Something in the Wine

By Jae

All her life, Annie Prideaux has suffered through her brother’s constant practical jokes only he thinks are funny. But Jake’s last joke is one too many, she decides when he sets her up on a blind date with his friend Drew Corbin—neglecting to tell his straight sister one tiny detail: her date is not a man, but a lesbian.
Annie and Drew decide it’s time to turn the tables on Jake by pretending to fall in love with each other.
At first glance, they have nothing in common. Disillusioned with love, Annie focuses on books, her cat, and her work as an accountant while Drew, more confident and outgoing, owns a dog and spends most of her time working in her beloved vineyard.
Only their common goal to take revenge on Jake unites them. But what starts as a table-turning game soon turns Annie's and Drew's lives upside down as the lines between pretending and reality begin to blur.
Something in the Wine is a story about love, friendship, and coming to terms with what it means to be yourself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ylva Publishing
• Release date: Oct 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9783955330064

Jae

Jae grew up amidst the vineyards of southern Germany. She spent her childhood with her nose buried in a book, earning her the nickname "professor." The writing bug bit her at the age of eleven. For the last seven years, she has been writing mostly in English.She works as a psychologist. When she's not writing, she likes to spend her time reading, indulging her ice cream and office supply addiction, and watching way too many crime shows.

Reviews for Something in the Wine

[helgagrace · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nice slow burn, once you get beyond the premise of a guy who sets his sister up on a date with a woman as a practical joke, and all the convoluted logic that follows as the main characters find reasons to be together without *being* together.

[Elisa · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like the building of their relationship, but it felt like it was for nothing. There was no love scene, which took away from the book. After the relationship building and all the feelings and emotions and 435 pages, it was too important to not include. A lot of the book felt drawn out. After two thorough reads, I'm a little dissapointed.

[Les Mood · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

JAE is able to capture the emotions, hesitancy, hopefullness, fears and desires of a developing relationship. The fact that this a lesbian relationship is purely incidental to this story of two people falling in love.

[amcheri-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm conflicted in my star rating for this one. I finished the book a minute or two ago so I'm caught up in the emotion of it but I'm still going between 3 and 4 stars.

I had a very hard time getting into the story, even though I liked the characters quite a bit. The writing, itself, was what made it difficult. I need to work through my impressions more but, I think, if it had been written by anyone other than Jae, I probably would have put it down after the first couple of chapters.

Am I glad I stuck with it? You bet. Around mid-way through, I cared about the characters and enjoyed the journey they were taking. I thought Annie's responses to her feelings and the way she processed her emotions felt honest and real. The same with Drew. There was humor and angst and I could feel the tension between the characters.

If you're a Jae fan, you'll want to read it. If you're not a Jae fan yet, start with Backwards to Oregon and work your way through her books.

[daniexj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was given this ARC by the publisher in exchange for an Honest Review.This, I guess, is the second edition of this title? I never read the first one, but this version was totally awesome.It's the story of Drew and Annie. They both know the often practical joker Jake. Annie is Jake's sister, and Drew is his friend from college. When Jake sets the two women up on a blind date as a joke, not telling Annie that Drew's a woman and not telling Drew that Annie thinks she's a he, the two women realize that Jake's behind it all and Revenge comes to both of their minds.They decide to play a prank right back at him. They pretend to be in a relationship instead of getting mad at Jake. Of course, this is a Lesbian romance, so all does not always go as planned for the two women. It's not as straightforward as a simple prank for either of them it turns out. Heh.It was a subtle and awesomely twisty story. It went a lot like I thought it would, but there were times when I was surprised too. The characters were all so unique (especially Jake and his and Anna's parents).Honestly there was only one thing that pissed me off about this book. Worf and Deanna Troi? C'mon. Riker and Deanna were Imzadi, and Peter David's book was so amazing that it's nearly canon it's so good and perfect. It's canon adjacent. Worf and Deanna, Worf and Deanna?? Just Eww... eww eww. No no no to Worf and Deanna (plus, Worf and Jadzia on DS9 is so much better than even Riker and Deanna!!)

[schatzi_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Shy, reserved, slightly nerdy Annie is always the brunt of her brother's practical jokes. But when he set her up with a friend, allowing her to believe that the friend is male when his friend is actually a lesbian, he's gone too far. She plots with her brother's friend, Drew, on how they can get revenge on Annie's brother by pretending to be together. But after a few weeks, it doesn't really feel like they're pretending that much.I really enjoyed this book. Although the middle got to be a little tedious, I liked that Annie didn't fall for Drew right away. There was a lot of exploring and growing on Annie's part, which I thought was more realistic. And I *loved* the character of Drew. Altogether a great read.