Eight Hundred Grapes

Laura Dave doesn't release books very often, but when she does you can always count on her for a realistic but ultimately hopeful stories featuring women at a crossroads. You don't get much more of a crossroads than finding out (while you're trying on your wedding dress!) that your fiance has a four year old daughter with his ex-girlfriend. Luckily, attorney Georgia Ford has the sanctuary of her family's Sonoma County vineyard to lay low and consider her options. Only when she gets there she discovers that her parents and twin brothers are all dealing with their own crises, and that the vineyard she loves (but never wanted to be shackled to) is in danger of falling into the hands of a mega-wine corporation.

I'll admit that it wasn't always easy to root for Georgia. She tries to fix everyone in her family, whether they like it or not, and her interactions with the wine corporation's well-intentioned CEO go way beyond quirky and assertive, to unhinged and worthy of a restraining order. But the author's elegant analogies between wine-making and life, and the fact that despite the chaos in the main characters' relationships there are no real villains, make Eight Hundred Grapes a satisfying read.