The Winds of Sonoma

I borrowed this ebook from someone and I loved it so much. The story gripped me from the beginning and the characters were so believable. I fell in love with the older gentleman named Poppy. He was my favorite. I laughed and cried. Such a wonderful story. Im so glad I had the opportunity to read this. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

This book is a page turner! I did not want to put it down. It is a tale of sacrificing your career for what is noble and finding the love that God has hand picked. It is truly heart warming and thought provoking. Angelica was an up and coming attorney. She worked for a prestigious law firm in New York. She realizes that her firm is taking advantage of the less fortunate. As they are about to offer her a promotion she is left with a life altering decision. Should she do what is right or further her career? Soon she meets Antonio who works on her parents ranch in California. Antonio is handsome, hardworking and self sacrificing. He is the oldest child in his family. He left their poverty stricken home in Mexico to provide for his family. When these two lives collide it is a magical story.

I began reading the book The Winds of Sonoma over the Holidays to offer a review. As I began reading the Epic tale of The Winds of Sonoma, I began to fall under its hypnotic spell. Nikki Arana tells a powerful story that is disguised with its easy readability and flowing rivers of words. Words that wash over you carrying with their tide waves of hope inspiration and love. As you follow the struggles of the young woman, Angelica, you are faced with a mirror that confronts you with the reflections and flaws of humanity that we all share. In The Winds of Sonoma, we also find an invitation to remember and become what on the outset of adulthood we envisioned our future to be. To stop and look at where we lost hold of our true selves that got lost in the shuffle of life becoming what we swore in youthful innocents to stand up against. This simple tale in inspiring and compelling in its comparisons of religious participation as opposed to true faith. In reading The Winds of Sonoma you find a cause to stop and examine your faith, your way of life and everything about you as you begin to understand how wonderful your life is and how much better you can make your life and the life of those around you. The tale speaks of love between and man and a woman in a way that takes you back to sweeter times. It lulls you with the way true relationships play out instead of following the overplayed version that is sold to us under the billing of reality. Supported by a stellar group of impeccably developed characters in the background, The Winds of Sonoma adds in simple layers the complex web which once woven by the master hands of Nikki Arana become complex and convicting to anyone who believes in love and God. I have seldom had a book that I have had to defend from other readers, but this book has such a sweet way of pulling you in with just a glance that I have a list of people lined up to read it. This is a book to share with your mother, your sister and your very best friends. I highly recommend The Winds of Sonoma written by Nikki Arana. The Winds of Sonoma has been a source of inspiration to me and a gift that I will be giving to my daughter, my mother, mother in law, my best friend and especially my daughter this Valentines Day. Including a box of Chocolates with this tale of true love on many levels and you will have given a gift that transcends the paper on which it is delivered. Nikki Arana, Bravo!

This was an excellent novel. Good story line with good characters. Kept my attention the entire book. I look forward to more works by this author. nH

A book that show you trust God and go with you heart to find happiness in life. Simple and good reading.

The writing style of this book was very appealing. It also had some positive Christian influences and ideas in it. Unfortunately, it also had some very negative ones: 1. The romance seemed to be largely physically based. It was initially all about how he/she made him/her FEEEL. There were some other factors that were more positive, but this raw, emotional, practically teenager-type drive, makes this belong more in a high school romance. It would have been a much more Christian message, in my opinion, if the author didnt keep describing (the way she felt when she was around him) so much. Too many butterflies in the tummy, obscuring some otherwise positive factors. 2. Similar to above, there was way too much of a (human)love conquers all aspect of this. it would be interesting if it worked out this way in real life for the author, but this is the exception, not the rule. A good Christian book should focus more on setting positive and practical examples. In contrast, this book mostly sets bad examples in that area. So I cannot give it more than 3 stars.

When attorney Angelica refuses to accept the assignment of her big New York City firm, she is fired. Not only fired, but blackballed in the entire area. Dejected and yet feeling so right about her decision, she moves back to her California home. Her wealthy parents are mortified that she would trade such an important job for the simplistic and ridiculous job of public defender for illegals and the poor. Antonio, an illiterate Mexican young man, comes to work at their horse ranch just as she arrives home, and she decides to make a difference in his life. This opening book lays the foundation for a very possible, though highly unlikely love story of the decade. Readers will hate the crooked ranch foreman, love Poppy, and wonder just what makes the Amantes tick. There is so much intrigue, so much feeling, so much love and hate in this story, I am recommending this series of 3 to all my Christian fiction reader friends.

Awesome book from beginning to end. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. Hope you enjoy this book!

The book was a slow read for me. To be honest if I knew that I might not have downloaded this book. The main characters are from two different worlds. Her family is mostly Poppy the man that pretty much raised her as her parents where not there for her. I actully wanted to slap her parents for the stupid things they said to her especially her mother. Maybe it was because they were from money that made them so irritating. For him, he is a Mexican who is poor that needs to help his family to keep them fed and housed. You keep trying to figure out how everything is going to end until the very end. I was disappointed in the ending but overall it was a decent book. If you are not spirtual in anyway then I would not suggest this book to you. The book is spirtual and uplifing.

This is a beautifully written love story based on the real life romance of the author. Angelica Amante discovers happiness and peace by being faithful to God. Raised in the Sonoma Mountains of Northern California, Angelica was the only daughter of a successful surgeon. When her parents were away from home, she was cared for by her beloved Poppy. From his care, Angelica grew-up to know God. After graduating valedictorian of her Law School, Angelica easily landed a coveted position in a prestigious New York Law Firm. She was well on her way to being one of the youngest junior partners in the law firms history, when one of her court cases collides with her moral judgment. Suddenly, her life is turned upside down. She is fired and has no hope of finding another position in New York, so she moves back home to regroup. The choices she makes in her career and later in love are neither easy nor popular. Her employer, friends and parents are all against her decisions, but in her heart she knows she is making the right moral decisions. Through the prayers of Poppy, Angelica finds the path God is leading her to. She finds improbable love from Antonio, the hardworking and handsome illegal immigrant who is working on her familys ranch. This book was captivating from the first few pages; I actually stopped reading another book to finish this one. (Look for the symbolism in the wind blowing to see when God is working on the characters lives.) I cant wait to read the next book in the Regalo Grande series coming Spring 2006 In the Shade of Jacaranda!!!