“A toast worthy end to a fabulous series.”

This time around, the spotlight is on Madison, the most logical among the trio of friends.

Seeing her friends pair off with their respective partners, Madison is left with nothing but her career to add colours to her otherwise clinical life. Blossoming in her career as a winemaker, she ventured further and became the owner of the well loved and popular cafe in town, Bacon and Biscuit.

Apart from running the show as manager in Bacon and Biscuit, Clementine has her sights on being the future owner of the cafe. Always on the outside looking in; never a part of the crowd, Clementine needs something solid to call her own. Hoping but believing that her high school crush on Madison will never be given the time of day, her deep rooted insecurities reared it’s ugly head further when Madison swept in and took her place as the new owner of her beloved cafe.

The book made me fall for the characters, especially Clementine. If you have ever regarded yourself or have been made to feel like a second class citizen, you would feel her agony, applaud her perseverance and rejoice in her triumph.

5 stars. “When the universe decides to wallop you with a romance that has you off balance and feeling a little light-headed, you take it as a compliment, a blessing. You say, Thank you, Universe, and pretend you’re a little drunk and enjoy the buzz.”

I just reviewed What A Tangled Web by Melissa Brayden. Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC.

I always know what I'm getting into with a Melissa Brayden book and they always still manage to surprise me with how soft and kind and beautiful they are. What a Tangled Web is no exception. I hadn't realised that this was the third in a series when I picked it up, but it turns out that it doesn't really matter. Each book in the series covers a different romance, so they are only loosely connected by the friendship group and the setting - a vineyard.

One thing I love about Brayden's book is that her characters always seem to have such different jobs. I've read about firewomen and surfers and actresses and now about a winemaker and a barista. Madison is our winemaker, analytical and strong but still kind. She's looking to branch out and diversify financially and she pounces on the opportunity to buy up the local breakfast place, the Biscuit. Clementine - or Clem - has never left the town and she doesn't feel like she can escape her roots of living in the trailer park. Whilst she desperately wants to buy the Biscuit, which she manages, she once again feels like a loser when Madison gets in first.

What a Tangled Web is of course a love story, but it is also about friendship and family and making wine. It's sweet and satisfying with a charming happy ending.

This book is like a comfortable pillow that perfectly supports your weary head. It has all the right ingredients that flow along in a gentle caress. Madison finally gets her own woman and starts to articulate her feelings that don’t involve grapes. Her object of desire is nicely complicated, both strong and vulnerable; it’s a heady combination. I liked the cafe setting, even tough as a Brit, I can’t get my head round American biscuits. They should be crunchy, round or small rectangles that you dunk in your cup of tea. Instead you have them with butter and bacon. What?! My head is blown and that’s just the butter and bacon combo, add in biscuits (even if google tells me these are scones, I’m still what?) and I’m so confused. The romance is a delight though. Tangled valley has been another great series, and now that the three friends are all coupled up I’m assuming that’s the end of the series. So I will raise a glass (of wine of course, maybe Pinot?) to the valley and bid adieu.

A Great Ending for a Lovely Trio
This book is Winemaker Madison’s tale. When the Bacon and Biscuit café goes up for sale, popular and outgoing Madison sees it as an opportunity to invest in the community. Not knowing how to run the place, she relies heavily on Clementine, the B & B manager, to help her. Clementine is a smart woman with a good head on her shoulders but an inferiority complex a mile wide. She hasn’t had an easy life thanks to her upbringing. She has been crushing on Madison since school but not anymore. Now she’s mad at the woman for stealing her dreams. She has been saving to buy the café for years and before she can even make an offer it’s gone. It’s not really Madison’s fault, she didn’t know and she IS letting Clem make all the changes she wants….and there is something nice about getting to know her in a new light… but when her dad shows up back in town will all be lost before it’s even begun?

I love this series! It is so sweet and special. I’ve been waiting for Madison’s tale and for her to be matched with Clem is just another level of happiness for me. I adore both of these women! Sweet Clem is sensitive and caring. She doesn’t know her own worth and has a lot to overcome in this story. Luckily Madison sees her for who she really is and is up for the challenge. There are some heart breaking scenes in this story that might make you cry a bit but never fear, Ms Brayden didn’t get where she is without her fantastic HEAs!! Woven in the drama of our lovers, we also get to spend time with the other two couples from the previous books and everything is so beautifully wrapped up that you can’t help at sigh at the perfectness that is Tangled Valley!

This is the third and the last book in the “Tangled Valley” romance series”. The series centers around three women who are running a vineyard in California. Readers will experience their ups and downs in life while they try to create superior wines. Each book focuses on one of the women and her path to finding love and professional satisfaction.

In this last book in the series, Madison LaGrange, the viniculturist for Tangle Valley Vineyard, has always felt more comfortable with the science of making wine than with figuring out what women want. The wines she has created have been a huge success, and she is informed by her financial planner that it might be time to invest in a local business. This investment plan led her to purchase the Bacon and Biscuit Café when it became available.

The manager of the Bacon and Biscuit Café is Clementine Monroe. Readers have been introduced to Clementine in the two previous books. She has lived in the town of Whisper Wall for her entire life and went to school with Madison. Unfortunately, Clementine came from the “other side of the tracks” and always felt less than the other kids in school who tended to have wonderful parents and lots of money. Her family life was nonexistent, so she found refuge in reading books. She has worked at the Bacon and Biscuit Café for years and had been saving to buy the café someday. When her dream is finally about to come true, Clementine learns that Madison has swept in and taken away her dream.

The romance between Madison and Clementine evolves very slowly. Many romance writers seem to rush the development of the story and have their main characters jump into bed on the first or second date. This template for romance seems to take away from the true reality of how couples build a lasting relationship.

Ms. Brayden does a wonderful job of developing a story that is believable. Also, she constructs characters with whom you can relate. I so enjoy the series that Ms. Brayden created because each book in the series includes the same cluster of friends. The secondary characters are also quite pleasurable.

What a Tangled Web can be read as a standalone book. However, I feel that readers will get more enjoyment by reading the first two books prior to the third in the series. I will deeply miss the ladies of the Tangle Valley Vineyard.

I highly recommend this book as well as the other two books in the series. I rate this book with 5+ out of 5 stars.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is the final installment in the Tangle Valley Romance series. Madison LeGrange is the head vinemaker at Tangle Valley Vineyard. Ever since she and her last girlfriend called it quits, Madison is happy to watch Dateline and loose herself among the grapes. Her other obsession is Bacon and Biscuit, which she tries to order from as often as possible. When she finds out the owner is thinking of selling, she jumps at the chance to be the first to bid on it. When the owner accepts her offer, she is ecstatic. What she doesn't know is the manager, Clementine Monroe has been saving for years to buy Bacon and Biscuit. When she finds out that Madison has bought it and she wasn't able to make an offer, she is furious. Madison wants to talk to Clementine about the cafe and that she wants Clementine to continue to run it. Clementine is very cold towards her and Madison is unsure about her decision. Clementine finally tells Madison that she had wanted to buy the cafe. Once the air is cleared, Clementine warms up to Madison. The two women work toward making the cafe better than ever. Another thing Madison doesn't know is Clementine has harbored a crush for her since high school.
I would recommend.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An. interesting romance. Clementine run a bake shop which she wants to someday buy. Madison a vineyard owner buys the bake shop from under Clementine. They start out as adversaries but end up lovers. The plot is good and the characters are written very well. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to romance lovers. I received this book through NetGalley as a reviewer but the thoughts and opinions are my own

I really loved the first book in the Tangled series, so this book had its work cut out for itself. If ranking all three books, I'd have to say the first is my favorite, the second my least fave, and this one falls somewhere in the middle of the two.

I love Clementine, and it was pretty clear in book one that she'd play a part in an upcoming installment. She's likable, she's sweet, and she's got an obvious crush on Madison. The thing with Clem though is that she doesn't feel worthy of Madison and that creates some problems in the relationship.

The story was a nice, romantic read, and I felt a bit sad saying goodbye to these characters. One thing that I wondered though is that there was a character mentioned early on in the series who is an actress. I expected her to make a trip home and become the love interest for one of these three, but the character just sort of fizzled out. Disappointed because I was looking forward to that possible storyline.

Madison LeGrange is a winemaker at the Tangle Valley Vineyard. She loves her job, her friends and she is quite content with her life. When an opportunity to invest her money in a beloved local caffe opens, she acts on impulse and buys it. Clementine Monroe's life hasn't been easy, but she is currently in the job of her dreams, as a manager of the Bacon and Biscuit Café, and now that she has the opportunity to buy the place she is quick to act, just not as quick as Madison, her crush. While their relationship has a rocky beginning, Clementine finds in Madison a boss that is willing to trust her and implements the changes Clementine has always wanted. Their attraction becomes to too much to ignore, but will Clementine's insecurities and past be too much for them?

While I love the first book in this series, I think I love this one more. both characters are so complex and interesting and real! I love the way Madison and Clem got together and their relationship was just honest and raw and cute all at the same time. Also, super sexy. It was one of the most romantic endings and I loved how the author wrapped up all stories at the end.
I specially liked that while the characters from the other books were present, they didn't take pages and pages of the story. I loved that the story was focused on Madison and Clementine.

This book will definitely make it into my bookshelf!!! Thank you Melissa Brayden for another beautiful story!

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Right from the start I got a positive vibe from the book and thought I was going to love it. And I was right, it was a very sweet story that was a pleasure to read. It is a romance story but with the small town setting around a vineyard and a café gives me a feelgood book feelings. So, if you like feelgood stories around food I also recommend this book. I really liked both the female main character and it was a little plus that one of them was a reader. The couple was also from two kind of different background which played a major role the story. So, if that is something you enjoy this is also a good read.

This book was almost a perfect story, I had a good time reading it. But sadly enough, it was a bit on the slow side. Not too many conflicts arises until it was only 20 % left of the story. Therefore, even if I enjoyed reading it, it was nothing keeping me reading it. I could put the book down and pick it up a bit whenever. There was no excitement that led me to not being able to put the book down. A book that I have not trouble putting down throughout the entire story line, is not a five-star read for me.

But overall, it was a very sweet read that I can recommend to people who like very sweet romances with a little hint of steaminess.

Melissa Brayden has completed her Tangled Valley series wonderfully. I liked Madison and Clementine together a lot. I like that we got a lot of details of the small town by meeting people from the town. The Biddies are wonderful gossips that add to its charm. Whenever I read Melissa Brayden's books, I go through them quickly and this was no different. One of Brayden's strengths is dialogue and Maddie and Clem's back and forth is great! The ending was done really well.

Melissa Brayden once again stuns us with her romance writing skills. Every book written by her brings a new lease of life and joy to the book community, and this one is no exception. With a stunning backdrop to match charismatic and charming characters, this book is the small-town romance you never knew you needed.

4.5 stars
Now we're back to the original feel for the "Tangle" series.
It's a wonderful love story. And I will not go over the story again as the previous reviews have said it all. With one exception. The angst was a bit confusing to me at first but then Brayden was very convincing in her explanation of why it was happening. And the reuniting was believable. My only off feeling was....I thought the story had ended but then it went on and then again and then an epilogue. But then I realized that Brayden was saying good bye to this series and tying all the stories into a neat little bow. I will miss the characters and the vineyard life. I think Brayden will too.

Madison is back! What a Tangled Web is the third and final book in the Tangle Valley series, Madison’s story, and definitely not a standalone.

Finally over Gabriella – she already was, she simply needed to be reminded – Madison is enjoying life but is a little too focused on work. She needs to broaden her horizons and the perfect opportunity comes when she finds out the owner of everyone’s favourite cafe is selling just as her investment guy tells her she has money to invest. In a very un-Madison manner, she seals the deals on an impulse, not knowing she just stole Clementine’s dream.

Melissa Brayden had my heart racing by chapter two. I like Madison, despite her confusion in the previous book, and I like Clementine and I know it’s a romance and everyone will be happy at the end but I didn’t want Madison, in her oblivious wealthy girl way, to hurt Clementine, even without meaning to. Seriously, what was the owner thinking, not talking to Clementine first? Anyway. The thing is, Madison is more oblivious than most, and it’s not just because she’s never had to worry about money. She lives in her own little world of charts and data and – her saving grace – grapes. And so has no idea sweet Clementine has been crushing on her since high school. When she realises, years after everyone else, that Clementine is gay, her whole outlook shifts. There are lovely scenes of longing looks and blushes, of starry skies and alternating confidence. And, of course, good and supportive friends.

I like this group of friends a lot. I’m a little over the cute banter (it’s been coming for a while, to be honest), but Brayden really writes fantastic characters. They’re sweet and kind and just flawed enough to be plausible. I was really hoping that this time, the drama would come from something other than the mandatory 80% breakup but no such luck. The catalyst comes from the outside but the result is the same. Brayden has mastered the formula and maybe asking her to shake things around a bit isn’t fair in times of pandemic. And she does write reunions perfectly.

I’ve tried to understand why I tend to overrate Melissa Brayden’s novels, what it is about her books that makes me so warm and full of feelings at the end, even when they’re not, objectively, the best books ever. Some of them are, but not all, they can’t all be. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the characters. I keep saying I’m very character-driven and Brayden’s characters fill my heart with emotions each and every time. I love them. I want them to be happy, and make others happy too. Yes, I sometimes wish they had more distinctive voices or even personalities, but they’re all so bloody lovely and endearing I can’t help but love them.

That said, if anyone, even the sexiest woman on Earth, tries to kiss me with their mouth full of cookie, I’m going to run as far as I can.

I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

I found this book to be a good escape from the real world. The chemistry between the two main characters, Clementine and Madison, was nicely developed. The banter between all the friends was fun. Not having read any of the previous books in the Tangle Valley Romance series, I was initially a bit puzzled as to who some of the supporting characters were. Also, the plot line involving Clementine's father was not fully resolved, unless I missed it somehow (or it was intentional on the author's part). But these are minor quibbles, because I enjoyed reading the book.

Madison LeGrange is the lead winemaker at the Tangle Valley Vineyard. She meets with her accountant and receives advice to diversify her holdings. She wants to invest in something local that she can improve for the community and her investment. She receives word that the Bacon and Biscuit Café is up for sale. She immediately jumps on this investment.

Clementine Monroe manages the Bacon and Biscuit Café and has been setting aside funds to one day buy the establishment when the owner will eventually sell. When she hears that the restaurant is for sale she gets her paperwork ready only to find that someone has stolen it from under her. This sets up an already contentious relationship for Madison and Clem dating back to high school.

I simply adored this book. If any authors want to take a lesson on how to create character chemistry that a reader can feel in their heart, how to create drama and angst without overdoing it, and how to translate a character's past into their present situation, read this book. 5 stars

I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review,

Amazing read!
Im just gutted that this is the last of this series!
Loved everything about it! The chemistry, the sex scenes and funny banter between the ladies

Will be re-reading the book series again

Now that all the other Tangled Valley Vineyard friends have found love, it is time for Madison to find love of her own. Madison lives her life by certainty and the gathering of data. As the vineyard’s wine maker, she prides herself on her meticulous nature. Clementine is the manager of the local hot spot for breakfast and gossip. She has a past she is not proud of and a wall erected around her heart of gold. What will happen when these two acquaintances from high school find themselves at a crossroad?

This was the final installment of A Tangle Valley Romance series and Braydon saved the best for last. This final book hit all the marks for me and then some.

It is always enjoyable to read a series of books so that you can follow characters throughout and see how things progress along the way. This book could easily be read as a stand-alone book. However, I would recommend reading the full series. The character personalities, from the main characters even to the town gossips, are much more enjoyable if you have read the other two novels. Braydon has done a fantastic job developing all her characters. Madison and Clementine are both characters that I feel like will be relatable to many readers.

Madison is a beautiful, intelligent, and confident person who tends to keep her emotions and feelings for others inside. Clementine comes from a difficult past and, while cheery on the outside, she struggles with self-worth and realizing her value. These two have chemistry that flies off the pages. The book has some wonderful intimate scenes that have you believing not much could go wrong with them. However, both women have things to overcome and growing to do.

I gravitated to Clementine’s character the most. She is a great person with a huge heart, but she has a lack of value for herself. In fact, she measures her value by the way she grew up and the people who continuously disappointed her in the past. This book dives into issues of self-worth in such a way that it can give hope to those who can relate. Hope that there is love out there and you are worthy of being loved and being happy.
The characters of these books have chosen a family to be a part of. Some come from a great family background and others not so much. However, they all found each other and make each other happy to live life. What is not to love about that?

I received an ARC by NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

A great ending to the series. Brayden’s books are always a pleasure to read, and so far, I’ve never been disappointed. Although this was not my favorite book of the series, the writing and the pacing are on point, and it was a fun and easy read with a bit of angst.

This book can be read as a standalone, but why do that if you can read the whole series? It will add to the experience. This book makes an excellent ending of the series, we’re talking about a smooth romance novel which makes for the ultimate escapism.
While I thought Madison’s behavior in the second book was quite natural human behavior (and I know that a lot of people will not agree with me, but well I’m odd I guess, I really liked that second book), I was happy to see that she is past her crisis and ready for her love story with Clementine. Also, the friendship between Joey, Madison and Gabriella was back to where they were in the first book, full of banter and fun dialogues and I enjoyed every second with them. The biddies (with a special focus on Birdie) play a role as well, but they are luckily not as sharp as in the previous books, I liked them better this way as sweet old, be it meddling, ladies.

The book is told in the third person with POVs from Madison and Clementine. Their romance starts with a little bit of animosity, but they are both so sweet and amiable that they couldn’t be mad at each other even if they wanted to. Their personalities are quite different. Madison is adorably nerdy, pragmatic and has difficulty expressing her emotions (except to her grapes that is) and Clementine is gentle and welcoming, but struggles with low self-esteem and confidence. I liked their personalities, but I did feel that they acted out of character every now and then.
The romance started rather easy, but nicely avoided insta-love. It soon felt rock steady though and I didn’t doubt they would not stay together. However, this is also why this is not my favorite book of the series, everything seemed to go so very smooth, even their dark moment didn’t feel like a problem that they would not overcome, although I did choke up for a moment there. While I personally like to see some more rough edges, I’m sure that many romance fans will like this lighter type of romance best.

The epilogue is something not to be missed, it gives a glimpse of the beautiful future of life at Tangle Valley, I’ll miss them, but I’m also curious to see what Brayden’s next book will bring. If you’re looking for a sweet, fun romance, look no further!

Clementine, who works at Bacon & Biscuit cafe, had harbored a crush on Madison, the winemaker at the Tangle Valley since their school days. Having a difficult past with the absence of her parents made her low self-esteemed. However, she wants to change her life by saving up to purchase and made the cafe her own.

Madison, the reserved, and inexpressive winemaker, suddenly has some funds to spare then impulsively decided to buy the Biscuit cafe. From there, their interaction with each other from hate gradually becomes an intimate one. Unfortunately, their relationship had to deal with an obstacle from the past.

Finally, I got a favorite of Brayden’s Tangle Valley series. I literally finished this book in one seating. The story gave me the same vibe as “Just Three Words” from the Soho Loft Series. I have to say that even though it has the same formula as the other books, it has more depth in terms of exploring the emotions of the main characters. I love the pace of the story, even though at the end feels a bit rush to cover all the milestones, but it still tolerable. Overall, I highly recommend this book, a good escape after a long day of endless zoom meetings :p