This book feels like a throw back – the characters, the melodrama and everything of the main story honestly felt like they were from a novel written in the 90s, back when Danielle Steele reigned.
After Cooper McQueen discovers that the woman he brought home last night is about to walk out with a million dollar bottle of bourbon, she offers him a trade – she will tell him a story and then, she will leave with the bottle.
Being bored and rich, he decides to go along because he can always decide the story wasn’t worth it. From here, the woman weaves a tale of family secrets and betrayals with a legacy of exploitation all centered around the family’s famous bourbon.
There were so many moments in the book where I was like, “oh we aren’t going to go there, are we” including an early scene with a precocious 16 year old girl making a pass at a 28 year old. Not only does the book go there, but these two end up being the main characters of the story – this is part of why the sensibilities of the novel felt very 90s to me. Tara ends up with so much anger against her family’s legacy later in the novel that she happily creates a plan and allies with the older man to expose the deceit and burn it all down.
Was this a good novel? I honestly don’t know, I mean probably not. There were so many plot points I didn’t love, and it was melodramatic but I was also hooked, constantly turning the page to see what happened next. So if you just need something that will keep you engaged page to page while also being totally bonkers while also being slightly related to your whiskey and bourbon hobby, this will do it!