I normally don't make purchases of authors or books I haven't researched about, but since this was on sale and I loved the book cover and the color palette, I thought: why not?
My mistake. This was a waste of my fucking time.
Where do I even begin? I hate everything about this book except for two things:
1. Avery, the MMC's girl best friend who I thought was gonna be the typical smitten best friend and would probably end up ruining or causing huge misunderstandings between the main couple, BUT NO. SHE'S THE BEST CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK. I LOVE HER. She's the only one who's not a dumb bitch in this entire cast.
2. The book cover. It's gorgeous, and I'm only giving 0.5 stars for it, another 0.5 for Avery.
Now onto what I don't like. Or shall we say hate because that's a more apt word for what I'm feeling right now. Before I enumerate what I absolutely dislike about this book, let me just preface it by saying both lead characters are adults. THEY'RE ADULTS. The MMC, Luke, is 28 years old. The FMC, Margot, is 35 years old. Which is why I couldn't use their age as an excuse for every single dumb thing they did in the book (which was a fuck ton).
Little background about the leads so you don't have to read it: Margot is the CEO and co-owner of a vineyard and wine company. She co-owns it with his brother who she has a strained relationship with (the reason why it's strained is also dumb, I'm gonna list it below later). She only has one best friend, the owner of a bar named Sydney. Other than that, she has no social circle. On the other hand, Luke is a tech professional who quit his high-paying job because it was toxic and he hates everything about it. He has a girl best friend, Avery, and her mother Lauren who owns an inn, and stepfather Pete. That's pretty much it.
It's like a stupid version of Grey's Anatomy S1E1: Margot and Luke hooks up after meeting in the bar, they had a great time, the next morning they both discover that they're gonna be co-workers because Luke applied as a wine taster for Margot's company. She's gonna be his boss, and because Margot has an inferiority complex about how his brother doesn't like to co-own the company with her, she hides her attraction to Luke. [Something uninteresting happens, a few chapters goes on that NOTHING happens] And then, Luke has to quit his job at the winery to help out at his mother's in because she was in a minor car accident. Of course, now that they're not boss-employee anymore, they immediately jump into having sex every day. I couldn't even bring myself to enjoy the smut, because by the time they got together, I was annoyed by both of them so much I didn't wanna read about them being "together" anymore. Anyway, boring chaos ensues, and they come at each other's throats for both being liars: Luke lying to his mother about quitting his high-paying job and letting her believe the lie that he was dating his best friend Avery just because he didn't wanna disappoint his mother (lame), and Margot lying to his brother that she was dating a former employee.
Okay, so dumb things about this book:
1. BOTH LEADS ARE LIARS. They're lying by omission, yes, but that's still lying. Like I said, Luke lied to his mother about the job and about his relationship, and when Margot discovered that Luke's mother thought he was together with Avery, she got angry. Margot on the other hand was also lying to his brother and omitting that she's in a relationship with Luke. Basically, they're both fucking hypocrites, and I guess they deserve each other because they're both equally dumb.
2. Margot's strained relationship with her brother Elliot all stemmed from her overhearing him talking to their cousins about how she didn't deserve to co-own the winery with him. She let that fester for years, and I guess she only decided to confront Elliot when she reached the ripe old age of 30-fucking-5. Really now.
3. Luke's entire ordeal with his mother and how he's gonna disappoint her if he tells her he quit a job he hates (spoiler: his mother Lauren was a sweet woman and she was actually proud of him for leaving a toxic job) was basically non-sensical. He kept dancing around the topic, and had he confronted her like Margot did with her brother, this book would've ended 17 chapters earlier. This should've been a novella, really. But since both leads are dumb, it dragged for so long.
4. THERE ARE NO SIDE STORIES. THE PLOT IS A STRAIGHT LINE. The author had to force a brief breakup by about 80% just to say it has "plot" because otherwise it would've been so fucking boring. We have Sidney, Margot's best friend. But do we know anything about her apart from being there when Margot needs her? No. We have Elliot, Margot's brother, but we don't hear ANYTHING about him outside of the brief mentions in Margot's POV. We have the staff at the winery, but they don't have any side stories as well. Even Avery, who's an interesting person, we don't get much info about her other than she broke up with a toxic boyfriend. This story is heavily centered on two people, and there are no attempts at even trying to give the side characters a personality. What a waste.
5. Lack of descriptions. This is set in the contemporary world, but other than repeated mentions of Napa Valley, we don't get descriptive words. What's the point?
6. The big plot of this book is just one massive boredom wrapped in a 400-page book.
Should you read this? If you're looking to waste time, definitely. Otherwise, please, spare yourself.