotions running through the story and Rhys surprised me quite often with his actions, words and selfishness while at first portraying a different vibe. Her mother-in-law Barbara was an emotional wreck and I didn’t like her feelings for her own children and their spouses or even Giorgio whom she professed to love. I liked Bruno and knew from the moment he popped up at the Summer Solstice Party that he’d play an important role. I just didn’t know how important at the time. Stephanie and Four were almost always there for Mackenzie and I loved their relationship as well as those with their immediate families. There were beautiful descrtiptions throughout and some closure and a happily ever after to boot. There were a few loose ends and I’d love to return to Painted Moon to see what goes on in their lives next. The epilogue which takes place three years later was a nice addition but I wished it went a little further. I love the cover and the wine pairings and recipes at the back of the book were a nice addition. I thought the discussion questions were thought provoking and agree you shouldn’t read them until you finish the book.
Ms.. Mallery is one of my favorite authors and I look forward to reading what she pens next.
I rated the book 4.5 stars but rounded to 5 stars here and on other sites.
Another wonderful book from a favorite author. What happens when the very foundation of your life is gone? Your husband turns out to be the opposite of who you believed he was, his family is the only one you’ve known for most of your life and the woman who you thought of as a mother turns on you like a rabid dog? You somehow figure out how to move forward with grace only to come out on the other side being better for the experience for it led you to where you are. It was a wonderful journey and terrific listen.
Susan Mallery’s writing style is a masterpiece of understatement, with characters that are richly drawn and as multi-layered and complex as a glass of good wine. There are no heros or villains in this story, just very human characters with their own unique flaws and idiosyncrasies, trying their best to deal with challenging circumstances. The author uses multiple points of view in the narrative to allow the reader to really get inside the head of the three female main characters. This allows the reader to examine their motivations and understand how their history has shaped their responses to situations and events. This book is, at its heart, all about family – both the family we are born with and the family we create for ourselves. There is also an underlying theme of redemption and the need to be true to ourselves and take risks, no matter how hard that is or what form it may take. Barbara’s path, in particular, is a reminder that life is a sum of the choices we make.
This one was right up my alley! I poured a glass of wine or two and snuggled in and read. Mackenzie has no family except her best friend from college and when she joins her at her home falls in love with the vineyard and eventually her brother. There, they make their home and she is the star wine maker at the vineyard until her husband decides he no longer wants to be married and asks for a divorce. She is left with the difficult decision of starting over somewhere else when she discovers she really is not part of the family business but just an employee (I really developed a deep dislike for her mother-in-law). This really was her best option and she eventually flourished. Even Stephanie comes around and finds her way. This one was full of contemplation and so many feels and just left me with a smile after shedding a couple tears along the way. Kudos to the author for another spectacular read!
While I love them all, this story jumps to the top of the list. The depth of characters, the beautiful descriptions of the vineyards and countryside all blend to make this a wonderful tale of passion for family, friends, and the best job ever. Plus, I do not think I have ever hated a character as much as I did in this story, and this characters flaws and negativity was so perfect in this story
Susan Mallery’s characters are so realistic and with such emotional depth that is hard not to love this book. The pace kept me interested making it hard to put down. Another excellent book from one of my favorite authors.
This is the best book that I have ever read by Susan Mallery, I highly recommend it. It is full of family drama, friendships and starting over. With a wonderful cast of characters.
This is the only family that Mackenzie has ever know, now with a failed marriage she needs to get control of her life and start all over. Mackenzie is a winemaker at the family winery and knows she can no longer work under her soon to be ex mother in law, the matriarch Barbara. An opportunity arises to have partial ownership of vineyard at Painted Moon. She will soon flourish.
Barbara the matriarch of family winery is just evil! It is her way only and nothing else. She is evil to her daughters, her son and even to finance. An old saying , “what goes around comes around”. She deserves it all.
Loved all of the information of the wine making, I learned so much. So now I recommend to pick up a glass of wine, Cheers to Susan Mallery for a wonderful well written book.
Susan Mallery’s women’s fiction comes straight from the heart and speaks to the reader’s heart. A wonderful book about family, friendship, love, and new beginnings. There are crying moments and laugh out loud moments. I loved this book and I believe you will too.
I recieved an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review