The Beekeeper's Ball

Starred review from June 9, 2014
Wiggs's second in her Bella Vista Chronicles series (The Apple Orchard) juggles a modern love story with a heart-pounding chronicle of the Danish resistance in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen, creating a dazzling intergenerational tale of courage and hope. No-frills, 30-year-old Isabelle Johansen is busy organizing the opening of her cooking school, a new beekeeping business, and the wedding of her half-sister, Tess. She's doing all this from her grandparents' mission-style hacienda and farm in Sonoma, but gets thrown off balance by the handsome, globe-trotting journalist Cormac O'Neill. He's arrived to interview Isabelle's grandfather, Magnus, for a biography about his youth thwarting the Nazi occupation, protecting Jewish families, and his ultimate flight to America. The attraction between Isabelle and Cormac is immediate, but Isabelle's cautious heart won't open until she reconciles with the loss of parents she never knew â and confronts a violent lover who broke her trust and confidence. It will be Magnus's story of bravery, along with that of his late Jewish wife, Eva, and her best friend and resistance fighter Anneliseâwho bears a baby for the childless coupleâthat will help Isabelle finally face her own fears. Isabelle and Cormac's love story plays out sweetly. What makes this moving narrative so memorable is the fearlessness of families and friends who find strength in each other through the horrors of war and loss. The revelation of Isabelle's new family links with her dead mother and her father preview Wiggs's next installment.

July 1, 2014
When writer Cormac "Mac" O'Neill comes to Bella Vista, Isabel Johansen struggles with her distracting attraction to him while she's planning her sister's wedding and preparing to open a destination cooking school. After nearly losing Bella Vista, the family's idyllic hacienda-style home, and discovering a pile of family secrets-including Tess, a half sister she never knew about who wound up saving the estate-Isabel finally has the resources and support to pursue her dream of opening a cooking school. Completely updating her home to house the school and an elegant events venue, she and Tess have decided to launch the space with Tess' wedding. It's a busy summer, made even more complicated by the arrival of Mac, a nomadic writer hired to write their grandfather Magnus' tragic and triumphant story, which includes his work in the Danish resistance during World War II. Mix in a young, pregnant beekeeper and an arrogant celebrity chef with whom Isabel shares a dark past, and the book has many satisfying elements, as well as the enchanting setting of Bella Vista, which "lived and breathed with the essence of life." This novel is best-selling author Wiggs' follows-up to The Apple Orchard (2013), which told Tess' story, and though it's compelling, it never achieves the same level of pitch-perfect authenticity. Isabel remains a domestic goddess, but her reasons for not letting Mac in for most of the book become less understandable the longer she fervently hangs on to them, and her abrupt about-faces in the book's last scenes on so many aspects of her life make us wonder why they weren't so obvious much sooner. A satisfying, engaging read though lacking Wiggs' typical effortlessness and buoyancy.

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July 1, 2014

The second in the "Bella Vista Chronicles" (after The Apple Orchard, 2013) focuses on Isabel Johansen, who was raised by her grandparents after her parents died. After Isabel's one venture into the world ends in violence, she comes home to Archangel, in beautiful Sonoma County, CA. She wants to transform the family home into a destination cooking school, using local foods, including honey from her own hives. Then she mistakes Cormac O'Neill for a beekeeper, and ends up taking the allergic man to the local clinic after he's stung. Isabel doesn't know Mac is there to write her grandfather's biography. It's Magnus Johansen's powerful account of his role in the Danish Resistance that forces Isabel to face her own past. The woman who saw a cooking school as her only dream might finally dare to reach for love. Wiggs successfully combines a contemporary romance and a family saga with a dramatic story of resistance as she alternates Isabel's story with her grandfather's account of his loss of family and fight to save the Jews in his native Denmark. The beauty of Bella Vista stands in sharp contrast to the bleakness of the Danish landscape under the Nazis. VERDICT This novel is highly recommended for those who appreciate women's fiction with a historical backstory.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2014
The unconscionable incident with Calvin Sharp caused Isabel Johansen to leave culinary school and flee to her family's home, Bella Vista, nestled in the Sonoma wine country. Isabel continues to hone her culinary skills while turning Bella Vista into a destination for food lovers. She even adds a cooking school and is eagerly planning Bella Vista's first major event, her sister Tess' wedding. But Isabel's hard-earned happiness is shattered when Calvin, now a famous TV chef, chooses her town as the venue for his new restaurant. Things get even more hectic and complicated when former war correspondent Cormac O'Neill comes to town, ready to write her grandfather's biography, including his role in the Danish Resistance during WWII. As much as Isabel denies it, she's getting more and more attracted to Cormac, something that's definitely not on her to do list. Wiggs' carefully detailed plotlines, one contemporary and one historical, with their candid look at relationships and their long-term effects, are sure to captivate readers. The second of Wiggs' Bella Vista Chronicles, after The Apple Orchard (2013), features a nice bonus: a delightfully unique boy-meets-girl opening. Librarians will want to stay with this entire series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)