The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent is the story of Birdy, a lost soul who jumps on an opportunity to pretend she is her best friend, Heather, for the summer. Heather is a highly regarded English sommelier that had a job lined up at a newly remodeled resort in Scotland but decides to tag along with a new love to Italy instead of following through with her obligation. Birdy, who has nowhere to live and not a job prospect in sight, heads to Loch Dorn estate. Birdy knows virtually nothing about wine but gives it her all to not make a mockery of Heather. This book did not grab me from the start, it took reading about the first bit to go all in, but once I did I couldn't get enough. The author did a great job giving a backstory on the characters, I felt connected to each of them and cared for their outcomes. Overall a satisfying story.

Birdy is 31 and has a long list of jobs she’s tried and left for one reason or another. And this summer, she’s just started a new one. But this job is unlike any she’s done before: She’s not only pretending to be a sommelier, she’s pretending to be her best friend the sommelier. And her best friend has no idea.

Heather had taken off for Italy for the summer and decided to back out of the seasonal job at an old hotel in western Scotland. Birdy, out of options for a place to live over the summer and just needing to get away, through a series of events ends up impersonating Heather at Loch Dorn. It’s crazy, but she thinks it should be manageable with some research and hard work. But, of course, it turns out to be far more difficult than she ever expected — the hotel has undergone a major transformation to an upscale property, with a kitchen overseen by a Michelin-starred chef.

If that weren’t bad enough, Birdy finds herself falling for one of the chefs, a handsome, down-to-earth local. But how can she have any relationship with him when she’s masquerading as someone else, and she’ll be leaving at the end of the summer?

This story is a fun take on a standard plot: woman who’s a screwup in work and most relationships lands herself in a crazy situation and then manages to find herself, grow, and start making changes. Will she be able to overcome the crazy situation she’s gotten into and find happiness? The answer, of course, is yes. The journey is the enjoyable part. I would recommend this as a light, entertaining, quick read except for its constant profanity.

One little misunderstanding leads to a big lie for Elizabeth "Birdy" Finch one summer. When her best friend Heather decides not to take a job as a sommelier at a hotel restaurant in the Scottish highlands, Birdy decides to show up in her place pretending that she is Heather. The problem is, she doesn't know much of anything about wine. Birdy keeps this all a secret from Heather and also studies her ass off to learn more about wine. She also finds herself falling for the hotel owner's son, which is a problem since he doesn't even know her real name.

This was a cute, sweet book without being too sappy. I liked the restaurant setting and all the talk about wine. Birdy was a fun character who just wanted to live her best life and almost immediately regrets her decision to pretend to be Heather. The novel was funny and will be a great beach read and the perfect pick for someone looking for something lighter.

What to listen to while reading...
Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac
Champagne Supernova by Oasis
Time to Pretend by MGMT
Someone to You by BANNERS
Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer
A Case of You by James Blake

The Summer Job was an entertaining read. Birdie is at a crossroads in her life and feels like her life is going nowhere. She has a dead-end boyfriend and no job to speak of. Her best friend asks her to turn down a job for her as a sommelier, but in Birdie’s how hard can it be to learn wine and pair it? She gets more than she bargained for once she arrives at the restaurant. Everything Heather has worked for is on the line. Will Heather forgive her once she learns the truth? Has Birdie pushed things too far this time to earn her friends forgiveness?

This as an enjoyable read, however, a bit far-fetched at times. It was definitely a meet-cute read!

I was lucky to receive a copy of this book to read and review from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinions. I knew nothing about this author going in and thought it sounded like a fun read. I was right - so fun! This is the first book by the author and I will for sure read any new releases by her. This was a highly entertaining easy read and I was sad when I finished it.

The Summer Job is the rom com book I never knew I needed. Wine, Scottish settings, and hot chefs?! Count me in!
Birdy is charming and hilarious and held my attention the entire time. I loved all of the employees at Loch Dorn hotel and you truly need to stop me from taking a trip there this month.

Overall, this book is Funny, sweet, heart-pumping, and feel good. This is the ideal beach read while you have a glass of rose in hand.

Thank you to Penguin/GP Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this one!

I may have done more than a few things that I hope are not available online when I was floundering around in search of who I wanted to be when I grew up. I never dreamed of taking someone's job and their identity though. Especially not someone trained as a sommelier. If it was a good waitress job though, I might have been all over it!
Birdy's life is a mess. She works a series of low-paying jobs and finds herself with no place to live for the summer. When her best friend Heather impulsively decides not to take a job as a sommelier in a Scottish hotel, the opportunity to get paid, and have a place to live seems doable. After all, how hard could it be to recommend wines? She packs up a copy of Wine For Dummies and heads for her new job. What could go wrong?
Besides the fact that it is impossible for Birdy who knows less than nothing about wine and food pairings, she has to think about not tanking Heather's reputation. On top of that, she starts to care about the people she is working with and wants the restaurant to succeed. There is also a certain chef who makes Birdy's heart race. Can she possibly figure a way out of this mess without losing everything she has come to care about?
All of the characters were flawed and relatable. A fun read that I flew through wanting to know how everything would turn out. I don't read too many RomComs, but if this is an indication of what I am missing, I should.

Although I don't usually read "rom-coms," I chose to read The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent to try something different. It sounded like a fun summer read, and I was not disappointed!

When Birdy Finch's best friend decides to blow off her summer job at a rundown Scottish pub where she was hired to be their sommelier, Birdy decides to spend the summer taking her friend's place and identity. Although she knows next to nothing about wine, she thinks she can pull off the deception - or at least have a good time trying. But the "rundown pub" is actually a swanky restaurant and hotel run by a famous chef, and the sommelier is expected to throw together the party of the season. What could possibly go wrong?

Yes, the story was a bit predictable, and the supporting characters, although likable, were not very well fleshed out. But the character of Birdy was well-developed, and I enjoyed watching her grow up throughout the story. And was it fun? Absolutely! I cheered for Birdy and wanted her to make it.

I will recommend this book to readers who want a light summer read during a hot summer.

Thanks to Peguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Birdy’s life is a bit hectic. Going from job to job, living in her best friend’s flat, and feeling no attachment to her family, she feels a bit lost. Heather’s life seems perfect. She’s a sommelier, has her own apartment, and has the prospect of a summer job as the sommelier at a hotel in Scotland, but she’s in search of love.

When Heather decides to ditch the sommelier job at a chance for love in Italy, Birdy jumps at the chance to go to Scotland and pretend to be Heather. When Birdy, aka Heather, arrives at Loch Dorn for her job she realizes she’s in over her head. Loch Dorn isn’t a rundown hotel like the website shows, but a newly renovated hotel with a Michelin star Chef. What’s Birdy to do?

Birdy was such a relatable character. I’m sure we’ve all felt lost like her at some point. Her insecurities are what makes her such a great female lead. Her missteps are what made this book so good. The way she learns from them made it even better.

I loved the supporting characters too! Bill, with his own issues, but his caring heart was endearing. Irene is the role model we all need in our lives. Anis is a strong woman who has to be tough to be noticed in the culinary world. And then there’s James.

Oh James. He’s a swoon worthy crush for sure. With his head on his shoulders, but naivety he was the perfect counterpart to Birdy’s flamboyance. I really loved his character.

The setting of this book was my favorite part though. Scotland was described so beautifully. It was atmospheric, and almost its own character.

I won’t give too much of the story away, but there were a lot of funny moments as well as some real heartfelt ones. My only gripe was that I felt it could be a bit shorter. It seemed to drag a bit before the emotional ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam - G.P. Putnam’s Sons for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book was a fun read! It has some serious subjects but was also an enjoyable rom-com that included a plot about wine. Great summer read!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy to honestly review.

This was a great summer read. Revolving around Birdy who takes her friends place at a hotel in Scotland as a sommelier with no real wine knowledge, chaos ensues. This had a great cast of characters that brought the story to life with a few plot twists along the way. A great read for the beach but will have you yearning for a trip to the Scottish coast!

The Summer Job
By Lizzy Dent

Have you ever dreamed of being in someone else's shoes?

Oh how would it feel to just fill in for the summer to escape into someone else's reality.

Birdy Finch has than just that. She impersonated her friend Heather's life for the summer at the highland Scottish hotel as a world class sommelier. Not an easy thing to accomplish, and you just need to read this gem of a book to find out how Birdy pulls this off in a funny and heartwarming story that will not only make you laugh but will also steal your heart away - all the way to Scotland that is - in the world of food and wine - and it was oh so wonderful.

The Summer Job was a wanderlust adventure and a great escape read. It was fun to read but it also had the depth of an emotional story line that kept me hooked and turning those pages for the lovable and relatable characters.

This was a wonderful read I thoroughly enjoyed and will be recommending a lot.

I almost didn’t want to finish this after a few chapters but am so glad I kept reading. Birdy/Heather proved that she was up to the task of a sommelier after all. The Scottish setting was pleasant, the cast of characters working with her were well defined and easy to like, and the romance while slow was just right for the story. A good book club discussion title. 3.5 stars.

This story has me waiting for the other shoe to drop and when it did, the carefully constructed house of cards didn’t just fall, they exploded.

Why can’t you take a supposedly posh job your friend doesn’t want and pretend to be her? It’s only for the summer. Well, it’s never a good idea to pretend you’re someone else, unless you’re role playing and everyone is in on it.

Things aren’t exactly as they seem in the Highlands as the website would suggest. Grab this book and have a nail biting read.

The Summer Job by Lizzie Dent was such a good new release! It follows Birdie, a 30-something Londoner who hops from job-to-job seeking something to be passionate about. Her best friend, Heather, is a well-known sommelier and in most ways, her complete opposite. When Heather decides to skip out on a summer job in Scotland, Birdie takes her place (without telling anyone) and poses as Heather. Usually books that are based on a huge lie/series of lies really aren’t my style, but I really enjoyed this one. I definitely recommend that you pick this one up if you’re into food, wine, or the Scottish countryside!

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Summer Job" and all opinions expressed are my own. I thought this was a good book. It was a bit hard to understand some of it, the British words they use mostly. But overall a good story line and it was funny.

I wanted to like this book, I really did, but my expectations from the summary did not match up with the narrative itself.

Birdy, like so many others, dreams about running away from her going-nowhere life. But in her case, she actually *does* run away, when she pretends to be her best friend Heather for the summer. Heather, an up and coming sommelier, has landed a job at a run down Scottish restaurant, but chooses instead to go to Italy with her boyfriend.

Birdy offers to call and get her out of the job, but decides (after forgetting to do so) to go in her place instead. The problem? The run down restaurant has been entirely renovated into a Michelin-worthy establishment and Birdy knows nothing about wine. Will she survive the summer with Heather's reputation intact?

While I thought this book was well-crafted--its prose is clear and the plot moves along at a pace that makes this a quick read, it really stretched the boundaries of credibility for me, and I found the characters' (namely Birdy and Heather) disrespect and immaturity (where to start? Birdy and Tim's drunken antics everywhere they go? Heather feeling she's too good to show up for a job because she thinks it's just in some dumpy little place anyway? Birdy making a fool of herself by knowing nothing about this job and conveniently falling asleep every time she needs to "study"?) is just a bridge too long for me to cross. Not to mention: no one in this establishment is going to realize the woman who shows up is completely clueless about the position? Heather is supposed to have a stellar reputation, and so is her father. The secondary characters were all great and Birdy didn't deserve any of them. If only this was a book about James instead.

A special thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for granting me this ARC to review. I think it just came down to it not being the right book for me.

DNF. Stopped at 20%. I think that young & quirky heroine, madcap romcom isn't my thing. I was more annoyed by the main character than I believe I was supposed to feel

What if you could be someone else? Just for the summer...

Birdy has made a mistake. Everyone imagines running away from their life at some point. But Birdy has actually done it. And the life she's run into is her best friend Heather's. The only problem is, she hasn't told Heather.

The summer job at the highland Scottish hotel that her world class wine-expert friend ditched turns out to be a lot more than Birdy bargained for. Can she survive a summer pretending to be her best friend? And can Birdy stop herself from falling for the first man she's ever actually liked, but who thinks she's someone else? (Spoiler alert: No.)

Overall, this was an enjoyable read even though it utilized one of my least-favorite plot devices (pretending to be someone else). What can I say? I hate lying. Even watching hidden-camera shows makes me very uncomfortable!

I had some trouble relating to Birdy, as she was incredibly irresponsible, but I also couldn’t help rooting for her and the other misfits employed at the hotel. The “found family” theme helped to elevate this story above its general romcom themes. (Also, the “com” bits – such as when her slacker on-and-off-again boyfriend stops by the hotel, are pretty funny!)

Overall, a solid addition to your summer reading list if you enjoy romcoms!