Drunk on Love by Jasmine Guillory
Although Drunk on Love (Berkley) by Jasmine Guillory is not an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, or even more aptly, Persuasion, I still got a very Jane Austen-like vibe from Margot and Luke. The angst, the nerves, the pining are all signature Austen. But what stuck with me more personally is how a job affects not only your work life but your personal life as well. If you let it, a job can define everything you are.
Heroine Margot Noble has inherited a winery with her brother Elliot in Napa Valley. She’s been on a business trip — one of many she takes to help garner more business for the winery — something Elliott does not care about. Instead, while she’s been gone, he’s hired a new employee for the tasting room without her input. Margot retreats to her best friend’s restaurant and bar The Barrell for solace and good food, where she meets Luke Williams — handsome, younger and kind of nerdy. He’s not her usual type, but she can’t help but be drawn to him.
Luke Williams is back in his hometown after having quit his high-paying, stressful Silicon Valley job. He’s helped his best friend Avery move into a new apartment after a breakup with a long-time boyfriend. He’s also decided to get a low-stakes job at a winery while he figures out his next career move.
AUSTEN-LIKE CHARACTERS IN JASMINE GUILLORY’S CALIFORNIA
The attraction between Luke and Margot is immediate and heated. So much so, they have a wonderful, memorable one-night stand. Everything seems to be fine until Margot goes into the winery to start her Monday and is introduced to her new employee … Luke Williams. Cue the angst.
For Margot, being a business owner and seeing an employee is a no-go, if not for a bunch of Human Resources violations, but because her brother thinks she should never have inherited the winery in the first place. Margot is constantly defending herself and her business decisions, so she can’t be caught sleeping with an employee.
For Luke, he’s hiding the true status of his Silicon Valley job from his mother — also a local business owner — and he’s led her to believe he’s gotten back together with Avery, someone his mother has always wanted for him.
So Luke and Margot pine for each other, struggling not to look too longingly at each other or to reveal their attraction to those around them. By hiding their feelings from others, they also hide their feelings from each other and themselves. We see Margot trying not to let thoughts of Luke distract her and Luke wondering if he will ever get to be with Margot again.
Both are haunted with memories of that romantic night and plagued with a serious attraction that just won’t go away. These two really could be straight from a Jane Austen novel.
IDENTITY IN CAREER: HOW HARMFUL IS IT?
But when they do eventually get together, something else plagues their relationship: their careers. Luke is in a bit of a career crisis — why would you quit what you thought was your dream job? And Margot’s position as a Black business owner in a predominantly white upper-crust small town like Napa Valley is already all-consuming. Add to that a brother co-owner who doesn’t think she deserves to be there.
These two are not just angsty in love, they are angsty in life. Their worlds are intense, and their positions uncertain. On the other hand, each of them knows what they want instinctively, even if they don’t know how to get it (Margot) or don’t think they should have it (Luke).
AN ENTERTAINING AND LIFE-CHANGING STORY
This part of the novel struck a chord with me. For all of my work life, I’ve only had glimpses of what I’ve really wanted to do and a whole lot of what I didn’t. Being in that searching phase for years on end, trying to create opportunities where I can in fact get paid for what I want to do, and being frustrated with the general politics of being a Black woman in the corporate world have taken a toll on me.
Have they affected other parts of my life, even though I’ve tried to keep my work life separate? That wasn’t on my mind until I read this novel. To see these characters struggle with work and love, even to see their personalities be affected by their work dynamics, was eye-opening to me. It’s caused me to retune my career future and appreciate some recent changes I have made for a better work life.
When I first started reading Drunk on Love, I thought a story set at a Napa Valley winery would be relaxing, refreshing and fun. After all, that’s why I go to wineries. And while this is a refreshing, steamy fun romp of a story, for me it was also an eye-opening look at how we take work home with us. Or rather, a lesson on how we should take our true selves to work.
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About Jasmine Guillory:
Jasmine Guillory is a New York Times bestselling author; her novels include The Wedding Date, the Reese’s Book Club selection The Proposal and By The Book. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Bon Appetit and Time, and she is a frequent book contributor on The Today Show. She lives in Oakland, California.
