This is a book that once you start reading it you don't want to put it down A wonderful told story about family secrets. You don't want to miss this one!

This book is definitely a twist on the theme of leading a double life, with the mother of Nell and Bridget seemingly leading a separate life they knew nothing about. Their mother is seriously ill in Vermont, when she should have been in her Massachusetts retirement home. As the sisters try to figure out what has happened in their mother's life, they are forced to deal with the results in their own lives..

I have just finished reading this novel which left me thoroughly enthralled; romantic and dramatic from page one the characters are so vivid together with the passionate descriptions of every location, you will be left wishing you are part of their lives. A fabulous story line with just the right amount of suspense. Highly recommended.

Nell receives a phone call and is shocked to learn her mother is in a hospital in Vermont instead of her apartment at Maplewood community. She hops on a plane to see her mothers. She is surprised to discover her mother has a different life in Vermont she and her sister are totally unaware of.
Bridget, Nell's sister, has troubles of her own. A failing marriage and a daughter she gave up but wants so badly to find, news of her mother's illness and mysterious life only adds to her issues.
Now, I loved the premise of this story and kept reading to find out all of Nell's mother's secrets.
But this is not a book I would recommend for one reason, I was indifferent to the characters. Only the plot made me continue reading. This book has such wonderful reviews from other people so I guess it is really a thing of different strokes for different folks.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Very good story of mothers and daughters and things that they don't share. Imagine your surprise to hear your mother was in a hospital far from home in a place you had no idea she'd gone. That's the beginning of this story and it leads us through 3 women's' lives and the secrets they share....or don't.

Gail Cleare does a wonderful job with descriptions and characters, which is one of the reasons I enjoy her writing so much. You'll be pulled into this immediately and feel like you know these women when you're done.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an early copy.

I have to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

This is one of those books you won’t be able to put down unless something beyond your control happens. It starts out interesting and just gets better and better until the final beautiful page. It’s got so much in it but not hard to follow at all. About a family, the Vietnam war in places, children, parents and children. Extended families and beautiful towns. Some tragedies along the way too but it’s so worth reading.

Mary(Ellie) has two daughters who she loves beyond words. She would do anything for them that she can. Thomas, their dad got Alzheimer’s and Mary took care of him until he died. She had met him before they both were sipped overseas during the Vietnam war. Her a nurse, him a pilot. They were engaged to be married. Mary/Ellie becomes friends with an ambulance driver, Jake. They share time together and see some pretty awful things. One thing I liked about this story is it did not go into bad gruesome details of bloody and hurt soldiers or the horrors they faced when they came home. Although it did happen. It’s good to read about some of the pleasant things even though they were most likely few and far between. Jake and Mary were the best of friends and eventually Mary became best friends with Jake’s wife Jennie.

Mary had many secrets that her daughters would uncover in her cottage in Vermont. She had a completely separate life there from the one at home or in the assisted living facility in Massachusetts where she was suppose to be. Nell and Bridget learned a lot about their mother that they never knew. They got to know themselves much better along the way also. They uncovered some secrets that their mother kept from them and learned why. Everyone possible has some secrets they would like to keep but in Mary’s case it helped her daughter to move forward learning who and what their mom was and had done. She was a wonderful lady in my opinion and in theirs too.

This truly is a wonderful story that will touch your heart in so many ways. Make you feel like taking time for yourself is ok and a must sometimes. I throughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. It was so heartwarming, beautiful and touching. I cried, laughed, cringed a bit, while reading this one. It’s a good must read for anyone who loves a story that will unfold chapter by chapter. It is told from Mary/Ellie, Nell and Bridget’s lives. Not in the least hard to follow. It will leave you feeling happy. It did me.

I loved it and gave it a big 5 stars. Well written, great characters and beautiful scenery.

The Taste of Air,  Gail Cleare

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Romance, Women's fiction.

Bah, my usual moan...Women's fiction – why? Why assume men won't want to read this, why cut off a group of customers.

Got that over with and this is a fabulous read. I wasn't sure at first if I'd like it and it does have the potential to get confusing, told from POV of Nell, Bridget and Mary, and told in past and present. Yet somehow it all works and I wasn't left feeling lost, wrapped up in the past and sharply brought up to present. This isn't my preferred way of reading a story yet it worked so well, letting me see events as they unfolded naturally.
I liked that the characters had faults, weren't just sweet and light, lovely and loving but displayed elements of reality, dissatisfaction with life, partners, family. That's all of us at some points, we don't live in a happy vacuum, real life has issues that affect us, problems that need to be sorted and we don't always deal with things the way we should.
I did wonder why Nell's husband wasn't more questioning of what had happened, why Mary was so far from home, why Nell was staying. Mine would have wanted every little detail, David just seems to be “OK, see you sometime”. Maybe its part of why Nell is dissatisfied with her life, though it may look perfect to others, and I liked the way the author brought about changes to them.
I did find a few things a bit hard to believe, would it really be possible to hide that alternate life, and of course the Mary, Ginnie, Jake triangle. Its not a cheating story, per se, but does have some pretty strong deceptions going on and I wasn't convinced that everything would have stayed secret for so long.

Stars: Four, an interesting and absorbing read, but I did feel it stretched credulity a little in parts.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

Just realised that I have already read and reviewed this book. It is a wonderful story that is definitely worth reading. Below is my original review.
A beautifully written book about love, loss and secrets. Nell and Bridget discover so much about their mothers secret life and so much about themselves. The descriptions in this book are so vivid I could almost imagine myself in Hartland.