A review by hanreads__
Sips About to Go Down by Audrey Vaughn

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

 "God, she's so fucking gorgeous. I can't believe that she's even real." 

I just want to thank Audrey Vaughn for allowing me an ARC of Sips About to Go Down! Please note that this review is completely honest and every thought is my own.

While reading this book, I went back and forth with what I would be rating it, I had so many opinions and feelings, and while I do wish I could rate it higher, I feel like my rating is fair and will make sense.

I LOVED the mixology part, I found the whole aspect of bartending, creating a new fun drink and competing to be something unique and original. I've never read a book with that kind of theme. While I loved this theme, I do feel that the title was a little misleading. I expected for the competition situations to be a little more dramatic. I thought we'd see something explosive happen and yet that explosion never truly took place, there was only a slight fizzle. Despite this, I continued to enjoy scenes which is one of my main reasons for rating it four stars.

Now onto the romance department... It lacked majorly for me. Don't get me wrong, Wes is down bad for our girl and I love that, I love how he acted and how as his feelings started to come to light, he became this simp for her. He had my heart every time he did something sweet and selfless just because it would make Rose smile. Also, CAN WE JUST APPRECIATE THAT THIS MAN TALKS ABOUT HIS FEELINGS?! HELL YES, AUDREY! I LOVE YOU FOR THAT! It's not often that you see a man talk about his feelings with other men, and rather than having a stigma surround that, it was appreciated and reciprocated. 

Although I've praised the romance regarding Wes, I do feel that Rose wasn't as affectionate or as into Wes as she claims to be. His actions showed it more than hers, and while I understand that Rose was more in the zone of swearing off of men, it does come across that her feelings were more forced than natural which is why I bought the rating down. I didn't get the sense that she was completely into him and if anything, I feel like she would've been happier just keeping their relationship as a friends with benefits situation until her life picked up.

The final reason I bought the rating down was for the slight plot hole regarding Wes's backstory. It's mentioned that he was in jail but it's never truly elaborated on what happened for him to get to that moment or how it affected him. It was just kind of mentioned and then forgotten about when it was clearly a big part of Wes's life! I would've loved to see more of that back story, or at least a flashback.

As I mentioned at the start, I went back and forth with my rating, and I really do wish I could've given it a better rating, but I also think that for Audrey's debut novel, she did an INCREDIBLE job and I do want to read the next book if there's a sequel because I want to know more about Waylon and JD... If you've made it this far in the review, I would certainly encourage you to give this book a go because you could end up thinking completely different to me, but also go in cautious that you may not have as much romance as you love.
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