Barbara Samuel O'Neal is the author of more than thirty award-winning novels, including THE LOST RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS and

The Secret of Everything
The Secret of Everything

A native of Colorado, Barbara loves teaching, travel, reading, writing, yoga, walking, food, cooking, photography and...okay, reality television.

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Book review: MAYBE THIS TIME, by Jennifer Crusie

MAYBE THIS TIME Jennifer Crusie St Martin’s Press ISBN 978-0-312-30378-5

It has been six years since Jennifer Crusie has written a solo novel.  Friends, it was worth the wait.  Maybe This Time, published by St. Martin’s Press on August 30th, is her best book yet.  It’s also another step in her long, interesting career, [...]

The Reward in Going Away

When I was a child, I loved going to  summer camp.  Girl Scout camp in canvas tents with wooden floors, or much more often church camp (probably because it was very inexpensive and my parents had four kids) in cabins housing 20 girls.   It was the highlight of the summer—getting ready, gathering shampoo and [...]

Finished!

As I type this, a summery breeze is blowing through my office window.  I can smell lilacs.   The new book, HOW TO BAKE A PERFECT LIFE is finished at last…written, rewritten, given to agent and editor for thorough reads, then revised some more, and returned.  It is on its way.  I’ve seen a [...]

Magic globe

I visited a pair of book clubs in Woodland Park on Tuesday night, and they gave me a gorgeous lavender plant.  I had it in the sink to water and noticed the reflection.  It looks as if there is another world inside that reflection, doesn’t it?

I have now packed the book off [...]

A beautiful loaf

Jack had to have a bit of surgery this week (he’s fine, he’s fine!) and when I got home from finding out, I didn’t even take off my sweater. I gravitated to the kitchen and started pulling out flour. This is the result, a wheaty loaf, using a small amount of buckwheat in a poolish [...]

Win a free ARC

THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING will be out in 27 26 days! Reader feedback so far has been extraordinary (check out the comments at GoodReads.com), and I’m very excited for everyone to read Tessa’s story. To celebrate, I’ll offering a some little contests and giveaways over the next few weeks. This is the first one. I am giving away FOUR free ARCs of THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING. As soon as I draw names, I’ll run to the post office and mail them out, so you will have it by next Friday. [...]

The Monday After

After the busy holiday, it is a powerful luxury to come back to my office. [...]

Slow cooked, spicy, chunky apple butter

Technically, I suppose, apple butter is smooth.  I originally made this recipe last winter and pureed it afterward. Since, however, my main use for this particular condiment is in my morning oatmeal, I have found I much prefer it to be left chunky.   Recipe is adapted from one I found at The Art [...]

THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING, Barbara O'Neal

PRE-ORDER NOW

Coming your way January 5, 2010:

FROM THE BACK COVER: In this spectacular new novel, Barbara O’Neal delivers a generous helping of the best in life–family, food, and love–in the story of a woman’s search for the one thing worth more than anything.

At thirty-seven, Tessa Harlow is still working her way [...]

My gluttony of choice…reading, reading, reading

Over the past two weeks, I’ve had a slight hip injury (incurred while hiking the top three miles of Pikes Peak without enough warm clothes), and a cold that knocked me flat for a couple of days.  Also a side effect of the big hike, probably, and someone said, “Why do you keep doing [...]