Steamy romance with an enemies to lovers story. Love a dual POV story. I liked it but thought some of the story felt rushed and would have loved some more character development. 3.5 stars

I really, really wanted to love this book! I have loved this authors other works, and I really loved the premise to it, but it just really didn’t hit the mark for me.

I’ll start with what I did like. Amara is a passionate and driven woman, I loved her spunk and dedication/love for her family and the family business. I love the way she refused to constantly defend herself and every reaction she made to Calvin just because he had mistaken impressions of her. For the most part, I just really loved her whole personality, and the way she held herself in such a big role that she knew she had to prove herself in. I also really loved the whole family, I loved how close they were, and how much they really had genuine, love and affection for one another, even though they also were in business together. Everything Delatou was beautiful.

Calvin was everything I didn’t like about this book and more. He’s a misogynistic dick right from the start. At first you think he’s just dude in a bar looking for a hook up, but then he realizes he’s about to hook up with the daughter of his new boss, and just treat her like trash, and doesn’t understand why that upsets her so much (this is the prologue this is spoilers). He then continues throughout most of the book to make snap-judgment, completely misguided and totally inappropriate assumptions about Amara, going so far is to try and
sabotage her new role as CEO. He’s completely inappropriate in every way, and really blurs the lines of professionalism and consent with Amara. There really wasn’t anything redeeming enough about his character for me to overlook all his flaws. I just really couldn’t wrap my head around why Amara really liked him so much/why she was so attracted to him and how they even had a happily ever after. This was an enemies to lovers that I fully cannot look over what made them enemies to believe them to ever be lovers.

Like I said, I really loved the premise of this book, and if you’re really into enemies to lovers, you may like it it’s just not my favorite, and I really didn’t like how it was done in this book, but that’s just me and it could easily be your cup of tea. It’s still a really cute romcom and had some bad ass girl boss energy all throughout ❤️

thank you for the arc :)

3.8 -- thanks to netgalley for the arc!!

thoroughly enjoyed this one. it was funny and a little different than what i typically read. i thought the main characters were silly and while i wasn't connected to them, they had a sweet relationship that i enjoyed. writing style wasn't super astonishing, but it was easy to follow and well written still. would definitely recommend to others.

Thank you to Amanda Chaperon and Netgalley for an eArc of thins book!

I had a lot of fun reading this book! Wine or lose is a Hate to Love, workplace romance!

I love a book where one of the characters gets severely underestimated and gets to prove people wrong and this book definitely did that well! It was so fun to watch Amara prove how smart and capable she was during this book!

There are lots of great side characters in this book that added so much extra to the story, I love meddling family members and especially siblings so having Amara’s four sisters added so much more fun to the book and I hope we will see their stories one day!

I look forward to reading more by the Author!

This book has so many of my favorite tropes and micro tropes, which just added to the enjoyment. I went into this one fairly blind beyond knowing it was a workplace romance and let me tell you, there is so much to unpack here. We have workplace romance, drama, hate to love, tight knit family, and honestly so much more but I’ll keep some of it a surprise. I really loved the Delatou family and the fact that they have a powerful family business that played a key roll here. I loved Amara. She’s fierce, badass, and not afraid to kick butt and take names all while being a boss-ass business lady. She is flawed and she has her moments of weakness which made her all the more real. Cal… oh Cal. That man deserves a good shaking. I’m glad he had some revelations and character changes by the end cause this man made some mistakes! I found him incredibly frustrating at times, but hey, he’s a man what do you expect ;). The spicy scenes in this were delicious, that crawl scene will stick with me forever. This is a quick, bingeable story full of ups and downs and a healthy amount of steam that I completely devoured.

Thank you so much Amanda for sending me an early copy of your book!

Tropes:
-hate to love
-boss/employee
-forced proximity
-sneaking around
-found family
-“crawl”

Okay also a note for two of my other favorite micro tropes/quotes: “eyes on me” and “that’s my girl” I mean COME ON!

Thank you for the ARC Netgalley, Amanda & Victory Editing!

I really wanted to enjoy Wine or Lose but unfortunately was not able to fully do so due to the MMC.

I want to start off this review with highlighting the fact there is a fine line difference between a grumpy MMC & an MMC who is just downright mean. I love a good enemies to lovers book but even those have this fine line. Calvin, CFO of Chateau Delatou is a flat out mean disrespectful man. When meeting the FMC, he thinks she's attractive and is ready to have a one night stand with her. His feelings immediately change as soon he finds out the Amara is his boss's daughter.

Amara is one women who at first I held high regards for given the fact that she was resistant to Calvins disrespectful comments with her new appointed CEO position but unfortunately that changed for me as soon as she started falling for him as well.

The one moment that really confirmed that I wasn't a fan of Calvin was when he shares his second kiss with Amara which is supposed to be a major "fuck it" moment for him. Normally, I would find this attractive but given the background info before the kiss occured, I was quite upset.

Calvin (confirmed by Amara) had only kissed her when he found out she wasn't actually a true "party princess" and had an MBA. I honestly felt extremely bad for Amara after reading this scene, given the fact that she had to "prove" herself to Calvin. Which I immediately hated. I thought it was funny that Clavin referred to himself as a gentlemen because he literal was not. No gentlemen would ever treat a woman the way he treated Amara before they got together.

I really never felt like Calvin got the character development I was expecting given the "surprise" plot. Honestly, I felt like Amara deserved much better.

There were a couple of other off putting moments, such as the time frame this book takes place in. The book begins with Amara and Calvin meeting for the first time and then BAM! it's four years later. Another bit was the Tiktok references although I understand how the benefited Amara's character and her position as CEO, it doesn't change the fact that I simply wasn't a fan.

I want to end this review on a positive note so I'll wrap up with saying that I really liked Bries character if she were to get her own book I think I would be interested enough in reading it. She's such a sweetheart and a truly loving sister.

3.75 stars!

I don't know what it is about winery romcoms but they really speak to me!! It is the perfect venue for enemies to come together, for messes to be made, and vibes to be vibed.

Amara Delatou and Calvin Ryder meet on a night out in town, hit it off with instant chemistry, and go home together for happily ever after right?? Nope!! He realizes that he has inadvertently brought home his new boss's daughter (who he was sworn to stay away from) and sends her on her way. Five years pass, Amara's back in town and is the new CEO of the family winery- and Calvin as CFO could not be less pleased to have her as his new boss. Tensions flare, the passion of hate turns into the passion of love, and these two have an up and down romance for the history books!

I loved the family vibes of this book- Amara as one of five sisters in a close-knit family- and can see this setting up an amazing little world full of love for each of the girls. You can see how supportive they are of one another personally and professionally, and that the sisters really are one another's best friends! Cal definitely goes on a journey (some low lows for those of us that aren't into the toxicity) and his personal growth and learning to understand Amara is really beautiful to see!

Thank you so much to Amanda Chaperon and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review. Wine or Lose comes out on February 22 and will be on kindle unlimited!

Calvin and Amara met five years ago, and things seemed to be going well. They had an instant attraction and a connection... until Calvin realized that Amara is the daughter of his new boss who had one rule for Calvin- to stay away from his daughters! After Calvin's rejection, Amara doesn't see him again until she is set to become CEO of her family's wine business.

Calvin is the CFO of the business, and he thinks that Amara is just a pretty face and a party girl. He doesn't think she can be CEO, and he questions her decisions at every opportunity. Now that they are working together, they have to try to get along, but can they let their hatred turn into something else?

The enemies to lovers in this book was amazing! I loved that she became the boss and they had to work together. The steaminess and the spice was off the charts! It had good girl, just this once, and even crawl to me!

I loved that Amara's sisters were so supportive of her, and their family stuck together. I liked the dynamic of the small town too. It was so much fun.

I recommend this story if you love enemies to lovers, workplace romance, and spicy scenes. I am so excited that this book will be the start of a series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

DNF @ 40%. Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me, I was intrigued by the beautiful cover and the description but I just didn't connect with either of the characters. I thought the meet cute was adorable up until the MMC flipped the switch so fast and began insulting the FMC when he figured out who she was, he could have handled that a 1,000 better ways. The whole idea of how the company was run and how the characters spoke to each other just wasn't believable to me, the descriptions also seemed a little over the top. Overall the concept was interesting, I could see how future books for each sister were being set up but I just didn't connect with this one!

Sadly I had to DNF this!
I was really excited for this book after reading the description but I was put off instantly by the MMC! He was more or less in love with her after a 3 second meet outside a toilet? Not likely…

And the writing felt very clogged to me, using 10 words to describe something when 3 would’ve sufficed iygm?

Very sad I didn’t like this book!

To start things out, I really love this cover! I also adored the plot, characters, and setting. Everything was perfect! However, I want to smack Cal because of how many times he doubted/saw the worst in Amara. He still didn't want to see that Amara was more than a "party girl" even when her family and Amara herself tried telling him. I adored Amara's sisters so freaking much. Her whole family even. I love their dynmaic and how they would do anything for each other.

*Side note* Amanda's writing is ADDICTING! I could not put this book down! And hello?? The Spice??? When Amara made Cal crawl to her omg I almost fainted. . . This was a deliciously spicy book!