Sour Grapes by Rachel Goodman

Sometimes a girl just has to read a romance.  And this romance, book 2 in the Blue Plate series by Rachel Goodman, has a prickly heroine and a super hot hero.  It was a really good contemporary romance.  

Margaret lives in Dallas, and is a party planner for the very wealthy.  Her mother is quite possibly the most unpleasant woman I've come across in a story in quite some time.  Margaret can never do anything right. Ever.  She's bruised from a recent breakup and unhappy with life.  She decides to get away from it all by traveling to her grandmother's bed and breakfast for a vacation.

Enter Ryan.  He's pretty impressive, and the sparks fly between him and Margaret.  Margaret is quite a pill and snippy with Ryan, who owns a vineyard next door to her grandmother's B&B.  She's uptight and unhappy, and Ryan's upbeat personality pushes her to examine her life.  Margaret's grandmother keeps her busy around the B&B changing sheets and cleaning the place, but Margaret has plans to make over the B&B and promote it to help her grandmother through a financial pinch.  But she's determined to go back to Dallas, even with her feelings for Ryan growing deeper the longer she stays.  

I didn't feel I missed anything not reading the first book in this series.  I liked knowing Margaret from this book and not coming to it already knowing  Margaret, especially because in the first book, Margaret is the girlfriend who isn't the "one".  Her pain from this breakup pushes her to make changes to her life in Sour Grapes, and her past comes full circle at the end of this romance.

Rachel Goodman writes a lively, engaging, and fun romance.  There is a definite big wallop of chemistry between Ryan and Margaret, and you can't help but cheer them on to a happy ending.  I hope the author writes more romances in this series and includes a glimpse of Ryan and Margaret.  

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for a review copy of this romance.  

Make sure you have a bottle of wine while you read this in your summer reading space!

Rating:  8/10 for an entertaining romance with a not-so-perfect heroine, a super hot hero, engaging secondary characters, and the mother from hell.  

Available as an e-book the week of May 23rd.  

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