At First Blush

A Well Paired Novel, Book 1

By: Marianne Rice

Narrated by: Stephanie Montalvo

Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Known as the town tomboy, Alexis Le Blanc enjoys her simple life in Crystal Cove, Maine and devotes all her time to running her family’s winery, Coastal Vines. She wants to keep it small and traditional, but her parents have other ideas - hence why they hire some big-shot marketing executive from Napa Valley to rev up business.
 

When Benito Martelli shows up in her family’s tasting room with his slick style and movie star good looks, she’s more than stunned to discover he’s the man who wined and dined her the night before. Alexis is beyond peeved at his deception in trying to get into her good graces for the sake of making money on her winery. At first, she wants nothing to do with him or his fancy business ideas, but she’s pleasantly surprised when they come to a compromise, and even more surprised when she gives in to the sparks between them.
 

Unfortunately, things don’t go quite as planned and Alexis is faced with complications she never could have predicted. Promises and secrets unravel, and she must decide if love and wine are as well paired as she hoped.

©2018 Marianne Rice (P)2019 Marianne Rice

Not my type of wine

I struggled to get through this book. Alexis' insecurities are told over and over... and over again.
Ben is a good character, but I don't know why he stuck around for so long while Alexis worked through her issues, was incredibly rude to him and threw wild accusations his way constantly.
The author also describes everything in too much detail for my taste... someone drinking sweet nectar from someone's mouth when they kiss them, while simultaneously tasting a range of notes you get in wine is just not for me. I do realise some people might enjoy this style, so this is just a personal issue for me.
I'm going to pass on the rest of the series, but I see there are people who love it ,so if the premise sounds like your thing go for it.

Ben and Alexis

Ben and Alexis were such likable characters. Alexis was such a strong and driven heroine. Ben, although he had secrets was so similar to Alexis and the chemistry was amazing. I was glad to see things worked out the way they did and the only thing I could wish for was to see more into the future with them. Stephanie Montalvo does a great job.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
AudiobookObsession
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Small town love

Alexis parents want her to take over their small vineyard in Maine. Her parents called in a favor from a friend to have their son, Ben, a corporate consultant, help with ideas to increase revenue. He spent several weeks there, enjoying, the slow pace, embracing the people of this quaint small towN. Alexis doesn't like his ideas at first. The longer they are together, the attraction increases . Alexis takes a chance to open her heart to him. Ben is hiding a major secret from her. She decides to surprise him at his winery in California. She immediately leaves when she finds out his secret.
Stephanie Montalvo narration is very good. I enjoyed listening to this story.🎧audiobookobsessionreviewer🎧

Good book

This is the first book I've read/listened to by Marianne Rice. It was, overall, a good book. At first I really didn't care for Alexis. And then Benito's "situation" made my heart drop. The ending was a bit quick for me, but a great HEA. We were introduced to other characters that will keep the series going. Hopefully we'll see more of Alexis and Ben as well.

Stephanie Montalvo did a good job. There were times that there was more reading and less performance. But I honestly think it was the written word versus a narration issue. Overall, she's a good narrator.

#AudiobookObsessionReviewer

LaGina

I was able to listen to this on audibles and I was so happy to get the feels for this couple. It was such a sweet down to earth read that it gave off the feeling that there might have been some real life going on with it. The couple just seemed to mesh so well with the story that it made me want to jump into the book and just be friends with them. This was such a wonderful book to listen to and I wouldnt be surprised to see this on the big screen. I think it would make for a really nice date night movie.

Great story

I loved this story line and the narrator was great. This is my first audible book I have listened to by Marianne Rice and I have to say it definitely won’t be my last.

Ok listen

It took some getting used to having one narrator read both POV since I've only ever listened to two (or more) narrators read different characters but once I got over that, the narrator did an ok job capturing "the voice" of each character.

I had a bit of a hard time connecting with Alexis.

This is my happy place.

I absolutely loved this book. The pairing of Alexis and Ben works so very well, and both the author and the narrator did a wonderful job of conveying the personalities of the two of them. This was an easy book to listen to, and I can honestly say that it drew me in from the beginning, from the first words. This book would make a perfect Hallmark movie. It’s filled with romance, humor, and a behind-the-scenes looks into the wine industry, and into living in a small New England town.

I happened to listen to this book around the winter holidays, and it fit perfectly with its feel-good vibes. It would work equally as well for Valentine’s Day, Sweetest Day, or pretty much any other day of the year. It left me glowing with happiness. It’s a very sweet and well-designed story of two people with much in common, who don’t fit in with others around them. They do fit well together, once they get over a bunch of misunderstandings. I especially liked how family was worked into the story to help illustrate the main characters’ backgrounds. The parents, on both sides, added so much to this story, and while they didn’t scheme to bring Alexis and Ben together, they set a good example of marital happiness and the ability to work together.

There wasn’t a character in this book that I didn’t like. Each one brought something different and necessary to the story. Each one also offered different viewpoints to help you understand the main characters.

If you enjoy light romance, I highly recommend this book.

I received a free copy of the audio book from the author. I thank her for her generosity, but it had no effect on my review of this book. All opinions in this review express my true and honest reactions to listening to this audio book.

Sweet story

This is the story of a tomboy grown up who runs her family's Maine vineyard and meets a handsome Italian Californian who comes to town to help her family's business. The story's characters are endearing. The settings are well thought out. Wasn't sure I liked the twist in the storyline, but it turned it wonderfully. The narrator was excellent.

An emotional romance

This is an emotional story that keeps you engaged throughout. The heroine Alexis made a promise to her Grandfather about maintaining her legacy, the winery and retain the old ways. Her parents wanted change which created conflict. Benito the hero of the story is looking for a change of scenery and comes to provide advise and expertise on Alexis' winery. There were lots of strong opinions and trust had to be earned and opinions respected. A very good read, or listen as I heard this on audible.

Sweet

🎧AudiobookObsessionReviewer
This is a sweet love story, I do love the loyalty and passion the main characters show as it comes out in their personalities! My favorite part of this book is the narrative, Stephanie brings this story to life. As your listening it is like watching a movie in your head. Excellent job!

Lovely story

At First Blush was an entertaining, lovely story about two quite headstrong main characters, Alexis and Benito. It took me a while to warm up to Alexis but she grew on me by the time I finished the book. Benito was an equally flawed but wholehearted guy. They both had to and did evolve a lot. I loved how loyal they both were to the family business and the way they put family and tradition first. This book was my first experience with Marianne Rice's storytelling and I liked it. Well crafted characters and storyline. Just the right amount of drama, nothing was overdone here.

Stephanie Montalvo's narration was superb. I liked her clear speach, the well distinguished voices she used for the different characters. I loved the flawless easy switch between English and Italian. Unfortunately the editing was imperfect, there were a few short paragraphs doubled.

🎧AudiobookObsessionReviewer

Sweet Story like Blush Wine

Marianne Rice has begun a wonderful new series with At First Blush. The book is a feel good story with all the warm fuzzy feelings. I was pulled into this listen by the endearing characters. The bickering was so well done, and the down to earth vibe was realistic. Stephanie Montalvo was great bringing the characters to life. I really enjoyed this listen. Thank you Audiobook Obsession for the recommendation.

Stand alone HEA

This is the first book I've read by Marianne Rice. At First Blush is a stand alone novel, but additional characters are introduced for later books. I'm planning to read more of the series because I think I would identify more with some of the other characters. I had a really tough time identifying with Alexis, and actually didn't like her much. She jumped to a lot of conclusions and didn't seem to learn from her experiences. Benito was more likable, but still very flawed. He sent a lot of mixed signals which confused even me at times. I would recommend this book to readers who like imperfect characters, especially those who can identify with someone who is self-conscious and quick to anger.

This was the first book I've listened to narrated by Stephanie Montalvo. She did a good job, though it was more reading out loud as opposed to a performance.

#AudiobookObsession

sweet story.

what a great story. this a new author as well as narrator to me. love how a small town tomboy finds love with a big city boy. loves the so called bickering. its kinda like foreplay to love.. until Ben doesn't tell Alexis the full truth.

Stephanie is a new narrator. She was good. Though at times it was hard to tell different characters. sometimes sounded the same. did very well with the Italian language.

I am.looking forward to the next book.

#audiobookobsessions

Sweet and fun

This book was seriously sweet. I love the characters, they were so relatable and multi faceted. The narration was fun. The story line was pretty engrossing. I enjoyed the story. It played like a movie in my head. The dialogue was a lot of fun. It was a good listen.

🎧AudiobookObsessionReviewer