A review by zhannie
Cherryvine by Marina Vivancos

emotional sad
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

"No. Please, no apologies. I can't bear you thinking that this is your fault. If you were free to choose, you'd never choose this, and isn't that what we are? Not what other people make us, but our choices when we are free to make them? Let's not apologise to each other about this. Let's just... as you say. Take care of each other."

It's a hurt-comfort story; lots of hurt in the past and lots of comfort in the present, which is definitely my cup of tea. The writing is absolutely beautiful and at the beginning I thought this was definitely gonna be one of my favorite comfort reads. It's very low angst and it follows the journey of Isak's healing from traumatic bond with his previous (deceased) husband.

I loved both characters and how it started: Isak, a wounded sould, and Emil who has no idea what's going on, but who is so respectful, caring and gentle towards his husband. But I have to admit that I didn't quite feel chemistry between them and the switch in Emil's approach at the very beginning was a bit abrupt (
He avoided Isak at first because he didn't want to get married, but then when he realized the wedding was gonna happen whether he liked it or not - which he told Isak as well - he just suddenly became mesmerized by Isak, showering him with love and compliments
). But I actually didn't even mind this so much; Emil did say he just wants to be a good husband, so I sort of saw it as him just trying to put effort into bonding with his husband, and I was looking forward to them falling in love with each other as they eventually get to know each other better. But Emil appears lovestruck in the same way from the beginning to the end, so it ended up feeling just like insta-love. But again, I did enjoy both characters so this personally wasn't a big deal for me. 

I loved the South, the people, the food. And I absolutely loved the hurt-comfort moments.

But I don't know what happened. At around 77% or so my investment in the two of them and the story waned. I think it's maybe because at that point, it turned more into telling rather than showing? Like, days passed with them doing this and that, they became closer, this and that would happen from time to time... It felt like the end of the story, but it dragged out and, as short as this story is, I kinda found myself just wanting it to end. 

The epilogue didn't help this at all:
It was from Michael's perspective (Emil and Isak's son) who is only seven years old and it's basically a set up for his book and his future love interest (the son of the characters from the 1st book, Honeythorn).
I really wasn't enthusiastic about reading the epilogue from his point of view, and we barely get to see Emil and Isak here. 

And the last thing, a few female characters in this book that Isak interacted closely with all sort of had the same voice. It felt like one and the same personality to me, and in fact, it also reminded me of two characters from another one of Marina's books (Koko and another girl - forgot her name - from "In This Iron Ground"). 

I'm really torn, y'know. I enjoyed the first half of the story and was looking forward to more, but then it all fell so flat and I felt disappointed.