It’s crazy how fast the buzz comes back after you’ve been sober for so long.
Whiskey stood there, on my doorstep, just like he had one year before. Except this time, there was no rain, no anger, no wedding invitation — it was just us.
It was just him — the old friend, the easy smile, the twisted solace wrapped in a glittering bottle.
It was just me — the alcoholic, pretending like I didn’t want to taste him, realizing too quickly that months of being clean didn’t make me crave him any less.
But we can’t start here.
No, to tell this story right, we need to go back.
Back to the beginning.
Back to the very first drop.
This is my love letter to Whiskey. I only hope he reads it.
5.0 "EMOTIONAL & GUT WRENCHING" STARS
“One day, whether you are 14, 28 or 65,you will stumble upon someone who will start a fire in you that cannot die.However, the saddest, most awful truth you will ever come to find––is they are not always with whom we spend our lives” ― Beau Taplin
Now tell me, how do I even begin my review? My brain was scattered, my thoughts are a jumbled mess I have to pick up the pieces and the only thing that came to me as I finished it is "I.AM.FLAT.OUT.BLOWN.AWAY" and with reference to the book, RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING, RIGHT FROM THE VERY FIRST DROP, I am drunk and I haven't been sober even several hours after.
A Love Letter to Whiskey is my first Kandi Steiner book and I am utterly speechless because Kandi's writing is flawless, brilliant and full of emotions. The reference with whiskey is gravitating me towards the book. See? Just from the blurb and that cover that speaks so much you know within yourself that this book is something...that this book will make a great impact to you. Admittedly, Yes, first few pages and I was drawn into the story. I was captivated and not just hooked. It was so unique, what with the vivid writing and the beautiful story telling, all the complexities and characters so flawed yet so real. I cannot even remember the last time I was consumed with the book like I am feeling right now. My heart was gripped so tight and I am even crying too much and was choking my own tears. Gah!The feelings!Even at the very first page you know right there and then that you need to brace yourself because you're in for an emotional roller coaster ride. And who am I to complain when all I can say and feel is,
HELL!BRING ON THE PAIN!
And that pain started when I stumbled upon the line,
I saw him first, but it didn't matter.Because he saw her.
I am shocked, like what the fuck is going on and where is this book gonna lead me? You know I have never even imagine a heroine to feel so much pain even at the very beginning and reading their story from the the very first time they met and the in between is like "me punch throating and stabbing myself to death". Right there, my heart was wrenched too much. The angst is slowly building I never thought I can keep up. It's off the charts, but it was so beautiful that even with pain you know you want to keep going. B and Jamie's relationship if you call it like that, is something I never expected to be so flawed yet strong and consuming. I can't live up with that situation if it was me. I get it, "they're friends with feelings and somehow the timing isn't right". But I just can't fathom the situation they're in. I hated them but loved them but my biggest question is, Why the hell wont it work out??? Why the hell do they they keep on destroying each other???! It was built on friendship for fuck's sake! They were so In loce!!!So why???
It turned out I was water, he was whiskey, and I couldn't dilute him. Not now that I knew he loved me enough to let me. I needed to be stronger, to be ice the next time i melted with him...
In the end you know I get it, I may have been furious for several times but I understand each of them. Seriously in a relationship, no matter how deep your feelings towards each other you needed a strong foundation stronger than friendship. In their case love is never about rainbows and unicorns, but their's is a a true definition of what love truly is. It's intoxicating. It's consuming. It's addicting. It's never always beautiful but so damn ugly you get to destroy each other. They made mistakes that hurts others in the end. For Jamie and B, it was never always the happy times, in fact pain topped it. It's BITTERSWEET! I don't even think it's the timing but it's for both of them to realize what they really wanted and for them to grow.
And to Kandi Steiner, I am drunk with your words. I savoured and devoured it like it was next breath. I haven't been sober since. Up until now I feel the pain like it was me in your story. A Love Letter To Whiskey really broke my heart into pieces and it hurts like a mothafucker! It was so raw and so intense you just do not know how it made me. It was so emotional, gut wrenching and pure torture but I love it with all my heart. You made me sobbed like a baby and made me need my husband when I read this book. So you see, I just don't have wine reading this, but I have him with me holding until the very end.
To sum up, A LOVE LETTER TO WHISKEY IS EVERYTHING I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD BE!
★
★★
★4 "I need whiskey my damn self"stars★★★★
To say this story put me through an emotional and frustrated ringer is a HUGE understatement. I haven't read a story in a long time where I developed such love/hate/fury for characters that made me extremely stabby. But did that stop me from reading and actually enjoying it? HELL.NO.
" What goes up must come down. And oh, how we crashed.
This is the story of finding the one person you know without a shadow of a doubt, is your soulmate and painfully realizing that time is just not on your side.
This is a story about two people who fought and sacrificed a little bit of themselves to get a piece of happiness that they found when they were together.
This is a revalation of knowing that even though you love someone with everything you have, sometimes that's not enough.
B" has always been a good girl. She's a loving daughter and her friendship with her best friend means the world to her. So when she literally runs into the first guy that's ever sparked her interest in a way that catches her off guard.. What she wasn't expecting was to form a genuine friendship with Jamie that will grow into something neither one of them ever expected it too.
"My first taste of Whiskey had been nothing. My first shot? Child's play. I'd been holding back, delicately balancing on the line, afraid of drinking too much- but this was it. I knew it. I feltevery inch of the fall from tipsy to drunk. I was completely wasted, and all I wanted was to feel this way forever.
They say addiction is in the form of many things and B and Whiskey is about to get very acquainted with each other. But what will be the price for an inevitable heartbreak?
Their love was toxic.
Their passion was brutal.
Their fate was undecided.
Whiskey knew what he wanted for his future and he was determined to work hard to get it. Taking over his father's company, marrying the girl of his dreams, and filling the house with kids has always been his goal but what he wasn't expecting was the fall in love with a girl who would eventually give him his heart back, but not before doing a little damage of her own.
"Jaime had never been officially mine, but I had always been his- ever since the first taste.
I'm going to be really honest: As much as I loved this book,these characters made me wanted my own shot of whiskey!! They were frustrating, stubborn, and some of their actions made me angry causing me to to put a crap ton of money in my kid's swear jar. But then there were the moments that made me happy and excited and I saw a light at the end of this crazy, exhausted, all consuming, love tunnel that we all want. And for that, I loved and appreciated it.
If you're looking for a sweet romance, this book is NOT for you.
If you're looking for a love story that will make you swoon and laugh, this book sure as hell isn't for you.
Do you want to go on a angst filled, electronic throwing, whiskey drinking journey? Then this one is DEFINITELY for you.
The first time I tasted Whiskey, I fell flat on my face.
Literally.
I was drunk from the very first sip, and I guess that should have been my sign to stay away.
Jenna and I were running the trail around the lake near her house, sweat dripping into our eyes from the intense South Florida heat. It was early September, but in South Florida, it might as well have been July. There was no “boots and scarves” season, unless you counted the approximately six weeks in January and February where the temperature dropped below eighty degrees.
As it was, we were battling ninety-plus degrees, me trying to be a show off and prove I could keep up with Jenna’s cheerleading training program. She had finally made the varsity squad, and with that privilege came ridiculous standards she had to uphold. I hated running — absolutelyloathed it. I would much rather have been on my surf board that day. But fortunately for Jenna, she had a competitive best friend who never turned down a challenge. So when she asked me to train with her, I’d agreed eagerly, even knowing I’d have screaming ribs and calves by the end of the day.
I saw him first.
I was just a few steps ahead of Jenna, and I’d been staring down at my hot pink sneakers as they hit the concrete. When I looked up, he was about fifty feet away, and even from that distance I could tell I was in trouble. He seemed sort of average at first — brown hair, lean build, soaked white running shirt — but the closer he got, the more I realized just how edible he was. I noticed the shift in the muscles of his legs as he ran, the way his hair bounced slightly, how he pressed his lips together in concentration as he neared us.
I looked over my shoulder, attempting to waggle my eyebrows at Jenna and give her the secret best friend code for “hot guy up ahead”, but she had stopped to tie her shoes. And when I turned back around, it was too late.
I smacked into him — hard — and fell to the pavement, rolling a bit to soften the fall. He cursed and I groaned, more from embarrassment than pain. I wish I could say I gracefully picked myself up, smiled radiantly, and asked him for his number, but the truth is I lost the ability to do anything the minute I looked up at him.
It was an unfamiliar, warm ache that spread through my chest as I used my hand to shield the sun streaming in behind his silhouette, just how you’d expect the first sip of whiskey to feel. He was bent over, hand outstretched, saying something that wasn’t registering because I had somehow managed to slip my hand into his and just that one touch had set my skin on fire.
Handsome wasn’t the right word to describe him, but it was all I kept thinking as I traced his features. His hair was a sort of mocha color, damp at the roots, falling onto his forehead just slightly. His eyes were wide — almost too round — and a mixture of gold, green, and the deepest brown. I didn’t coin the nickname Whiskey until much later, but it was that moment that I saw it for the first time — those were whiskey eyes. The kind of eyes you get lost in. The kind that drink you in. He had the longest lashes and a firm, square jaw. It was so hard, the edges so clean that I would have sworn he was angry with me if it weren’t for the smile on his face.He was still talking as my eyes fell over his broad chest before snapping back up to his sideways grin.
“Oh my God, are you fucking blind?!” Jenna’s voice snapped me from my haze as she shoved Whiskey out of the way and latched onto my hand, ripping me back to standing position. I’d barely caught my balance before she whipped around to continue her scolding. “How about you brush that long ass hair out of your eyes and watch where you’re going, huh champ?”
Oh no.
I didn’t even have time to call dibs, I couldn’t even think the word, let alone say it, before it was too late. I watched it, in slow motion, as Whiskey fell for my best friend before I even had the chance to say a single word to him.
Jenna was standing tall, arms crossed, one hip popped in her usual fashion as she waited for him to defend himself. This was her protocol — it was one of the reasons we got along. We were both what you’d call “spitfires”, but Jenna had the distinct advantage of being cripplingly gorgeous on top of having an attitude. She flipped her long, wavy blonde ponytail behind her and cocked a brow.
And then he did, too.
His smile grew wider as he met her eyes, and it was the same look I’d watched fall
over guy after countless guy. Jenna was a unicorn, and men were enamored by her. As they should have been — she had platinum blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, legs for days and a personality to boot. Now, before you go thinking that I was the insecure best friend - I had it going on, too. I worked hard, I was talented - just not at the things traditional high school boys valued.
But we’ll get to that.
“Hi,” Whiskey finally said, extending his hand to Jenna this time. His eyes were warm, smile inviting — if I had to pick the right word for him, just one, I’d say charming. He just oozed charm. “I’m Jamie.”
“Well, Jamie, maybe you should make an appointment with the eye doctor before you run over another innocent jogger. And you owe Brecks an apology.” She nodded to me then and I cringed at my name, wondering why she felt the need to spill it at all. She always called me B — everyone did — so why did she choose the moment I was face to face with the first boy to ever make my heart accelerate to use my full name?
Jamie was still grinning, eying Jenna, trying to figure her out, but he turned to me after a moment with that same crooked smile. “I’m sorry, I should have been watching where I was going.” He said the words with conviction, but lifted his brows on that last line because he and I both knew who wasn’t paying attention to the trail, and he wasn’t the guilty party.
“It’s fine,” I murmured, because for some reason I was still having a difficult time finding my voice. Jamie tilted his head just a fraction, his eyes hard on me this time, and I felt naked beneath his gaze. I’d never had anyone look at me that way — completely zeroed in. It was unnerving and exhilarating, too.
But before I could latch onto the feeling, he turned back to Jenna, their eyes meeting as slow smiles spread on both of their faces. I’d seen it a million times, but this was the first time I felt sick watching it happen.
I saw him first, but it didn’t matter.
Because he saw her.
Kandi Steiner is a Creative Writing and Advertising/Public Relations graduate from the University of Central Florida living in Tampa with her husband. Kandi works full time as a social media specialist, but also works part time as a Zumba fitness instructor and blackjack dealer.
Kandi started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.” She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a die hard hopeless romantic (like most girls brought up on Disney movies).
When Kandi isn’t working or writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, talking with her extremely vocal cat, and spending time with her friends and family. She enjoys beach days, movie marathons, live music, craft beer and sweet wine – not necessarily in that order.
Kandi started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.” She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a die hard hopeless romantic (like most girls brought up on Disney movies).
When Kandi isn’t working or writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, talking with her extremely vocal cat, and spending time with her friends and family. She enjoys beach days, movie marathons, live music, craft beer and sweet wine – not necessarily in that order.
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