The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz– 384 pages

Book Blurb:

When Cooper McQueen wakes up from a night with a beautiful stranger, it’s to discover he’s been robbed. The only item stolen—a million-dollar bottle of bourbon. The thief, a mysterious woman named Paris, claims the bottle is rightfully hers. After all, the label itself says it’s property of the Maddox family who owned and operated Red Thread Bourbon distillery since the last days of the Civil War until the company went out of business for reasons no one knows… No one except Paris.  In the small hours of a Louisville morning, Paris unspools the lurid tale of Tamara Maddox, heiress to the distillery that became an empire. But the family tree is rooted in tainted soil and has borne rotten fruit. Theirs is a legacy of wealth and power, but also of lies, secrets and sins of omission. The Maddoxes have bourbon in their blood—and blood in their bourbon. Why Paris wants the bottle of Red Thread remains a secret until the truth of her identity is at last revealed, and the century-old vengeance Tamara vowed against her family can finally be completed.

My Review: 4 stars

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The Bourbon Thief is one of those books that explores a family history filled with romance, deceit, betrayal, misunderstandings, race relations and a lot of sex. Did I mention a lot of sex? Make sure you are aware of this from the start so you’re not blindsided by the graphic imagery.

I have no interest in bourbon, don’t like bourbon and don’t care to like it now that I’ve read the book because it was the characters and their stories that made this novel work, not the bourbon.  It’s the ultimate Southern family saga where birthright matters as much as certain last names. Patriarchs are powerful forces who hurt anyone and everyone who is their path of getting what they want. Think the old TV show Dallas. Girls are fast, boys are chiseled and secrets are kept, only to be unburied by this sultry cast of characters.

This book is one to take to the beach! It reads fast and is a perfect chick lit book with romantic suspense. The writing reminded me of a Danielle Steele (minus the erotica) and is ultimately about claiming what’s rightfully yours, no matter the cost.

Quotes I liked:

If one drop of black blood made you black, why didn’t one drop of white blood make you white?”

-“Perfection was for heaven, and when you tried to bring perfection to earth, you paid a heavy price.”

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