Can't Hurry Love

May 2, 2011
Concluding the Baci women trilogy (after Then He Kissed Me), Ridgway weaves a passion-filled but middling yarn centered on Giuliana "Jules" Baci, the oldest Baci sister. After a decade away from her hometown and her family's winery, Jules returns and vows to spend the year helping her sisters bring the business back from the brink of ruin. What Jules doesn't count on, however, is the continuing desire she feels for Liam, her handsome high school beau, who has since become stiff and cold. Mutual lust bridges the distance and the two engage in many spontaneous, secretive trysts, but these intimate encounters reignite an emotional bond that neither will admit to, while a series of vandalisms and unearthed secrets threaten to shatter the affair as well as the Baci family harmony. Spicy sex scenes heat up an otherwise predictable story.

June 15, 2011

It's Giuliana Baci's turn to find love, but things start off with her car being crushed and her apartment burning down. Fortunately, she does have a place to live; unfortunately, it's next door to the family winery, Tanti Baci, and currently inhabited by her former lover, Liam Bennett, who is more than willing to share. But there's been bad blood between Liam's family and the Bacis for decades, and although Liam is there to help, Jules doesn't trust him. Still, she knows she must if she wants to salvage the business. Fast-paced action, a crumbling diary, an old legend, and an abundance of wedding detail keep things interesting as the three Baci women struggle to save their beloved winery. VERDICT Funny, lively, and lusciously sensual, this delectable reunion romance sparkles like Tanti Baci's wedding wine and ties up a few loose ends as it nicely concludes the trilogy. Ridgway (Then He Kissed Me) lives in San Diego.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2011
The third book featuring the three Baci sisters (after The Care and Feeding of Unmarried Men, 2006, and Then He Kissed Me, 2011) focuses on the eldest, Giuliana, who doesn't believe that their wedding business, meant to save the Napa Valley winery that has been in the family for more than a century, is going to pan out. She has other worries, too, for her apartment building burns down, and a gawker smashes her car. Meanwhile, the sisters launch an event based on the legend that none of the marriages toasted with Tanti Baci's sparkling wine have ended in divorce. Giuliana is reduced to sleeping on the love seat in her office. Liam Bennett, Giuliana's childhood sweetheart and current nemesis, is always turning up, and a secret they shared 10 years earlier is exposed, forcing them into close proximity. A subplot involving Grace Hatch, who escaped an abusive marriage, and a burgeoning relationship with her childhood hero, who is suffering from PTSD, adds tension and suspense. Ridgway's feel-good read, with its perfectly integrated, extremely hot, and well-crafted love scenes, is contemporary romance at its best.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)