i was so excited for this small town/enemies to lovers book, but if i'm being completely honest - it just wasn't that good. i loved the idea of it and i was so excited to read it, but the plot was just blah. there were SO many cringey moments and i found myself skipping a ton of scenes. the story also lacked depth and the character development was so bland. if it were better developed and executed, i think this book could have been really great.

thank you to netgalley and one more chapter for the arc copy!

For how much I’ve tried enjoying this as much as the previous book from One More Chapter I just couldn’t for the life of me.
Don’t get me wrong the first chapters absolutely sucked me into the book but throughout the story everything felt too rushed and my love for the characters diminished.
I feel like if the slow burn stayed a little while longer it would’ve been the absolute perfect…….
I don’t know man i wanted to love this so much but couldn’t connect just the same

Thank you HarperCollins Uk and One More Chapter for the chance to read this book!!! 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

Corkscrew You is a “quick enemies” to lovers/opposites attract book that had a lot of depth!

Shelby is trying to keep her father’s winery afloat - and Nate shows up and is “here to help” much to her disapproval! They face so many obstacles trying to navigate her fathers business and their attraction to each other.

This book felt a little too rushed for me - they loved each other way too quick for my taste. It felt like there were so many issues they kept dealing with and it just gave me a headache!

I do think the plot had a lot more depth than their relationship, and focused on the importance of family and I liked that!

Overall, I thought it was okay - just had a couple of things that aren’t my favorite in romance book (which is more of a personal preference TBH!).

I think those who enjoy faster paced relationship would like this book!

Thank you NetGalley and One More Chapter for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First of all, thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book before it’s published.

Shelby has to take over her dad’s business and will need help with certain things. Nathan is supposed to help her with future plans and finances, but whilst they are talking business, they fall for each other.
Their romance is fast burn and for my liking it was way too fast how they fell for each other.

After they did fall for each other, things got complicated and family matters got in a way of building their relationship.

The last 30% of the book were hard to read as it sadly wasn’t pulling me in.

( one star )

when i read the synopsis, i was really excited for this book. it also had the vibes of tessa bailey’s unfortunately yours so i was looking forward to it. unfortunately, it didn’t serve like i thought it would.

shelby (the heroine) needs to save her family’s winery after her father’s passing so she finds an investor to help her build it up. the investor tells her that she needs to give the reins to nate (the hero) to manage the commercial side of things while she handles the winemaking and that it’s a part of the contract that cannot be negotiated. shelby doesn’t approve of the whole nate idea but she goes with it because she needs to protect her family’s business. her and nate’s story takes off from here.

the story lacked depth and nothing was happening so it felt a bit… bland + the plot was really weak. i don’t like insta-love in romance, and nate was in love with shelby and getting jealous in chapter eight. i think this book had the potential to be a great enemies to lovers, if the story was better executed, if the author gave the characters more history and depth and of course, if nate didn’t fall in love too quickly.

thank you netgalley and one more chapter for providing me with an arc for an honest review. <3

I really enjoyed this book! It was lighthearted but also touched on serious family feelings in a way that was relatable, both Nate and Shelby were very likeable characters and all of the side characters were introduced to were very likeable to! I can’t wait to see how things develop with the other characters in this series.

Dislike to love as opposites attract in this cute love story!

Shelby is the type of person to go with the flow. Nate is so Type A he forces the flow to bend to him. Like oil and water the two couldn't be more opposite. But when Shelby's late father's winery is failing, she needs Nate to give her more structure so she can focus on what she's good at, winemaking. As the two work together, they find out that maybe they have more in common than they thought...

This was a cute love story! I love Nate's siblings and Shelby's friends! All the secondary characters had unique personalities and I appreciate all the fierce women. I also really like the discussion around Shelby's grief, her rough patch after lossing her father, and her feelings of abandonment even when she knew her family was there for her. These parts were deep and made Shelby more human, not just the endearing non-cursing sweetheart.

My one holdup with this novel is the timeline. I think the characters fell too fast for no reason. The book takes place over like 2-3 weeks and within 1 week, the characters are already secretly in love with each other. This book isn't forced to have a quick timeline like when its a vacation romance. To me, the rushed timeline made no sense.

Overall, it was an enjoyable quick read with lots of wholesome family moments!

Rating: 3.5/5
Spice Level: 2/5

Note: I got this book for free from NetGalley, but this review is my own and left voluntarily.

I’m not sure why the early reviews of this book are so poor because I thought Corkscrew You was super cute. I love wine and romance, so this was the perfect book for me! I read the entire book in one sitting. I’m so excited this is part of a series because there are more wine books coming! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

Unfortunately this one was a miss for me. The premise was great, hate to love with forced proximity? Working together to save her family’s winery? Grumpy/sunshine? Yes yes yes. But they went from just met, to like, to love way too quickly for me. I usually enjoy insta-love, but their progression just didn’t feel natural to me.

Would be happy to try to the next one by this author to see more of the great side characters!
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

☆ insta love
☆ grumpy/sunshine

Didn’t really like the MMC. He is the worst kind of man to exist and I just did not like him. Everything was moving too fast.

The FMC felt very childish and would replace swear words with other words and that just made her seem even more childish.

I don’t know, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Corkscrew You is a light-hearted rom-com set in the wine country, a la Tessa Bailey's series with Secretly Yours, which I absolutely loved -- and this book was nearly just as fun! Both our main characters, Shelby and Nate are lovable heroes who have are coming to terms with the loss of their father. Shelby's saddled with fighting for her pride and joy, her wine farm, which previously relied solely on local support and the gravitas of her father. Nate is our Harvard-educated pretty business boy, sent to help rescue the finances of the farm, while also grappling with his father's refusal to utilize modern medicine to survive a diagnosis of viral myocarditis (more on this later...)

What I loved about this book was the way in which it subverted cliches, but still managed to hold tension and stay cozy. For example, our big boss owner of the farm is a family friend of Nate's and admirer of Shelby and her father; he remains warm and understanding throughout the book, instead of this big bad investor. Our small town comprised of a constantly suspicious baker, an incredibly wealthy but also kind and thoughtful hotel owner, and the two best friends of Shelby, who are both intriguing in their own right. I'm particularly excited to see a book for Jordan and Brandon, pleaaaase!

Our two characters fell quick - my one only tiny gripe with this book. It felt like by chapter 3, Nate was already thinking he was in-love with Shelby - which was much, much too fast for me, considering they barely knew each other and Nate was getting over a fiance jilting him. What I did love about this, though, was their quick descent into spicy times. I can fully appreciate a book that spreads its sex scenes throughout while still having plot - yay! Also, I could use a little bit less French. It was just a weird bit that took me out of the story constantly.

I also appreciated both of our families -- Shelby's family clearly loves her, but has their own lives and have all but abandoned her and the farm. Nate's family is big and driven, AND his father is sort of realistic, but definitely clearly frustrating in way that I was able to relate to. Now, because I'm a medical student, I can't help but comment on the realism of this, which by the way, is genuinely very accurate to medicine. The imminent fear of him falling dead at any moment is a bit odd with a viral myocarditis or dilated cardiomyopathy, since it would be relatively rare and not something I'd necessarily feel incredibly anxious about, until he actually had an arrhythmia episode. Buuut, given this is a man who is reluctant to take meds and had a whole section on the CoQ enzyme, eh, I'm willing to suspend some belief and just be frustrated with Nate's family. I certainly would be, and the author certainly set up enough familial anxiety around it. I'd give anything to slap some sense in this man.

Ultimately, this was an incredibly fun read - I loved loved our cast of characters (again, please give me Jordan and Ava's story!!!!!) and will absolutely be reading sequels to come. Can't wait for our silent grump of a Cam to be a main character!! Giving this book a full 4.5 stars, with a 3.5 for spice!!

3 ⭐️ It takes hard work to save a vineyard!
Thank you so much Net Galley for the eARC!

Nate has been hired to help Shelby's family-owned Flora Valley Wines get out of debt after her father's passing. Although they seem focused on their differences at first, they know they ultimately want the same thing: for the vineyard to succeed. But money and soul are two very diametrically different concepts, and success looks differently depending on what it is you want most.

This book scraped by the three-star mark, but barely. It was rom-com-y and cute, and although I really like the premise and the side characters, the MMC was a big problem for me. He is basically just a walking, talking alphahole who decides, out of nowhere, that he's in love with her. I usually love instalove, instalust stories, but this one didn't make sense at all. They have a couple of conversations, in which he keeps thinking how terrible she is and how he wishes he could hit her so hard she passed out and stopped talking... I wish I was kidding. And, although I'm sure these things could work for someone else, I'm not that someone. I liked Shelby, the FMC, well enough. She was more of a cry-baby push-over than I would have liked, but then again a good cry is good every now and then, and there's an important part of this book that focuses on mental health and grief. The ending was cute, and I love the chances for other stand-alones in this series.

Apart from the terrible MMC, my biggest problem with this book was the writing. It felt so unnatural and the grammar was so odd at times. Why say 'thank you, thank you' every time, even to yourself in your own head? That was another thing, this book has Dual POV changing from Nate to Shelby, and they do this thing where they talk to themselves in the third person and then answer themselves too, in their heads. The narration doesn't stop or show any punctuation to signal there's a change in tone or anything like that, but there were questions and answers. It was just weird.

🌶🌶 - There are a couple of s*x scenes, but they're not particularly great, imo. Except for the key lime pie one. That one was good.


This review has already been posted on Goodreads!

i’d like to begin with idea of the book. i loved it, i really did! she had to work with him to save her father’s winery? it’s so good, but the way it was written i did not enjoy as much. the writing was easy and quick but the plot was moving so fast. by chapter 8 he was already in love with her and later on with each chapter their relationship was moving with a speed of light. it felt like everything was happening in a period of a month.
characters: i think characters were okay. i liked both of them as well as supportive characters. the atmosphere was comforting and at the same time professional. i definitely not a pet person but shelby’s little friends were cute. also i liked shelby’s confidence and her motivation to keep winery working even though her close person was not around.
scenes: love scenes were bad. they were a little cringy and i did not enjoy them. most of the time i skipped them.

This books story telling was quite choppy so it made it difficult to get through. The romance was cute though and I liked Shelby as a character!

Thank you so much to HarperCollins UK, NetGalley and the author for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

As much as it pains me, I will not be finishing this book. I was drawn in by the enemies to lovers premise and the gorgeous cover design, but unfortunately I quickly realized the book wasn't going to be for me.

I occasionally enjoy fast-paced romances, but I didn't realize there was not going to be a slow burn at all, and the relationship between Nathan and Shelby simply didn't appeal to me.

I'm sure this book will be great for people who have slightly different taste than mine in romance books though, and I always encourage everyone to try for themselves and not judge a book too harshly based on other people's opinion. I will give the book three stars because I still might pick up the next book in the series!

For me, this is a 3.5 star read, but I rated it 3 stars, as platforms don’t let you give physical ‘halves.’

This wasn’t a bad effort at all.
I love a small town romance, and this was an easy read.

I didn’t mind the pacing of the plot, but what bothered me was the initial lack of chemistry between the two love interests. He’s supposedly falling in love with her, but there were no ‘little acts’ of ‘love’ between them until around 30/ 40% into the book. I think this could have been remedied with small amounts of flirtation spread through to support this.

I found the ‘on again/ off again’ relationship really quite annoying. It felt overdone. I don’t mind this two times max in a book, but for it to occur more than this is quite alienating and tiresome.

I initially requested this book because I thought a wine/ vineyard setting was an unusual one, but I felt that this plot line occasionally got lost in favour of ‘family turmoil’ plots. I’d have liked it to have a more prominent role- actually having the characters care for the vineyard/ harvest the grapes, etc.

Yes, I’d still recommend this one, because it was still a fun and enjoyable read.

Corkscrew You by Catherine Robertson had potential, but fell a little short. This forced proximity romance set at a vineyard follows Shelby, the wine maker, and Nate the business man hired to turn things around financially. Content warning, there's a heavy portion of the book that discusses the loss of a parent (Shelby's dad) and a sick parent (Nate's dad). Overall, the story is full of ups and downs, but left me wanting more. I actually found Nate's siblings to be the most interesting characters and they seem to be getting their own books down the road.

I could not get through this book. DNF at 20%. The FMC’s internal monologue was so hard to read - her thoughts were cringy with the random words instead of cuss words. And I could tell this was going to move way too fast. I prefer a slow burn! This just wasn’t for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️
Dual POV
Insta Love

It was okay. Very insta-love.
Within 3 days MMC was in love.
FMC won’t swear, uses childish words in place of factual words as she thinks it rude.

Without the insta love and the childish words the story overall is good there’s progression some predictable in a good way, the background characters were more interesting. It’s fairly light book but there is a lot of talk about family members ill/ dying. Pretty spicy in some areas with explicit description.

Odd little moments/ wording.
*spoiler maybe, Literally at the hospital she’s in middle of a freak out and Nate is having family issues and she mentions on the way there, they were too ‘too wrung out emotionally for any sexy fondling.’
Such an odd bit to add for that moment.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was marketed as a "New Adult" book but I found a lot of the text to be quite childish. Using the word "fig" in place of a curse word is not something I expect to find in a book meant for adults.

This was also an incredibly fast-paced romance as he was already in love with her a few chapters in, he was also close to declaring love around 30% in.

Overall, this book just wasn't for me, but I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book.