Addison Westlake

This review was originally posted on Melissa's Midnight Musings on December 17, 2012.

Christmas in Wine Country is wonderfully funny, sweet, always brimming with one kind of adventure or another.

Lila is a 28 year old woman who is stuck in a job that she doesn't like, dating a man that barely even acknowledges her presence, and barely living life outside of her job. Then in one drunken, karoke filled evening, she loses her job, her semi-relationship and is forced to finally make some real choices about what she wants to do with herself and her life.

She drags herself to a B&B that she had reserved for her and her boyfriend's holiday getaway. While there she wanders into a charming book shop named Cover to Cover. After talking with the owner, she is hired on the spot, and with that she leaves big city life for small town life.

I admired Lila's guts in making the move to Redwood Cove. I think everyone wishes they could make moves like this, completely transform themselves, start over somewhere new. It has to be fun to do, and Lila really seems to enjoy herself.

She embraces being single for a while, giving herself time to get over Phillip. He's a huge jerk, and easily the least likeable character in the story. He tells Lila that they were never really dating and that he and a woman named Axcell are ready to take things to a new level. I laughed every time I read the name because I kept thinking about the computer program.

The surrounding characters in this story are so much fun. There's Lila's loving, patient, wise Gram, who always knows just what to say. Then there's Annie, Lila's college roomate, who supports her, but also gives her healthy doses of reality when she needs it. There's also Zoe, whose a lot of fun. She's a yoga teacher in Red Cove, who's very into naturalistic thought and ways of life. And there's also Godfrey, a somewhat dramatic, (but well meaning) co-worker from the bookstore.

I think Zoe is actually my favorite of the characters because she's got this double persona. You mainly read about her as hippie-ish, vegan, yoga teacher Zoe. But about halfway through you learn that she grew up in the privileged lifestyle and used to be a debutante. It just goes to to show that not everyone is what they seem and they don't always keep the same path that they start life out on.

The same is true for Lila's love interest in the story, Jake. She assumes that he grew up in the hills of wine country, when in reality he grew up with a single mother who died of breast cancer when he was a teenager and a father who sent him to boarding school.

The romance between he and Lila is perfect. Definitely not insta-love, (their first meeting definitely does not go smoothly) the tension throughout their relationship is the perfect balance of nice moments and awkward ones, as they start the complicated dance of trying to figure out just what they are to each other. They definitely have their work cut out for them with interfering presences like Vanessa (I'll just let you discover her for yourselves) and some serious misunderstandings.

In addition to the great characters, there's also great food. Lila learns to cook and goes through periods of making soups and desserts, most of which sound delicious. I'm always a sucker for books with food. A book about food and a bookstore? Even better.

The overall message of the book is about embracing life, and doing what makes you happy. It's also about following your dreams, sticking up for yourself, and letting yourself be comfortable with who you are and what you want out of life. It teaches the reader that you don't have to let other people's perception of you or what you do for a living make you feel any less worthy. As long as you love what you're doing (and isn't that what we all really want anyway) then the title really doesn't matter, and who cares if you don't fit in to the cookie cutter world of fancy job titles or marketing?

I'd rather be passionate about what I do than a person who's only in their job for the money any day and Lila becomes just that. Passionate, happy, and sure of herself.

This is the perfect holiday comfort read.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*… (més)

Much like trying to force a square peg into a round hole, Lila just doesn't fit in this world she is trying to climb the corporate ladder in. It culminates with blow up cacti, a baby Jesus pinata, and a margarita cart toting donkey in an event she is supposed to be coordinating. While this party goes horribly wrong, she also notices her boyfriend, who wouldn't label himself as her boyfriend, is getting pretty friendly with a gorgeous woman in a backless red dress. After too many drinks and a YouTube worthy video of howling Kareoke, the final stone of humiliation is thrown when she returns to her job to be laid off. Thinking she can slip away with her boyfriend to a romantic vacation she booked, he delivers the final blow. He breaks off their "relationship" for the woman in red.
Completely miserable, with an implied eating disorder forcing herself to be extremely thin, a career going nowhere that she didn't really care for anyway, and a horrible track record of being a door mat for any man who would take her for granted, she misses the cancellation time frame and slinks off to the romantic weekend getaway by herself in Redwood Cove.
A job in the local book store brings out her inner Mr. Meows, a puppet character for the story hour. She is a local celebrity among the children of the area, aka "Cat Lady". She recaptures her friendship with her college room mate and gains new friendships along the way. She works out her habit of pining after unattainable men while forming a relationship with Bachelor #7, Jake Endicott. He would usually be on the newly formed "Do Not Date List", but first impressions can be deceiving.

I liked the book, appreciated the story, laughed at some of the characters, loved wise old Gram. It was an enjoyable read.

I was given this book for free in exchange for an honest review.… (més)