Georgia Beers

The only girl in a house of boys, Julia Martini worked extra hard to get noticed. That has made her business-minded and driven, and she’s determined to turn her family’s struggling bar around. Simple. All she has to do is remodel, re-staff, and rebrand the place, work insane hours and ignore the sexy blonde who comes in to...she’s flirting, right? ’Cause Julia’s rusty and has zero time for dating, even if their chemistry is off-the-charts steamy. Savannah McNally’s needs always come last. A caretaker by trade, she also takes care of her widowed dad, her brother, her sister, and everybody else on the planet, it seems. When her dad finally starts dating, Savannah can focus on her own life for once—her career, her house, maybe even that super-hot bartender at Martini’s who has her thinking naughty thoughts. When family feuds are exposed and a popular blog trashes the bar, the weight of business decisions, family loyalty, and life in general may outweigh their attraction that could lead to more.

Shaken or Stirred

Jude Silberfeld

3.5⭐️ – Julia Martini’s whole life is the bar she bought from her uncle and which she feels a responsibility to her family to make thrive. Her father’s approval means the world to her and she really really doesn’t have time for a relationship. Which becomes a problem when Savannah McNally walks into Martini’s and Julia’s traitorous heart starts making demands.

Georgia Beers writes wonderful and relatable characters I can’t help root for even when they act as idiots. This book is absolute instalust, that second you see someone for the first time and your heart misses a beat. Because the author is Georgia Beers, it’s both hot and sweet.

Both MCs’ families are very important to the story, in different ways. Julia’s Italian family is huge and mostly supportive but her daddy issues tend to take over. By her side, always, are her cousins and best friends Vanessa and Amelia – who will star in future books. The trio of cousins is the family equivalent of the group of friends and I loved all three women. I’m looking forward to Amelia’s and Vanessa’s stories.

Savannah’s family has its own issues, her father is experiencing the first signs of dementia, her brother is failing at battling addiction and her younger sister seems to get along surprisingly well with their father’s new girlfriend, leaving Savannah unsettled.

I really enjoyed getting to know both families and the way Beers writes the push and pull, the ambivalent feelings, the love and sense of duty her characters feel experience.

Honestly, this is not Beers’ best writing – and I’m going to blame the pandemic for that. Even so, it’s all very charming and the characters are endearing enough that I’m really looking forward to the other two books in this series.

I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Shaken or Stirred

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