Synopsis
It’s crazy how fast the buzz comes back after you’ve been sober for so long.
Whiskey stood there, on my doorstep, just like he had one year before. Except this time, there was no rain, no anger, no wedding invitation — it was just us.
It was just him — the old friend, the easy smile, the twisted solace wrapped in a glittering bottle.
It was just me — the alcoholic, pretending like I didn’t want to taste him, realizing too quickly that months of being clean didn’t make me crave him any less.
But we can’t start here.
No, to tell this story right, we need to go back.
Back to the beginning.
Back to the very first drop.
This is my love letter to Whiskey. I only hope he reads it.
My Review
“Did you know Whiskey in Gaelic means Water of Life? I didn’t learn that little fact until later in life, but I remember thinking how magical whiskey must have been the first time those monks tasted it that they coined it with that terminology. It must have been life-altering. It must have made them pause, gasp, and declare that they could no longer live without it. After all, we can’t live without water, right?”
Kandi Steiner is a new-to-me author and I cannot wait to read her other books! Many times when readers rave about a book, I take a chance and the book just falls flat for me. Well, ‘A Love Letter to Whiskey’ absolutely lives up to all the hype!! I absolutely LOVED this book and the writing was beautiful. I savored each page like a glass of fine whiskey. The emotional roller coaster and the flow of the story were totally addicting.
This is my absolute FAVORITE kind of romance: an epic story spanning the course of many years and many relationships. Jamie and B became best friends when he began dating HER best friend Jenna. B always loved Jamie but their timing was always all wrong.
“I’d seen it a million times, but this was the first time I felt sick watching it happen. I saw him first, but it didn’t matter. Because he saw her.”
B is smart and independent and sometimes too stubborn to see what is right in front of her. Jamie seemed to love B deeply but he kept her at a distance. He was the guy with a girl best friend. The flow of the story and the author’s prose were captivating and surprising and just delicious. I could not put this book down! I do love angst when it’s done right and Kandi Steiner keep the pacing perfect so that I could not wait to see what would happen next.
“I wasn’t sorry the first time I kissed you, even when you weren’t mine, and I’m not sorry I kissed you the other night, even when I wasn’t yours. Because the truth is you’ve always been mine, and I’ll always be yours, and that’s just the way it is.”
B and Jamie move through life, finishing college, beginning new careers and entering into new relationships. BUT every time I thought they would finally find their happy ending, the author would throw a twist in the story. These two were SO right for each other, why couldn’t they just make it right? Many promises are made and hearts are broken through the years of B and Jamie’s friendship.
“We may mean them in the moment the words leave our lips, but as time goes on, good intentions get rubbed raw by failed expectations.”
While I completely adored the story and the writing, what kept me from rating this book 5 stars was a typo (sorry, I’m a stickler) and a series of nonsensical events near the end of the book took me out of the story. I still don’t understand how books that are professionally edited and have a literal parade of beta readers can contain such errors. But I am OBSESSED with this book and it is DEFINITELY worth a read.
“You’re practically whiskey on legs, anyway. The color of your hair, your eyes, the way you smell —it’s like your spirit drink.”
“I remind you of whiskey?”
“In every sense of the word,” I murmured, maybe too low for him to hear.