The Rural Diaries by Hilarie Burton

Title: The Rural Diaries
Author: Hilarie Burton 
Publisher: HarperOne
Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

 

New York Times Bestseller 

The beloved actress and star of One Tree Hill, White Collar, and Lethal Weapon, Hilarie Burton Morgan, tells the story of leaving Hollywood for a radically different kind of life in upstate New York with her husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan—a celebration of community, family, and the value of hard work in small town America.

While Hilarie Burton Morgan’s hectic lifestyle as an actress in New York and Los Angeles gave her a comfortable life, it did not fulfill her spiritually or emotionally. After the birth of their first son, she and her husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the star of The Walking Dead, decided to make a major change: they bought a working farm in Rhinebeck, New York, and began a new chapter in their lives.

The Rural Diaries chronicles her inspiring story of farm life: chopping wood, making dandelion wine, building chicken coops. Burton looks back at her transition from urban to country living—discovering how to manage a farm while raising her son and making friends with her new neighbors. She mixes charming stories of learning to raise alpacas and buying and revitalizing the town’s beloved candy store, Samuel’s Sweet Shop, with raw observations on the ups and downs of marriage and her struggles with secondary infertility. Burton also includes delicious recipes that can be made with fresh ingredients at home, as well as home renovation and gardening tips.

Burton’s charisma, wide eyed attitude, and fortitude—both internal and physical—propels this moving story of transformation and self-discovery. The Rural Diaries honors the values and lifestyle of small-town America and offers inspiration for anyone longing to embark on their own unconventional journey.

If you’re doing the Read Harder Challenge for 2020 this will qualify for the entry about a rural setting. I used it as my entry for that task.

So, the cover and the name caught my eye and I found the memoir aspect interesting. I didn’t know who she was – I wasn’t watching MTV when she was hosting Total Request Live. But at the mention of an incident of unwanted sexual contact on the set of the show, I recalled seeing her tweet about it. I am aware of her husband’s existence but I never think of him by his name. It’s his character’s name on The Walking Dead that makes me cringe and wonder how people can be awful to one another. 

Hilarie Burton Morgan’s book feels very authentic. It’s not a tell-all and she goes just enough into each story that you get the details of what happened without going so deep that the woman, her family, and her neighbors don’t have any privacy. 

She’s about to move to Paris, France when she meets a man 16 years her senior who she jokes is a midlife crisis. She ends up charmed and a new plan develops which involves a future Christmas tree farm. Stories about rural life, infertility, gender bias, coupledom, and being a good community member is what you’ll find in this book.

It was really very sweet and it’s obvious how much she cares for the animals that she’s been entrusted with to care for.