Review: Bitter Truth by Meredith Wild and Jillian Liota

Rating: 3/5
Tropes:
– small town
– Close Proximity
– workplace: Chef x server at her family winery’s new restaurant
– forbidden: boss’s little sister
– returning home

I recently listened to the audiobook of Bitter Truth, narrated by Nelson Hobbs and Savannah Peachwood, and I have to say they did an excellent job bringing the characters to life. The audiobook added an engaging layer to the experience, and I would definitely recommend listening to it over eyeball reading—it kept me more connected to the story.

As a fan of small-town romance and female comeback stories, the premise of Bitter Truth sounded like a winner. However, despite the strong setup, the execution didn’t quite hit the mark for me. At under 300 pages, the book tried to tackle too many tropes and issues, which left the storyline and characters underdeveloped. Both Murphy and Wes had intense, emotional backstories that brought them to the vineyard, but there wasn’t enough depth or detail to make their journeys feel authentic or relatable. Their personal struggles—Murphy’s return home, her deceased mother, complicated relationship with her father, and sibling dynamics; Wes’s search for his father, dealing with his mother’s addiction—were all significant, but the brevity of the book left these themes feeling rushed.

The pacing also affected the romance, which leaned heavily into insta-love. The characters hadn’t interacted much before suddenly diving into some steamy scenes that felt abrupt and unearned. While I’m all for spicy moments, it would have been more satisfying with stronger buildup and emotional connection.

In the end, Bitter Truth felt like it was trying to do too much in too little time. With so many storylines competing for attention, none of them got the space they needed to develop fully. That being said, the ideas behind the book were strong, and I’d be interested in seeing how Meredith Wild and Jillian Liota’s writing evolves in future works.