GRR Reviews Summer in Napa (St. Helena Vineyard) by Marina Adair

Summer in Napa combined a bit of small town, a homecoming, an evil ex, and MMC who's evil ex's best friend. The fast resolution did not distract from this satisfying romance, but let's backtrack a second...

Alexis "Lexi" Moreau owned a New York restaurant with her husband until she caught him sampling the sous-chef (and I don't mean her food) AND made changes that lost the restaurant a lot of money (mostly hers). She ran back to her hometown St. Helena, Califronia, and started the divorce. Six months later, she's still in serious debt from the divorce, and her only way out is to turn her grandma's bakery into her dream bistro, dodging grandma's matchmaking attempts... AND avoiding the oh-so-sexy Marco DeLuca... who's her ex's best friend. Marco wanted Lexi for a long time, but he's not about to get between his best bud and a woman. He's also about to help his family reopen the Grand Hotel in town. Now that Lexi is free, Marc is perfectly willing to stake his claim on Lexi, ostensibly to just ward off grandma's matchmaking. However, he's keeping a secret... something that will shatter Lexi's trust if it gets out... And he started to suspect his best bud ain't quite on the up-and-up...

The evil ex made a GREAT foil against Marco, basically ruining Marco's chances with Lexi while trying to squeeze more money out of her (a "kinder gentler version of blackmail") and the escalation really did scale up, as each step, seemingly forward, seem to result in two steps back... And the darkest hour was dark indeed. As I said, I think the resolution was over a bit too fast, but good Marco, hurt Lexi, and evil Ex made for some interesting and tense moments. Highly recommended.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman trying to turn her grandma's bakery into a bistro must avoid her evil's ex's best friend who wanted her... or should she?

Tropes: vineyard, triangle, evil ex, return, ex's best friend, restaurant/bakery

Overall Rating:  5/5