Love in a Winery

The Three Kisses Trilogy, written by Christie Ridgway, is about two families, the Bacis and the Bennetts. These two families have been business partners & feuding for the past 100 years. The Bacis are winemakers and the Bennetts are silent partners in the vineyard. The Bacis are a hard working family who immigrated from Italy. They came over during the Gold Rush Era. The Bennetts are a family that come from money and a higher social standing. The two families became partners ever since they were searching for Gold. Alonzo Baci fell in love with Anne who was a high society girl, the only problem was that Liam Bennett was also in love with her. In the end, Anne chose Alonzo and Liam was nothing more than a silent partner, rival, and friend. The rest is history and in my opinion it makes good drama. 




Crush On You starts off with Liam Bennett and his brother Seth learning that their dad has an illegitimate child. Actually the whole town learned about their dad’s secret when the will was read. The “Bastard Bennett” as the town of Edenville labeled him, Penn Bennett is the host of the popular tv show “Build Me Up”. Imagine Penn Bennett as Ty Pennington in Extreme Home Makeover. Penn Bennett didn’t have the privileged upbringing that his brothers Liam & Seth had, he had a rather tough upbringing raised by a struggling single mother. He came to Edenville to meet his brothers and to deal with the inheritance his father left him. It had always been him and his mother and the thought that he has a family is very daunting to him. Actually he has his mind set to tell his brothers that he doesn’t want anything to do with the inheritance nor them. While meeting with his brothers he becomes acquainted with the Baci sisters since the two families need to discuss the dire situation of the Tanti Baci Vineyard. At this impromptu meeting Alessandra is all decked out in her wedding dress and flip flops. The sight of this Italian beauty in full vestal wear and flip flops has peaked his interest. As soon as he’s about to bail on his new found family and extra income, his heart and his brain feel otherwise.


Alessandra Baci is set on saving and restoring the Tanti Baci Vineyard. She believes that by restoring the 100-year-old cottage where her ancestors lived happily it can become a wedding venue. A source to bring in much needed cash flow to the struggling vineyard. Everyone is willing to cut their losses and sell the vineyard. Alessandra is one to believe in “Happily Ever After” and is set on trying to save the Vineyard. The Tanti Baci Vineyard legend is that anyone who takes their true love to the cottage will have the ghost of Alonzo & Anne appear to them. No one seems to care nor believe that she’ll be able to pull this miracle off. At the sight of her distress and seeing how everyone is against her, Penn decides to step in and help out. He commits to helping with the construction of the old cottage to become the wedding destination of the vineyard. His only stipulation is that Alessandra must work with him on this project. She is against this arrangement, however she’s willing to do anything to save her family's vineyard. Penn is enjoying the torment and chemistry that he shares with Alessandra, the “Nun of Napa”. Allie was dubbed that unfortunate nickname by the town of Edenville due to a tragic event that happened 5 years before. Ever since that life altering tragedy she has sworn off men and finding her “Happily Ever After”. This has Penn Bennett wondering what it is about this Italian beauty that has him enchanted and wanting to learn more about her. He wants nothing more than to free her from being a “Nun” and start living. Question is, is she really a “Nun”? Can Alessandra let go of her “Nun” like qualities and find her happily ever after? Or will she always live up to the image of the “Nun of Napa”?

Then He Kissed Me


Stephania Baci or Stevie, as she’s affectionately known by everyone, owns her own business, Napa Princess Limousine service. She is the middle sister of the Baci sisters and the tomboy of the family. She is hired to pick up her ex-boyfriend Emerson Platt, his fiancée Roxanne and a tall mystery man. Business is normally slow in the winter so she had no choice but to take the gig to chauffeur her ex, his fiancée and the hot mysterious man. Emmerson broke-up with Stevie a couple of months before. Their relationship wasn’t even cold before she found out that he was seeing someone, let alone that he was engaged to a princess. The tall, hot, mysterious man is Princess Roxanne’s brother Prince Jacques Parnin aka Jack. Not only is Stevie having to chauffeur her ex and company around for New Year’s Eve she also has to play event planner. They decided to have the wedding at the Tanti Baci Vineyard. Alessandra normally handles all the wedding details at the vineyard but due to her broken foot Stephania has to step in and help the struggling vineyard. She’s already trying to be civil about the whole affair, now she has to work closely with the not-so-trusting brother Jack. He has decided to tag along for the nuptial planning to make sure that no one interferes with his little sister’s wedding. By ‘no one’ he means his soon to be brother-in-law’s ex-girlfriend Stephania Baci. He has the feeling that she will do something to sabotage the wedding. In order to prevent this from happening he has informed Stephania that they will be working very closely on all the wedding details. Not only does Stevie have to deal with her ex’s new fiancée but also her brother. She doesn’t want anything to do with him since she becomes unhinged whenever he’s around. Jack not only wants to make sure the wedding goes through but he’s intrigued with Stevie and her tomboy ways. He wants to know if there is a feminine side to this Napa Princess. Will Stevie finally get over her ex-boyfriend or will she wreck the wedding?



Can’t Hurry Love is about the oldest Baci sister Giuliana Bacci. Giuliana has tried her hardest to help her sister out in the Tanti Baci Vineyard. However she has no desire to continue working at the struggling vineyard and deal with the eldest Bennett, Liam. Liam Bennett seems to bring out the worst in her mood and in her personality. At the same time he makes her heart flutter and skip a beat. Liam has no idea what he has done to cause Giulianna to despise him at the mere sight of him. Growing up they were inseparable, the feud began ever since they left for a trip to Italy after high school. Giuliana is trying her hardest to keep so many secrets bottled inside, so much so that all she wants is a life far away. Will her feud with Liam end sourly? Or will the Bacis and Bennetts find harmony and put an end to the family drama?

I hope I didn’t give too much away in my summary of these great books. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this trilogy. I borrowed Crush On You from the public library E-book catalog. I was hooked from the first chapter of the book. So I went to my Barnes & Noble library and decided to buy the 3 books. The way Christie Ridgway describes the Baci girls, the Bennett boys and everyone in the town made me want to visit Edenville. I live in northern California near San Francisco, I would love nothing more than to visit Tanti Baci Vineyards. The story lines she created for each sister were heart warming. Out of the three books, I think my favorite is the second one Then He Kissed Me. I’m partial to that one because the description of Jack Parnin is swoon worthy for me. I love a tall, dark haired, tanned, European and he speaks French. Drool! Ugh the way he treated Stevie is my dream man. The other books were equally good and the sesy (sex) scenes were hot, hot, hot. I found myself wanting more and more after each chapter. Luckily the author gave us a look into what was happening in the main characters lives of Alessandra, Stephania & Giuliana in each book. Which I love! Once I finish a book that I love, I’m always left wondering what happens to the characters? These books left me yearning to visit a winery, drink lots of wine and hoping to meet a great family of vintners. I highly recommend this series, I think you’ll fall in love at the vineyard!


You can find Christie Ridgway's website here for more information about these and other books. You can also follow her on Twitter.



Ciao Bellas,
Molly


Disclaimer: No compensation was received for this post, all books were personally purchased. All thoughts and opinions are my own.