**NEW EDITION** Raise your wine glasses high to toast the men of Dahlonia while they discover the secret to happiness – LOVE. There was no doubt about it, Macalister Whitmore was as straight-laced as they came. He worked all the time, never did anything that would be considered fun, and almost always wore a suit and tie, even in the laid back southern town of Dahlonia, where the dress code tended to be jeans and t-shirts. It was how his parents raised him and Macalister was sure even a tanning salon couldn’t change that. David Wilson wanted to throttle his best friend for sending Mac to his tanning salon to try and loosen up the uptight lawyer. He had never met anyone that had actually worn a suit to a tanning salon before. What Mac needed was a doctor to remove that stick from his ass. Then again, if Mac continued to look down his nose at David, he would remove it himself. Still, it seemed that opposites do attract, so they decide to give each other a chance. Happily ever after may sound like a dream come true, but no one ever said it didn’t come with pain and heartache. Will they walk away from each other, or walk through hell for the chance to pop some Bubbly and celebrate finding their happy ending. NEWLY EXPANDED AND RE-EDITED VERSION
Bestselling author of the Cedar Falls Series, Hart Medical Center Series, Miracle Series, and Paranormal Wars Series, Shea Balik has always had a vivid imagination with stories running around in her head. Often her stories are taken from observations of other people with her own spin.
Traveling is one of her favorite ways of fulfilling her passion of people watching. You never know, one day you may spark her imagination for her next book.
Whether at home or traveling she is usually in front of her computer writing or curled up with a good book.
I didn’t like this book at all. In fact I often found it insulting. The stereotypical treatment of Southerners was horrible. I’m sure this was supposed to be funny light romance.
However, every single character in this book was just a caricature of a real person. The idiot Southerner who makes moonshine and talks in cliches. The effeminate over the top queen with purple hair and full makeup. The uptight lawyer who’s never had a real friend or relationship. The bitchy mother who takes up with a young lover after her husband suffers a stroke. It was like watching a car wreck. I only gave it two stars because I finished it.
Usually insta-love bothers me on oh-so-many levels. For some reason, I managed to keep the eyerolling to a minimum for this one. I think a lot of that had to do with Macalister's character. He was just so squeezably awkward, it made me forget some of the ridiculousness even as it was happening.
Conversely, David made me want to develop a lisp, a swish, some sharply acidic snark and a really, really painful bitchslap backhand. Ugh. His character was rabidly self-absorbed at first and I really wanted to squeeze him, too ... around his neck until he turned blue and was drooling, that is. So ... not in a good way. Yeah. He turned it around ... eventually, but I was a little frustrated with him at first.
So putting the warp speed love aspect aside and disregarding some initial character flaws that were later resolved, once the MCs got out of their own respective ways they came together quite nicely. I needed a little more depth overall to really get the feelz I crave. But! I was entertained and connected with at least one of the characters. Now that I think about it, that's oddly reminiscent of real-life relationships if you think about it. Huh.
I enjoyed the extended cast of characters and saw some future MCs for the series peeking out here and there. A little subtle foreshadowing is a good thing. Thankfully, we didn't get bludgeoned with it. I really dislike when an author is so busy subliminally plugging the next book that it interferes with the current characters and story. That didn't happen here.
Because the pacing with the relationship development was a little fast and the character development a little two-dimensional, I didn't get as emotionally involved as I would have liked to have been. All in all, I was pleased but not turning cartwheels. Bubbly was entertaining, sweet, and only slightly unbelievable. I'm calling that a win and a 3.5 heart read.
3.5 BMB Hearts (3 GR Stars)
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Macalister is a quiet, emotionless man who struggles to deal with people, he prefers to hide in his office and get on with his work, alone. David is pert, bouncy, and colourful, in other words, bubbly. Can you see the connection? No, neither could I. But the gods had decided, they thought, "Let's get that huge stick out of this poor man's arse." And so it began, with a punch to some blokes face. A very sweet but very slightly angsty tale, David and Macalister are absolutely gorgeous and their story is golden, a wonderful read.
I’ve now tried several books by this author and can say I am not a fan.
This book was a mash up of horrendous caricaturisations of stereotypes, rude and judgmental people, insta-love that was flimsier than tissue paper and morally pretty deplorable views.
Honestly the only person I could stand was Macalister and that was because he tried to be a good person even if he didn’t always succeed.
To give you a brief idea:
- multiple extremely offensive fatphobic comments about a secondary character who was meant to be a friend - a southerner portrayed as a bizarre and offensive stereotype - an attempted rapist who no one does anything about despite evidence he is a serial predator who is extremely dangerous - a mother who is shrill, offensive, cold and abandons her sick husband for a younger man - comments about tanning salons being places always being associated with sex work - that reporting a sexual assault would mean everyone thought you offered sexual services - I’m not even going to touch the LUDICROUS suggestions of how the law works - nasty comments/thoughts about queer characters who don’t completely reject their families if they aren’t supportive - a character ‘loves’ their partner but during an extremely upsetting and emotional time breaks up with them nastily because they are not being given enough attention/time etc (this is also after they say they will prove their love by supporting them)
Needless to say, I will not be reading this author’s work again.
There was no doubt about it, Macalister Whitmore was as straight-laced as they came. He worked all the time, never did anything that would be considered fun, and almost always wore a suit and tie, even in the laid back southern town of Dahlonia, where the dress code tended to be jeans and t-shirts. It was how his parents raised him and Macalister was sure even a tanning salon couldn’t change that.
David Wilson wanted to throttle his best friend for sending Mac to his tanning salon to try and loosen up the uptight lawyer. He had never met anyone that had actually worn a suit to a tanning salon before. What Mac needed was a doctor to remove that stick from his ass. Then again, if Mac continued to look down his nose at David, he would remove it himself.
Still, it seemed that opposites do attract, so they decide to give each other a chance.
Happily ever after may sound like a dream come true, but no one ever said it didn’t come with pain and heartache. Will they walk away from each other, or walk through hell for the chance to pop some Bubbly and celebrate finding their happy ending?
This is the first book in a new series by Shea Balik, all set around the town of Dahlonia and the winery, Twisted Vine. This is where the very uptight, BMW-driving Macalister, a man who’s bosses wonder “if he has any emotions at all”. Actually, “…he’s worked for us for a year and has never cracked a smile?” Yet Andrew, part owner of Twisted Vine, Mac’s boss and David’s best friend, assures David that Mac is a good person, helpful and kind and that’s why he offers wine to David for helping. David, owner of the Tropical Beach tanning salon where the bosses send Mac as a birthday gift (much to Mac’s dismay), doesn’t see that when Mac shows up. Mac is not just uptight, he is snobby, rude and really condescending. He looks down his nose at David, full of disdain. “Having sex and whoring yourself out like a dime store prostitute aren’t exactly the same.” When David responds, Mac’s “Or are you deaf along with being a slut?” There’s no wonder David spills the beans about Andrew bribing David to deal with Mac.
I was a little confused that Andrew would send Mac to a tanning bed as “fun”, but of course, David is there. Of course, these two opposites really are a better fit than they think. As Mac puts his prejudice aside, he starts to realize David, purple hair, make up and flamboyant clothes, might be just what he needs. Of course, he messes it up a few times. There were times I wanted to shake him but you have to remember, he has had a rigid upbringing and all the feelz are new to him.
Mac may have helped save David at one point, but David is there for Mac when he needed him. Unfortunately, Mac doesn’t react well to his family (wow, the family from hell, let’s put that out there), “…Mac would either grab hold of David’s hand or put his arm around David’s waist, silently forcing him to stay, but David wasn’t sure if that was because Mac wanted him there, or he was just going against his mother’s wishes” and I was ticked at him. Except then I thought David was overreacting at a bad time, so it was a toss up on who was being the bigger pain. Luckily, David’s friends are there to knock some sense into him.
One thing I struggled with was there was a lot of serious plot issues that were resolved much too quickly and easily. David regularly fends off unwanted passes while airbrush tanning but an attempted oral rape? A law suit? A heart attack? All these things happen but they are easily resolved. And Mac turned into a seemingly different person pretty quickly, with some insta-love helping.
My slight niggles aside, I liked both MC here, as well as really liking the supporting characters- Andrew, Shine, Brogan and West. I am crossing my fingers that Nolan, Twisted Vine’s accountant, is the next up because that shy, sweet man really needs an HEA. I thought this was a good start to a new series and I’m looking forward to continuing.
Cover art shows two men but I know one is not David, since it is well noted David has bright purple hair and the other, with his shirt wide open, doesn’t seem uptight enough to be Macalister.
With all the books I read, I'm not 100% if I've read this author before, but I'm glad I have now. This was a really good book and I can kind of tell who's going to be in the next books and I'm excited. The characters are a hoot. They're awkward, sassy, some shy, some very outgoing, but all very real. And it was a pleasure to read. Macalister was probably one of the most serious people his associates have ever known. He hardly smiles. If ever. No one sees him date. He just works. So to help him break up the monotony, his office got him a tanning package. He doesn't want to go but it was a gift, so he does. And immediately regrets it. He wants to run before he even gets in the door. And the owner? So different from Macalister it's insane. And to boot, he keeps calling him Mac. David is about to punch Macalister. He's doing this tanning package as a favor to his friend, Andy, who is one of Macalister's bosses, but putting up with such a snot nosed ass is more than David bargained for. Each time Macalister comes in, they seem to fight even worse than before. At least until Macalister saves the day. They talk and go for a date and David immediately sees a single of Mac he didn't know possible. But their happily ever after may not come to pass if some things don't change. When I first started reading about Mac, I was in agreement with David. I wanted to punch him so bad. He was such a snob. Looking down his nose and acting better than everyone. But an incident in David's shop kind of changed everything around. Mac opened up about how he really felt and why he was the way he was. And he really is a sweetheart. He has flaws, but who doesn't. But he was making an effort to change himself. For the better. David was a pistol to begin with. His eccentric personally is so bold and out there. But he doesn't take crap of anyone. He is who he is and if you don't like him, tough. But David was worried. He was afraid he was too much for Mac. Thankfully his friends and Mac himself quickly set him straight. He, to me, is perfect for Mac. He brings the emotion out in him. Shows him how to have fun and loosen up. And I love him to pieces. His personality is just the best. Bubbly, as the title says. I'm hoping there's a certain couple that will be brought together in the next one. It's was so funny watching everyone razz one of them about it. Sometimes you just want to push people together and be like 'just have sex and get together already!’ lol. So far, a good start to the series.
I really enjoyed this story from this author, and I wish I could give a higher rating. If I could review it just by the story, I would have rated it a 4 star. The problem I had was with the editing. There were several times I would be reading and would turn the page in the middle of a sentence, and the next page would start a new sentence. It would not complete the sentence I was in, and it would confuse me. This got better by the end of the book which I was happy for because it is a good story and I can’t wait to see the next book.
Mac is a lawyer that appears to not enjoy life at all. He’s always in a suit and tie, even on his days off. His bosses want him to loosen up and send him to a tanning salon. His attitude towards this is not a happy one. He doesn’t understand why this would help him to learn how to have fun but who is he to question the bosses.
David wants to strangle Andy for even sending this uptight man to his business. There’s not enough wine in the world for him to put up with such a person that looks down on him. What David didn’t expect was a knight and shining armor. When David is in a precarious situation, Mac is there to the rescue.
Opposites attract they say and so is true with these two. A wonderful love story is uncovered, and I was rooting for these two. Then life and reality happens and Mac reverts back to his old ways. Will these two see their happily ever after or will the family win? Will David be able to hang on to the Mac he’s grown to love? Will Mac be able to let go of his tightwad self and learn to be happy? I’m not sure how to answer these for you. I guess you will need to get them yourself.
It took me the first chapter to get into this as I wasn’t sure what was going on. David owns a tanning salon and is all invested in it. One of his best friends asks him to look after a work colleague Macalister who is very uptight and needs to chill. When Macalister turns up for his tanning session given to him by his bosses he really can’t stand the place but is strangely moved by the owner. They don’t get off on the right track but over a few sessions and some weird situations where Macalister comes to David’s rescue, they agree to go on a date. At this point I had settled into the book and started to enjoy the various characters. David and Mac are totally different men but for some reason they just work. There are a few low angst moments, lots of laughs and a really uptight mum. These all contribute to making this a fun read. This sis a new author for me so I will look into other books.
* ARC given for a honest review* Shea Balik did not disappoint with Bubbly the 1st book in her new series Uncorked. The main characters David and Mac could not be more different but through some trials and tribulations they were able to find their HEA. You also get introduced to several other characters that will hopefully get books of their own. Overall I was very pleased with the book and can not wait for the next book in the series.
4.5 stars. Dahlonia is a small town in Georgia wine country, where Mac is the legal man for The Twisted Vine. He meets David, proprietor of the local tanning salon, grudgingly using a gift certificate from his colleagues, the winery owners. Fireworks move from antagonism to passion in this brief novella. Bali writes an enjoyable romp, giving two very opposite men the trope to life mates. Full of belly laughs, the series will hopefully entangle the colorful supporting characters.
I really enjoyed this Book. It's fast paced, it's funny and the characters are FANTASTIC. This is the introduction to Uncorked. Mac and David would've never met if not for a trick. Once they meet, life, love and happiness won't be denied. This is a great story. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!!!!!
This was a fun sweet story filled with bubbly personalities and funny characters that you'll love. Though you should watch out for some interesting twist along the way.
Fast moving love between both characters. David and Macalister. MM. Great enjoyable entertaining read. 3.5 stars. All Books are connected. Standalone reads, but best read in order.