Review: Blend – Georgia Beers
Blendby Georgia Beers
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Publication Date: April 17, 2018
Genres: Romance
Pages: 242
Source: NetGalley
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
My rating:
When the widowed owner of the wine bar Vineyard decides she wants to take some time off and travel abroad, she leaves her business in the very capable hands of the two women she trusts most: her daughter Piper and Vineyard's general manager, Lindsay.
For Lindsay Kent, Vineyard is her dream job. She’s thrilled when her boss leaves her in charge (well, half charge) and tells her to feel free to make changes. Lindsay has tons of ideas that she's been dying to put into action, and this is her big chance to increase the success of the business and prove she’s more than ready to run things solo. But getting the boss's daughter on board is harder than expected. The uptight and annoyingly attractive Piper is blocking her every move.
For Piper Bradshaw, Vineyard is not her job. She already has one. She's VP at a large tech company, and she's damn good at it. Who cares if people say she’s a workaholic and an icy bitch? She didn't get to the top by being prone to whims and experiments. She's not happy when her mother suddenly decides to gallivant all over the country and furious that the family business has been left in the hands of the happy-go-lucky, born-a-generation-too-late hippie who manages it. Good thing Lindsay can't make any changes unless they both agree, because Piper doesn't intend to.
Lindsay and Piper are like night and day. Working together won’t be easy, but not falling in love might prove the hardest job of all.
This is the second book I’ve read by Georgia Beers, and I think she’s fast becoming my favorite f/f writer. Ms. Beers has a knack for creating characters that feel like real people, with families and pets and backstories and all the general messiness of life. One of my favorite things about romance novels is watching how two people in a relationship grow and change and form a new dynamic, together and separately. Since that is exactly what this book is about, I was a very happy reader!
When the widowed owner of the Vineyard wine bar decides to take an extended vacation, she leaves it in the capable hands of her general manager, Lindsay, and her daughter, Piper. Piper is, to put it mildly, an uptight control freak, to the extent that Lindsay and some of the other employees at the wine bar call her “Queen Elsa.” Piper has a good reason for it, though – she’s a manager at a financial company, and her ice queen armor is what she needs to be successful in a dog-eat-dog, male-dominated workspace. Piper instinctively dislikes Lindsay because she’s “too friendly” and “she smiles too much.” On top of her dislike of Lindsay, Piper has a lot of complicated feelings around Vineyard because it was her father’s business, and she hasn’t dealt with her grief over his passing. Lindsay is, well, pretty much what Piper thinks of her – she’s generally optimistic and a people person, Piper’s opposite. She’s wonderful with Vineyard’s customers, even the really trying ones, and has tons of ideas for how to attract new clientele. Piper’s holding the purse strings, though, so can they work together to do what’s best for Vineyard?
“This was obviously her sole purpose in life: to kiss this woman senseless, to be kissed senseless by this woman.”
Well, I’m sure you can guess what happens! Piper and Lindsay have a wonderful chemistry with each other, and it’s such a sweet slow-burn romance. From enemies to friends to rip-your-clothes off lovers, they run through the whole relationship span. There’s quite a bit of angst as well, as Piper has a lot of deep-seated grief and anger, from her father’s death to a work merger to her mom gallivanting all over the place, and adding the stress of a new relationship on top of that causes Piper’s ice castle to crumble. This is great for their relationship, but how will Lindsay’s “invasion” play out in the rest of Piper’s life?
Overall, this is a sweet and steamy read, with two people who find that a good relationship blends the best bits of each of them together. Highly recommended, and I’ll definitely be checking out more of Ms. Beers’ books!
