Book 6 of Five Family Vineyard by Kelly Kay
Now it’s the turn of the Gelbert family to have their story in Meritage: An Unexpected Blend. If you didn’t start on the Five Families Vineyard Series yet, you don’t know what you’re missing!!! You get to know the entire crowd and have a glimpse of their personalities throughout the stories, and they are much more than you first thought!
David is a one-night-stand guy. He doesn’t do relationships. While growing up, he had a caring mother, but miscommunication with his father brought some consequences to his personality. He’s the type of guy you want to punch in the face on a few occasions. Well, his friends do that when he needs it. But there is so much more under that jerkish façade! And all it takes is a blondie to change all that.
Natalie is the new secretary and perfection personified, and her refusal to fall for his charms when they first met gets his attention, but it doesn’t take long for them to succumb into temptation. Natalie is a complex character with a sad past, and one she didn’t get over yet. She yearns to belong somewhere and with someone, and to have a place to call home, but when baby Sadie comes along, she just gets into her fleeting mode again.
Both characters are complex with troubled backstories, plus a newly discovered baby crashes into their newly found routine, turning their relationship upside down. Their relationship is smoking hot and fun, full of sexy flirting and steamy scenes between them. You laugh out loud with the crazy situations they get themselves into. Some scenes with David as a first-time father and clueless are hilarious. You cry when they look lost in their conflicts, and scream at them when they behave senselessly, wanting to shake the crap out of Natalie sometimes. The story is a beautiful rainbow of emotions that you go through with pleasure!
My admiration for Kelly Kay grows with each book I read. She always tackles important themes in her story with great skill, lightening up with wacky situations and laughs, but getting the message across. Her mastery in managing so many colorful characters (all of them with great importance within each story) is amazing. You know who is who, and better yet, you get to know them deeper each time, and they happily welcome you as one of them!