Tim Reuben wrote this well and had that element that I was looking for from the description, the characters had that charm that I was looking for. This uses the tequila concept perfectly and added to the storyline, it had that feel that I was looking for and was engaged with the thriller element. I was glad I got to read this, it left me wanting to read more in this series. It uses the element in this world and had that overall feel that I was looking for.

Tequila is an interesting and exciting book to read tracing a Mexican family engaged in the tequila industry from the 1970s to the present time with several flashbacks which enable the reader to fully understand what is happening in the present time. The book is replete with a plethora of different and difficult situations and characters — family squabbles, murder, divorce, attorney involvement, kidnapping, children and an improbable romance. The writing is excellent and descriptive of the characters and situations in a manner that keeps the reader turning pages . This book is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys this genre and I thank NetGalley and Meridian Editions for the opportunity to read and review this book prior to publication.

Tequila is a complex novel encompassing a host of topics. There are many characters, but it is difficult to like any of them. An exception may be the outside attorney, Brian Youngman. Originally hired to represent the wife in a divorce from a Ramirez brother, his involvement in the story deepens as he searches for his client and then becomes a victim himself. The Ramirez family show little other than their devotion to making money and expanding their empire. Once all the mysteries are wrapped up, I felt somewhat dissatisfied, but I did enjoy most of the novel. There's some nasty violence to get through first.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Review of Digital Galley

In 1950, Sotero Ramirez is ready to harvest his agave plants in preparation for making three varieties of tequila and cementing his place in the tequila industry. So certain of his success, he’s taken a massive loan against the farm; but when he sells this supply of the rarest tequila, he’s earned enough to repay the entire loan.

In the present day, the children . . . Maria, Miguel, and Tomaso . . . run the company under the requirements of the Family Trust. But it isn’t easy. Miguel is interested only in power; his mean streak scares Maria. Tomaso, a figurehead, isn’t the problem that Miguel presents, but Maria, who has built the company slowly and legally, cannot not push either of them out of the company.

Miguel is in the midst of divorcing his wife, Nora, when she suddenly vanishes.

=========

Readers are pulled into the Ramirez family business from the outset; the ensuing intrigue and machinations that occur keep those pages turning as fast as possible. With the characters [well-drawn but not always particularly likeable] pulled into a variety of difficult situations with “making money” at the forefront of their concern.

The unfolding narrative offers readers a few unexpected plot twists as it spreads over the world, taking them from Manhattan to the agave fields in Mexico to Scotland as they deal with business issues. This is a story about family, about truth and power, and justice.

Readers who enjoy thrillers, family sagas, and courtroom suspense will find much to appreciate in this absorbing tale.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Meridian Editions and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review.
#Tequila #NetGalley

Tequila is a gripping debut novel that is an interesting cross between a family saga and legal thriller. Told over a non linear timeline I really enjoyed getting to know the Ramirez family and seeing their small, family run tequila farm grow into RAM industries, an international, multimillion dollar company with offices around the world, contracts and partnerships with 10 countries, 11 hotels and a shipping fleet. However, founding patriarch Sotero has embedded a Family Master Trust clause to make sure the company remains family run. I found myself completely immersed in the world of tequila making, rum running and Mexican Cartels.

In the modern day RAM industries is being run by Maria Ramirez whilst her hapless brother Tomaso play golf and drinks all their products and troublemaker brother Miguel has been relegated to the Cayman Islands to make rum. When Tomaso decides to divorce his wife Nora, it sets off a chain of events that sees the siblings pitted against each other and fighting for control of the company. Nora goes missing and her lawyer Brian Youngman goes in search for her and finds himself involved the fall out of the siblings war.

I loved the stunning locations from the small family hacienda in Tequila, rum distilleries in the Cayman Islands to corporate offices in Manhattan. It was great to see the company run by strong women- I loved Maria and her mother Marta, both set up the company and made it grow. I enjoyed the family story and all their tricky dynamics and the fight for justice. Brian was great as first an adversary and then confidante. You were drawn in immediately with a big Mexican stand off and the pace kept up the whole way. There were a few twists and turns and a big finish. A very engaging story of tequila, family, legal battles and a touch of romance.

Tim Reuben's "Tequila" is a sharp, fast-moving thriller centered on the Ramirez family's fight to control a global tequila empire. When Maria Ramirez takes over as CEO, she faces threats from her own brothers and powerful outside forces, including drug cartels and corporate enemies. Brian Youngman, a lawyer with a strong moral code, is pulled into the family's chaos through a legal case. As he falls for Maria, he's forced to navigate a deadly world of corruption, smuggling, and betrayal. The narrative blends legal drama with intense action across global settings. It’s a bold debut that delivers high stakes, complicated loyalties, and plenty of twists.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of thi book in exchange for an honest review.

A great read. Historical, thrilling, intriguing, suspenseful, interesting. It's all in there. A recommended read

This is a blend of good and evil, love and hate, and tequila.
Once you start along a path, there are always risks and
consequences~ and if you have it coming, you can count
on it coming for you!
I enjoyed the scenery, the explanations of the tequila
processing, and the family ties. This story is good~ it’s
well written with scenes you will not forget.
My thanks to Dorrance Publishing for the download
of this book for review purposes.

What started as the Ramirez family business of tequila turns into a war involving gangs and drugs, spans multiple countries, pits disloyal and greedy family members against each other, and threatens the very business that started it all.

4.5 stars! Told in dual timelines and with many locations, this book was utterly addictive and I flew through it.

Holy hell this should be made into a movie! It would be very Die Hard or James Bond-ish. The family drama and struggles, the character development, the action, the bad ass women, the betrayal…just all of it. So so good.

I cannot believe this is a debut! Great job @timreubenauthor. This book is available now so if you love high stakes legal drama/thrillers add this to your tbr today.

Thank you to Netgalley, @meryl_moss, and @booktrib for the copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This story tells about the Ramirez family and their growth of their business. Nora, the wife of Tomasa, a Ramirez, hires Brian to handle her divorce. Nora while in Houston is kidnapped and misses a meeting that she scheduled with Brian. Brian appeared in court and advised the judge that his client was missing. The judge then put the case on hold. RAM, the Ramirez business name, had their own lawyer involved in the divorce. Brian feeling something was wrong started looking into her disappearance and eventually wound up on the Grand Cayman Island where he met Maria. Maria was the CEO of RAM and was also looking into Nora's disappearance.

Read along and discover what adventure Brian and Maria got involved in, how Maria's brothers played a role and how it all worked out in the end. The story sums it up nicely.

Tequila follow the the Ramirez family throughout the decades.  When the head of the family dies,  Sotero, it is up to his children to keep the legacy going. The company must be run by a family member with children. Marta steps up as the head of the company and will then hand over the company to her daughter Maria. But nothing is ever so simple or easy. And when her not so good  brother's wife Nora goes missing, things turn for the worse.

Living in Mexico and hearing all the stories of Tequila makers and the struggled they face to make this beautiful elixir made the book so much more enjoyable and realistic.  I enjoyed all the characters, even the horrible brothers. 
My favorite characters were Marta and Brian, the lawyer. Their chemistry was palpable. Make sure to read this book to find out if the family is able to surpass greed, ambition and their own drama.

Thank you Meryl Moss Media Group for this eARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

Tequila: A Story of Success, Love & Violence, Tim Reuben, author
This book, dear reader, will glue you to your seat from page one until the very end. The title perfectly describes the novel. The intricately woven tale that begins in the mid 1900’s, and continues until the present time, takes you into the dangerous world of the drug cartels in Mexico and illustrates their power and their cruelty, exactly what has given them their awesome power and control over people and government officials. Sadism runs through the novel as a theme in both the cartels and the overly ambitious; those willing to do whatever it takes to succeed have no limits to their depravity. It goes without saying that when the criminal mind, possessing no moral compass, driven by greed, jealousy and the need for omniscience, does not possess a full deck of cards, madness appears in all the corners of their world. I cannot provide more than the barest outline, the most minimal details of the story, because it would definitely detract from the experience if any of its events were anticipated by the reader.
This is a tale about an honorable, hard-working Mexican family just beginning to make its fortune producing Tequila in the mid 1900's. At first, Sotero Ramirez attempts to fairly compete in the market, but soon, the need to grow took over. The more aggressive they became, the bigger their risk of offending competitors became. In the business world they traversed, Sotero knew the danger and did not want to cross the wrong people. Xiomara, his wife, however, was more daring. She wanted to expand their little enterprise once it started to become successful, not quite heeding the true threats that were out there. With her murder, witnessed by their daughter Marta, the family goes to ground, takes revenge and Sotero rebuilds his life, taking the business forward. Marta later becomes a powerful matriarch overseeing the business.
The story jumps back and forth from the past to the present day, following the progress of the family and the business. The granddaughter of Sotero and Xiomara, Marta's daughter Maria Ramirez, now heads up their mega powerful company that continues to grow. It distributes its own products and has expanded outside the world of Tequila production and sales. The main office is no longer in Mexico. It is now in New York, and Maria runs a tight ship. Her grandfather has set up a Trust that controls the private company so that it must stay in the hands of the Ramirez family. However, if there is even a whiff of illegality or incompetence threatening the business, that member accused and involved in such behavior will be excommunicated from the business and the family. The problem is that Maria’s siblings are not quite as honorable as Sotero was, nor are they as hard-working or intelligent. Both of her brothers, Miguel and Tomaso, leave a lot to be desired in the brain and character department. Their behavior begins to threaten the company.
The illustration of the magnitude of the power and fear the cartels arouse is authentic. The willingness of the people involved to participate in sadistic behavior to threaten and control their victims and extort huge amounts of money is palatable. Sometimes the descriptions of the tactics used by the cartels, and also those who wished to ignore their authority, were too difficult to read all at once, as were the revelations about the types of people who conducted the violence on both sides, the cartels and also those who attempted to compete with them for a greater share of the business. I was often forced to avert my eyes and take a deep breath before I could continue.
The story sometimes seemed over the top when it came to the tragedies that befell some of the characters, but all of the events hinted at reality, especially if they would have occurred in smaller bursts. Dealing with an attempted drowning, and then its aftermath that was followed up by a kidnapping by further forces of evil, was hard to swallow, but the knowledge that this could actually happen, even if only as just one act of violence, was just as horrifying.
Now, having finished the book, I realize that the violence and sadistic descriptions and language I found offensive were necessary to drive the message of this book home. The almost fairy-tale ending, between Maria and attorney Brian Youngman, did not even take away from the massive effect the book had on me as I read it. While it has been said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, it is also true that hope springs eternal. Yes, there was terrible violence that was an overriding theme in this novel of the hard-won success of the Ramirez family business dynasty, but there was also the idea that the future could always brighten if the right path and/or choice was made. Every action and reaction of each character, and every choice made, propelled the family either forward or backward, threatened their security or maintained it, but there was always another door that might open that would salvage whatever life threw at them.

Tequila was a great unexpected surprise combining decades of a family business turned empire and how greed, sex and family dynamics don't always make a good cocktail. I loved following the Ramirez family on their journey and how each child came in to their own money and power and the different ways each character handled it. The characters were rich, the story moved quickly I definitely found myself rooting for various characters. That is always the sign of a good story!