***Keep in mind I read this 2 months ago, just totally forgot to post my review on here. It was on the blog and well, I'm a idiot sometimes.***
I’m not sure if it’s the weather, my mood, the seasons changing or what but man, I am just not in the mood to read. Usually I’d be the person reading anywhere from two to five books in a week, just because there are so many stories out there that I want to read. But these days? I’m lucky to finish one book a week and actually be exciting about it. I’m in such a funk! And I’m grumpy about it too! I can’t seem to focus on what I’m reading, I’m not becoming immersed in the stories and I can’t seem to shut my brain off enough to actually enjoy the book I pick up. Just to put this in a little bit of perspective, between ARCs and whatnot, at the end August I started a series that I’m in LOVE with. It’s 12 books long and I’m halfway done. I can’t even be bothered right now to start book 7 because I just simply don’t want to read right now. I don’t know where this mood came from but I really hope it goes away soon. It’s annoying AF to me and not really fair to the few ARCs I have left before my fall reading break (real life gets super busy in the fall). So, keep that in mind and please take this rating with a grain of salt.
So with this being said, I just couldn’t get into this story. But duh, that’s my issue. The characters didn’t grab me, the heroine seemed extremely naive at times, the plot which I figured I would be enamoured with just felt okay, and I feel like an overall crappy person for not liking this. I 100% believe that this is a case of me, not you. I see all of the good pieces of this book, I can see the merit in the relationship between these characters. The writing, in true Kelly fashion, is superb and the unique element of a wine contest is bursting with originality. But yet I’m over here rolling around on the ground like a slug because I feel like doing that instead of reading. Dear God. Can you read too much? Have I broken myself?
I applaud Kelly for the amount of research and knowledge she has/gained in order to make this book successful. And no, I’m not just talking about drinking a lot of wine, though I’m sure that was also quite taxing. But the amount of knowledge on grapes, regions, smells, high notes, and the different fruit/vegetable/spice etc. influences on each type of wine was quite impressive. Even one of the lessons that the characters used to help decipher flavours was amazing! I’m not even a wine drinker, but I feel the need to right now open a bottle. Maybe that’ll help my issues.
On a separate but not unrelated note, thank the lord for piercings.
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That’s all.
On an additional separate note, I worry about this author watching the Discovery Channel because OMG even I was cringing! Candiru, ewwww! Not cool missy! That was terrifying. Hilarious, but cringeworthy goodness all wrapped into one. And a perfect way to scare off guys at the bar, might I add. I may be stealing this little fun fact.
Oh and that little twist at the end? Ha! That snuck up on me big time. One of my favourite pastimes is trying to guess plot devices or twists in the story (because I’m a horrible person, obviously), and I wasn’t even close on this one. That shocked me in a very good way.
So basically what I’m getting at is even though I’m currently a grumpy hag who wants nothing to do with the words, you should ultimately ignore everything I say and go read some other reviews for this book instead. I’m sure they’re much better.
*An ARC was received in exchange for an honest review.