ARC provided by NetGalley, thank you.
So even though I hate the taste of whiskey, I sort of love the whiskey empire trope. Unfortunately, this one didn't do it for me. There are some fun scenes, some good lines, but the premise doesn’t make sense and there isn’t enough conflict to make it compelling for me.
We learn about the characters largely through repetitious internal monologue, and when we do see the characters in action, their actions are often inconsistent with whatever has been happening in the monologue. I felt like stock concepts were being thrown at me independent of any relationship to the character perspective they are supposed to come from. Things like:
- anger on pause while hero ogles heroine’s curves
- hero can’t think because…that ass! (“Every coherent thought fled his brain as Sam paused to admire her blue jeans molded to a firm round ass. Damn.”)
- omg his cock isn't little, heck it isn't even normal, it is SO BIG
- gosh I've really tried but I just can't zip my dress
- you saw us kissing but HE kissed ME
The premise was tough to buy into. Brand new whiskey company needs to have a big party to launch their brand because otherwise they can’t be a success, but even though they aren’t selling anything yet they've already got national distribution lined up. So the party isn't really going to make or break your brand, yeah? And, even though this party is supposed to take place in Nashville, there is only one event planner who could possibly pull it off. Because Nashville is some tiny little backwater where nobody knows anything about big events and so there couldn’t possibly be more than one event planner who can handle your whiskey launch. I am not sold on this idea at any level.
The conflict is dead in the water at 25%. All the internal character motivation and conflict that is set up before that point is entirely resolved after a "fifty percent sober, but one hundred percent serious" proposal. Sure, they still need to put on a party, but like, they’ve already got distribution and gobs of money, so it’s going to be fine anyway. There is zero interpersonal tension between the hero and heroine and they’re about to bang, so this is basically the HEA but there’s still 75% of the book left to go.
And then...I really understand that sometimes there are typos, and there are different kinds of editing, and the state of publishing and blah blah blah, and I am by no means perfect in the typo department. But the description for this specifically says, "Formerly titled Wylde Fire and published in 2019. It has since received intense edits, scene additions, and a brand new cover and title!" You’ve just promised me “intense edits”—a very broad promise which could create a lot of different types of expectations in me as a reader. Of course, one of my hopes is usually a typo-free reading experience, though I rarely expect it. But I do really hope in the editing process that there is at least one person who points out that “beat red” is intensely different from “beet red.”
Despite some decent lines and some neat concepts, I couldn't connect with the characters or buy into the premise.