{"id":40106,"date":"2026-03-17T07:44:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T07:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lesbianfunworld.com\/books\/?p=40106"},"modified":"2026-03-17T07:44:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T07:44:24","slug":"you-had-me-at-merlot-by-melissa-brayden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesbianfunworld.com\/books\/you-had-me-at-merlot-by-melissa-brayden\/","title":{"rendered":"You Had Me At Merlot by Melissa Brayden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"font-size: 17px;\">\r\n\r\nIn You Had Me at Merlot, Melissa Brayden sets up a classic romantic conflict in the heart of New York City. Jamie Tolliver owns Bordeauxnuts, a hybrid coffee-and-doughnut shop by day that transforms into a wine bar at night. Her comfortable routine is disrupted when Leighton Morrow, a striking stranger, becomes a regular customer. Jamie&#8217;s crush deepens with each encounter\u2014until she discovers that Leighton works as a development coordinator for Carrington&#8217;s Department Store, which plans to demolish the entire city block, Bordeauxnuts included, for a new location. The novel plays out the tension between personal desire and professional obligation, with Jamie and Leighton navigating their attraction while standing on opposite sides of a gentrification battle. Brayden uses the donut-shop-versus-corporate-development framework to explore how economic forces intrude on queer community spaces, though the focus remains firmly on the romantic push-and-pull between the two women.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<div>\r\n<h2><\/h2>\r\n<h2>Details<\/h2>\r\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\r\n .TFtable<br \/> .TFtable td<br \/> \/*  Define the text for all the 2nd columns  *\/<br \/> .TFtable td:nth-child(2)<br \/><\/style>\r\n<table class=\"TFtable\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>ISBN: <\/strong>9781636795447<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Subtitle: <\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Genre: <\/strong>Romance<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Subject(s): <\/strong>Contemporary; Fiction; Lesbian; Lgbtq+; Romance<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Publication Date: <\/strong>2024-02-13<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Original Publication Date: <\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Publisher: <\/strong>Bold Strokes Books Inc<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Language: <\/strong>English<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Format: <\/strong>Paperback<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Pages: <\/strong>310<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Rating: <\/strong> <\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Notes: <\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Book_ID: <\/strong>105245<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A classic romantic conflict in the heart of New York City<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4329],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romance"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site 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