Review: Drunk on Love

Drunk on Love by Jasmine Guillory
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 60%.

Margot Noble and her brother Elliott co-own a winery in Napa Valley after it was left to them jointly by their uncle Stan. It was a shock to both siblings as Elliott was the only one working in the winery, while Margot was working in advertising and marketing in the city. Nevertheless, despite the friction, the winery is very successful and is taking on more staff to run the wine tastings and tours while Margot concentrates on growing the business and Elliott concentrates on growing the vines.

After yet another fractious discussion with Elliott where he resists all her attempts to grow the business, or reluctantly accepts with bad grace, and announces that he has hired a new guy to help with the wine tastings, Margot finds herself in the bar run by her BFF Sydney. Sydney recommends that Margot unwind and take her mind off things by flirting with the young(er) guy sitting next to her at the bar.

In true rom-com tradition, the guy, Luke Williams, just happens to be the man that Elliott hired. A former high-flyer in Silicon Valley, Luke quit in a moment of stress/burn-out and has temporarily moved back home to Napa Valley to be closer to his BFF Avery who has just gone through a nasty break-up. Although he originally intended to do nothing, he decided he would get bored and so applied for a job which was totally different from anything he'd done before (which BTW must be super irritating to people who stud for years to know all about the wines being offered and this book makes it seem like you can pick it up in a couple of weeks).

Margot says she doesn't want to talk about work and they never share last names so it's a bit of an unwelcome surprise when the morning after the night before Luke discovers that Margot is one of his new bosses. Margot is desperate to keep their one-night stand from Elliott as she thinks it will be further evidence that she shouldn't be co-owner of the winery, even though the business was not doing well until she came along.

I have really enjoyed the other Jasmine Guillory books I have read and so I was delighted when I got approved for an ARC. Sadly although this was competently written (naturally), there was no spark, the angst felt by Luke and Margot over their attraction and one-night stand goes on and on and on. Also, I get that the Williams and the Nobles are black, which makes them unusual in the mainly white Napa Valley, but how many times do they need to say it to each other and in exactly those words? I also got unreasonably irritated by how many times Margot put her hair up in a bun, a sleek top knot, a messy bun, just a bun, FFS who cares!

Anyway, there's a few side plots eg the rom-com staple of pretending to be dating someone else, Luke's ex boss being a racist/terrible boss etc but it was just dragging no real plot advancement just longing looks and angst about their age difference and their one night stand yadda yadda. Sorry just not for me.

I was honestly hoping/expecting that this was a rerelease of an earlier book, but no sadly this is a new release.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.

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