These Tangled Vines: a story of deep, dark secrets

These Tangled Vines by Julianne MacLean is a tale of one woman’s journey to a lush Tuscany vineyard and dives into the depths of her family’s deepest, darkest secrets. One thing Fiona knows is how to keep a secret. She is the only person who knows about her late mother, Lillian’s affair in Tuscany thirty years earlier. A deathbed confession and a plea to keep it a secret, Fiona intends to keep the secret tucked away. One day a lawyer calls with shocking news. Her biological father has died and left her a piece of his estate. She must come to Italy for the reading of the will and sign papers accepting…or refusing the inheritance. When she arrives, his ex-wife and his two children, Connor and Sloane, are shocked to learn of her existence and desperate to contest her share of the estate. While she searches for the truth behind her mother’s affair, Fiona must also navigate her new tricky family relationships and tense sibling rivalries. With both fear and excitement, Fiona embraces a new future as she discovers the truth about that summer, her mother and the father she never knew. 

As usual Ms. MacLean dives into the complexity of human nature, love and relationships with heart and honesty. These Tangled Vines is a beautiful and moving story about the true meaning of family. Told between two alternating timelines, Fiona in 2017 and Lillian in 1986, it is a journey through the romantic and breathtaking landscape of Tuscany as readers are on a roller coaster of emotions. From the opening chapter, I was hooked into Fiona’s story and her journey. She learns that all she created in her mind about her biological dad was very wrong. She also learns that her saintly mother was not so innocent and made decisions that affected everyone’s life. I enjoyed Connor, the “villain” as he is determined to contest the will and Sloane as the conflicted half sister who is caught in her own guilt about her relationship with her father. There were some aspects that seemed “too convenient” and implausible, like who would jump on a plane at a moment’s notice for a man she didn’t know and didn’t care for; however, overall they did not affect my enjoyment. I highly recommend These Tangled Vines. 

These Tangled Vines is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook.