Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

Eight Hundred Grapes
A Novel
Author: Laura Dave
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publishing Date: June 2, 2015
ISBN: 9781476789255
Hardcover: 272 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction

About the Book:

A breakout novel from an author who “positively shines with wisdom and intelligence” (Jonathan Tropper, This Is Where I leave You). “Laura Dave writes with humor and insight about relationships in all their complexity, whether she's describing siblings or fiancés or a couple long-married. Eight Hundred Grapes is a captivating story about the power of family, the limitations of love, and what becomes of a life’s work” (J. Courtney Sullivan, Maine).

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…

My Thoughts:

"Eight Hundred Grapes" delivered something far from what I was expecting. I expected to find an average romance taking place at a winery. What I got was a story that was rich and full and complex but at the same time, so very simple and can be summed up in one sentence. It's a story about what one wants out of life and what will have to be sacrificed for it.

Within the beautiful setting of a vineyard, the story is rich with information of what it takes to masterful at making a great wine and also the lessons of life that come with it. The main character, Georgia Ford discovers herself and her true desires and needs when she returns home a few days before her wedding.

This mesmerizing look at Georgia and her return to find a not perfect family made this a wonderful and hard-to-put down story. Easy to read, yet complex to a point, I found a ring of truth to the situation: when we lose our rose colored glasses and see life for what it is.

I enjoyed Georgia and her struggles and found myself adoring Jacob and Dan. The shifting from present to past was not difficult because the past was in 3rd person and the present was in 1st person. The ending was a bit predictable but was truly satisfying.

If you are looking for a decent Women's fiction book to read this summer, look no further. "Eight Hundred Grapes" is a wonderful book that will entertain you with humor, drama and self-realization.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley courtesy of the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review, but instead, one that gives my honest opinion.