I HAVE TO SAY…

SYNOPSIS

Margot leaves a stressful day co-owning a winery with news that her brother, Elliot, hired someone without her knowledge. He’s more concerned about making the wine than what happens in the tasting room, so Margot is worried whoever he hired won’t be personable.

Margot goes to The Barrel, a restaurant and bar that her friend, Sydney, owns to decompress. Things have been different between her brother and her since her uncle died and named them co-owners.

Sydney convinces Margot to speak to the guy sitting next to her. Margot doesn’t want to, but when he starts talking with her, they hit it off, talking about anything but work for hours before walking to his place and sleeping together. He gives her his number in the morning, though it’s unclear if Margot was interested to keep it going.

Imagine both of their surprises when Margot walks in to meet her new employees, Marisol and Luke, the guy from the night before. What could possibly happen?

RECAP AND REVIEW

This book, told from a dual perspective, has a bit of an age gap and is sort of a workplace romance though it’s forbidden because they work together. It’s a small town, and being black in Napa owning a winery, people tend to know who Margot is, which puts a little pressure on her.

Margot and her brother have been distant since they started working together and she’s felt like she has to constantly prove she deserves to co-own the place with him. This part of the storyline annoyed me a bit because until halfway in, we don’t know why she feels that way, and even once we find out, I felt like she could’ve addressed it at some point instead of feeling so inadequate. I know confrontation is hard, but she causes herself so much stress about it and she sees him everyday. A part of me feels like her insecurities were showing which is natural, but we never got to that self realization.

Luke just left his high paying tech job on a whim and moved back to his hometown, Napa, temporarily to help his best friend, Avery, move after her break up. He got the winery job to do something fun and different. While back, he also sees his mom who owns an inn. He ends up lying to her about two things: that he’s in a relationship with Avery and that he’s on sabbatical.

Margot and Luke spend so much time lusting after the other because Margot has made it clear she’s not going to date an employee. They learn some things about each other as time goes on and they’re forced together in some situations. As much as they try, they can’t forget what’s happened between them and how much they want it to happen again.

OVERALL

Overall, I give this book a strong 3 out of 5. I love the winery setting and their relationship was cute to read. They do get into some tussles towards the end but I like how it resolved itself in a similar way as how they met. I would give it 4 stars but I didn’t feel like dynamic between Margot and Elliot was fleshed out.