Skip to main content

Review: Once Upon a Wine by Beth Kendrick



Blurb from Goodreads:
Cammie Breyer needs a big glass of cabernet—her restaurant failed and her chef boyfriend left for a hotter kitchen. Just when she thinks she’s hit rock bottom, her Aunt Ginger calls with a surprise. She’s bought a vineyard—in Delaware. At Ginger’s command, Cammie returns to Black Dog Bay, the seaside town where she spent her childhood summers with her aunt and her cousin, Kat.

The three women reunite, determined to succeed. There’s only one little problem: None of them knows the first thing about wine making. And it turns out, owning a vineyard isn’t all wine and roses. It’s dirt, sweat, and desperation. Every day brings financial pitfalls, unruly tourists, romantic dilemmas, and second thoughts.  But even as they struggle, they cultivate hidden talents and new passions. While the grapes ripen under the summer sun, Cammie discovers that love, like wine, is layered, complex, delicious, and worth waiting for…
My Review:
 
This was pretty cute -- definitely a fun and fast read that would be perfect for the beach!  I didn't love Cammie -- something about her hesitancy and voice threw me off a bit but I wholeheartedly fell for her old love Ian.  Not only is he a farmer but he goes out of his way to help Cammie and there were so much swoon!  A fun second chance romance but I think a lot of the scenes that were supposed to be funny just weren't.  And my favorite character in the entire book was probably Kat even though she frustrated me to no end but I just loved the idea of her being a retired professional skateboarder since I used to skateboard in high school and it is so rare to find books or any media with female skateboarders!  This wasn't my favorite but I've seen other rave reviews so you may love it!

Once Upon a Wine came out yesterday on July 5, 2016, and you can purchase HERE.
"This is like the start of a romantic comedy! Hot local farmer, cute city girl who's inherited a vineyard.  Opposites attract.  Lots of touching and glancing in the grapevines."   
"I didn't inherit anything." Cammie rolled her eyes.  "I'm just here because you told me to come." 
"At the end, they whip up some fancy wine that's so good, everyone in Napa cries with shame." 
"Despite the fact that cute city girl has no clue about how to grow harvest or make wine?" 
"Yes. It's a miracle.  They make tons of money, move to France and live happily ever after." Kat snapped her fingers. "We'll call it Once Upon a Wine."

Comments

  1. I won't like I really want to read this because of the title and cover. So shallow I know. It sounds cute but that's really it. Sorry you didn't enjoy it more!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You know how I felt about this one. I didn't feel any character depth so I couldn't make myself care about the story. Wonderful review, Eva! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aww this looks like it should have been so much fun, too bad. On to another, better, read.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with everything you said. I wasn't a fan of Cammie, either, but loved Kat. I was frustrated with her more than Cammie, though. This wasn't as funny as I thought it would be, but it's timing for me was perfect. It offset a lot of heavy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry you didn't like this one better. It does sound cute, but maybe not for me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. oh I just love the perfect beach type read. And yay for a female skateboarder, you see that so rarely in books.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, the female skateboarder is a pretty cool addition - thanks something I never see. But otherwise the whole thing looks too cutesy for me - the punny title (I loathe titles with puns, such a pet peeve), the cutesy cover - just not my thing. It's hard when you have issues with the main character... makes it so tough to really get invested.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I love this trope, sub-genre, setting: My Best Friend's Brother/My Brother's Best Friend

I Love This Trope, Sub-Genre, Setting is a new feature on my blog in which I discuss a trope, sub-genre or setting that I love and tell you about books that are shining examples of said trope, sub-genre or setting.  Feel free to play along and please let me know about your favorite books in this realm and whether you like this trope, sub-genre and/or setting as much as I do! Today I am spotlighting the trope of:  My Best Friend's Brother/My Brother's Best Friend , which I would define as any book where the heroine either has a crush on or falls for her brother's best friend or her best friend's brother. I have to confess that I love this trope in nearly all of its iterations!  I have a younger brother so I never got to crush on any of his friends but it's fun reading about that and it's equally as fun as reading about falling for your best friend's brother -- instant sisters!  I know there are a ton

Conversations With Myself (& Hopefully You): ARC Greed

This discussion is inspired by my feelings lately when reading and reviewing ARCs versus the feelings I had when I requested those same ARCs: ARC GREED ARC greed -- have we all experienced this?  What I even mean by this term is that I sometimes feel overwhelmed when looking at Netgalley and Edelweiss and  I sometimes over-request, if only because I can!  I get greedy when I see all the new and shiny ARCs available and I will sometimes request things that have even a hint of interest for me, not necessarily focusing only on those books that I really, really want.  The problem with this over-requesting and with getting greedy with requesting (and receiving) ARCs is when it comes time to read and review these ARCs.  Last month and this month, I have looked at my ARCs with a release date in each respective month and I just haven't wanted to read any of them.  I need to start asking myself -- If I was immediately approved for this ARC, would I read it right thi

Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For the Rest of 2015

Top Ten Tuesday  is hosted by the fab ladies at  The Broke and the Bookish ! What books are you anticipating for the rest of this year?