Title:  Distiller’s Choice
Series:  Bourbon Springs #4
Author:  Jennifer Bramseth
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  October 28, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating:  5 stars
Source:  NetGalley
Cover Description:

CiCi Summers, the local court clerk, knows all and sees all all when it comes to Bourbon Springs gossip. She doesn’t fancy herself becoming a news item on the local grapevine but finds herself falling for the new master distiller at Old Garnet Distillery.

Walker Cain is handsome, polite, professional, and a little nerdy. But he’s also divorced, and even though he claims it was amicable and no kids were involved, CiCi has a rule: she doesn’t date divorced guys, due to her own painful history stretching back to her childhood.

CiCi happily discovers she can’t resist Walker’s sweetly nerdly charms as well as his more sensual skills. But their relationship is quickly tested when Walker’s ex-wife is hired by Old Garnet as the distillery’s new heritage director, a newly-created position to help the distillery achieve coveted National Historic Landmark status and promote the venerable bourbon brand.

Walker knows it is completely over with his ex-wife. What she did destroyed his trust and their marriage. But how can he convince CiCi he’s made his choice—and that it’s her?

Read on for my thoughts on Distiller’s Choice.  No true spoilers, promise.

I’m going to be very honest here, Distiller’s Choice is going to be a very difficult review to keep the spoilers out of.  Oh, not because I can’t figure out how to do that — but because of the emotions that this story will bring out.  The Bourbon Springs series just gets better with each new story.  Like the well aged beverage the series is named for the taste, the feel and the emotional connections simply get stronger the deeper into this small town and its residents we get.

CiCi is a well established, deeply loved character and it’s time for her to shine in her own story.  She has rules of engagement for very real reasons.  The rule of never dating divorced men has been gotten around with Walker.  But it was there in her mind and heart for a reason, now her trust and faith in Walker and their relationship will be put to the test.

Walker’s ex-wife will come to town taking a newly created position at the distillery.  Let’s get this out there right now, she screwed up bigtime and Walker will never forgive and forget but she is still in love with Walker.  Keep that in mind.  Even though CiCi and Walker are a new couple now, the doubts start to take shape in the back of CiCi’s mind.  And when an event happens that puts Walker and his ex-wife in very close quarters for an extended period of time… those doubts take on a stronger meaning.

Distiller’s Choice is an extremely emotional story – and I cannot see how the reader can avoid taking sides on this one.  For me, the word “choice” in the title plays a huge part in CiCi and Walker’s story.  Walker had choices, so many choices, that he could have made differently.  There were so many times I simply wanted to smack him upside the head and say don’t you see what you are doing here.  But of course he never heard me (or I didn’t smack him hard enough).

I loved this story.  The depth, the emotions, the tension – all of it made for an amazing story that is very real to life.  None of us get to go through this life without complications from the past messing with our present.  If only we could.  So having Walker’s ex-wife deep in this story simply brings that fact to the forefront.  Yes, in my opinion, Walker could have handled a lot of things differently – but, would he have been the same charming character if he had?  I don’t think so.  His choices made sense to him, even when I didn’t agree with them.

I don’t believe you can read Distiller’s Choice without getting truly emotionally involved with the people in this story.  I know that I got mad, annoyed, flabbergasted and sad along the way.  I highly recommend this story to any reader of romance.  It is powerful, engaging and will perhaps make you think about your own choices in life.  Besides entertaining us, isn’t making us think a side effect of a really good story?  I think so.  Pick up this one and get ready for an emotional ride.

*I received an e-ARC of Distiller’s Choice from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*

Available for the Kindle