You Had Me at Merlot

You Had Me at Merlot

Melissa Brayden

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

What do you get when you combine a sweet cinnamon twist and robust Italian wine? Bestselling author Melissa Brayden’s You Had Me at Merlot , the perfect blend of sugar and spice. Bordeauxnuts is New York City magic, and it all belongs to Jamie Tolliver. A charming coffee and doughnut spot by day, Bordeauxnuts transforms with a sprinkle of powdered sugar into a cozy sophisticated wine bar each evening. Jamie’s enjoying a blueberry latte with her quirky band of regulars when a stunning and enigmatic stranger saunters in, flips her laptop open, and Jamie’s world upside down. Each time Jamie speaks to Leighton Morrow, her crush multiplies. She’s drawn to Leighton's captivating presence, her kindness, and the faint lip print she leaves on her cup that winds a tingle up Jamie’s spine. But sexy spine tingles can be deceiving. Leighton Morrow didn’t set out to ruin anyone’s life, but she has a job to do. As a development coordinator for Carrington’s Department Store, Leighton’s part of the team that plans to take over the city block for the new location, including demolishing her new favorite café, Bordeauxnuts. A shame, but that’s life. She’ll miss the apple fritters and the cute owner. But work is a No Feelings Zone and she definitely cannot give in to the ones she has percolating for Jamie. Leighton and Jamie have all the ingredients to turn their attraction into love, but it’s a recipe for disaster.

Publication Year: 2024


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  • dbricker
    Apr 11, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    A cozy wlw romance

    The owner of a New York coffee and wine bar unwittingly falls for the corporate businesswoman tasked with displacing it.

    This started off as a nice snow day read with You've Got Mail vibes (the business rivals bit, not the internet chatroom bit), but I anticipated that conflict to last the full book and instead about a third of the way in, we jump forward to a very different reconciliation friends-to-lovers story. I think the final third of the book has pacing issues as a result - at some points the story starts to plod toward its inevitable conclusion, at others mandatory complications get glossed over.

    The leads have great chemistry, but the secondary characters are weak. These facts coupled with passionate sex scenes and pretty mid writing elsewhere read as fan-fictiony to me, which is great for those who enjoy it and is just not my personal cup of tea.

    All in all, a cute enough palate cleanser, but nothing special.

    Thank you to Bold Strokes Books for my advance review copy, provided in exchange for my honest opinion. You Had Me at Merlot publishes on February 13, 2024.

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  • sabriel
    Mar 23, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    DNF @ 25%

    Tried this as a palette cleanser between fantasy books but the two main characters are very 2D and there was zero buildup before one asked the other out; very flat :/

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