I've read several books by Barbara O'Neal and loved them all, so I was very excited to read this updated version of No Place Like Home with writers edits. The story is beautiful and I could connect with Jewel and her relationships with her family, Michael, and Malachi. The underlying story of Jewels relationship with her father was an added layer that I wish we could have gotten more of.

It started off a bit slow for me and I almost put it down twice. I stuck with it the second half was wonderful. Honestly, not one of my favorite books from Barbara O'Neal, but a good read. This is why I'm giving it 3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Loved this book.

Beautiful setting. Beautiful family. Beautiful story about life, in all its joy and suffering.

Makes you want to eat and drink and get cozy and notice the little things and hug the ones you love and forgive and just stop wasting time.

It wasn’t a five star because some of the relationships were just too unbelievable for me. That and I could have done without romance scenes.

But. Overall this was a really good spring/summer read that I could have read in one sitting if I didn’t have to work.

No Place Like Home is a re-release of a 2014 novel by Barbara O'Neal.

This is a story of the family we are born into and the family we make for ourselves. The main character Jewell is from a large family in Colorado. Jewell left home as a teenager and returns to her traditional Italian family with her son and best friend.

The family relationships are well written as is the platonic love story between Jewell and her best friend Michael.

This would be a great read for any book club with its themes of rebuilding your life after love and loss, surviving family expectations and forgiveness.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

First, if you do not like reading about sexual tension between two consenting adults, this is not a book for you. Having said that, I loved this book. Jewel ran away from home with a musician when she was 17 . Her father did not approve and disowned her. Now she has a 17 year old son, the musician, Billy, who she never married is dead, her best friend Michael, who she is caring for, has AIDS, and her apartment was sold. Therefore, since her aunt has died and left her house to Jewel, the obvious thing is to go back home. And when Michael's brother comes back to be with him, Jewel finds a second chance at love. This is a story of forgiveness, the importance of family and friends and coming home. And yes, you might occasionally shed a tear. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc, and for no pressure for a positive review.

Review of No Place Like Home by Barbara O'Neal

No Place Like Home by Barbara O'Neal is a book that generally dwells on the family. The narration involves a main character, Jewel, who is surrounded by several similarly significant characters, namely Michael, who is her best friend; Michael's brother Malachi; Jewel's son Shane; not to mention Jewel's family, her parents, sisters, and even her grandmother. In her teenage years, Jewel was what one would call a wild teenager who made an impulsive decision to run off to New York with her lover, an upcoming musician who unfortunately did not become a successful artist and ended up miserable, a misery in which he likewise swept Jewel along with him. Things turned around when a relative left her inheritance to Jewel, who now had no choice but to go back to her roots with her son. She decided to take his friend Michael along with her since he was now sickly, and later Malachi was to join them. When she went back to her family, for obvious reasons, she didn't seem to fit in, and life became quite awkward for her. Find out in this captivating book how things will end after many years of being away from home, having run off to get a taste of the big world.

What I like about the book is how it has brought out strong family ties that don't seem to break, no matter the circumstances. Moreover, I like how the author has taken the good, the bad, and the ugly and put them together and has made something good out of everything; life is all about this, not just the good but also the bad and the ugly. I additionally like how profound the book is—the way the author narrates the story deeply so that it takes the reader to another world—and how it manages to capture the reader's imagination so that it is simply difficult to put the book down.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

I recommend the book No Place Like Home by Barbara O'Neal to those with a past that needs redeeming—those whose past has become their worst nightmare, particularly where family ties are concerned. I likewise recommend it to those readers who love fascinating romantic books from seasoned authors.

I had a tough time getting into this book at first, I think primarily just because the writing style was different than the last book I read, but I ended up falling in love with Jewel and Michael and Malachi, and all of Jewel’’s family. The friendship between Jewel and Michael was so beautiful, I shed some tears several times!! Wonderful book!

What a beautiful story! Absolutely loved so much about this book: the writing, the characters, the setting, etc… As far as I understand, this book was written in 2002 and one can tell when compared to the writing of today. The author let the story unravel beautifully while acknowledging tough topics: AIDS, sexuality, and family, instead of much of the writing today where there is a bit of virtue signaling or feeling the topics are forced.

Jewel (main character) is at the stage in life where you question who you are and how you want to live the next phase of your life. How the way you have been living your life may have been from old thoughts or patterns and as one experiences the nuances of life, wanting to shift into a different or more authentic part of self because of the experiences lived.

Overall, beautiful story and this would be a great option for a book club.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Jewel inherits a farm and returns home after twenty years, her son, Shane, can meet his extended family. This is a a story of family, good read.

The plot is both layered and complex and flows. The telling of the dynamics of a large family made me wish I had grown up in a family filled with siblings. I always wanted sisters, and so I lived vicariously through Jewel reading No Place Like Home. The family is populated with many characters, but each one has a distinctive personality and so it is easy to remember each one. The depictions of friendship are beautifully drawn. I love the idea of how dreams are realized and how they sometimes fall apart. In a large family there is always someone to step in and help. As the lead character, Jewell is perfect as a woman who has much but who deserves even more.

This is a tale of families - both blood and those we form on our own. A father who is upset of his daughter’s bad behavior (in his eyes), a dying friend, and a heir to an old house, Jewel has a lot to contend to in this book. But yet I was captured by engrossing depth of character development that the author does for the many characters that you can clearly know and there a lot - they are a big Italian family, you know!

Also I have to say, during one part of the story a song gets put on - Long as I can see the light by CCR - make sure you put it on while reading the next few pages. It really brought this story to life and I felt like it was a movie being played out.

I have read many of her books and will continue to read them - all so wonderfully written!

★★★★ ½

Oh my gosh! I know this book is 20 years old, but it still reads so fresh! I absolutely LOVED Jewel, I was rooting for her the entire time. The relationship she has with Michael is a friendship everyone dreams of. I’m soo grateful she made up with her father. I haven’t cried during a book in a long time, make sure you have tissues ready!

This is a heart-felt story of a prodigal daughter returning home. Jewel left at age seventeen on the back of a motorcycle and never looked back…until she learns that she has inherited her aunt’s home and farm back in Pueblo, Colorado. Since she has been disenfranchised from her family and the family business (an Italian restaurant), her return is embraced by her mother and sisters, while her father continues to reject and ignore her presence.

The novel is an exploration into the many faces of love. Shane, Jewel’s teenage son, is meeting his extended family for the first time and testing the limits of his boundaries with predictable results. Michael is a long-time best friend who is in the final stages of AIDS, having lost his life partner to the disease a few years before. Jewel’s devotion to him is touching and the sources much of the emotional tone of the storyline. It had me in tears by the end of the book. Scattered among the family descriptions are solid, caring relationships and marriages. Jewel, herself, entertains the possibility of a mature loving relationship after years of being involved with a troubled musician who fathered her only child. Lastly, father and daughter are reunited with a feel-good ending.

I understand that this novel was previously released and is being reissued with editorial revisions. This is my first exposure to the book, and I enjoyed it. I felt connected with the protagonist and her relationship challenges. I have always enjoyed this author’s work and look forward to future offerings.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

It is always a thrill to review a book by Barbara O’Neal. I was excited to read “No Place Like Home,” which is a re-issue of a novel originally published back in 2014.

Jewel left home at a very young age, heading to New York where she falls in love and has a child. More than two decades later, she inherits property back in Pueblo and returns to determine whether she can go home again.

I remember reading this book and enjoying it, but after reading O’Neal’s more recent books, I found that this plot line dragged just a bit. At the same time, O’Neal is quite skilled at creating well developed female characters and their complicated relationships. While this isn’t as strong a novel as “When We Believed in Mermaids,” it is still an enjoyable story.

Three out of five stars.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is my second book by Barbara O'Neal, after When We Believed in Mermaids, and I officially love her. The characters in this book felt very real to me and I connected well with the main character. I loved reading of the tension she lived in, between how others viewed her and how she actually felt. This was relatable and was written well.

This book has a strong theme of relationships. The main character is a mother, a daughter, a friend, a lover, and a sister. All of these aspects of her relationships were discussed and explored through the story. How they were done so seamlessly, I am unsure but impressed. The romance in the book is perfect. They compliment each other but at the same time can't be all that the other needs is heartbreaking yet beautiful. The way family, that is deeply rooted in tradition, is portrayed in this book is so realistic. There is tension and betrayal, but also love and support.

I cried at the end of this book, like actual pouring-down-my-cheek tears. I am worried I will forget this book eventually but I am glad I read it.

I love Barbara O’Neal's books and this one is no exception to read and I know it won’t be my last. I loved the story, the characters and i felt everything the characters felt.im not into romance but it wasnt that bad for me.such a great book

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for my advanced copy. my thoughts and opinions are my own.

Loved this story. The characters were o believable and seemed so real. The storyline was heartbreaking but also made you love the story even more.

This was an excellent novel that touched my heart in all the right places. The writing is strong, sensual, sexy and just the right bit romantic. You can read the plot summary in the description so I will say that, for me, it’s a story of family, forgiveness, and love. I love the main character’s earthiness and how she was in touch with her own body and emotions. Also standouts to me, besides her relationship with Michael, were Jewel’s three sisters.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

O'Neals descriptive writing and depictions of family and conflict are so strong. The setting was also unique and well done. (I definitely was envious of the relationship Jewel had with her sisters and was drawn in by the conflict with her father.)

I was thrown off my Malachi's instant familiarity to Jewel. For never having met before, their instant comfort was not really my style. I would have liked a little more early development of their story. Even more perplexing for me was how slow the first half of this book started for me despite Malachi's and Jewel's insta-familiarity (not to be confused with insta-love). Also understood the need for a description of Jewel's comfort and thoughts on her own skin (literally), but I thought the descriptions could have been cut in half. The picture was clear from early on.

Overall, a solid read, and the plot and pacing did pick up halfway through. I am probably not the target audience for this one.

No Place Like Home is a re-release of a 2014 novel by Barbara O'Neal. According to the opening notes, this 2024 release includes editorial corrections and changes. I did read the earlier printing of No Place Like Home, and although I recall the basic story, I had forgotten many of the smaller details. All of which means I cannot detect the changes present in this 2024 release. I loved No Place Like Home when I first read it, and I love it again in this second reading. I have to confess, I love all of O'Neal's novels, and I have read most of them.

What is good? The plot is layered and complex and flows naturally. The depiction of the dynamics of a large family made me wish I had grown up in a family filled with siblings. I always wanted sisters, and so I lived vicariously in reading No Place Like Home. The family is populated with many characters, but each one has a distinctive personality and so it is easy to remember each one. The depictions of friendship are beautifully drawn. I love the idea of how dreams are realized and how they sometimes fall apart. In a large family there is always someone to step in and help. As the lead character, Jewell is perfect as a woman who has much but who deserves even more.

The ending of No Place Like Home is lovely and satisfying. Just like real life can so often be, when events finally come together in just the right way. Thank you to O'Neal, her publisher, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for providing this ARC to red and review. I loved No Place Like Home and think all readers will also love it.

This was such a lovely story of coming home and of the family we make for ourselves. When her friend Michael is dying of Aids, Jewell takes him home, along with her teenage son, to her family home in Colorado to care for him in his final days. Her family supports her as well as Michael's brother Malachi. Will love blossom in the face of loss? Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.