Earlier this year I read Breathe by Lucinda Race (thanks to NetGalley for the digital copy). This is book two in the Crescent Lake Winery series.

Savvy marketing genius Tessa Price scoops up a struggling winery near her family's successful business but needs former owner Kevin Maxwell to stick around. Despite his initial skepticism, her warmth and ambition win him over. 

This sweet romance had the potential to be an enemies-to-lovers story but it turned out to be more of a not-so-secretive office romance. I loved the setting details in the Finger Lakes region of New York and the plot with a strong businesswoman. Readers looking for a happy escape with very little that goes wrong and those who appreciate non-explicit closed-door love scenes will like Breathe by Lucinda Race.

Book description from the back cover:

Romance and fine wine both need time to breathe… 

Her family’s successful winery business in the Finger Lakes region of New York should have gone to Tessa Price. She’d always dreamed of running the winery, but when the “prodigal son” returns to take up the reins, she boldly strikes out on her own, purchasing Sand Creek Winery—a cash-strapped competitor—right out from under her family. She can forge her own destiny, using her marketing skills and big plans to bring new life to the winery. But first, she has a proposition for the sexy previous owner. And he’s likely to hate it. 

Kevin “Max” Maxwell would never have willingly sold his winery to anyone named “Price.” Family always comes first, and if paying for his sister’s cancer treatment cost him his business, it was worth it. But when the new owner offers him a one-year contract to stay on as general manager, with a possible bonus, he really can’t afford to turn it down. He can ignore the effect her deep brown eyes and heart-shaped face have on his senses for a year, can’t he?  

Relationships, like slowly ripening vineyards, take time. But Max has been keeping a secret from Tessa, one that could destroy her hopes for their future. Will a terrible accident force Tessa and Max to face how much they have to lose or tear apart their budding relationship forever? Sometimes a romance is like a fine wine. To be its best, it just needs time to breathe. 

#Breathe #NetGalley

Kimberly Hunt is a freelance editor at Revision Division. Her specialty is fiction, her passion is giving back, and her secret weapon is her experience as a project editor.

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