Quiet, reserved, Charlotte Livingston is happy living as a
wife, looking after her home, hearth and wife Jacqueline. Her world crashes
when Jacqueline cheats on her again
and this time Jaqueline stumbles in with her paramour during a party giving an
eyeful to the guests. Hurt, humiliated, penniless and quite shattered,
Charlotte returns home to her parents who are sympathetic and welcoming. They
even give Charlotte her maternal aunt’s home to live in with the rider that she
got to pay rent in form of working in the family’s bourbon distillery,
something that Charlotte never wanted to do. Reluctantly, she starts working
under her new boss, Marlow Miller. The Millers and Livingstons have a shared
history with regard to the distillery and Charlotte is not quite sure about how
it came to pass that the Livingstons own the business and the Millers work
there. Charlotte and Marlow start off on a rocky note and their differences are
aggravated by the fact that they are neighbours who seem to have completely
opposing sensibilities.
We quite liked both Charlotte and Marlow. Their romance is nicely
built up. Their characters and characteristics well developed. We liked the whole seemingly supportive but rather difficult relationship between Charlotte and her father also. However, the
writing is rather gauche. There was potential for deeper feelings, more humour,
romance and gravitas. Just more everything and this could’ve been a compelling
read. Somehow, the writing seems to skim the surface of emotions and
interactions. Plus there are a bunch of misspellings and
misused words which rather detracted from the experience. There is this whole
mystery around the distillery aspect which got resolved with almost kiddish
ease.
However, this is an okay read.
⭐⭐☆
