Title: A Love Letter to Whiskey
Author: Kandi Steiner
Release Date: Oct 13, 2016
It’s crazy how fast the buzz comes back after you’ve been sober for so long.
Whiskey stood there, on my doorstep, just like he had one year before. Except this time, there was no rain, no anger, no wedding invitation — it was just us.
It was just him — the old friend, the easy smile, the twisted solace wrapped in a glittering bottle.
It was just me — the alcoholic, pretending like I didn’t want to taste him, realizing too quickly that months of being clean didn’t make me crave him any less.
But we can’t start here.
No, to tell this story right, we need to go back.
Back to the beginning.
Back to the very first drop.
This is my love letter to Whiskey. I only hope he reads it.
Christy's 5 Star Review:
One day, whether you are 14, 28 or 65,
you will stumble upon someone who will start a fire in you that cannot die.
However, the saddest, most awful truth you will ever come to find-
is they are not always with whom we spend our lives.
-Beau Tapilin
The first page of this book gutted me. A Love Letter to Whiskey is not an easy read. It’s the opposite of easy. It’s stressful. It will make you cry, make you feel and have your stomach in knots. It’s easily the most angst-filled book I’ve read this year. I was not expecting this from a Kandi Steiner book. The other two books I read by here were not like this LOL. I have a love/hate relationship with excessive angst and I usually lean more towards the hate side. But this book… This story… As hard as it was to read, I fell in love. Kandi’s words are beyond gorgeous. This book is real, raw and you will devour it.
I saw him first, but it didn’t matter. Because he saw her.
By the first chapter of this book, I was fully invested in the story and in the main character, B. B meets Jamie her junior year of high school. It doesn’t start out as love, but friendship. Jamie and B become the best of friends, but so much more is between them. This story spans a decade. A decade of love, loss, friendship, heartache and emotion.
I was spinning, tipsy, teetering on the edge of being wasted on Whiskey. I’d dreamed of kissing Jamie so many times, but nothing could compare to how it really felt.
As the years pass, mistakes are made. There is miscommunication. There is a lot of stress and misunderstandings. But there is also a lot of love. Desire. I could feel how much these two loved each other, wanted each other, and needed each other. I was addicted to their story. I couldn’t stop reading. No matter how difficult it got, I couldn’t put the book down. Oh those rare books that are impossible to stop reading- they are such a treasure. I must have bit off all my nails while reading. I felt like I needed a drink. This love story was complicated. It was devastating. It was intense. And these two had the absolute worst timing ever.
Jamie is a character I loved from the start. He’s Whiskey. He’s addicting, smooth, and you will get drunk off of him. His nickname suits him. B is one of those characters that was tough. She was likable, then she was frustrating, then I felt for her… lord did I feel for her. Then I went back to being frustrated with her. My emotions were all over the place. One thing she was- REAL. She was a real person. She was not perfect, but by the end, I felt like she had a lot of growth.
I feel like this review has been a lot of rambling and I’m not giving this story the type of review it deserves. It’s because my emotions are all over the place. This story is bittersweet. It’s heart-wrenching and soul shattering. And it absolutely blew me away. It’s a book that you’ll love to hate and hate to love. I feel like no matter how you feel after reading, YOU WILL FEEL. This is a story that will elicit strong feelings from everyone who reads it.
It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book like this, and even longer since I’ve read one that effected me this strongly. Kandi Steiner’s writing is exquisite. This is one of the most beautifully written stories I have ever read. It will make you feel. Not all of those feelings will be pretty, but you will feel. There were so many moments while reading, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. This one really got under my skin and made my heart ache. By the end, I was happy I stuck it out. This is a story of heartache, love and friendship. It’s an epic read and one that I couldn’t give anything less than 5 stars to. Word to the wise, bring some Whiskey along when reading. You’ll need it.
Kandi Steiner is a Creative Writing and Advertising/Public Relations graduate from the University of Central Florida living in Tampa with her husband. Kandi works full time as a social media specialist, but also works part time as a Zumba fitness instructor and blackjack dealer.
Kandi started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.” She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a die hard hopeless romantic (like most girls brought up on Disney movies).
When Kandi isn’t working or writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, talking with her extremely vocal cat, and spending time with her friends and family. She enjoys beach days, movie marathons, live music, craft beer and sweet wine – not necessarily in that order.
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