Lexi Moreau has come home to start over.  After a decade in New York, she has almost nothing left – no husband, no restaurant, nothing except her dream to work with her grandmother turning her bakery into a bistro … as long as she can avoid her grandmother’s over-the-top matchmaking efforts and the overwhelming (and unwanted) attraction to her ex’s best friend.

Lexi is that perfect mix of girl next door and Lucille Ball – she’s smart, sexy and a magnet for embarrassing situations.  She’s still a little shook up by her ex’s treatment so her confidence level is in the dumps but she still manages to be funny and appealing.  She’s also slowly working on getting her mojo back, with Marc’s help.  He may be her ex’s oldest friend and the town playboy, avoiding any romantic commitment, but he’s also gorgeous, fun and supportive.  He’s got his own issues getting his hotel up and running, and showing his brothers that he isn’t a screw-up, so he needs Lexi’s support as much as she needs his.

I adore these two together.  They have been fighting an attraction for years and, with all of that history, they manage to create a very supportive (and very entertaining) partnership.  They’ve known each other long enough that the blinders have come off, but that also means they know each other well enough to love what is underneath.  They know the bad, the good and the indifferent.  When they let all of that go and trust in themselves and each other, they have something spectacular.

Summer in Napa is the first “St Helena Vineyard” novels I’ve read and I must say I was absolutely delighted.  It kept me laughing, while touching my heart – a sweet and sassy charmer perfect for a long summer day.  I fell instantly in love with everyone in St Helena – from the busy-body grannies to the overly macho DeLucas, and their mouthy sister – and I can’t wait to see how the rest of them find their HEA.