Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️
When you enter a Fiona Cole romance, there are several guarantees.
- An engaging story
- Loveable characters usually with some devastating flaw that will make your heart bleed
- More eroticism than you don’t know what to do with
- A happy ending that leaves everything as it should be
Cole’s newest book, Blame It on the Vodka, meets those qualifications and grants us access to a heroine who has stolen scenes in her friends’ books. If you’ve read Blame It on the Champagne and Blame It on the Tequila, then you know Rae. She’s bold and ready for a fight. She’s also intelligent, protective, and someone you want in your corner. She’s been a breath of humor in those books when her friends’ stories grow serious. And, at least for this reader, her connection with her best friend, Austin, had piqued my interest, and for a good reason.
In Blame It on the Vodka, the next book of this series, Austin and Rae’s chemistry grabs you instantly. How they have survived a best friendship is anyone’s guess. Their clear attraction to each other creates an undertow of tension throughout the entire story. You pine for Austin and Rae to remain together from start to finish, even when Rae consistently denies Austin. In fact, for as much as I couldn’t wait for Rae’s story, she frustrated me. And this is keen on Cole’s part. It would be easy to love Rae, but her characterization is complicated, that of the three FMC of this series, she’s probably my favorite because her capacity to love and be loved is fraught. Through her story, Cole exposes domestic violence and past trauma as inhibitors of future relationships, further connecting you to her.
And in true Fiona Cole form, this book is dirty and delightful. It’s also harrowing, and it compels you through to the end. Thankfully, Austin and Rae find their happy ending, but it comes with strife. The epilogue more than softens that blow as it brings our favorite three ladies together in a happily ever after. Over and over again, Fiona Cole reminds me why I will gobble her stories in one sitting, and Blame It on the Vodka serves up the biggest reminder of that.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 