The story of Shelby Armstrong and Nathan Durant, who clash over the fate of Flora Valley Wines. Shelby is all heart, while Nate is tough love personified. Despite their differences, they discover a surprising chemistry, especially in the bedroom. But love and money make things complicated, and they must navigate their feelings while saving the winery. It's a tale of romance, conflict, and whether opposites really do attract.

This book was like getting a box of fancy chocolates from an actual chocolate shop and you think you found one of those yummy chocolate caramels (or whatever your favorite one is) but then you bite into it and it's actually a raspberry coconut (or whatever your least favorite one is). The tropes all sounded right up my alley: forced proximity, dislike to love, vineyard, etc. Turns out, this book is not up my alley, or any other alley.

First of all the writing was just atrocious. I took notes while reading for my review and the very first thing I was was "atrocious writing." I was under 10% of the way through when I wrote that. This book is the absolute definition of telling instead of showing, which made this a very slow and painful read.

Then we have the characters. The fmc was incredibly childish. She's supposed to be super optimistic and sunshine-y but it just comes across as naive. It doesn't help that she refuses to curse and refers to sex as "boinky boink" at one point. She also uses the phrases "queenly throne" and "regal dominion" to refer to her *word I can't say on this site.* The mmc was fine but he definitely has a thing for older women considering every older women he sees has him stumbling in love.

Speaking of love, he fell in love with the fmc in under a week! And believe me, it definitely felt fast. Furthermore, he never gave any reason for it. They met and the next day he thought "omg I'm falling in love with her. Gasp!" Why though? Seriously.

I have a whole bunch of other reasons for such a strong dislike of this book but they all seem kinda petty so just know that there's other awful things within this book.

tl;dr: childish fmc, mmc falls in love in under a week, atrocious writing, "boinky boink."

Thank you to the publisher for the e-copy.

I have to start this review by saying I love the setting of a vineyard. I’m not sure why, but I find the vineyard/winery setting so endearing so from the start, I was rooting for this book to be good. I really did enjoy reading this book, though sometimes I felt like the characters left something to be desired. I did feel like the book shone when it embraced being more of a romcom vs trying to be deep/heavy at times, as the tone shifts could feel like a lot. Overall, I’d say this is a solid beach read.

I loved the dual POV and the forced proximity trope in this book. It was a cute, witty read that went by fast with some good, old fashioned spice.

Thank you NetGalley, Catherine Robertson, and One More Chapter for early access to this book in exchange for my honest option.

I wanted to get into this book but I couldn’t. The synopsis sounded so cute and the characters too. But the more I read, I was struggling. Eventually had to stop about 40% in. The weird words Shelby used to replace cus words was so childish in my opinion. I get not all people cus or enjoy books with foul language. Just don’t write any of that into the story. Boink-boink….i can’t.

Dual POV, Spicy, He's Her Boss, Forced Proximity, Small Town, Insta Love

Shelby and Nate meet while forced to work together to save her families winery. Both of these characters have a lot going on in their lives as Nate is recovering from a broken engagement, moving back home, and dealing with his father's illness while Shelby is grieving her father and trying to save the winery from being sold off. The connection between Nate and Shelby could have been more developed, hard for the reader to believe in their instant connection. Overall, a quick, fast paced read, with HEA.

Charming and funny opposites attract. Shelby is so optimistic and her father’s vineyard is her everything. Nate is here to help the vineyard, not to make friends and definitely not to fall in love. After reading many slow burns before this, I appreciated the change in pace.

This book was cute. It was a really good mix of lighthearted and serious topics. Overall I enjoyed this book.

This was a cute romcom and a fast read. The stakes were low and the romance progressed quickly. The spice level was about a three for me. I liked the characters and enjoyed the dual POV and the inner dialogues. The characters were quirky and realistic and I enjoyed their banter. I’d read more of this series featuring some of the side characters introduced here, they could all warrant their own stories.

Shelby, a bubbly and outgoing girl, loses her father and after the rest of her family decides to sell the family winery, it’s up to her to save the business somehow.
After months of searching, she secured an investor willing to take the risk of helping her out - on one condition. Shelby must work with a big shot Harvard graduate, Nate. Nate’s role is to manage the business because while Shelby knows the ropes of MAKING the wine, she can’t quite let go of those small town roots that her father planted so deep within her.
After deciding to give each other a shot, Nate is forced to make a tough decision after his own father’s health declines.

With strong supporting characters (personally, Kiki is a MAJOR MAJOR favorite), Dylan the Duck, the pigs named after Star Wars that I refuse to spoil for you because you just MUST read, and all the other helpers on the farm (humans AND animals), this was a great quick and cutesy read!

The initial get together was a little bit rushed and I wish there was a bit more buildup but I really loved this book and am sooo excited to dive into the next one

Unfortunately, this was not a book that I enjoyed at all. The dialogue made me physically cringe and I did not enjoy anything I learned about a single character.

1 boink-bonk stars

This book realllly tried to be funny and quirky and came out super awkward and embarrasing. I really wanted to like this becuase I loved the concept a winery owner is struggling and a hot rich business man swoops in to save the day.

BUT the main characters obsession with fake swearing made me think of her as a 14 year old.. her favorite phrase is FIG .. because she cant curse.. and she calls sex the boink bonk.. and I just couldnt accept she was in her late 20s...

pass

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
This was just not for me. I think this author has a tendency to really rush the plot in a way that even I, an avid reader of very silly romances, can’t suspend disbelief to enjoy.

Thank you netgally for the arc in exchange for my honest review. ♡

Pub date: 5th July 2024

I'm just not sure.

That was an incredibly short timeline.

Shelby recently lost her father and their family run vineyard is on the brink. After trying so many investors, she finally finds one who assigns her a manager.
Nate is a controll freak who just got out of a long term relationship ended badly. He has his own family dramas and has self worth anxiety.
Together apparently is instant love. And I mean instant love.

Their first... coupling was... cringy. And I don't mean like oh she reads spicy stuff it's not the same kind. I mean like. 🫣 how it came about. I just. Wow.

Just too many plot holes for me or rather certain emotions didn't add up.

But don't get me wrong. The story itself was cute and there were a lot of funny moments.

Her two besties and ava stole the show for me.

💓

"The fuckening, It's when you're having a great day
but you don't quite trust it. And then, sure enough, shit happens. And you go, 'Ah, there it is. The fuckening."

"A part of me feels I ought to say I dont deserve you. But a way bigger part wants to prove that's one hundred percent wrong."

'If love is madness, then consider me certifiably insane.'

Corkscrew You by Catherine Robertson follows Shelby, who needs to save her family’s vineyard after her father’s passing. To appease investors, she must hand over control to Nathan to handle all things business.

This has the small town romance, enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine vibes that are very popular in the romance genre. It is a quick and easy read if looking for a story to pass the time, and has a bit of spice throughout.

Unfortunately I also found this oddly rushed. Nathan is not likable and yet falls in love with Shelby almost instantly and without any real basis for it. I would have liked to see more foundation for their relationship to make the falling in love aspect a bit more satisfying.

objectively speaking... this is just not good. It was really hard to get through even a few chapters. It felt rushed, unedited, and awkward. Would not recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for this ARC!
I devoured this book in one day, really super smooth flowing and easy!
the grumpy x sunshine trope can be felt and is one of my favorites, I was able to empathize with all the characters and Shelby is super easy to love! 🩷

can't wait to read the next book!!!

Corkscrew You is about Shelby who runs Flora Valley Wines after her father has died. Nate is hired on to help run the business.
I feel like I have read slight variations of this plot many times before.
It was a quick read, and the plot was good, and for the most part I enjoyed the writing style.
The love story progressed a little too fast ofr my liking. I prefer a bit of a slow burn, but the entirety of the book happened in like 1-2 weeks.
Shelby was a unique character. Some of her quirks were cute. Some were not for me.
Nate-I had a hard time with this one. His character lacked a bit of depth and I just wasn't all in on him.
Both Shelby and Nate were incredibly immature at times. Aside from their jobs they honestly felt closer to teen's as opposed to two adults in their late 20's.
Because of this the spicy scenes felt somehow wrong and weird, for me, as a reader.
2 stars from me.
Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. This title releases July 5th.

This book combines elements of humor, romance, and personal growth in a way that captivated me from the very first page. The authors writing style is witty and warm, with a knack for creating vivid scenes and relatable characters. Her dialogue sparkles with humor and authenticity, making the interactions between characters a major highlight of the book.

This book was a feel-good romance but it felt rushed and a smidge immature. Nate and Shelby knew each other for all of one week and were professing their love and want to stay with each other for the rest of their lives. It felt like esptie this, these two characters rarely knew each other and were encountering lots of arguments and problems because of that. Nate's insistence to push their relationship to the back-burner to focus on his family made sense in theory but it felt like a huge disservice to Shelby who he expected to just sit and wait around for him. Nate and Shelby did balance each other out as serious and goofy respectively but their relationship as it was written was weak and rushed.