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Birds of a Feather
An abandoned mansion. A mysterious death. And one woman's quest to discover the truth about her ex-husband.
This is Rose's story.
Rose came to Nantucket thirty-one years ago to work as a nanny for the wealthy Walden Family. Rose had no money and no prospects. But she dreamt of a life beyond her Mississippi hometown -- and she got more than she bargained for.
That first night, the Grayson Estate neighboring the Walden's catches fire -- and the lady of the house dies.
Devastated, Oren Grayson moves into the Waldens for the summer and strikes up an immediate friendship with Rose.
But Rose can't ignore the whispers about Oren around Nantucket. Did he kill his wife?
Thirty-one years after Natalie Grayson's mysterious death, Rose purchases the Grayson Estate with the idea to transform it into a hotel.
But immediately upon entering the old place, she's launched into a series of painful memories.
Rose begins to question what really happened all those years ago. Did Oren really kill his wife? And if so, how did he get away with it?
Birds of a Feather is book five of the Salt Sisters series, a heart-wrenching yet hopeful family drama that unfolds on the glittering shores of Nantucket Island.
This is Rose's story.
Rose came to Nantucket thirty-one years ago to work as a nanny for the wealthy Walden Family. Rose had no money and no prospects. But she dreamt of a life beyond her Mississippi hometown -- and she got more than she bargained for.
That first night, the Grayson Estate neighboring the Walden's catches fire -- and the lady of the house dies.
Devastated, Oren Grayson moves into the Waldens for the summer and strikes up an immediate friendship with Rose.
But Rose can't ignore the whispers about Oren around Nantucket. Did he kill his wife?
Thirty-one years after Natalie Grayson's mysterious death, Rose purchases the Grayson Estate with the idea to transform it into a hotel.
But immediately upon entering the old place, she's launched into a series of painful memories.
Rose begins to question what really happened all those years ago. Did Oren really kill his wife? And if so, how did he get away with it?
Birds of a Feather is book five of the Salt Sisters series, a heart-wrenching yet hopeful family drama that unfolds on the glittering shores of Nantucket Island.
216 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2024
462 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Katie Winters
124 books407 followersKatie writes women's fiction and clean, wholesome contemporary romance. She looks to everyday, real-life family issues to weave stories of heartfelt emotions, love and loss, and everything in between.
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Come transport yourself to Martha's Vineyard: an island of vivid blue ocean, white sand, and a lively community of locals, who celebrate everything from the bright New England summers to the cold, yet cozy, snowcapped winters.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 22, 2024
Bravery Amid Ashes
Katie Winters ups the drama in Birds of a Feather, book 5 in her Salt Sisters series, which alternates between 1993 and the present.
The titular birds are Natalie Quinne and Rose Carlson, first and second wives of wealthy abuser Oren Grayson. Oren is charming, adventurous, and so insecure he slaps his wife for "embarrassing" him in front of his friends. He even hit Rose in Paris for being complimented on her French when he wasn't!
Only 21 and from a poor background, Rose was captivated by Oren's notice of her, just the rich Waldens' nanny, and eagerly jumped into a secret romance with him (he was staying with the Waldens after he lost his home and wife in a fire). When she got pregnant he proposed and put together a dream wedding disguised as a regular party. That deception should have clued Rose in to what was to come, but she was blinded by infatuation and excused his action as romantic. She also thought his suggestion that they honeymoon in Paris and sudden revelation that he secretly owned property there was romantic. I got distinct murdered-woman "Dateline NBC" vibes then! Rose should've left while Oren was with "business associates" late at night, but she didn't think of the obvious explanation--an affair. She just concluded that Oren's single colleague wanted to be around beautiful French women, and that's why he reeked of perfume after a late "business meeting". She told herself he stayed at his single colleague's apartment overnight. She even believed his sorrow after she miscarried the baby that prompted their marriage! Rose, to quote Winters, was" in over her head but didn't know it yet." Oh, Rose...
As the years pass and the abuse increases, Rose goes through Natalie's things and discovers a diary in which Natalie wrote of her terror of Oren the day before the fire. Convinced the diary is evidence Oren set the fire to kill Natalie, she gives it to the police. Officer Sean Slakey, who investigated the fire and then warned her about Oren (a warning she dismissed as jealousy), suggests a trip to the Historical Society to search for a death certificate to corroborate the newspaper obituary. No death certificate is found, and the 1993 funeral was "private", so Sean and Rose begin to think Natalie might be alive after all. With a lot of money, it's easy to fake a death!
Rose, by now a successful artist with money of her own despite the mysterious theft of her first sculpture, hires a private investigator to find Natalie and notifies her Salt Sisters, who she met in a divorce lawyer's waiting room. Meanwhile, she sets up a sting by asking Mrs. Walden to sit for a portrait in NYC. Flattered, Mrs. Walden agrees., and invites Rose to their sponsored auction where her stolen sculpture is set to be sold. She tells Rose to dress elegantly and bring a handsome date in a tuxedo. It's the perfect opportunity to bring Sean into the situation! She spots her sculpture, alerts Sean to call for backup, and has the Waldens and Oren arrested for art theft. (The description of dignified Oren racing from exit to exit, only to be blocked by the NYPD every time,, is hilarious!) Finally, Rose is standing up to her abuser and is living her own life--go Rose!
Sean, with whom Rose began an affair during a trip to New York to interview Natalie's high school boyfriend about Natalie and the fire and to rescue her sculpture, texts her steadily, but the PI texts her that she's found Natalie, and Rose travels right away to Montana, where Natalie lives under an assumed name. She set the fire herself in 1993, forcing Oren to fake her death. Oren's obsession with cultural cities made Montana a brilliant choice to go where he'd never find her. Natalie, having been declared dead for 5 years, met her current husband and told him her real name 2 years later, just before they married. She also told her family, after determining Oren wasn't looking for her, that she was alive and uninjured. (She escaped while the kitchen was burning, before fire engulfed the mansion.)
Both Natalie and Rose discover that "there is life after Oren Grayson", and while for Natalie it includes a life in Montana with her second husband, for Rose it includes a new romance with Sean, a renewed dive into her art on Nantucket--and her Salt Sisters!
The sinister fall of Oren from charming boyfriend to abusive husband is the cautionary tale of a sociopath, while the burgeoning romance between Rose and Sean develops delicately. I rooted for Rose and Sean, and I cheered internally when Oren was caught! Katie Winters has addressed the issue of domestic violence without scaring readers, and for that alone, the book deserves 5 stars! Highly recommended.
Katie Winters ups the drama in Birds of a Feather, book 5 in her Salt Sisters series, which alternates between 1993 and the present.
The titular birds are Natalie Quinne and Rose Carlson, first and second wives of wealthy abuser Oren Grayson. Oren is charming, adventurous, and so insecure he slaps his wife for "embarrassing" him in front of his friends. He even hit Rose in Paris for being complimented on her French when he wasn't!
Only 21 and from a poor background, Rose was captivated by Oren's notice of her, just the rich Waldens' nanny, and eagerly jumped into a secret romance with him (he was staying with the Waldens after he lost his home and wife in a fire). When she got pregnant he proposed and put together a dream wedding disguised as a regular party. That deception should have clued Rose in to what was to come, but she was blinded by infatuation and excused his action as romantic. She also thought his suggestion that they honeymoon in Paris and sudden revelation that he secretly owned property there was romantic. I got distinct murdered-woman "Dateline NBC" vibes then! Rose should've left while Oren was with "business associates" late at night, but she didn't think of the obvious explanation--an affair. She just concluded that Oren's single colleague wanted to be around beautiful French women, and that's why he reeked of perfume after a late "business meeting". She told herself he stayed at his single colleague's apartment overnight. She even believed his sorrow after she miscarried the baby that prompted their marriage! Rose, to quote Winters, was" in over her head but didn't know it yet." Oh, Rose...
As the years pass and the abuse increases, Rose goes through Natalie's things and discovers a diary in which Natalie wrote of her terror of Oren the day before the fire. Convinced the diary is evidence Oren set the fire to kill Natalie, she gives it to the police. Officer Sean Slakey, who investigated the fire and then warned her about Oren (a warning she dismissed as jealousy), suggests a trip to the Historical Society to search for a death certificate to corroborate the newspaper obituary. No death certificate is found, and the 1993 funeral was "private", so Sean and Rose begin to think Natalie might be alive after all. With a lot of money, it's easy to fake a death!
Rose, by now a successful artist with money of her own despite the mysterious theft of her first sculpture, hires a private investigator to find Natalie and notifies her Salt Sisters, who she met in a divorce lawyer's waiting room. Meanwhile, she sets up a sting by asking Mrs. Walden to sit for a portrait in NYC. Flattered, Mrs. Walden agrees., and invites Rose to their sponsored auction where her stolen sculpture is set to be sold. She tells Rose to dress elegantly and bring a handsome date in a tuxedo. It's the perfect opportunity to bring Sean into the situation! She spots her sculpture, alerts Sean to call for backup, and has the Waldens and Oren arrested for art theft. (The description of dignified Oren racing from exit to exit, only to be blocked by the NYPD every time,, is hilarious!) Finally, Rose is standing up to her abuser and is living her own life--go Rose!
Sean, with whom Rose began an affair during a trip to New York to interview Natalie's high school boyfriend about Natalie and the fire and to rescue her sculpture, texts her steadily, but the PI texts her that she's found Natalie, and Rose travels right away to Montana, where Natalie lives under an assumed name. She set the fire herself in 1993, forcing Oren to fake her death. Oren's obsession with cultural cities made Montana a brilliant choice to go where he'd never find her. Natalie, having been declared dead for 5 years, met her current husband and told him her real name 2 years later, just before they married. She also told her family, after determining Oren wasn't looking for her, that she was alive and uninjured. (She escaped while the kitchen was burning, before fire engulfed the mansion.)
Both Natalie and Rose discover that "there is life after Oren Grayson", and while for Natalie it includes a life in Montana with her second husband, for Rose it includes a new romance with Sean, a renewed dive into her art on Nantucket--and her Salt Sisters!
The sinister fall of Oren from charming boyfriend to abusive husband is the cautionary tale of a sociopath, while the burgeoning romance between Rose and Sean develops delicately. I rooted for Rose and Sean, and I cheered internally when Oren was caught! Katie Winters has addressed the issue of domestic violence without scaring readers, and for that alone, the book deserves 5 stars! Highly recommended.
August 9, 2025
In Book five of the Salt Sisters books, Rose relives her past and finds comfort in the future. Rose had come to Nantucket when she was just a young girl. She had left her home in Mississippi to become a babysitter for the Waldens of Nantucket. Leaving caring for her own siblings to care for some one else's children wasn't a hard change for Rose, but she was determined to get away from her own family. What she didn't know was that she was stepping quite literally into the fire.
On the day of her arrival in Nantucket, she was caring for the children on the beach when they saw a big black cloud in the distance. After getting the children back to the house, she learned that a house had burned down and someone had died in it. She learned this by overhearing the Waldens talking to their guests, Zachary and Oren. She picked up more tidbits of information from other conversations she had in the next few days. It seems Oren's wife. Natalie, had died in the fire that speculation said Oren had set. Nothing came of a cursory investigation that followed. However, Rose remembered it clearly over the years because she ended up falling in love and marrying Oren. They moved to Paris where she soon learned that Oren was not the loving man she thought he was, he was an abuser. Rose ended up divorced and penniless due to a prenup; but stayed on Nantucket after meeting Hilary and the Salt Sisters. They helped her find her feet and find her place as a painter and sculptress. With the help of a financial investor, Rose was finally in a position to do what she wanted. What she wanted turned out to be buying the estate that had belonged to Oren and Natalie and had been abandoned after the fire. She wanted to turn it into a B&B. What she hadn't been aware of was that the main damage was done to the kitchen and ballroom; but the rest of the house had simply been covered in dust covers and left in the damaged building. Rose now had to go through the rooms and decide what was to be tossed and what was to be kept. There were many treasures in the form of expensive books, antique furniture, art, and other expensive items still intact in the house. One day, she opened a door and began uncovering the items in the room only to discover that it was Natalie's room. As she investigated, she found Natalie's diary. The last page was written just before she died and led Rose to believe Oren did kill Natalie. She showed it to a Nantucket policeman, Sean who had never given up on the case. He and Rose began to investigate only to discover there was no death certificate for Natalie. What did this mean? What else would they find?
On the day of her arrival in Nantucket, she was caring for the children on the beach when they saw a big black cloud in the distance. After getting the children back to the house, she learned that a house had burned down and someone had died in it. She learned this by overhearing the Waldens talking to their guests, Zachary and Oren. She picked up more tidbits of information from other conversations she had in the next few days. It seems Oren's wife. Natalie, had died in the fire that speculation said Oren had set. Nothing came of a cursory investigation that followed. However, Rose remembered it clearly over the years because she ended up falling in love and marrying Oren. They moved to Paris where she soon learned that Oren was not the loving man she thought he was, he was an abuser. Rose ended up divorced and penniless due to a prenup; but stayed on Nantucket after meeting Hilary and the Salt Sisters. They helped her find her feet and find her place as a painter and sculptress. With the help of a financial investor, Rose was finally in a position to do what she wanted. What she wanted turned out to be buying the estate that had belonged to Oren and Natalie and had been abandoned after the fire. She wanted to turn it into a B&B. What she hadn't been aware of was that the main damage was done to the kitchen and ballroom; but the rest of the house had simply been covered in dust covers and left in the damaged building. Rose now had to go through the rooms and decide what was to be tossed and what was to be kept. There were many treasures in the form of expensive books, antique furniture, art, and other expensive items still intact in the house. One day, she opened a door and began uncovering the items in the room only to discover that it was Natalie's room. As she investigated, she found Natalie's diary. The last page was written just before she died and led Rose to believe Oren did kill Natalie. She showed it to a Nantucket policeman, Sean who had never given up on the case. He and Rose began to investigate only to discover there was no death certificate for Natalie. What did this mean? What else would they find?
October 7, 2024
Rose arrived in Nantucket from Mississippi, where she wanted to escape from caring for her siblings. She was hired to be the Nanny for the Walden family and their four children.
She arrives the same night as a tragic fire where the charismatic Oren lost his beautiful wife Natalie. Rose is swept off her feet and is soon married. Oren is used to getting what he wants as money buys him everything
Years later, Rose has made a name for herself with her artwork and buys the abandoned burned Grayson mansion. She dedicates herself to finding the truth about Natalie, while dealing with the theft of a recently finished sculpture. She works with policeman Sean to uncover the truth.
Thank you to the author for this ARC. this review is my honest opinion
She arrives the same night as a tragic fire where the charismatic Oren lost his beautiful wife Natalie. Rose is swept off her feet and is soon married. Oren is used to getting what he wants as money buys him everything
Years later, Rose has made a name for herself with her artwork and buys the abandoned burned Grayson mansion. She dedicates herself to finding the truth about Natalie, while dealing with the theft of a recently finished sculpture. She works with policeman Sean to uncover the truth.
Thank you to the author for this ARC. this review is my honest opinion
October 12, 2024
This series truly kicks a** and each book gets better than the one before. Katie Winters really knows how to weave a magical tale—and Birds of a Feather without a doubt illustrates that. This Salt Sisters book truly holds your attention!
The storyline is absolutely incredible; the characters are so well-developed yet scary in their own right; the plot twists and turns are truly fascinating—so many actions from so many directions; and finally…the unexpected leaves the reader with moments filled with hope, love, and amazing feelings for the characters. This book definitely belongs on your TBR list, so grab a copy today! (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and was totally blown away by it.) ❤️❤️
The storyline is absolutely incredible; the characters are so well-developed yet scary in their own right; the plot twists and turns are truly fascinating—so many actions from so many directions; and finally…the unexpected leaves the reader with moments filled with hope, love, and amazing feelings for the characters. This book definitely belongs on your TBR list, so grab a copy today! (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and was totally blown away by it.) ❤️❤️
October 7, 2024
Katie Winters beautifully tells the story of Rose, one of the Salt Sisters on Nantucket Island. It was great to see Rose's transformation from a poor Mississippi girl working as a nanny to a prominent artist. The story also focused on the cruelty of the rich family for whom she worked and her marriage to Oren, a narcissistic and brutish man. I really loved Rose's attempt to solve mysteries in this story, both in the past and the present. I feel this was one of the strongest storylines of the Salt Sister novels and can't recommend it enough ! If you like a work with mystery and the unexpected, this is the one !
October 8, 2024
Birds of a Feather is book 5 in the Salt Sisters series by Katie Winters
Up next is Rose’s story from a young woman from Mississippi to be a nanny for a rich family to become a prominent artist. Turmoil, cruelty from her employers, marriage to a narcissist, secrets, mystery, theft of her sculpture, working with Sean and maybe finding a HEA…
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy (ARC) of this book from the author. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Up next is Rose’s story from a young woman from Mississippi to be a nanny for a rich family to become a prominent artist. Turmoil, cruelty from her employers, marriage to a narcissist, secrets, mystery, theft of her sculpture, working with Sean and maybe finding a HEA…
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy (ARC) of this book from the author. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
October 8, 2024
Wow! This story is all about Rose and her journey from the small town girl from Mississippi to the famous artist. Her life with Oren and afterwards is quite the saga but when she buys the old house that burned in the fire so many years ago - the stories converge. New love and old grudges make this book fascinating!
January 11, 2025
Katie Winters never fails me, including Birds of a Feather. She takes us from Nantucket all around the world of the rich and entitled to expose the despicable actions of the rich. She encourages through her words and stories to always have hope, cherish our friends and do what is right! I love her characters and her stories!
February 9, 2025
Payback is divine
Great storyline about rich vs not rich. How they wove their evil web and tried to ruin a young girl and her hopes for belonging. Nothing good comes from the skulldugery of irresponsible people of upper echelon mankind. Sean and Rose became a better class and did it with grace and cunning despite the opposition.
Great storyline about rich vs not rich. How they wove their evil web and tried to ruin a young girl and her hopes for belonging. Nothing good comes from the skulldugery of irresponsible people of upper echelon mankind. Sean and Rose became a better class and did it with grace and cunning despite the opposition.
October 26, 2025
Another Page-Turner
Amazing story teller. Ms Winters continues her Salt Sister series, with each new story a whole new novel, while bringing in pieces of her previous books reminding her readers' about how all the books have that beautiful group of women threading through her stories. A must read!
Amazing story teller. Ms Winters continues her Salt Sister series, with each new story a whole new novel, while bringing in pieces of her previous books reminding her readers' about how all the books have that beautiful group of women threading through her stories. A must read!
October 6, 2024
A twisted tale of wealth and entitlement. A story of Rose and her journey from Mississippi to Nantucket. Her struggles and ultimate introduction to the Salt Sisters and her accomplishments.
October 14, 2024
Another great Salt Sister book
This one had a mystery to it . Also story of a very strong women who learned out how to become strong
This one had a mystery to it . Also story of a very strong women who learned out how to become strong
November 12, 2024
Engrossing
Couldn't stop reading. Never boring, surprising ending. Loved the timeline of then and now. Realistic description of what classes of people tend to be.
Couldn't stop reading. Never boring, surprising ending. Loved the timeline of then and now. Realistic description of what classes of people tend to be.
November 22, 2024
Sisters
It’s always good to have friends that feel like your sister. I like different stories from each Salt Sister. We all have a story..
It’s always good to have friends that feel like your sister. I like different stories from each Salt Sister. We all have a story..
Read
May 28, 2025Love this series!
June 18, 2025
Revenge is met!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews