REVIEW: Let It Breathe by Tawna Fenske

In Let It Breathe by Tawna Fenske, Reese Clark is running her family’s winery and has big plans to make it well known. Her plans hit a snag, however, when the person sent to head up the project is none other than her ex-husband’s best friend, who she had a crush on when they were in college. Clay always wanted to be with Reese but stepped aside when he saw his friend wanted to be with her. He settled instead for being a friend, but after one drunken bar fight in which Reese was injured, he hightailed it out of town without a word. Now he’s back, not only wanting to apologize to Reese for the things that happened when he was an alcoholic, but to see if maybe they can rekindle the feelings they always had for one another.

Reese and Clay were great together. Reese felt she was determined that she wasn’t meant for love, but Clay was determined to prove that wasn’t the case. Both were concerned about how Eric would feel about their relationship, but despite him warning them off from one another, they couldn’t help their feelings. Clay tried to do everything in his power to help Reese, including holding up a tasting table when it was clear it was going to topple over while a group was sampling the wines and stalling the construction as long as possible so Reese and her parents could find a way to find extra funding.

One thing did irk me about Reese though–she was too quick to assume the worst about Clay. When she heard he was at the police station because of a fight, she automatically assumed the worst and was adamant that he had fallen off the wagon when that wasn’t the case. She often made remarks about how he probably shouldn’t be working at the vineyard due to the temptation of all the alcohol at the winery. It would have been nice if she had put a little more faith in Clay and thought positively about his recovery.

There are plenty of humorous moments throughout the book. First there is her alpaca, Leon, who likes to head-but men all the men except for Clay.

He had one eye on her, which was probably why he didn’t see that alpaca until it head-butted him.
“Goddammit, Leon–not in the nuts again!” Eric doubled over.
Beside him, the shaggy, cream-colored beast with random patches of caramel fur made a wark-wark sound and twitched his ears. Reese tasted the wine once more before she set the glass on the table. Eric limped back over with Leon ambling cheerfully behind.
“Why can’t you have a dog like normal women?” Eric muttered.
“At what point did you mistake me for a normal woman?”

Then there’s also Reese’s grandfather, who refused to respond to anything but the name Axl, and acted like he was going a rebellious stage that someone much younger would go through.

Jed glanced at his watch. “I thought you had a Bingo tournament this morning, Axl.”
“I did, but half the crew got dragged off to the pokey last night for stealing Preparation H from Walmart. That leaves my schedule free for a bike tour.”
“It’s not that kind of bike tour,” Jed argued. “Look, I’ve got twenty-eight people signed up to make the loop between here and the other five vineyards in the program, and I don’t need you guys on your hogs flipping off cops and mooning cars.”
“It was just that once,” Axl muttered.

While the story mainly focuses on Reese and Clay’s relationship, there’s also a side story about someone sabotaging the vineyard which added a bit of mystery to the book. If you’re in the mood for a book that has romance, humor, quirky families, friendships, and some mystery, then this is worth checking out.

Book Info:

Publication: March 22, 2016 | Montlake Romance |

Vineyard manager Reese Clark is determined to bring her family’s Oregon winery into the big leagues, and she knows building a new tasting room and event pavilion is her ticket there. Having her ex-husband’s best friend—and her secret college crush—turn up to head the construction project, however, doesn’t pair well with her plans. Between her nauseating lovebird parents; her motorcycle-riding, pot-growing grandfather; and her pet alpaca, fond of head-butting groins, Reese has more than enough chaotic characters in her life.

Back in college, Clay Henderson was more likely to be sprawled over a bar than building one. But even if the new clean-living Clay has matured as deliciously as an oak-aged chardonnay, he’s still off-limits. As Reese’s well-laid plans for the winery crumble like bad cork, Clay the newly sober gentleman is sweet enough to rescue Reese from a wardrobe malfunction and still spicy enough to play “I Never” with her. Can he overcome his past rep to offer her a love too heady to ignore?