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A review by xakyr
The Vintner's Vixen by Rebecca Norinne, Jamaila Brinkley
2.0
FTC DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED AN E-ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER THROUGH INKSLINGER PR. I VOLUNTARILY OFFER MY HONEST REVIEW OF THE BOOK, THOUGH IT IS NOT EXPECTED OF ME! RECEIPT OF THIS BOOK IN THIS MANNER DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION OF THE BOOK OR THE CONTENT OF MY REVIEW!
I've been struggling with Ms. Norinne's writing since being asked to read and review her Dublin Rugby series, so when I was asked to read and review this one, I took a chance on it, hoping that the addition of a second writer to her work would make for a more interesting and engaging book. It did, to a degree, but it wasn't enough to keep me engaged with the book.
First of all, I had a MAJOR annoyance with one sentence in this book! The women really needed a fact checker, editor, something, because when you add a line in your book specifically naming characters from a franchise as beloved as Star Wars, you had best be sure to get the names correct, or you raise the ire of every self proclaimed geek that reads your work! I quote the book directly: "Why don't you sit for a few minutes and we can debate the sheer idiocy of Padma falling for Anakin." Ladies, it is Padmé Amidala, NOT Padma! A simple Google search of "Queen Amidala" would have gotten the correct spelling for the authors in seconds, but a mistake of this magnitude tells me that they didn't care about the line/book enough to do their research properly, if at all. Yes, it is an uncorrected proof of the book, but the line is worded in such a way that I can easily see the mistake making it into the final copy of the book. I pretty much lost all respect for the work at 21% in, not something that you want to do so early in the story.
Secondly, the "relationship" kept ping-ponging back and forth between states of being. It felt less like an actual romance and more like an erotic novel, because it was so focused on the "hook up", rather than anything meaningful. This is largely in part to Noah's hang-ups, but Angelica didn't help matters either. She felt too much like a doormat to Noah's demands/issues.
The book was a quick enough read, thankfully not suffering from the "padding" that I found came with Ms. Norinne's Rugby series, but ultimately, much as I enjoy novels set around winemaking, I recommend avoiding this one.
I've been struggling with Ms. Norinne's writing since being asked to read and review her Dublin Rugby series, so when I was asked to read and review this one, I took a chance on it, hoping that the addition of a second writer to her work would make for a more interesting and engaging book. It did, to a degree, but it wasn't enough to keep me engaged with the book.
First of all, I had a MAJOR annoyance with one sentence in this book! The women really needed a fact checker, editor, something, because when you add a line in your book specifically naming characters from a franchise as beloved as Star Wars, you had best be sure to get the names correct, or you raise the ire of every self proclaimed geek that reads your work! I quote the book directly: "Why don't you sit for a few minutes and we can debate the sheer idiocy of Padma falling for Anakin." Ladies, it is Padmé Amidala, NOT Padma! A simple Google search of "Queen Amidala" would have gotten the correct spelling for the authors in seconds, but a mistake of this magnitude tells me that they didn't care about the line/book enough to do their research properly, if at all. Yes, it is an uncorrected proof of the book, but the line is worded in such a way that I can easily see the mistake making it into the final copy of the book. I pretty much lost all respect for the work at 21% in, not something that you want to do so early in the story.
Secondly, the "relationship" kept ping-ponging back and forth between states of being. It felt less like an actual romance and more like an erotic novel, because it was so focused on the "hook up", rather than anything meaningful. This is largely in part to Noah's hang-ups, but Angelica didn't help matters either. She felt too much like a doormat to Noah's demands/issues.
The book was a quick enough read, thankfully not suffering from the "padding" that I found came with Ms. Norinne's Rugby series, but ultimately, much as I enjoy novels set around winemaking, I recommend avoiding this one.