5 stars and a lot of tears!

I read Barbara O’Neal’s The Starfish Sisters and was eager to read more of her work. I was very happy to have the opportunity to read this title. The two books share a common theme of going back home and confronting the demons of your past, and of loving your found family like your blood family. I appreciate that her characters are not ingenues - they’ve lived their life, birthed children, and have the battle scars to show for it.

No Place Like Home just hit me hard. There’s the familiar theme of going home again, the notion of found family. This book was much hotter than The Starfish Sisters, spicy but not graphic. There’s also a theme of forgiveness. Of letting things go, to see if they come back. I loved that Jewel was such a hot momma, but still worried about the size of her butt. Shane - the son she loves so much, and has to accept that it’s almost time for the baby bird to leave the nest. I loved the big Sicilian family. Malachi - 6’6” of bad boy on the outside and scared little boy inside! And, who can forget Michael, whose terminal battle becomes the glue that holds everything together.

This is a book I’ll keep in my heart for a while!

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this digital ARC in return for an honest review..

I love anything she writes, but this one had me crying in the dark after I finished it, remembering Jewel's reunion with her estranged father...and everything else. O'Neal has a gift for description unlike anyone I've ever read. The main character is a 40yo widow returning to her hometown with her teen son and her dear friend who is in his final days. So, so rich. Read anything by this author and you'll be glad you did.

Barbara O'Neal consistently write such strong stories. The characters were real-flaws and all. I loved the story of how love can prevail and family is everything.
Note that this is a rerelease of a book written under the name Barbara Samuel over 20 years ago. I kept thinking it sounded familiar but I enjoyed it just as much all these years later.

No Place Like Home was all over the place. Jewel moves home with her son and her best fried who is sick. She had a falling out with her father and stays away from anywhere he is but it also seems like she wants him to forgive her or at least have a relationship with her son. She was bouncing around so many places and saying so many things that it was hard to keep up. You think this is about family but then a mysterious person shows up and it becomes a love story with a .......... ending?!?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I have been reading Barbara O'Neal,s books for years. She makes the Southwest come alive with her intricately developed characters, her touch of magic, and her gorgeous settings. Always a must read.

I couldn't get into this book. It felt like a cheesy romance with the introduction of Malachi so soon in the storyline. There were PAGES dedicated to Jewel's appearance and the debate of whether or not Malachi was too young for her. What started out with a good family drama quickly turned into a DNF for me. Maybe this author isn't for me.

Jewel at seventeen left her Pueblo, Colorado home and moved to New York, with her boyfriend. Billy who was a musician and his best friend, Michael, Now her son, Shane, is seventeen, Billy has passed away, and she is the caretaker to Michael. She got a phone call that she has inherited her aunt’s Pueblo farm and one hundred acres of land. She decided to move back home, the home she hasn't been back to since she left at seventeen. Her son would meet his relatives and Michael would spend his remaining time with them.
Moving back home, was difficult, but she was welcomed back by a strong community, embraced by the rich Sicilian traditions of her family, and Shane got to meet his relatives for the first time. Now that she has come home, she has to face that her father has never forgiven her. This is her life now, and she faces it the best she can. Her son is sneaking out at night, and her family puts him to work in the restaurant, like all his relatives have done. We see the changes in Jewel and Shane.
When I started the book, I thought home is Pueblo, but as I read the book, home is so much more. Hope you choose to read the book to see what home is.
I received an ARC from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley.

Girl goes home, wants forgiveness of her father and introduce the grandson that he's never met. I found this book to be rather repetative of other books I've seen. I wouldn't recommend it.

No Place Like Home tells the story of Jewel, who left home at age 17 to move in with musician Billy and his best friend, fellow musician Michael, to the chagrin of her large Italian familly. Years later, Billy has died and her Aunt Sylvia dies, leaving her home to Jewel, where she moves from her home in NYC back to Pueblo, Colorado, the home she had left so many years before. With Jewel are her son with Billy, Shane, and Michael, who is dying from AIDS. This is such an amazing story about love, family, redemption - and most importantly forgiveness and hope.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This author sure knows how to tug at those heartstrings. My what an amazing book of love, forgiveness, and family. It’s surely never too late to go home and this book shows that. It’s never too late to get forgiveness and your family is always there for you.so grab your tissue box and hold on to your heart tightly as you read this book.

The love between family, friends and lovers was so strong in this book. The writing was so well done I had some strong emotions with this one! Emotional, heart wrenching and so well thought out.

This book is a good read done in this authors usual style. She is a master at creating books with good familial drama and the complex relationships in most families.
Her books are like old friends and cozy blankets.

I loved this book, it was sad and happy and just such a great read, but then I would expect nothing less of Barbara O'Neal, one of my favourite authors, even though this is a re-issue originally published in 2002!

Jewel is part of a large Italian family, but always wanted to escape her small town, and when she was 17 ran off with a musician, whom she had a child with. Eventually he self-destructed, but she stayed with his gay best friend, Michael, who is also Jewel's best friend. But Michael is very ill and Jewel has been looking after him for a long time and things are very tight money-wise. Then Jewel's aunt in her hometown dies and leave her her house, so Jewel, Michael and Jewel's son, Shane, relocate to the house and leave New York.

Once back in her home town after 20 years away Jewel reconnects with all her family again, and there's a lot of them! She slowly starts to find her feet, setting up a bakery business, and finally manages to find Michael's brother, Malachi, who she's been trying to get hold of for a while to tell him how ill Michael is. Sparks fly when Jewel and Malachi meet, and I can't say I blame her, Malachi is a great character!

I loved all the family dynamics in this story, everyone knowing each other's business, but always there when you needed them. Shane of course didn't want to leave New York, but even he found his place within the family he hadn't really met that often. Michael and Malachi were fabulous characters, and even though Michael was very ill there was a lot of fun throughout the story.

The only character I didn't like was Jewel's annoying father, who hadn't spoken to her since she left at 17, and as far as he was concerned she wasn't his daughter anymore. He was so blatantly rude to her, completely blanking her most of the time, but to the point of calling her a whore at one point. I found him beyond annoying. He did come around eventually, but that didn't make me like him any more.

In the end there was lots of laughter, some drama, lots of family issues and some very sad parts, which you knew were coming, I definitely had leaking eyes towards the end! But ultimately a really lovely book that I would thoroughly recommend.

⭐️⭐️.💫/5. No Place Like Home by Barbara O’Neal. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy. I am not a fan of romance novels. I received this novel expecting a family drama, however it is actually very harlequin-romancesque, and I am just not a fan of that genre. I struggled to finish this book. Jewel left Colorado and her big Italian family over twenty years ago on the back of a musician’s motorcycle. Her father hasn’t spoken to her since. Jewel is back in Colorado as she’s inherited a farmhouse. Her dear friend Michael is dying and Colorado seems like a good place to care for him. Jewel’s teenage son is also with them. Michael’s rugged brother soon shows up, and that’s when the novel goes south for me. So many descriptions of his beefy manliness. Come on. Too much romance; not enough family. This just wasn’t for me!

No Place Like Home follows Jewel, a young woman who defies her traditional Italian Catholic family in Pueblo, leaving for New York at 17 with her rock-star quasi-husband Billy and their friend Michael. After two decades, Jewel feels the pull of her roots and returns home with her son Shane and Michael, seeking reconciliation and redemption. As Jewel navigates familial tensions and personal growth, she finds unexpected love and forgiveness. Barbara O'Neal masterfully crafts a tale of longing, family ties, and second chances, with characters so vivid they leap off the page. From the immersive settings to the richly developed backstories, readers are transported on a journey of love, loss, and forgiveness. Though the book contains sensitive themes, O'Neal handles them with grace and sensitivity. Overall, No Place Like Home is a poignant and unforgettable read, showcasing O'Neal's talent for storytelling and leaving readers eager for more.

"No Place Like Home" is one of those books that provides you with warmth and honesty, and it constantly hits you right in the feels. The novel provides the reader with beautiful writing that offers depth and authenticity in the character development.

The close-knit family dynamic that is centered around Michael is what truly shines in this story. Overall, this novel is such a heartfelt story that provides humor and insight into the human experience. It is a testament to the power of love, family, and the spirit of optimism.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for this ARC.

Barbara O'Neal's book are so moving, you feel every emotion she puts on the page. No Place Like Home was the same.... you could feel the heat of the environment, the rush of the river...and I loved who Jewel was as a person, I read this in 24 hours, was just so absorbed in it.

Overall this was a good book, but just good. I felt like there wasn't a lot of destination - where was it going? What got accomplished.....Very neatly everything tied up in a package.

No Place Like Home by Barbara O'Neal

What I Loved:
The descriptions. On every level. From the characters to the setting. I could visualize everything.
Jewel. I loved Jewel as a main character.

This book moves slowly through Jewel trying to find her place amongst her family she left behind some twenty odd years ago. She's coming back with her tail a little between her legs. She's now a single mom to a teenaged boy and is taking care of her best friend Michael who is slowly succumbing to AIDS. She inherited an orchard and is trying to establish her own business while doing her best to make ends meet. Michael's brother finally shows up and proceeds to be the love interest.

While I loved the descriptions of the town, and the rainstorm was a particularly visceral scene for me, sometimes the descriptions went too hard and also started to feel repetitive.

I loved how uncomfortable Jewel was in her body. I loved the descriptors used for her. I think this inclusion is so important as what women hasn't felt uncomfortable in her skin? Especially when it comes to aging? But there never really was much of a resolution to this thread. I would have loved to see more here.

I also wish there was more of Michael. I'd have loved to get flashbacks of when Michael and Jewel were young and becoming friends. Flashbacks when they were older and running Michael's restaurant. Flashbacks that included Andre. So much of their relationship was built and based in the past and I feel if I got to see those moments as a reader, it'd be so much stronger.

It also felt weird to me that Jewel was still so hung up on Billy when she had quite a few years to deal with the loss. Especially since it was known to the characters that he was spiraling and getting bad with drugs. I've also never dealt with drug-related loss or addiction so maybe I just don't understand, but that would be a brilliant addition to the novel so readers like me could understand.

At the end of the day, this book reads more like a drama than a romance, so why did it have a cheesy romance ending? I'm not saying they can't get together, but it felt so rushed and forced.

Overall, I love the basis of this story but I think there's a lot of room for improvement. It reads very, very slow. At times it was a lot of work to get through. I'd love it if there was flashbacks to when Jewel and Michael were younger, to show the reader their relationship rather than tell it. I also spent most of the book confused on who/what the book was about. Was it about Jewel trying to find her place in her home town? Jewel's relationship to Michael? In the end, I think it was a bit of both, but I think some work needs to be done to better express that. Michael feels so minimal until near the end of the book, and while his death is sad, I think with some changes, and showing his relationship with Jewel grow and strengthen over the years, could make his death devastating to the reader.

While I did enjoy this book, it's not the best I've read from O'Neal, and I probably wouldn't read it again

With her son Shane and dying best friend Michael in tow, Jewel Sabatino returns home after twenty-one years to Pueblo, Colorado when she inherits an old family home. Still estranged from her father, Jewel soon assimilates back into the traditions of her large Italian family as she builds her pie-making clientele, plans for her sister’s wedding and meticulously cares for Michael. When Michael’s brother Malachi arrives for a visit, Jewel is forced to confront her past, present and future.

With a very slow burn first half, the story picked up for an enjoyable and emotional second half. The recipes and religious intonations before each chapter were also a distraction for me. There are lots of themes including family ties, estrangement, dying and grief and of course Ms. O’Neal’s signature romance.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this revised edition in exchange for my honest opinion.

After leaving home a lifetime ago, Jewel finds out she has inherited her aunt's house just when her life is falling apart. So she packs up her teenage son and dying best friend to return home to her estranged family. As she re- acclimates to her family and place of her youth, she finds herself with a new opportunity for love. Another beautifully written and heartfelt novel by Barbara O'Neal.