mishale1's review against another edition
3.0
Carmen comes home to help with her family winery. Her father was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Her sisters call her in a panic when they realize that the winery is doing so badly that her poor father is in debt and at risk of losing his winery.
When Carmen gets back home, she immediately forms a love/hate relationship with the man next door , Evan. He is trying to buy her father’s winery.
She seems to see Evan as everything that’s wrong in her world. She hates that her dad might lose his beloved winery and she blames a lot of that on Evan. Evan is very wealthy from his previous career in technology. She hates that he can throw his money around and just try to buy whatever he wants. And she also thinks that he could not possibly really care about his winery or her dad’s winery.
She’s very attracted to him and thinks she would like him under different circumstances. If they weren’t each other’s competitor, maybe they could have been perfect together, she thinks.
But because they are competition, they both start acting very childishly trying to win. I really didn’t like the way they handled it in the beginning. Both of them had weddings booked at their respective winery. His happened first and Carmen made every attempt to sabotage it. When Evan found out what Carmen did, he made every attempt to sabotage the wedding at her winery. I really didn’t like that because I’m supposed to believe they are both decent people, what decent person would ruin someone else’s wedding day? I don’t think either one felt any remorse over it either. I was incredibly grateful that it only happened at the beginning of the book.
I liked Carmen and her sisters’ ideas to get people to help at the winery. I thought that was clever and entertaining and it brought the sisters closer.
The book didn’t focus on the sisters much, I appreciated that because I felt it made sense for it to tell one story at a time. This looks like it’s going to be a series, so I bet each gets her own book.
I really liked the sideline characters Stella and Paulo.
I got to read an early ebook edition from NetGalley. Thanks!
Her sisters call her in a panic when they realize that the winery is doing so badly that her poor father is in debt and at risk of losing his winery.
When Carmen gets back home, she immediately forms a love/hate relationship with the man next door , Evan. He is trying to buy her father’s winery.
She seems to see Evan as everything that’s wrong in her world. She hates that her dad might lose his beloved winery and she blames a lot of that on Evan. Evan is very wealthy from his previous career in technology. She hates that he can throw his money around and just try to buy whatever he wants. And she also thinks that he could not possibly really care about his winery or her dad’s winery.
She’s very attracted to him and thinks she would like him under different circumstances. If they weren’t each other’s competitor, maybe they could have been perfect together, she thinks.
But because they are competition, they both start acting very childishly trying to win. I really didn’t like the way they handled it in the beginning. Both of them had weddings booked at their respective winery. His happened first and Carmen made every attempt to sabotage it. When Evan found out what Carmen did, he made every attempt to sabotage the wedding at her winery. I really didn’t like that because I’m supposed to believe they are both decent people, what decent person would ruin someone else’s wedding day? I don’t think either one felt any remorse over it either. I was incredibly grateful that it only happened at the beginning of the book.
I liked Carmen and her sisters’ ideas to get people to help at the winery. I thought that was clever and entertaining and it brought the sisters closer.
The book didn’t focus on the sisters much, I appreciated that because I felt it made sense for it to tell one story at a time. This looks like it’s going to be a series, so I bet each gets her own book.
I really liked the sideline characters Stella and Paulo.
I got to read an early ebook edition from NetGalley. Thanks!
hobbitualreader's review
4.0
Although this is a gorgeous summer Romance, for me the romantic aspect took a back seat to the much more important story of a close knit family pulling together in a time of need. Juan Alveraz has worked tirelessly ever since he moved to America from Mexico in order to build a life for himself and for his family, especially since losing his wife and becoming a single parent to his three daughters. The Vineyard means more than just money to Juan, it’s a lifetime of backbreaking work and memories, so it’s devastating to know that it’s started to fall into disrepair as he struggled with the upkeep.
Carmen doesn’t know the first thing about making wine despite growing up on a Vineyard, but returning home makes her see just how important it is to her and she’s determined to save it as the debts owed to the bank mount up. Coming home to Orchard house reminds Carmen of the importance of family as she’s surrounded by the memories of growing up among the vines. As Carmen and her sisters come up with ideas to save the Vineyard, Evan Hollister seems to be sabotaging them at every turn. Evan infuriates her, but she finds it difficult to keep away. There was definitely a love/hate thing between the two of them, and if it wasn’t for the fact that they were in competition with each other they could have had a much simpler relationship. The rivalry made the story all the more compelling however, keeping me interested and giggling away at the one-upmanship between the pair.
There was definitely more to Evan than Carmen realised however. Evan feels a strong need for approval from Juan and is made to feel like an outsider in the small town of Chelan. People like him have got a bad reputation in the town, as they drive their sports cars around too fast and buy all the land, driving up costs and pricing out the locals. This does tend to cloud everyone’s judgement of Evan, as although he does want to buy the land from the Alvarez’s, he really isn’t as bad as they all think, but he certainly goes the wrong way about trying to gain the approval he so desires. The alternating chapters shed some light on Evan’s true intent and why he wants to become part of the small community, as well as showing that he’s just as affected by Carmen as she is by him. It would have been so easy to carry on sparring with each other if it wasn’t for a major disaster forcing them to put aside their differences and work together.
Lastly I want to talk about the gorgeous setting. Picture lush green fields, vines bursting with gorgeous fruit, beautiful mountains and a glistening lake and throw in bright sunshine and small town charm. Reading this on a warm summers day it was easy to imagine sipping fragrant wine on a patio overlooking the lake and gazing at the mountains, and then I had to stop dreaming. I could get some wine and look at my pond in the garden, which is the best I can do for now.
Carmen doesn’t know the first thing about making wine despite growing up on a Vineyard, but returning home makes her see just how important it is to her and she’s determined to save it as the debts owed to the bank mount up. Coming home to Orchard house reminds Carmen of the importance of family as she’s surrounded by the memories of growing up among the vines. As Carmen and her sisters come up with ideas to save the Vineyard, Evan Hollister seems to be sabotaging them at every turn. Evan infuriates her, but she finds it difficult to keep away. There was definitely a love/hate thing between the two of them, and if it wasn’t for the fact that they were in competition with each other they could have had a much simpler relationship. The rivalry made the story all the more compelling however, keeping me interested and giggling away at the one-upmanship between the pair.
There was definitely more to Evan than Carmen realised however. Evan feels a strong need for approval from Juan and is made to feel like an outsider in the small town of Chelan. People like him have got a bad reputation in the town, as they drive their sports cars around too fast and buy all the land, driving up costs and pricing out the locals. This does tend to cloud everyone’s judgement of Evan, as although he does want to buy the land from the Alvarez’s, he really isn’t as bad as they all think, but he certainly goes the wrong way about trying to gain the approval he so desires. The alternating chapters shed some light on Evan’s true intent and why he wants to become part of the small community, as well as showing that he’s just as affected by Carmen as she is by him. It would have been so easy to carry on sparring with each other if it wasn’t for a major disaster forcing them to put aside their differences and work together.
Lastly I want to talk about the gorgeous setting. Picture lush green fields, vines bursting with gorgeous fruit, beautiful mountains and a glistening lake and throw in bright sunshine and small town charm. Reading this on a warm summers day it was easy to imagine sipping fragrant wine on a patio overlooking the lake and gazing at the mountains, and then I had to stop dreaming. I could get some wine and look at my pond in the garden, which is the best I can do for now.
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