A Love Letter to Whiskey (A Love Letter to Whiskey #1-1.5) by Kandi Steiner
Brecks Kennedy has spent years writing the story of her life, but there’s one chapter that never quite closed… Jamie Shaw.
It all started with a jog, a clumsy collision, and an instant crush. But while B’s heart skipped a beat, Jamie’s eyes found her best friend instead. And just like that, her crush became her closest friend. Bound by shared moments of music, surfing, and secrets, their connection is undeniable, even as they desperately try to fight it.
But between college campuses, chance encounters, and stolen moments, fate has a way of bringing them together when they least expect it, time and time again.
As they wrestle with their feelings and the choices that have kept them apart, both B and Jamie must decide if they are finally willing to risk everything for the love that’s always been just out of reach. Sometimes, love isn’t about finding the right person, it’s about the moment when everything aligns. But what if that moment never comes?
Heart-wrenching and addictive, this is a story of love, loss, and the years it takes to finally get it right.
Review: As teenagers, Brecks "B" Kennedy instantly falls for Jamie Shaw. But he winds up dating her best friend. And thus begins a series of poor timing, where the two orbit around one another for years but never quite get it right. B feels like she has an unhealthy addiction to the way Jamie makes her feel. Fate seems to always bring them together time and time again and the pair continually wrestle for their feelings for each other.
WOW what a tormented ride! If you like an angsty romance full of ethically gray choices because love made you do it, along the lines of The Favorites by Layne Fargo or The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han, this book is for you! These two will burn it all down for each other, including cheating on their current partners with each other. They cannot resist each other and honestly don't try that hard not to. They are fated to be drawn to each other no matter how hard they resist. This is one of those tormented couples where in real life you'd be like girl, this is not ok but in fiction is just irresistible in its drama.
What I liked:
- How these two grow up together. They meet on a chance encounter while out jogging as teenagers and then later when they coincidentally wind up at the same college. The world seems to bring them together over and over through the years and I liked seeing them figure it out together. Part of the point of their love story is that they're young and immature and they need time (lots of time and mistakes made) to figure it out before they get it right. This two are young and dumb and they pay the price in their relationship to each other.
- I really liked B's back story. She has a tormented relationship with her dad (for VERY valid reasons). I do think this shaped her interactions with men and her self-esteem. Her dad is white and her mom is black and I liked that she was not the same long haired, blonde, big-busted lead like in so many romances. And in fact, she is self-conscious because she feels like blonde girls are more Jamie's type.
- The duet narration was phenomenal and made this feel so performative and transportive. The book is from B's perspective but getting to hear Jamie's voice through the male narrator reading his dialogue was just too good.
- I'm glad my audiobook had the extended, five-year epilogue from Jamie's perspective. The main text of the book is all from B's perspective and it was so interesting getting to hear the whole story from Jamie's point of view in book 1.5 afterwards. It's not necessary to understand the text but it did add some details and understanding of the events and I'm glad I got to hear his side.
A few things that didn't work for me as well:
- The whiskey references got a bit heavy handed. B refers to Jamie like her whiskey because of the color of his hair and eyes and because of the way she is addicted to him. Every chapter from her perspective has a different whiskey allusion and how she just needs "one more drop" of her whiskey and then when they're apart, she's trying to do a 12-step detox from whiskey. It just was a bit over the top for me. I think a few references would have been enough.
- A lot of readers will undoubtedly be turned off by the cheating in this book, understandably so. I do think it's important to remember they are young teenagers, but it would have been nice if they could have at least paused to break it off with their partners, so this wasn't the case.
Stars: 4
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