DNF at 37%

Catherine Robertson's Corkscrew You is a small town romance that centers on Shelby Armstrong and Nathan Durant.

I assumed this would be something enjoyable after reading the synopsis and looking at the cover, but it wasn't.

The protagonist, Nathan, was already in love with Shelby, the heroine, when I was just 20% into the story. And let's not even discuss when they actually begin hooking up.

Another thing that made me iffy was Shelby's refusal to swear and the weird things she replaced bad words with. The cherry on top was when she referred to sex as "boink-bonk."

I made an effort to get through it, but the last line was witnessing Nathan come dangerously close to telling Shelby he loved her at just 30%.

*Thank you to NetGalley, One More Chapter, and to the author, Catherine Robertson, for providing me with this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.*

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars
I enjoyed this romcom and liked the family closeness aspects too Nathan and Shelby are very well suited for each other the banter and funny moments between them made me laugh so much. The only issue I had with this book is that Shelby came across immature at times which did annoy me at times.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

TWs: grief/family death, depression

Nathan is in charge of turning Shelby's family's beloved winery around. The winery used to be her late father's, but it's been struggling to stay afloat. Even though she wants the winery to succeed, Shelby is resistant to follow Nathan's suggestions, and it seems like their working relationship will not turn out well. On the other hand, their physical relationship is another story...

Tropes:
Grumpy/sunshine
Small Town Romance
He falls first
yearning/angst

I really liked Shelby's personality. She was easy to relate to and is also fiercely independent. We follow her struggle with feelings of grief for her dad while balancing the burden of managing the winery by herself. I also really liked Nathan and his siblings. I thought Shelby and Nathan had good banter and balanced each other out really well. But I felt like Nathan developed feelings pretty fast (falling in love within the first few chapters) when in previous chapters, physical attraction is the only thing that was mentioned. There's a lot of pining/angst after Nathan realizes his feelings (which I live for!) and he struggles with balancing his responsibilities and commitments to his family, job, and relationship with Shelby. Throughout the book, we are able to see how Nathan and Shelby grow together and support each other through their hardships.

A cute and enjoyable read. The writing is humorous, and I laughed out loud at several parts. I'm excited to read the other books in the series: there are some great potential couples!

An enjoyable romantic read. I liked how the main characters Shelby and Nathan are influenced by their family backgrounds. It's quite inspirational showing how something good can be achieved when dealing with grief.