Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

There are secrets you share, and secrets you hide….

Growing up on her family’s Sonoma vineyard, Georgia Ford learned some important secrets. The secret number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine: eight hundred. The secret ingredient in her mother’s lasagna: chocolate. The secret behind ending a fight: hold hands.

But just a week before her wedding, thirty-year-old Georgia discovers her beloved fiancé has been keeping a secret so explosive, it will change their lives forever.

Georgia does what she’s always done: she returns to the family vineyard, expecting the comfort of her long-married parents, and her brothers, and everything familiar. But it turns out her fiancé is not the only one who’s been keeping secrets….

Eight Hundred Grapes is a wonderful book that tells the story of a family in crisis.  Every person is trying to do the right thing but unfortunately they are messing it all up.

Georgia runs out on her fiance and runs back to the last place she thought she would go, home.  Her parents are separated and selling the family vineyard, a place that Georgia turned her back on.  The one place she actually feels most at home.

Unfortunately she meets the man buying her family’s livelihood and she doesn’t like him one bit.  Then her fiance shows up trying to win her back. Both men send Georgia into a tail spin that is a fun ride for her and the readers.

Then there are her parents who love each other but are having a hard time showing it.  They have decided to start over, but should they start over without each other is the question.

Finally there are Georgia’s brothers, Finn and Bobby. Twins who are always at each other’s throats.  They have a lot to work out.

The pace of this book is great.  I really enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down.  I was actually sad when I finished it.  I was sad that I wouldn’t be able to touch base with characters I had grown to love.  I’m actually hoping there is a sequel to this book.

I love Laura Dave’s writing.  She really knows how to make you like characters even when you want to hate them.  She brings to life the scenes and scenery on each page.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone.  Such a good story about a family that is flawed (and they know it) and falling about; and how they get back together.

Laura Dave is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Eight Hundred Grapes, The First Husband, The Divorce Party, and London Is the Best City in America. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times; O, The Oprah Magazine; Ladies Home Journal; Glamour; Redbook; Self; and The New York Observer. Dave has appeared on the CBS Early Show, Fox and Friends, and All Things Considered; and Cosmopolitan recently named her a “Fun and Fearless Phenom” of the year. Her novels have been published in eighteen countries and have been optioned for film by Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Universal Studios. Fox 2000 optioned the rights to Eight Hundred Grapes with Dave writing the screenplay.  

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Stephanie