Funny to the bone. This was such a feel good read.
Many thanks to Greenleaf Book Group and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

SAVING GRAPES - J.T. Lundy

DISAPPOINTING - 2 stars

Plot - 3 stars - Jason has inherited a vineyard in France that he wants to sell, but the nuns who share the abbey and vineyards have refused. Jason and his friend Stumpy decide to stick around to see if they can convince them.

Writing - 2 stars - The writing style is OK, and the book is very readable. But I just couldn't relate at all to the characters and found the "adventure" to be juvenile and annoying.

Characters - 1 star - This is where the story fell apart for me. Now I don't have to like a character to enjoy or appreciate a book, but in this case Jason is a complete deadbeat. And not only is he a deadbeat, but he is completely disrespectful and doesn't have any sense of honor when it comes to the nuns (or anyone, for that matter). He's content to live his life without accepting any responsibility, but he's upset that his Aunt Clara liked Eustace better. It was so frustrating to see him causing more and more problems for himself and taking others down with him. For instance, "A jumble of accusations and problems had descended on me at once, not an unusual occurrence for one skateboarding on the curvy side of life." What did he expect?

Title - 3 stars - The title is a cute play on words, suggesting the phrase "saving grace" (which makes us think of the nuns) but using the word "grapes" to remind us that it is about a vineyard.

Cover - 2 stars - This isn't a bad cover, but it feels too busy, with not enough color. You really have to look closely to see what it depicts, and it took me a while to do that since it didn't really draw my eye.

Overall - 2 stars - More frustrating than fun, starring a main character who is more annoying than humorous. Jason unexpectedly inherits a vineyard, which he immediately sees as a cash winner, so he illegally goes to France (sponging off his best friend that he treats like scum) to check it out and either sell it or at least take what he can get from it. I couldn't see any redeeming features about Jason at all. He's always looking out for #1, is disrespectful to the nuns, and usually points the finger at his friend when anything goes wrong. Rather than finding his continual problems amusing, I felt more and more frustration, particularly since all of his problems were self-inflicted. And criminal, in some cases. The guy just had no self-respect at all. This was totally disappointing after a promising premise. I just didn't like it.

This was a mildly entertaining book. Although, I thought the characters were a little 2 dimensional. This sort of thing tends to happen a lot with these types of stories and genres. The romantic part was not great, but okay. Jason and Stumpy were good characters and their relationship I enjoyed the most.