I absolutely loved this one. Birdy is thirty one years old, and she is has yet to figure out her life. When her best friend drops out of a Summer Job without notice, Birdy decides to pretend to be her. How hard could it be?

I loved the setting of this book, the characters are so lovable and funny. The book did kind of give me a little stress thinking about how she could pull it off. The Summer Job did have a few situations that would get kind of heavy. I loved everything about this book and will definitely purchase it when it releases.

Thanks you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Awesome read, engaging and fun. Enjoyed it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read! Great plot, and I couldn't figure out how it was all going to work out until the very end. I loved and related to the main characters struggle of trying to find a clear space and passion in life, something I think a lot of 20-somethings struggle with. I haven't read many books like this, reminded me a little of Sweetbitter in terms of her learning her way around the wine and restaurant life etc. But this book addresses a variety of issues and struggles. And also made me want to appreciate my wine more! Definitely recommend.

Woof, this was sooo swoony.

This literally read like a feel good rom-com that we've all come to know and love, even though this was totally original.

I can see this on film and I really want to see it happen. If you love romance books that will make you laugh out loud, cry, and swoon for the characters, pick this up.

This is a great book! The main character, Elizabeth "Birdy" Finch is in a rut -- no job, a casual relationship, and crashing with her best friend from childhood, Heather, who is a successful sommelier. Heather is scheduled to work the summer at a hotel and restaurant in Scotland and is renting out her apartment, leaving Birdy with nowhere to stay. At the last minute, Heather decides to go to Italy with her boyfriend and abandon the job in Scotland -- and she asks Birdy to let them know she won't be coming.

Simple enough? Maybe not. Through a series of events, Birdy instead takes the job as Heather, despite knowing next to nothing about wine based on a mistaken understanding that the inn and restaurant are run down with a limited wine program. When she arrives, though, she learns that the inn and restaurant have undergone a massive renovation, with a star chef now overseeing the kitchen and a goal to become a destination for those seeking a luxury hotel experience in Scotland. Birdy knows she is out of her depth, but she decides to stick it out, with both predictable and very unpredictable results.

This was a really good read. Although the novel is being compared to other popular ones, I found it to be quite original -- a terrific mix of a story about a newbie learning about restaurants and wine, a story about someone in their early 30s facing the quiet devastation of unmet expectations, a story of a small town, and a story of co-workers who become something life family. This combination made The Summer Job something all its own, and a great, funny, and warm-hearted spring read.

Highly recommended!

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for this eARC!

When Birdie's lifelong friend and roommate, Heather decides to skip out on a sommelier job at a run-down Scottish hotel and go to Italy with a bad boyfriend instead, Birdie goes in her place. She doesn't know much about wine, but in her defense, she didn't think she'd find a renovated hotel and a restaurant striving for a Michelin star, plus she really didn't have anywhere else to go. Birdie pretends to be Heather and for the first time in a long time begins to try.

This is definitely more of a book about Birdie's self-actualization than a romance, but there is some swoon here mostly for Scotland (but also for a Scottish man).

This was very fun, and YES I do want to go to the West coast of Scotland now. Take me to the loch!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this free ARC in exchange for a honest review. This review will be published on Goodreads and an upcoming feature on our bookstagram account @2ofakindle.

I flew through this book, I finished it within two days because I just had to find out how Birdy would get herself out of this mess, and what would happen to the rest of the cast of characters I had come to love. This book is the perfect summer read, whether you're at the beach, exploring abroad, or even just avoiding the heat inside.

Birdy Finch is a hot mess, there's no way around it. But, she's a loveable hot mess. Birdy decides to step in for her friend, a professional sommelier, at a Scottish hotel. Only problem is, she didn't tell anyone, even the friend, that she was doing it. What follows of course are the silly snafus that come with stolen identity, falling in love in the precarious position, and figuring out who she was meant to be all along. This book was a wonderful feel-good adventure.

Review also posted on the Blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

Impersonating your best friend and pretending to be a World-Class Sommelier at a Scottish Hotel? Sounds easy enough, right? Baawwahh!

Birdy Finch’s life is kind of a disaster, thus when an opportunity arises for her to go to Scotland in her best friend Heather’s place and pretend to be a Sommelier for the summer, Birdy takes it. So what if she knows absolutely nothing about wine.

Once Birdy arrives at the Hotel, she realizes the job is going to be a lot more difficult than she realized and so it begins.

The hardest part? Studying and memorizing the wine list and googling food pairings for over 140 wines.

Oh, and opening a Champagne bottle. Who knew it was so hard? Good thing the only eye she poked out was her own!

Birdy’s, (oh I mean “Heather’s”) winning personality saves the day a million times over and helps her win the heart of James, the gorgeous chef at the hotel.

Sweet, funny, and oh so endearing, “The Summer Job” by Lizzy Dent won me over from the get-go and I have a feeling it will do the same for you.

This is the Perfect Summer Read!

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam - G.P. Putnam’s Sons & NetGalley for the arc.

Published on Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram.

You know when you have secondhand embarrassment? Embarrassed for someone else because of their terrible decisions? This was me for the majority of this book because of the main character. Birdy makes a terrible decision to go and impersonate her best friend (a sommelier) at a swanky Scottish hotel for the summer. A ton of cringey moments occurs, but by the end of the books, I was cheering for Birdy and her hot mess life. Overall, a sweet, fun read (once you get past all of the secondhand embarrassment).

Y'all. This book is delightful, anxiety-inducing, and a welcome tale of adulthood for complicated people. I normally really hate the maintain-the-lie type tropes, but this book did it in a nuanced way. The slow-burn romance is sweet and Birdy finding herself/her passions is hopeful. A fun and interesting book!

Stand back, Bridget Jones and make way for Elizabeth Finch, AKA, Birdy who has accepted a summer job at a remote hotel/restaurant in Scotland as a wine sommelier. The only problem is, Birdy knows nothing about wine and is pretending to be her best friend, Heather, the one who was hired for the actual job. What could possibly go wrong? This book is a fun, summer read. Birdy is a likeable character who is trying to discover who she is and where she belongs. I found myself rooting for her throughout the story.

I have a tough time getting into books when the big plot device is " let's see how horribly the main character can mess up her life before someone notices." That said, the characters who aren't Birdy are sweet and mostly fun to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Putnam for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun getaway to the Scottish countryside but I almost couldn't enjoy it because I was constantly waiting for the inevitable fallout. I loved that this dealt with some serious topics like addiction and self image but what really kept me going were the side characters that really made the story feel complete.
I really couldn't feel for the main character, Birdy. Of course, she had a terrible childhood and unresolved trauma but she was telling the biggest lie to everyone in her life and was also extremely selfish the whole way through. For me, the most frustrating was that she didn't really feel any repercussions besides the cold shoulder from her friend for 3 days.

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam/G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me an advance copy of Lizzy Dent’s women’s fiction novel, The Summer Job, in exchange for an honest review.

To anyone blindly reaching for #TheSummerJob because they caught a glimpse of the comparison to Emily Henry’s Beach Read, allow me to quickly dispel those notions, so that this novel receives the appreciation it deserves. Oftentimes, book blurbs deceive readers into thinking a book will be similar to one of their favorite novels, which ultimately leads to disappointment, even if the other book is good; just different than its preconception.

The novel is also billed as a romance. Spoiler alert: it is not. #TheSummerJob leans more towards women’s fiction with a hint of beach read (the genre, not the book). While the story does contain a burgeoning romance, it never fully blossoms in the way that a reader would expect if they found this novel shelved in the romance section. Instead, this story is really about a 31-year-old woman named Birdy who is trying to find herself as she navigates adulthood.

If that sounds boring to you, I can promise you that it is not. The book is absolutely hilarious. There were points where I literally laughed out loud at the dialogue. For this reason, I can see why someone would want to compare it to Beach Read. However, that is where the similarities end.

Birdy and Heather have been best friends since childhood. They are practically family. When Heather announces that she is staying in Italy with her beau for the summer and renting out their apartment on Airbnb, Birdy realizes she is about to be both homeless and unemployed for the next several months.

Then two events occur that ultimately lead to Birdy accepting what was supposed to be Heather’s summer job. She effectively solves her homeless and unemployment problems by impersonating Heather and becoming the sommelier at an upscale hotel in Scotland.

From the way the author describes it, Scotland sounds stunning. The vivid imagery used to convey the scenery made me want to hop on a plane immediately. Scotland apparently appealed to Birdy as well since she gained confidence there, albeit in someone else’s shoes. She fakes her way through a menu of 124 types of wine, leaning on a younger colleague and bartender for support. She befriends everyone on the waitstaff and starts to fall for James, the chef at Loch Dorn.

The novel has not yet been released, so I cannot give too much away or else there will be nothing left for readers to discover. There are also a number of hysterical quotes that I am itching to post and guess I will need to update this review once its published. One other thing that I am interested in seeing how other readers react—let me know if any of you thought that this could have been a suspense/horror novel at first. I’m curious.

Overall, #TheSummerJob is a feel-good novel. The cast of characters are a delight and the reader gets to watch some of them grow over the course of the summer. There are some serious parts throughout, but for the most part, the mood remains relatively bright.

THE SUMMER JOB is just a delight! Dent explores how those of us who had truly neglectful, dreadful parents finally learn how to trust ourselves and flourish in adulthood. Birdy's life is one the brink of disaster; she has lost her place to live and her best friend Heather is leaving for Spain and Birdy is supposed to explain to Heather's new employer why she will not be taking the job after all. Instead, Birdy decides to try to do the job herself - how hard can being a sommelier really be, right? Wrong! But in the course of the summer Birdy learns a lot both about herself and wine and both creates and averts catastrophes in equal measure. THE SUMMER JOB is both hilarious and poignant and I loved it.

Birdy doesn't have a lot going for her: she has a messed up family life, a less than respectful sort-of boyfriend, and a string of failed jobs. But the best thing in her life is her best friend Heather, a beautiful, cultured wine expert. When Heather offers Birdy a chance to go to a wine event in her place, and the owner of a hotel in Scotland mistakenly thinks that Birdy is Heather, Birdy finds herself with a job as a sommelier in Scotland, posing as Heather, but with minimal serving experience and no wine knowledge. The setup is cringeworthy, but Birdy's journey to be a better person, her immersion in the culture of food and wine, and the Scottish setting will hook the reader and keep you immersed to the end. Detailed food and wine descriptions from an author with a background in the food industry are icing on the cake. A fun and delicious combination of Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler, Delicious! by Ruth Reichl, and a Sophie Kinsella romcom with plenty of humor and heart.

What a fun, breezy read! This book catapulted me into the Scotland summer and I didn't want to leave. It featured charming characters, a stunning setting, flawed people, and romance. What more could you want? Birdy irritated me at times, but I would be irritating too, if I were in that situation. Overall, this was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon!

SWIRL SNIFF SIP SWISH SAVOR 🍷

My absolute favorite vacation is meandering through wine country, and wine tasting in the tasting rooms.

So, I knew this ROM COM would be perfect for me!

Heather, a trained Sommelier, has decided to ditch the Summer Job she had applied for at the Highland Scottish hotel, in exchange for Italy, and a chance at love with Christian. But, she is afraid to make the call informing them of her decision.

Her best friend. Birdy, volunteers to let them know, but in need of a place to live, while Heather is in Italy, she ends up, taking the job in Heather’s place.

Just two itty bitty problems..

She doesn’t take the posting in her own name, so they think they are still getting Heather.,
And, she knows next to nothing about wine or pairing foods, and their new wine list is rather extensive!

She had no idea how hard it actually is to become a Sommelier!

I thought the jig would be up as soon as she placed a bottle of champagne between her legs for leverage when a cork decided to give her a bit of trouble...🍾

But, she manages to live to fumble through another day!
And, maybe even find her own chance at love with the hot chef, James. ❤️

This comedy of errors is perfect for wine enthusiasts, foodies and gals who think that a man who can cook, among others things, is deliciously SEXY!

CAN A WOMAN FIND HER TRUE SELF WHILE PRETENDING TO BE SOMEONE ELSE?

I enjoyed finding out!
Available May 18, 2021

Thank You to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for my gifted ARC provided through NetGalley!
It was my pleasure to provide a candid review!

Birdy is not a sommelier, but if she can convince everyone that she works with that she is she might just be able to save her summer job,

This book had so many things I love, wine, food, the Scottish coast. I really like books that have characters work in the hospitality industry, especially restaurants and this book is no exception. I really loved all the characters that worked at the Inn, but I did run hot and cold on Birdy. I understand why she did what she did, but part of me wanted to yell at her to be a grown up and deal with her stuff instead of potentially sabotaging her best friends entire career. Overall though I did really enjoy the book.