Wow! What a read. Don't pick this up thinking you will zip right through it and be done. Plan on spending time with each character because you may find a trait or two that will fit into your personality.

It explores the rise and fall of the rich, the hard work it takes to overcome a simple beginning to get to the top as well as the very meager life that takes nothing for granted and winds up the most fulfilled of them all.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and all the members of my book club. It is a winner!

Our book club all really enjoyed this book. The highlight of our discussion was the call-in interview with the author, Eileen Goudge. She was charming and so easy to talk to. She welcomed all of our questions, and we had quite a few, and seemed very willing to let us see into the whole process that goes along with writing a novel, from the extensive research, drawing on personal knowledge and relationships and the nonstop writing when the ideas are flowing. Each of us in the club had different questions about the characters, the paths that they went down and the relationships that they formed. It was a delightful evening and after the interview we settled in with some of the wonderful desserts from Eileen's cookbook, which she was kind enough to send me a copy of. While we were enjoying her Kaluha brownies and Orange Glaze cake, we passed the cookbook around and talked about some of her recipes. This is surely a meeting that we will all remember and we look forward to her two new books coming out next year.

It was a predictable book in many ways but did provide for much discussion with the group regarding secrets, revenge and the effects they have on ones life. It was an easy read-great for the beach.

An easy read. Although I enjoyed the book it had too many story lines and too neatly tied up in the end. Yet had some thought-provoking themes which gives a club something to discuss in addition to writing style and character development.