Book Review WILL THERE BE WINE? Whitney Cubbison

Thank you to the author, Whitney Cubbison, for an advance digital review copy of WILL THERE BE WINE. These opinions are my own.



In Paris, love was oxygen and Austin was gasping for breath. p1

Some things this book does really works, and some don't, for me.

To start with, the author uses her setting very well. Like oxygen, like the stuff that keeps all her characters, lead and invisible alike, alive. Paris! I really had never had any particular desire to visit Paris before encountering Cubbison's decidedly fangirl recreation, that is simultaneously ironically, eye-rollingly judgemental of the place. It was a wonderful place to spend time as a reader, charming and funny.

I also like when romance writers use tropes I've never seen before, or if they use common tropes in fresh ways. I'm not going to give away the end of the book, but I just thought the way Cubbision used her primary romance trope, and supported it with other tropes like forbidden love, really adds so much needed suspense and raises the stakes in the story!

My biggest quibble with this book is that the plot is weak. The book is entirely driven by the main character, Austen, but she doesn't always seem to know what she wants. At the outset of the book, she just emerges from a divorce, but doesn't express much emotion about it. She does express what appear to be conflicting romantic goals-- go out and debauch as much as possible, or go out and find love? Not that the two are mutually exclusive, but she's our driver for this book, and she never really seems to know what she wants, what her standards are, or where she wants to go with the relationships she's having. It makes it hard for me to connect to this one.

Readers who enjoy character driven books and ones who like unreliable narrators will have no trouble with this plot structure, likely, but it just wasn't for me. I still enjoyed the excitement of the many romances, though, and the satisfaction for finding love!

Rating: 🍷🍷🍷.5 / 5 glasses of good red
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: July 20 2023
Format: Advance Digital Copy
Read this if you like:
👤 You Were Always The One trope
💔 Forbidden Love trope
❤️‍🩹 Second Chance Love trope
🍷 Wine
🗼 Paris
👩‍💼 Strong independent female characters 

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