After quite enjoying the previous novel in this series, I am sad to say that this one didn’t work nearly as well for me. That being said, I am still looking forward to whatever comes next since I expect we could get at least two more books out of this based on either previous relationships or hinted at romances in this one.
The setting, the broader cast of characters and the author’s style all still worked well for me. It was fun catching up with Jonah and Sadie, and their siblings. I even enjoyed the two love interests this novel, Fiona, Jonah’s older sister who was one of the reasons he wanted to be in Hobart so badly, and Satoshi, owner of Fiona’s favorite wine bar and sommelier. The problem is that I liked their individual journeys but struggled with them as a couple.
Fiona has too many insecurities and baggage from her previous marriage, her status as a single mother, the daughter who was treated as less smart and less desirable than her brothers, to necessarily be in a space for a relationship. She doesn’t know how to communicate and as much as she might say she is worried Satoshi will leave or can do better with someone his age, she also very much is worried about what people will say. And while some of that is that she is afraid people will judge her, her actions and words keep making Satoshi feel like he is the problem, that it is embarrassing to be with a younger man etc. and sometimes, it is simply the misunderstanding and miscommunication issue of two people that don’t know how to advocate for themselves but there are definitely a few scenes where it feels like Satoshi’s read isn’t that wrong.
Satoshi, meanwhile, is a people pleaser who feels like he needs to prove himself while also being ambitious. He is studying for the master sommelier course but wants to do all three parts at the same time; he views his brother’s visits as being checked up like he isn’t good enough, rather than considering that his brother might genuinely want to help or visit. Fiona is too absorbed in her own life and issues to even realize Satoshi’s needs (there is one scene later in the book that is a bit eye roll inducing because as readers, we know more about everyone else’s lives from the previous novel but Fiona has a bit of a spiral thinking everyone ruined their lives for her when she is more the extra bonus driving their decisions; once again, can’t blame her if others don’t open up to her or want to burden her midst divorce but it’s just reflective of her mental state and how she is both incredibly myopic and catastrophizes).
If you enjoyed the previous one, there’s still enough here to come back, and I actually did enjoy Fiona’s journey, just not as a romantic partner which on occasion made me more annoyed with her at other points too. I also liked Santosh but he has too much on his plate with work to have much personality beyond incredibly kind and super devoted to Fiona.
