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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Overall: 4
Spice: 3
This is an example of don't judge a book by its cover. One would think this was about a winery in the countryside looking at the cover. Boy was I was wrong!!! In a great way. FMC has gone through a divorce and recent started her MBA program abroad. She tries to do a one-night stand prior to classes starting but that goes wrong due to low self-esteem regarding her body. As you can guess the MMC is the one stand. You watch the struggles of the relationship develop but also the FMC self-esteem continue to grow. This was the first book I read from this author, but I now want to read the rest of the series.
Spice: 3
This is an example of don't judge a book by its cover. One would think this was about a winery in the countryside looking at the cover. Boy was I was wrong!!! In a great way. FMC has gone through a divorce and recent started her MBA program abroad. She tries to do a one-night stand prior to classes starting but that goes wrong due to low self-esteem regarding her body. As you can guess the MMC is the one stand. You watch the struggles of the relationship develop but also the FMC self-esteem continue to grow. This was the first book I read from this author, but I now want to read the rest of the series.
"If you ever think about going back to Bruce, tell me...I'll show you exactly how good it can be myself."
Very fun read! Emma and Santo are adorable, and I loved that the MCs are grown ups with adult children and careers.
Highlights: student/professor, 40+ MCs, age gap, neighbors, plus-sized FMC
Very fun read! Emma and Santo are adorable, and I loved that the MCs are grown ups with adult children and careers.
Highlights: student/professor, 40+ MCs, age gap, neighbors, plus-sized FMC
please note that the trigger warnings and topes/themes may contain spoilers
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
HEA: yes
POV: dual 1st person POV
spice: several open-door spicy scenes
TWs: abuse allegations, body image issues, cheating, death of a parent (recounted), divorce
Kinky Content: biting, grinding, masturbation, mutual masturbation, oral, prostate play, sex toys
standalone: book 3 of Aged Like a Fine Wine series
final thoughts: I love [a:Liz Alden|21114482|Liz Alden|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1618864284p2/21114482.jpg]’s writing style. It’s so easy, the stories are fast-paced, and the characters are interesting.
This series follows a group of later-in-life women who fall in love while in Europe. The friend group is amazing, supportive, funny, close, and full of so much love. They all make appearances in each other’s books and I’m excited for the series to continue!
The animals in this book added some comedic elements as well as match-making services and I loved it.
I love that Santo, the MMC, showed Emma, the FMC, how to love her body as is and helped her on her journey of self-discovery without relying on a partner. Her was supportive, kind, and sexy without being overbearing and he was exactly what she needed.
PS. Vincente deserves more story time because I want to see him suffer- what a horrible friend. I hope we hear more about him in the next book and how this plays out.
read this book if you love
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
HEA: yes
POV: dual 1st person POV
spice: several open-door spicy scenes
TWs: abuse allegations, body image issues, cheating, death of a parent (recounted), divorce
Kinky Content: biting, grinding, masturbation, mutual masturbation, oral, prostate play, sex toys
standalone: book 3 of Aged Like a Fine Wine series
final thoughts: I love [a:Liz Alden|21114482|Liz Alden|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1618864284p2/21114482.jpg]’s writing style. It’s so easy, the stories are fast-paced, and the characters are interesting.
This series follows a group of later-in-life women who fall in love while in Europe. The friend group is amazing, supportive, funny, close, and full of so much love. They all make appearances in each other’s books and I’m excited for the series to continue!
The animals in this book added some comedic elements as well as match-making services and I loved it.
I love that Santo, the MMC, showed Emma, the FMC, how to love her body as is and helped her on her journey of self-discovery without relying on a partner. Her was supportive, kind, and sexy without being overbearing and he was exactly what she needed.
PS. Vincente deserves more story time because I want to see him suffer- what a horrible friend. I hope we hear more about him in the next book and how this plays out.
read this book if you love
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to Liz Alden for allowing me to read a copy of this book. I really enjoyed my time reading this. Emma and Santo's romance was so cute, but the tension was just chef's kiss. And I loved that Liz decided to focus on older main characters within this book and I'm assuming in the other books in the series. I read this book as a standalone, and it was so cute on its own. And Zola as a character was so charming. And the relationship didn't feel rushed. I really enjoyed every moment of my read. I cannot wait to read more from Liz Alden in the future.
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I devoured this book
#MiddleAgeRomance with gap MMC 57/FMC 42
Professor/student
Both divorced; her 1x, him multiple
Set in Europe (Rome, Italy to be exact)
Emma has undiagnosed ADHD
This book is really character focused and narrows in on Emma’s journey and how it intertwines with Santo. I loved that it touched on the monotony of her marriage seggs, that she was very open to exploring her segguality, and her mental health. The student/teacher element made it fun and created a good level of drama.
Both the FMC and the MMC were lovely and felt like real people.
Both the FMC and the MMC were lovely and felt like real people.
I feel like it could have been set anywhere and the story would have been similar, ultimately Rome was a nice backdrop to this novel.
This was completely standalone from the series it's in. I didn't even realise it was part of a series until about 80% of the way through. Personally I won't likely go back and read the first 2 books as they don't interest me. However, book 4 I'll keep an eye out for.
This was completely standalone from the series it's in. I didn't even realise it was part of a series until about 80% of the way through. Personally I won't likely go back and read the first 2 books as they don't interest me. However, book 4 I'll keep an eye out for.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
To be honest, I had not read the other books in this series. That being said, this book worked well as a standalone and would only be enhanced by reading the previous books in the series, although I did not feel like anything was lost by not doing so.
This book felt like empowerment. Emma, a woman in her 40's, is learning to move on post-divorce. She moves to Italy to study for an MBA program where she meets a man for a one night stand, who she later discovers will actually be in close contact with her throughout the book. Emma struggles with issues like accepting her age, loving her body, and navigating life in a foreign country, which I can relate to. Santo, the male main character, was such a sweetheart. He was patient, kind, charming, and really a sweet-talker. It was so fun to read about him flirting and engaging romantically with Emma. He read her cues and helped her navigate sexuality after a long term relationship with a dead bedroom.
I was kept intrigued by this book throughout. I especially enjoyed the age gap and professor x student aspects, which you would normally find in a book about younger adults versus ones in their 40's and 50's. There is also care taking and he falls first. And he sometimes speaks in Italian, which is delightful.
The friendships in this book were also very strong and lent to engaging world building. It was fun to compare the Emma of her MBA program, friend group, and with Santo, as they were all very different Emmas. Each of the relationships she built throughout the book with her fellow students, professors, family, and friends provided more information and background about her, which was really interesting.
This book was a quick, fun read, but it was spicy! There were several intimate scenes which may make some readers uncomfortable. I enjoyed this book ad the variety it provided to my TBR pile.
To be honest, I had not read the other books in this series. That being said, this book worked well as a standalone and would only be enhanced by reading the previous books in the series, although I did not feel like anything was lost by not doing so.
This book felt like empowerment. Emma, a woman in her 40's, is learning to move on post-divorce. She moves to Italy to study for an MBA program where she meets a man for a one night stand, who she later discovers will actually be in close contact with her throughout the book. Emma struggles with issues like accepting her age, loving her body, and navigating life in a foreign country, which I can relate to. Santo, the male main character, was such a sweetheart. He was patient, kind, charming, and really a sweet-talker. It was so fun to read about him flirting and engaging romantically with Emma. He read her cues and helped her navigate sexuality after a long term relationship with a dead bedroom.
I was kept intrigued by this book throughout. I especially enjoyed the age gap and professor x student aspects, which you would normally find in a book about younger adults versus ones in their 40's and 50's. There is also care taking and he falls first. And he sometimes speaks in Italian, which is delightful.
The friendships in this book were also very strong and lent to engaging world building. It was fun to compare the Emma of her MBA program, friend group, and with Santo, as they were all very different Emmas. Each of the relationships she built throughout the book with her fellow students, professors, family, and friends provided more information and background about her, which was really interesting.
This book was a quick, fun read, but it was spicy! There were several intimate scenes which may make some readers uncomfortable. I enjoyed this book ad the variety it provided to my TBR pile.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher, for making a copy available to me in exchange for an honest review.
Prosecco with my professor was a fun, lighthearted romance featuring forbidden romance, forced proximity, and an age gap. When the main female character starts her masters in Rome, she doesn't expect her failed one night stand to end up being her neighbour or her professor. What ensues are several months of ignoring feelings, burning passion, and, finally, one night that turns into three, then four, then five, and so on. And then our main characters ex-husband comes around, and her relationship is forced into the open. No one knows what will happen next or why.
Ok, I read this very quickly on a train journey from Surrey to Yorkshire. In the beginning, I loved that we had a curvy FMC in her 40s and a silver fox MMC in his later fifties. I loved the elements of their relationships, especially at the beginning when they said they just wanted to be friends but couldn't stay away from each other. Santo, the MMC, worshipped the ground our FMC walked on, doing everything in his power to show her that she is smart, beautiful, and should be confident in the bedroom. His best friend was infuriating, but there is always one character we hate, and I believe the point was that we are meant to see him as envious of our main characters.
All in all, the story was good. In theory. However, the execution wasn't as good as I would have wanted it to be. For starters, one of the main selling points of the book was that the FMC's ex-husband comes around looking to get back with her, and Santo decides to show her how much better life can be. And there is an element of that. However, there wasn't enough of it to be as big a selling point in the marketing of the book. I think that the book itself needed far more angst for that specific element to work. The author included three or four LGBTQIA+ characters ranging from pansexual to non-binary. I loved this. I loved seeing sex confident people who go out and ask for what they want. I loved the open sex discussions and how elegantly the author slipped in the LGBTQIA+ characters. All this being said, I would have loved to see more from the sex scenes. When I read a romance, I want to read something that makes me put the book down, slap my hand over my mouth, giggle. I felt that the sex scenes were lacking an emotional element here and a depth I would have really loved our main characters to have explored.
And finally, representation. This is a difficult one because there were elements of representation in here that I loved and elements I really couldn't get behind. As mentioned above, I think that most of the LGBTQIA+ representation was done really well. However, our main character was pansexual(?) or Bi(?) and, as demonstarted by my confusion, this wasn't often talked about. It was kind of slipped in but not mentioned. I would have loved to see that be built on and see a woman who is now taking what she wants and owning who and what she likes sexually and romantically. Toward the end of the book, there was an ADHD diagnosis that I feel was slipped in for the sake of representation. There were so many opportunities to really build on the FMC and her ADHD. However, I don't think they were used properly, making the diagnosis look like a second thought.
All in all, this book was an 18+ romance perfect for people wanting to see more age gap romances where the characters are old enough that it is not a crime.
3 stars.
Prosecco with my professor was a fun, lighthearted romance featuring forbidden romance, forced proximity, and an age gap. When the main female character starts her masters in Rome, she doesn't expect her failed one night stand to end up being her neighbour or her professor. What ensues are several months of ignoring feelings, burning passion, and, finally, one night that turns into three, then four, then five, and so on. And then our main characters ex-husband comes around, and her relationship is forced into the open. No one knows what will happen next or why.
Ok, I read this very quickly on a train journey from Surrey to Yorkshire. In the beginning, I loved that we had a curvy FMC in her 40s and a silver fox MMC in his later fifties. I loved the elements of their relationships, especially at the beginning when they said they just wanted to be friends but couldn't stay away from each other. Santo, the MMC, worshipped the ground our FMC walked on, doing everything in his power to show her that she is smart, beautiful, and should be confident in the bedroom. His best friend was infuriating, but there is always one character we hate, and I believe the point was that we are meant to see him as envious of our main characters.
All in all, the story was good. In theory. However, the execution wasn't as good as I would have wanted it to be. For starters, one of the main selling points of the book was that the FMC's ex-husband comes around looking to get back with her, and Santo decides to show her how much better life can be. And there is an element of that. However, there wasn't enough of it to be as big a selling point in the marketing of the book. I think that the book itself needed far more angst for that specific element to work. The author included three or four LGBTQIA+ characters ranging from pansexual to non-binary. I loved this. I loved seeing sex confident people who go out and ask for what they want. I loved the open sex discussions and how elegantly the author slipped in the LGBTQIA+ characters. All this being said, I would have loved to see more from the sex scenes. When I read a romance, I want to read something that makes me put the book down, slap my hand over my mouth, giggle. I felt that the sex scenes were lacking an emotional element here and a depth I would have really loved our main characters to have explored.
And finally, representation. This is a difficult one because there were elements of representation in here that I loved and elements I really couldn't get behind. As mentioned above, I think that most of the LGBTQIA+ representation was done really well. However, our main character was pansexual(?) or Bi(?) and, as demonstarted by my confusion, this wasn't often talked about. It was kind of slipped in but not mentioned. I would have loved to see that be built on and see a woman who is now taking what she wants and owning who and what she likes sexually and romantically. Toward the end of the book, there was an ADHD diagnosis that I feel was slipped in for the sake of representation. There were so many opportunities to really build on the FMC and her ADHD. However, I don't think they were used properly, making the diagnosis look like a second thought.
All in all, this book was an 18+ romance perfect for people wanting to see more age gap romances where the characters are old enough that it is not a crime.
3 stars.
medium-paced
Emma is on a journey of self discovery after her divorce because she it’s never too late in life to start over . Her self discovery journey has lead her to join an international MBA program in Rome . And what better way to start off her new Italy adventure than with a one night stand which a smexy silver fox named Santon, but everything seems to come to a halt when Emma meets her new professor and it is none other than Santo . Now the two of them must figure out how to have a professor/student relationship without crossing the boundaries any further .
A fun, quick, spicy read that will transport you to the villas of Italy . Emma + Santo are so cute together . They have already lived so much life that they just enjoyed their time together without there needing to be any crazy big drama . I did feel like the last 20% of the book felt kinda rushed with us not fully getting all the answers about who turned them in, but overall it was a good read .
This is book three in the Aged Like Fine Wine series + it can be read as a complete standalone .
This book was given to me for honest review by Netgalley + the author .