Book Review: The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm, by Hilarie Burton

I loved Hilarie Burton as Sara Ellis in the TV Show White Collar. I was intrigued when I saw she had written a book about her life. Yes, I admit I had hoped for a little more inside stories about White Collar, but even if there were extremely little in that department, the story got me hooked.

Hilarie Burton tells us about her life as an actress, how she met her husband, and their life on what I suppose is an odd farm. Some life stories are full of misery or self-rightfulness. This is not the case here.

The book is full of warmth, love, and humor. And mistakes and sorrows, too, like any life. But there is so much hope and life in it. It is a feel-good in its best form.

There are some things I understand she wants to keep private, like their financial situation, but it would have been nice to know a little bit more about how the different projects worked out from that point of view. When I have no idea if they are risk-takers putting their last penny on a project, or have plenty of money, I have hard to grasp what is at stake and how big the victory is. In some situations, it is made clear and others not.

There are few lessons told, and of that I am happy. The only one was that if you have a dream you should not wait to fulfill it. She was told so many times by others that they too also wanted to have a farm, and she could not understand why they just talked about it instead of doing it. A reasonable question to be asked and no moral forced upon you.

One scene I remember is when they had had their first child and her husband bought her a nice expensive watch, and she got angry because, for her, it just meant he did not know her. She was not interested in expensive, fancy stuff. I was so amazed at how they handled it. It did not seem as they argued more about it. He was hurt but survived, as did their love for each other, and he bought her a tractor next time.

If you want to read a true story with a happy ending by a strong woman passing through hard times and coming out stronger and more positive than ever, this is a book for you.