Grape Juice tells the story of Alice and Henri who meet while picking grapes at a vineyard in France over the summer. She works in wine and is in need of a break after a break up and feeling lost at work. He is the nephew of the vineyard owner. What starts as time together picking grapes and learning each other's language (she's American and he's French) becomes a sweet romance. The short length of the story doesn't allow for much depth to develop between the couple but I still had a fun time reading and some of the prose was beautiful. Alice's descriptions of wine and tasting notes left me appreciating my food more in the few days after finishing and eager to go to France asap.

This was a quick read and while it had parts I loved (France, wine, vacation fling), the writing didn’t work for me. I didn’t love Alice’s friend having an affair with a married man and giving such a cliche excuse for it. Also, Henri was on a break from his gf, if that bothers you. This is more of a HFN, but I hope there’s an epilogue released that shows further to get more closure like other 831 stories have.

This book follows the journey of the main character, Alice, as she travels to France to work at a vineyard for the summer on behalf of her boss in New York City. During her work on the Vineyard, Alice meets many special people, including Henri, whom she comes to realize is a romantic interest who makes her truly feel like a human being again, after her last relationship ended bitterly. Alice and Henry both have many things to work through before they can determine what their relationship is and could be.

I gave this book 4.5/5. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, not only for the imaginative description but the true meaning behind the story. The way Alice slowly starts to come to grips with the loss of her ex-boyfriend, Matt, and the realization that she is worthy and deserving of love.

Thank you to NETGALLEY and 831 stories for this advanced copy of "Grape Juice" in exchange for my honest review.

I’m bummed I was so excited to read this and it had the potential to be a 5 star book. I really liked the plot, it was an engaging and fun concept. However the writing was so pretentious and annoying to read. I really disliked it. This is a pretty short book, but because the writing had so much excess metaphors and jargon, I kept getting bored and pulled out of the story. Overall, I’d give the plot 4 stars and the writing 1 star…? lol

I really enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it. It’s easy to read but not in the way that it’s simple, in the way that it’s so engaging

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! The sexy, yearning, French summer romance story I've been searching for all year! An impressive debut novella that felt like Dumais has been writing romance for years. What I loved most about this story is that it could easily stand on two feet without the romance. It's a beautiful story about new friendships, overcoming fears of vulnerability, and a shared love of wine. I enjoyed learning about age-old methods of wine making and the physicality & heart that goes into working on a vineyard. Dumais has such a creative and poignant way of describing tasting notes that I could've read an entire book on just that. There were very few bits, if any, that felt unrealistic, which made it that much more enjoyable. I adored Ruby and Alice's friendship - doing each other's makeup, picking each other's outfits, and gabbing about boys. I love the girlhood of it all. But of course, the romance was beautifully thought out, including the timing. Romance requires some build-up, and I think Dumais did a great job finding the footing there. Spice level was great, I love some will-they-won't-they yearning. After devouring this in a day, I sent the rec to all my friends to put this on their list come November!

I am not typically a Romance Reader but I was so delightfully surprised with Grape Juice. Short, sweet, and so romantic!! I appreciated that this wasn't just pure fluff or pure smut and had a good heart to the plot. It definitely makes me want to read more of 831!!

Fell flat for me! I love the 831 stories for a quick read, but this was not my favorite. Setting was charming, but the story was not the best.

Grape juice
A quick read, but not necessarily a worthwhile one. This book struggled to keep me engaged or root for the couple. We learn next to nothing about the main character, no real descriptors and just a whisper of a past relationship and job history. Our main character is just a quippy adult woman in the wine industry who speaks and acts a bit like a teenager. And the love interest? Basically a carbon copy of her.

The writing itself is sparse, with not enough description for me. We’re in France, but I never feel like I’m in France. I would have liked more silhouettes of the countryside, descriptions of the scenes. The chapter are short, some seemingly ending for no reason. The dialogue isn’t anything to write home about, it’s written like a bad romcom sometimes. Perhaps I am not the target audience or perhaps the finished copy will be more spruced up, but this book certainly did not hook me in. I enjoyed the wine aspect and the French grammar lessons, both something I’m unfamiliar with and I’m assuming it was accurate so that was interesting. I’m giving this 2.5 stars, thank you the publisher for the e-arc.

Grape Juice
By: Eliza Dumais
Pages: 176
Genre: Romance

I loved everything about this book!!
Thank you to Netalley and 831 Stories for the opportunity to read and review this book!

As Alice feels like she’s stuck in a work loop, her boss sends her (forces gently?) to France to learn more about a client. While she’s there, she meets some new friends as they’re all working on this vineyard during the harvest season. She quickly takes a liking to Hernri, and it ensues in a steamy summer romance.

This book was fast paced, cut, and left me with a gooey, lovely feeling. It was sexy, and the chemistry between Alice and Henri is yummy. I love Alice’s personality, and how she describes things. I thought this story was very well written, and from the very beginning, I was completely immersed in this story. There wasn’t a character that I thought didn’t belong in the book, and overall it was bursting with charm. I only wish it was longer. I would’ve loved to read more about Alice and Henri, and the author did a phenomenal job with their story. I also adore Ruby and I loved her character and the constant “honeybee”. I think the ending was very fitting, and I see myself rereading this in the future. This was a 5 star read for me!

(On the release day, I’ll be posting a review on my instagram)

If you’ve ever enjoyed French romance films or books, Grape Juice will definitely hit the spot. Eliza Dumais has a wonderful way of making the everyday feel special, like a small work-vacation at a vineyard, which might not be mundane to everyone, but here it’s explored with that quietly magical French art sensibility.
The story gently unwraps the beauty in simple moments, with a richness in atmosphere and character development. There are moments where the pacing slows, and certain plot points feel predictable. However, these minor drawbacks don't detract significantly from the overall enjoyment of the novella

Ugh I devoured Grape Juice. The prose is stunning and poetic, full of heart, and the longing between Alice and Henri is PALPABLE. There's nothing better than a story that does longing so beautifully. I loved this story - filled with adventure, tension, friendships, and wine.

This swoony, dreamy book is set at a winery in France and you can read it in a day! The setting alone is romantic, but then we meet Henri, a sexy French man who immediately catches our FMC’s eye and ours. Alice is bored with her life working for a successful wine importer in NYC, when her boss sends her to a winery to work harvesting the grapes. Once there she immediately bonds with a small crew from all around the world and gradually rediscovers a love of life that she’d been missing.

This book is fascinating because I knew next to nothing about how wine is made. This novella is a crash course at best, but it’s far from boring and the side characters are entertaining. The writing in this novella is breathtaking and fitting for the French setting and our FMC’s unique POV, but I personally found it a little pretentious at times. Alice gets her job working for the wine importer because she describes a wine as tasting like “whispering”, and most of the writing that follows is beautiful, unique, but not quite for everyone. I’m not usually a fan of insta-love, but it’s more of an insta-attraction, and when you learn where Alice and Henri are coming from and within this “summer camp” context, it feels rushed, but it also makes sense. The book does have a HEA, but it’s also open-ended as well, which I found more realistic, considering Alice and Henri fall in love basically over the course of a month.

Overall I enjoyed the novella and I look forward to reading more from 831 stories! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Short and sweet - exactly how I like my 831 Stories books. This one had some beautiful prose and sentences that burrowed deep. I absolutely loved the writing. The first half of the book had an issue hooking me in, though, but I did feel invested by the end.

Eliza Dumais’s “Grape Juice” read just like that first sip of Vihno Verde on a balmy summer day. It was refreshing and un-put-downable. This short novella, centered around Alice and Herni made me swoon, search for flights to Alsace, and consider doing an unpaid internship picking grapes in France…

This book was the perfect airplane read (sadly not to France)! I truly loved starting off my summer with this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and 832 Stories for my ARC in exchange for my honest review!

** A copy of Grape Juice was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

Grape Juice has all the elements of a story I'd love: a woman rediscovering herself, beautiful prose, friendships and found family, and romance. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. While there are beautiful sentences and descriptions, I found some of them overwritten and slightly pretentious. I also didn't root for Alice and Henri as much. This just wasn't for me but I know others could love it.

Alice is an American working in wine sales sent by her boss to work on one of her client's vineyard for harvest. She's in a holding pattern, feeling the ennui of her life but unable to really move forward in her personal and professional lives. There she meets Henri, the nephew of the vineyard owner. Alice is deeply cynical about love, but she can't help but start to feel a connection with. But his life is in France (and he has a girlfriend he's 'on a break with') and her life is in New York, why bother?

This was such a wonderful novella with its brilliant and cinematic-like descriptions of vineyard life, out in the hot sun picking grapes along with the lazy, languid long lunches. It felt like a movie as I felt so immersed with getting to know all the characters. I loved Alice and Henri and their slow-burn chemistry, slowly opening up to each other as they converse about their lives, their hopes, their thoughts and feelings. And oh boy the yearning was palpable.

There were so many wonderful moments, I savoured this story like the best wine where you're only allowed one glass. The ending was also perfectly fitting with the characters and where they were at in their lives. But I am greedy for an epilogue (please tell me we'll be treated to one? I will be adding Eliza Dumais to my auto-buy list.

Thanks to 831 Stories and NetGalley for the ARC.

[2.5 Stars]

I'm rating this a little low but hear me out. The writing of this was absolutely gorgeous. This reads like a love letter to France, found family, and relaxation. HOWEVER....it's supposed to be a romance....and the romance here was middling at best.

I did not feel the chemistry between Alice and Henri at all. Plus, (minor spoiler) the fact that Henri already had a girlfriend really gave me the ick. I get that they were on a break and not suited for each other, but it didn't need to be a plot point. If anything he could have just been recently broken up instead.

So the book itself isn't necessarily bad if you want to approach it as a literary fiction, summery novella thing. But it's not great if you go in wanting a swoony romance like I did

Grape Juice is a short and sweet novel following Alice as she works in a French vineyard for a summer as she is trying to find excitement in her life again. Alice has been feeling a bit ambivalent to life lately and her career. She’s hoping this change of scenery will spark something for her. The spark might just come in the form of the nephew of the vineyard owner, Henri. We follow them as they open up and compel each other to change some elements of their lives.

The setting was probably my favorite aspect of the novel. It felt so summery and evocative. The language used was so descriptive. Even the side characters at this vineyard were extremely well fleshed out for a short book. I loved the whole cast of characters and felt like they were real people you would meet.

I didn’t love Alice and Henri’s relationship as much as I wanted to. It felt a bit distant to me. I never got excited reading about it and appreciated more what they did for each other than how they were together.I also think this could just be a factor with how short it is too. Maybe with more time, I could’ve seen more moments between the two of them that convinced me of their affection or chemistry.

I enjoy how 831 Stories’ romances have a slightly different feel than other romances. There is an element always present that makes it stand out from other romance novels. This element is definitely present in the end of the novel, here. If you have liked other books from this imprint, I think you will love this one too. This would be a great, quick read if you are looking for a lush little romance with a found family.

3.5 ⭐️ I wasn’t expecting much going into this, but wow!!! Eliza Dumais completely surprised me and this little book was thoughtful, tender, and unexpectedly moving. The writing is lyrical and poetic in a way that feels effortless, and the wine-soaked atmosphere was absolutely perfect. Henri and Alice?? UGH, SO CUTE. But what really stayed with me was how reflective this book made me… about my own life, the paths we take, the people we choose, and the quiet heartbreak of wondering what could’ve been.

Thank you to 831 Stories and Netgalley for the arc!