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The Bookworm: 'The Truth is in the Wine'

“The Truth is in The Wine” by Curtis Bunn
c.2013, Strebor Books $15.00 288 pages

Over the course of your lifetime, you’ve shared a lot with Mom. You’ve shared advice, ice cream, rides and arguments to name a few – furniture, recipes, clothes and jewelry to name a few more. She’s been teacher, cheerleader and disciplinarian, lending her morals and hopes to you through the years.

Yep. You two have shared a lot – but not quite everything. And as you’ll see in the new novel, “The Truth is in The Wine” by Curtis Bunn, Mom keeps a few secrets from you too.

Ginger Wall was devastated. Her husband Paul had told her that he wanted a divorce and, although Ginger knew they’d had problems, his words were not what she expected. With her soul in pain, she threw herself into caring for their 18-year-old adopted daughter, Helena.

But Paul Wall didn’t really want a divorce. He wasn’t sure why he’d said those words to Ginger – he still loved his wife passionately and he hadn’t meant them. Now there was another complication to this mess: Paul won the lottery.

Eight million dollars; four, after taxes.

His best friend urged Paul to split the money and proceed with the divorce but Paul didn’t want to. He was a wine lover, a collector of fine vintages, and it was true that he could savor a good many wines with half the winnings. He just didn’t want to do it without Ginger.

He also didn’t want her to stay married because of money, so he devised a plan. Paul hadn’t told Ginger about the money; he told her he’d been laid off and that he needed a vacation from the stress. He invited her on a Napa Valley trip. They also invited their mothers: hers, recently widowed; his, recently divorced; both needing a change of pace.

Napa was where Paul would spill his $8 million secret – but his surprise was not the only bombshell carried to California.

Months before, Ginger did something that seemed right then but could have changed everything in their marriage. Her mother, Madeline, was hiding a hush-hush that she wasn’t ready to reveal. Brenda, Paul’s mother, was harboring a fact that she knew would turn her son’s world upside-down.

And it was only a matter of time before secrets would be uncorked…

There’s a lot to like about “The Truth is in The Wine.”

First, there are the characters. Bunn makes them likeable in way that allows us to hate them for what they’re doing to one another. You’ll alternately want to throttle them and then comfort them.

Secondly, Bunn weaves a story that twists over here, drops off over there and explodes in another spot. That keeps readers guessing, wondering how everything’s going to turn out because we really don’t know. It’s easy to envision both a good ending and a bad one. I won’t tell you which you’ll get.

This is a great weekend-vacation kind of read and, yes, it’s something you can enjoy with a glass of wine. Be aware, however, that there’s some quick erotica in this book, so be careful with “The Truth is in the Wine” before you share it with Mom.
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The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3-years-old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 12,000 books. Her self-syndicated book reviews appear in more than 260 newspapers.

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