Orange Wine is an absolutely beautiful and immersive novel about an early twentieth-century Colombian woman and her life as she creates, loves, loses, and finds herself. I was hooked from the first sentence and was enchanted with Synder's words as I tore through this book. The atmosphere, language, lush and vivid descriptions, characters, magical themes, and tone of the book surrounded me as I felt immersed within these pages, as if I was there too, sipping orange wine and walking through the streets of Bogota. Synder's way of telling this story overwhelmed me, and I can only dream of the kind of love that Inez and Regulo shared. This book is why I read--to learn new experiences through remarkable writing and be left speechless afterward. Orange Wine is an absolute masterpiece of a book.

Orange Wine by Esperanza Hope Snyder is a riveting account of life and relationship in early 20th century Coloumbia. It is a reflection of the thoughts and trials of Inés and the other women around her. It also reads like a travelogue -describing the changing locations and settings in detail. The description blends in architecture and art with the characteristics of the places with ease.
The language is poetic and beautifully written. One cannot help being invested in Inés's story and also feel enraged with the helplessness of women in society, rightfully so. The only issue which bothers one is the validation sought by the protagonist from her sisters, often in the face of bitterness and betryal. At the same time it makes her entirely human and it also illustrates how we are shaped by the times we live in. The ending with the proper closure was satisfying and rewarding. Overall a beautiful and lyrical book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for the chance to read Orange Wine before its release!

I requested this book on a whim, unfamiliar with the author, but intrigued by the summary. This story was absolutely breathtaking, and I am so honored that I had the chance to read it early.

Orange Wine is the story of Inés, a young woman in Columbia in the early 20th century. As Ines navigates the ups and downs of love and womanhood, she is faced with extreme pressures of her religion, family, and generational and societal expectations.

Following Inés through various phases of life as a wife, girlfriend, mother, sister, and Catholic, the reader becomes acutely aware of the pressures and inequities of women to men in society. Simultaneously, Inés is faced with the harsh reality of sisters and a community who choose to turn a blind eye to her pain, and also shun her success. Her story is one of love and hope, but also pain and internal and societal conflict.

This book gave me all the feels. Snyder does a fabulous job of creating complicated characters with depth, and a story of love, hope, faith, art, madness, and the reality that there are things, good and bad, that happen in our lives that we just cannot explain.

On a personal level, as a Spanish major, I loved the culture of this story. I loved reading of Bogota and the different towns in Inés’ life. Having studied in Spain in college, the last part of the book filled my heart with nostalgia and love for a country that means so much to me. I also found myself very much wanting a nice glass of Orange Wine. 🧡

I cannot wait to add the hard copy to my book collection. Thank you Esperanza Hope Snyder for this beautiful story. 💕

This book reminded me a lot of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Rather than following a patriarch in a fictitious town, In Orange Wine, we follow the life of Ines de la Rota, the youngest daughter of an Italian nobleman who moved to Columbia and married a poet. It occurs in early twentieth-century Columbia, with moments in Italy and Spain. The story is equal parts love and loss. Just like with any life, moments of joy intertwine with moments of frustration and sadness. It’s full of passion, love triangles, and independence. Ines discovers her strengths, creativity, and true love through all this. I enjoyed this book a lot. It kept me wanting to know what happened next. I am giving it a 4.5 instead of a 5 because the ending felt abrupt. This would make a fantastic movie.

Thank you, Net Galley, Bindery Books, Mareas, and Esperanza Hope Snyder, for the privilege of this advanced copy.

Orange Wine by Esperanza Hope Snyder is a beautifully written historical fiction novel set in early 20th-century Colombia. The story follows Ines, the youngest of her sisters, as she navigates her place in the world while carrying the weight of family expectations.

I rated this book 3/5 stars. The writing is rich and immersive, with descriptions so vivid that I felt transported to each setting. However, the novel read more like a memoir than a work of fiction, which made it feel emotionally distant at times. Despite the hardships Ines faced—especially from her sisters and first husband—I wanted more depth to her emotions. Her reactions often felt too restrained, leaving me frustrated and wanting to shake her into action.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and its atmosphere but wished for a stronger emotional connection to the protagonist.

Thank you Bindery Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book, set in the early 20th century, which explores themes of love, family relationships, betrayal, despair, and the strict rules of the Catholic Church. The writing was engaging, with a fast-paced narrative and short chapters that made it easy to read. I found myself deeply invested in the characters and eager to see how the story unfolded. I also appreciated that the novel was inspired by the author's grandparents and loved the analogy of orange wine, transforming from bitterness to sweetness. The ending was fantastic.

I received an advanced review from Netgalley and this is my honest review.

Beautifully written and deeply moving book. I devoured this in just a few hours. Highly recommended.

Orange Wine is a poignant and evocative novel that masterfully blends themes of love, betrayal, and self-discovery against the rich backdrop of early 20th-century Colombia. Esperanza Hope Snyder brings Inés de la Rota to life with a voice that is both tender and fierce as she navigates the suffocating expectations of family, religion, and society. Inés’ journey is deeply moving, as she grapples with the bitter betrayals that surround her while striving to reclaim her identity as an artist, a sister, and a woman. Snyder’s prose is beautifully layered, mirroring the transformative process of turning oranges into wine—finding sweetness in life’s bitterness. The novel’s exploration of artistic freedom and feminine awakening feels both timeless and personal, making it resonate deeply.

This story really felt like a memoir to me. The author notes that it was inspired by her grandparents. The story follows Ines as she deals with the fallout of her marriage and family relationships. This story explores themes of love, forgiveness, betrayal, and navigating societal pressures in the search for authentic love. The writing is engaging and I loved the descriptions of all the settings the story takes us to. I will say the story did not focus on sisterhood. Most of the sisters have antagonistic relationships to Ines and each other. Overall, I really enjoyed this and would recommend to anyone who likes historical fiction, emotional family dramas, and romance.

this book was really good! I like the themes of despair, growth, love, relationships, and moving on. I think this was a good story with well written prose and character development that was well done!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Thank you to Bindery Books, NetGalley, and Marines for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start with the fact that I really wanted to like this book, but I feel that ultimately, I was not the correct audience for it. If you enjoy stories that are reminiscent of the stores told my family members passed down, then this is the book for you.

The distant narration made it difficult to empathize with Ines’ choices. I struggled to see how she could treat her sisters so unkindly and make choices that put her children’s stability at risk.

That being said, Esperanza’s writing was at its best when she was describing the rich landscape in Colombia. And I am interested in reading the next thing she writes, in hopes that I will be a better audience for it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bindery Books for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Orange Wine is a story that captures the tumultuous and wonderful experience that is pursuing joy in life. Inés is a woman of resilience and determination, from her whimsical childhood to growing pains with sisters and her turbulent first marriage, she uses her drive to continually move forward and grow to eventually find her love, peace and legacy.

You can feel the love Snyder has for her characters as you follow Inés. She is a strong protagonist that allows herself, and pushes herself to adapt, even when she didn’t want to. Each character was well rounded, their choices and actions made sense, and the complexities of their relationships we expressed with thoughtfulness.

My favourite part of this novel though was the passion in exploring the many wonders and beautiful places in the world. This book felt like an ode to detail. I was never left feeling confused, and I always felt the atmosphere written on the page.

4 stars

a big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC!

things I enjoyed in this book - the setting, naturally, as you'll always get me reading something set historically in Colombia / Latin America. I also found the book to be very easy to read and relatively fast paced, which is just what I needed right now to get out of a sort of slump.

however, I also have a few issues with this book. our main character Inés is like the 20th century version of a 'not like other girls'. she is CONSTANTLY, and I mean constantly, described as being the most gorgerous, clever, smart, mysterious, lovely woman in all of Paipa, Bogotá, Italy, doesn't matter the setting, she will be so far above any other woman that we won't hear the end of it! in fact she is so much more beautiful and better than everyone, including her own sisters, one from which she steals the man she was interested in (and has zero remorse) - who cares about the other two sisters, they're too ugly to ever get married so we don't need to know about them (although they are actively working and contributing to society and actually furthering the status of women for the country and time period). Every other woman mentioned in the story is torn down and compared to Inés just to show how great she is. She also manages to invent an orange wine better than ANY other wine in the entire world, plus has incredible talents in art and perfumery.
Inés was also warned OVER AND OVER by EVERYBODY NOT to marry her first husband because he is a KNOWN scoundrel and what does she do... marry him... and what happens... he leaves her with huge debts, has an affair with her sister... Inés just didn't seem concerned about anything, never thought of consequences or her actions, but I think the lack of detail in the writing is also to blame. i don't mind a morally grey character, not at all, but it is more the lack of seeing into Inés that I missed here. I just wanted more from her - why did she really go above everyone's advice and marry Alessandro, beyond their physical attraction? How did it leave her feeling when her husband left her for his sister, moments after she gave birth to their child? that is a HUGE event and yet we didn't have much of a chance to get into the MEAT of it, she just moved on quickly to the next man. Her son DIES aged 7 and again, doesnt seem to affect her past a couple of pages. Another example- towards the end of the book Isabel murders Alessandro and we get about 2 sentences on it then we move on! The travel sections of the book were also pretty boring and could have been sliced out.

I wanted a feminist story, showing a woman who, despite society's expectations and restrictions manages to achieve her desire - a la Allende- but instead the story followed a woman with poor judgement who allowed herself to be put down by everybody in her life (while still being the best woman alive) and was 90% (bad) romance. The plot had a lot of potential but the writing let it down just a little - would have loved just a bit more oomph to the story! More show and less tell! The blurb does it way more justice and the story deserves

I got more and more involved with the characters and life of this book as I read. I did it expect to have such a connection and was initially drawn in by the book and the cover. I realized I was in love by pages 268 and 269. My heart felt the struggle. We don’t always let ourselves love and definitely don’t always feel deserving of love. So we make stupid mistakes and decide for ourselves when our fate is so willing to let us feel what we rightfully are owed. Thank you for the ARC. Thank you for the opportunity to read this story.

Hello, Netgalley. Thank you for another read. I did not enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed other books. I am not able to finish this book because it is not my cup of tea. I would say the plotline is interesting but the book just feels slow and unengaging to me.

**Review: *Orange Wine* by Esperanza Hope Snyder**

Imagine a story that unfolds like the layers of a fine, unexpected vintage—*Orange Wine* is an experience that seduces the senses and lingers like a whispered secret. At its heart, the novel follows a woman who returns to her coastal hometown after years of living elsewhere. Confronted with the echoes of a past she thought she’d left behind, she finds herself swept up in a tapestry of rekindled relationships, long-hidden family secrets, and the bittersweet pull of memories that refuse to fade.

As she navigates the familiar streets and rediscovered haunts of her youth, every encounter—whether with an old flame, a trusted friend, or even a mysterious stranger—uncovers another hidden layer of her identity. Snyder’s narrative is lush and evocative, exploring the delicate interplay between love and loss, and how the passage of time can both heal and haunt. The title itself hints at the transformative journey ahead: much like orange wine, the protagonist’s life is complex, unexpected, and enriched by every nuanced moment.

If you’re drawn to stories that invite you to savor life’s complexities and embrace both its joy and its sorrow, *Orange Wine* is an intoxicating journey into the depths of personal discovery.

**Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity 💕**

Orange Wine was a touching story that took me through years and years of trauma and hope through Ines. It was hard to see just how the world was treating her, and how she was taking it. This is a book of feminine strength! And orange wine sounds delicious.

This book has everything! Lyrical language, multi- generational saga, love story, magical realism, characters that leave their mark on the reader, international backdrop ( Columbia and Europe) and much more! Very reminiscent of Isabel Allende’s writing style. I want to read everything Esperanza Snyder writes! Bravo!

Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC!

"Orange Wine" wasn't what I expected. If anything, it was felt reading one of those bad *your name* fanfics. (That sounds harsh, but it's really not)

This novel is about a (very beautiful, very talented, very elegant, very nice, just perfect) woman, Ines, whose life shatters as her husband betrays her with her sister (who's not even half as beautiful, talented etc).
Taking her 2 small children with her, she leaves him and goes to her other sister's (who are even uglier than the betraying sister).

Ines' qualities catch the eyes of all the men she meets and they all fall in love with her (because she's very beautiful and talented). Then there's a "Redeeming Love" moment, before the happy ever after.

Even though the writing style is really good and the atmosphere is charming (20th century in Colombia), I was barely able to keep up reading. The main famele character is a pick me and a "feminist", while constantly putting other women down because of their looks (or more specifically because their beauty is inferior to hers) or lack of prospects (she got like 5 men that want to marry her, while her other sister didn't even get a single proposal). Her mother also favoured her, leaving her the family home

She's also constantly and actively seeking male validation and isn't able to have one female friend.

Obviously, because of her great qualities, she navigates through life easily: the man she sells her house to offers to start a relationship, another man is ready to marry her even though she's still married, providing for her and her children, her artistic friend and guide falls in love with her and promotes her art. All her paintings and ideas are brilliant and successful.

Also, she's the only one who gets a happy ending, while all the other sisters can only struggle. Don't those other 3 sisters deserve a bit of happiness too? (No, because they are ugly)

I expected more drama, more challenges, maybe even a bookish soap opera, but this novel fell short.

From the second this book started, I was engaged! I loved every aspect of it! I cannot wait to promote this book when it releases, and get all my friends to read it!