Title: Bourbon & Lies
Series: The Bourbon Boys #1
Author: Victoria Wilder
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 450
Genre: Romance, suspense
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️🖤🖤
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Bourbon & Lies
Laney Young witnessed something terrible, and to protect her, Officer Bea is hiding her from the world. Bea basically drops Laney off with the Foxx family in Fiasco. She trusts them and believes Laney will be safe there, as long as Laney keeps her mouth shut.
Laney immediately loves life on the Foxx property. The Foxx family makes bourbon, and she helps them organize events and manage day-to-day activities. All of the Foxx brothers are handsome, but Grant is definitely the one she’s most interested in.
As they grow closer, Laney is forced to keep many things secret. Grant gets the feeling that she’s hiding something, so he starts digging for answers. Unknowingly, he ends up putting Laney in danger.
Review
This is the first book in the Bourbon Boys series by Victoria Wilder. This first installment focuses on Grant, but all three brothers get their own love story and book.
This book falls into the romantic suspense genre, and honestly, I’m obsessed with books in this category. It combines two of my favorite genres: romance and suspense. You get crime and mystery mixed with a love story, which is always a winning combination for me.
The story starts off in a very interesting way. Laney is basically dropped off with the Foxx family. The Foxxes have no idea who she is or why she’s there, but they trust Officer Bea enough not to ask too many questions. Throughout the book, you get snippets of Laney’s life in New York, what she witnessed, and the reason she ended up in Fiasco in the first place.
The characters were all fine. Laney is trying to stay safe and avoid danger. She does her best to be careful while also enjoying her new life with the Foxx family. She fits right in with the rest of them. Grant, on the other hand, hasn’t been with anyone since losing his ex. He believes the Foxx family is cursed and that if they fall in love, their partner will die. So even though he’s attracted to Laney, he tries to keep his distance. While I liked both main characters, I didn’t love them. They were enjoyable enough, but nothing about them really stood out to me.
The plot itself was pretty interesting. As I mentioned, it’s a mix of romance and suspense, although I would say it’s about 75% romance and 25% suspense. Some chapters were genuinely engaging and fun to read, while others were just okay. The slower chapters mostly focused on the two main characters falling in love. It was cute, I guess, but not particularly memorable or mind-blowing. It was simply fine.
In case you’re wondering, this book doesn’t have a third-act breakup. It feels like almost every romance novel includes one of these days, so it was actually quite refreshing to read a story that avoided that trope.
The writing style was solid as well. Overall, I liked this book. The main reason I gave it 3/5 hearts (though it’s probably closer to 3.5/5) is that the story was just okay for me. Nothing made me giggle, blush, or become completely invested in the romance. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t a favorite either.
That said, I’m still considering reading the other books in the series. I’m curious to see what kind of love stories the other Foxx brothers get.
Rating: 3.5/5 hearts. ❤️❤️❤️½