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A review by fulltimefiction
The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith
2.0
I’m going to keep this review short because the book didn’t leave any impression on me.
The Vine Witch is a title I came across last week and thought the premise interesting. Elena is a vine witch who has been cursed to become a toad. Finally, after 7 years she breaks her curse and she wants revenge on whoever cursed her. She is pretty sure it’s her ex-lover because she refused to do what he asked of her. After going back to her old home, she finds it sold to Jean-Paul and the vineyard in a very sad state. Chteau Renard was long known for its exquisite wine but since 3 years ago, the vines are dying and simply not producing quality wine anymore. She offers her help to Jean-Paul who accepts. She’s also relieved to see the woman who raised her -who is also a vine witch- still there in the house. As a vine witch, she basically makes the grapes better. A lot better.
What follows is Elena trying to restore the winery to its old days but Jean-Paul doesn’t trust her witchery. Or that it even exists. A murder happens later and the two are forced to find out more about it.
Look, there’s nothing wrong with this book. No annoying characters and interesting secondary characters. The plot is also mostly fast-paced and the story is wrapped at the end. It’s also less than 300 pages. So it should be fun.
Except that it wasn’t. It’s one of the rare cases where I have nothing against the book but I simply can’t like it. I don’t hate it for sure but it was so meh that it didn’t leave anything with. The story also bored me even though it was not long at all, I only wanted to finish it. I was looking for a short novel to read with an enjoyable story and a touch of romance and while this book had all the right elements, it certainly didn’t click with me.
Well, almost all of the right elements. This wasn’t a good mystery. I also found a particular behavior of Jean-Paul pretty stupid a murder happens and Elena didn’t commit it. the wife of the person who was killed is a witch. You’re also very suspicious of witches. It didn’t even occur to him that she’s the murderer. No he just went there and sipped her drink. He could’ve at least tried taking some precautions.. . I found it predictable and easy to figure out.
Another thing is that I didn’t see the chemistry between Elena and Jean-Paul. I love a slow burn romance but their relationship was very boring and not interesting at all.
In sum, I couldn’t connect with this book and it wasn’t an enjoyable read at all. I honestly even regret starting it, I’m not sure what I expected and on the surface the Vine Witch wasn't different from what I knew I’m going to read. Yet, we had no chemistry, the book and I.
PS: why is she even called Elena? It’s not a French name while all other names in this book are French… it should’ve Helene…
PSS: the only interesting thing about this book is that it’s the first time I see a curse in my native language written down in a book… not even in an Arabic book.. so yeah this was funny.
The Vine Witch is a title I came across last week and thought the premise interesting. Elena is a vine witch who has been cursed to become a toad. Finally, after 7 years she breaks her curse and she wants revenge on whoever cursed her. She is pretty sure it’s her ex-lover because she refused to do what he asked of her. After going back to her old home, she finds it sold to Jean-Paul and the vineyard in a very sad state. Chteau Renard was long known for its exquisite wine but since 3 years ago, the vines are dying and simply not producing quality wine anymore. She offers her help to Jean-Paul who accepts. She’s also relieved to see the woman who raised her -who is also a vine witch- still there in the house. As a vine witch, she basically makes the grapes better. A lot better.
What follows is Elena trying to restore the winery to its old days but Jean-Paul doesn’t trust her witchery. Or that it even exists. A murder happens later and the two are forced to find out more about it.
Look, there’s nothing wrong with this book. No annoying characters and interesting secondary characters. The plot is also mostly fast-paced and the story is wrapped at the end. It’s also less than 300 pages. So it should be fun.
Except that it wasn’t. It’s one of the rare cases where I have nothing against the book but I simply can’t like it. I don’t hate it for sure but it was so meh that it didn’t leave anything with. The story also bored me even though it was not long at all, I only wanted to finish it. I was looking for a short novel to read with an enjoyable story and a touch of romance and while this book had all the right elements, it certainly didn’t click with me.
Well, almost all of the right elements. This wasn’t a good mystery. I also found a particular behavior of Jean-Paul pretty stupid
Another thing is that I didn’t see the chemistry between Elena and Jean-Paul. I love a slow burn romance but their relationship was very boring and not interesting at all.
In sum, I couldn’t connect with this book and it wasn’t an enjoyable read at all. I honestly even regret starting it, I’m not sure what I expected and on the surface the Vine Witch wasn't different from what I knew I’m going to read. Yet, we had no chemistry, the book and I.
PS: why is she even called Elena? It’s not a French name while all other names in this book are French… it should’ve Helene…
PSS: the only interesting thing about this book is that it’s the first time I see a curse in my native language written down in a book… not even in an Arabic book.. so yeah this was funny.