Each of the books in the Vino and Veritas series can be read as standalone stories but you might get a bit more enjoyment if you read the series in order. Tanner was introduced to us briefly during Featherbed and he’s now one of the MCs of this book.

Garrett Leigh’s writing never fails to move me; each book brings its own emotional experience. Heartscape definitely isn’t the most angsty book I’ve read by her but it is one of the most moving. She’s one of the best at writing damaged characters. She also always treats emotional and mental issues with respect and care.

Tanner and Jax are both damaged and both have lived through things that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. The heat and attraction between these two happen fairly quickly but then things slow down and grow at a steadier pace.

I’m pretty sure this is the first book I’ve read by Garrett Leigh that takes place in the US and I wondered how it would be because one of the things I love about her writing is how “British” it is. (I hope that’s an accurate term. The whole, UK vs Great Britain vs England thing confuses me. Even after Googling it I still get confused about the correct terminology. 😊) It was a bit of a relief to find that Jax is from Cornwall, England so I still got my fix of British slang words that I’m used to reading in her books. 😊

I loved this little section for more than one reason.

Jax laughs as I dump them onto the table. “Man, I don’t know how I’m gonna do with all this. I haven’t got pissed on wine in years.”
I like how he speaks, and I have no trouble understanding him, even when he says things that are upside down to my American ears. I guess that’s what happens when you study someone’s face so much, and the set of their shoulders, and the way they move their hands.
Language is more than words.

[Personal note: Language is definitely more than words and having faces covered with masks over the last year has really brought this home to me. I didn’t realize how much I counted on facial expressions to know what someone is saying – nearly as much as the spoken word – until I couldn’t see peoples’ faces.]

I love the way that Tanner has created a family with the employees at the bar he manages (the Vino side of Vino and Veritas). There are plenty of secondary characters to keep things interesting and a major dramatic event that I didn’t really see coming until it was right there in the story.

I am really looking forward to reading the remaining books in this series.

Reviews for Garrett Leigh

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Jax kisses me. In my wildest dreams I’m expecting it, but it still catches me off guard. His lips are soft, but demanding, and there’s nothing I don’t want to give him.

So I kiss him back.

I slide my hands under his layers of winter clothing and pull him close, and we kiss and kiss and kiss as if it isn’t the first time we’ve done it.

His lips feel like home.

His soft touch dances along my jaw.

I want to kiss him forever, but we run out of air.

Startled, I draw back and instantly find myself lost in Jax’s blazing stare. His gaze usually calms me—it really is like the deepest, bluest ocean. But right now, his eyes are stormy and hot. I want to dive back in headfirst, and for once what I want makes sense.

And it’s right here. I don’t need words. I stand, cup a hand around the back of his neck, and kiss him again. Jax makes another low sound, and the fact that he’s spent the night in my bed to babysit me stops mattering. Shadows fade. Heat draws us ever closer, and it’s easy to pretend we spent all night doing this. I can’t contemplate that it has to end.

But it does end.

Jax pulls back with a rueful smile, cheeks flushed, breathing hard. “I have to go. I promised Jerry I wouldn’t be late again.”

The mention of Jerry jars something in my brain enough to form a sentence that has nothing to do with how fast my heart is beating. “How did last night go?”

“Okay, I think.” Jax steps away. “Dude talked so much I stopped listening, but the apartment was all right. I can move in whenever I want.”

I should be happy for him. I am happy for him. He didn’t deserve to lose all his things in the hostel fire, and it sucks he had to take help from a stranger when he needed so badly to depend on himself. But I’m still dazed from his kiss. I say the first thing that comes into my head. Raw. No filter. “I’m gonna miss you.”

He gives me a soft grin. “I’ll miss you too.”

Then he leaves, and the reality that it might be the last time we do this hits me like a train. Jerry’s buddy’s apartment is probably outside of the city, closer to where Jax needs to be for his work. It isn’t a million miles away—nothing in Vermont ever is—but it’s not waking up to find Jax in my bed. It’s not drinking his weird tea together or eating dinner on the couch with him. It’s not opening my eyes every morning to feel the comforting hum of his presence.

It’s not being there to let him know, every day, that he fucking matters.

So tell him now.

I lurch from my bed and snag a T-shirt from the clean laundry pile I haven’t even thought about putting away. My shoes are by the front door. I stamp into them and fish my keys from the dish. Then I make a run for it down the stairs and out into the morning gloom.

The sidewalk is icy from the plummeting temperatures that are starting to move in from the mountains. But I’m a Vermonter; I know how to handle that shit. I dash to the parking lot where Jax is waiting for Jerry, his broad back to me as he contemplates the ground.

I grab his arm. “You don’t have to leave.”

Vino and Veritas Series

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