Angela Casella

Better Luck Next Time is the second book in the Asheville Brewing series by A.R. Casella and Denise Grover Swank. Each book focuses on a different couple, but some parts of each story are connected. The biggest example is the brewery and how are the siblings planning on making it successful. Then there is Maisie who has feelings for River (hero of book #1) and she is still dealing with them and I guess she will continue to do so in the third book in which she happens to be the heroine.

The show more moment I finished Any Luck at All (book #1 in the series) I knew that I had to get my hands on the rest of the books and I was very excited when I got this one. There is a lot more development in terms of the characters and also of how the plot goes. We finally got some insight into Jack's character and his secrets and we saw more of Liam. Liam seemed like a good person and I wonder why he is still engaged to Victoria who is obviously not going to be his heroine. For some reason, I feel like Blue will be the one for him and so far I have always been right on the couplings in this series. I knew Finn and Adalia were meant to be and when Adalia and Maisie were out for drinks I felt like she should end up with Jack and as it turns out, she will.

My biggest complaint about this book is how everyone treated Finn. That man is obviously lost at the beginning of the book and everyone seemed to mistrust him. Ok, he sold the company, but he made sure that everyone who was working for him was well-taken care of. Georgie treated him worse than River and she wasn't even the hurt party. In all honesty, I didn't remember Georgie been so annoying (though even then I didn't like her much). Finn was treated too much like the villain of the story and in the end, everyone should know that he is a sweetheart. I understood his actions as I was hoping I would back when I read ALAA. Adalia's behavior towards him as the story was nearing its end was inexcusable and I found weird the fact that at some point she says that they are meant to be and then decides that Finn is not the one for her.

The female Buchanan siblings have managed to get on my nerves and they are the reason the first two books haven't gotten 5 stars from me. Adalia didn't deserve Finn. Georgie is getting more annoying as each page passes. Things are not looking good. Still, every other element in this book is very good and it's what's making me want to read more. Better Luck Next Time is definitely an improvement from the first book and I feel like the third book might be the one that will get all 5 stars. That's what this book's title indicates after all... show less

Bad Luck Club is the fourth book in the Asheville Brewing series by A.R. Casella and Denise Grover Swank. Some secondary characters will get a book so I wouldn't call this an end to the series. This book features the last single Buchanan sibling and I hate to say this but I was disappointed. I had so much fun with the other books and I had very high hopes for this one too. Unfortunately, there were a few things that I didn't enjoy.

Should I start with the fact that Blue is "dating" another show more man for 1/3 of the book? It doesn't matter that it wasn't anything serious. It matters that she kept bringing him up and he was just an annoying obstacle to her building relationship with Lee. These two actually had a lot of obstacles. I didn't find them all necessary and I wish more time had been spent on Lee fixing his relationship with his siblings. There was drama, that could have been avoided and Lee and Blue could have more time to grow as characters and get over their pasts.

Lee knew that he was messed up and he even told Blue about it and asked her to be understanding and call him out on it. He is a member of the Bad luck club after all. Blue chose to bolt when the time to do what he asked came and I was very frustrated. That's why we cannot have two messed-up characters. At that point, I was rolling my eyes hard. I do feel like Lee had better growth than her which is weird since Blue is the one who was supposed to be a long-time member of the club.

The book had some good parts and I am excited about Cal's book. He intrigued me and I cannot wait to find out how and with who he is going to get his happy ending. The epilogue was great and It only made me want to see more of these characters, which I hope we will in the future books. show less

Any Luck at All is the first book in the Asheville Brewing series by A.R. Casella and Denise Grover Swank. The series will feature the Buchanan siblings as they try to run Asheville Brewing after they inherited it from their grandfather. The main characters of this book are Georgie and River.

Georgie is a businesswoman. She funded and sold her own company so at the beginning of the book she doesn't have a job which made her decision to keep the brewery instead of selling. River was close to show more Georgie's grandfather, but he worked in another brewery and he has a passion for making beer. He also ends up been without a job at the beginning of the book because his friend and partner went and sold his business (I would really like to know what Finn was thinking when he did that and hopefully I will find out in the next book). So you have Georgie who needs a brewer and River a brewer who needs a job and since she is a smart woman she hires him even if it meant that they would stop the relationship that started to blossom.

The book was almost a 5-star read but two things prevented it from happening. The first thing is Georgie's constant need of love and approval from her very distant father and siblings. She even went to therapy before the events of the book, but I think that she should have not stopped visiting. She did whatever she could to please her siblings who seemed very absent and her father was always in the back of her mind and it affected her relationship with River. I would have liked to see her doing the groveling and standing up to her siblings when it came to River. Instead, he was the one who did all the work and she remained in the making plans phase. It was all intentions, but no actions.

The second thing that was off for me, was the absence of the other Buchanan siblings. We see them a little in the beginning and then Georgie's sister appears at the end to set up the events for her own book, but that's it. Unless you count them putting obstacles to Georgie and River's relationship from the telephone.

The good had some good parts too though. After a long time, I chuckled when reading a book that was labeled as a comedy. River's aunt is over the top, but for some weird reason, it worked very well for the story. She might be my favorite character and I hope we will see more of her in the next books. Adalia's story is next and her man will be Finn, River's former business partner. The first moment these two appeared together, I got immediately the feeling that they should become a couple and I guess I got my wish come true. Overall, the book was good and I would recommend it. show less

This was just middle of the road for me. The writing wasn't horrible, but it didn't flow like I would have liked, and I didn't get immersed in the story. The stuff that happens to Georgie and River was funny at times, and other times was just over the top. Georgie's siblings were not nice people, and it was annoying that Georgie kept letting them get to her. River's friends were kind of crappy too, and it was annoying that he was so blind to Maisie's feelings for him. This book is what I show more consider to be a clean read, and there is no steam to speak of. I was skimming by 70%, and the only thing I was looking for was to see how long it took River and Georgie to get over their hang ups. The ending was sweet, and they do get their HEA.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book. show less