95.The Vine Witch

 

I don't actually know what I was expecting when I picked up this book. It was next on my TBR pile and as only the 3rd book of last year I wasn't overly looking for anything interesting or special. But The Vine Witch did captivate me for a little while, even though it felt so incredibly rushed.

I think at its heart this is a love story. It's a good one, but it is also quite a rushed love story. It's one of those where greater forces have pushed our otp together as its destined or whatever but it didnt have time to develop naturally. They strongly disliked each other, then she went to prison and they bang at the end. The book wasn't long enough for this progression, I almost feel like they shouldnt have gotten together at the end because their relationship hadn't had time to develop. The story wasn't overtly about them, Elena and Jean-Paul, it was about Elena letting go of her past and growing as a witch and a person, but on the way she finds her adoptive Grandmother has betrayed her, she wasn't the witch she thought she was, her ex didn't try to kill her, and she gains a man by the end. 

The Vine Witch was supposed to be a supernatural murder mystery, or at least that's what it was and achieved in my head. It also seemed to be set around wine and vineyards etc, I find this is a common setting as all of a sudden wine has become the popular drink once again. Fiona Grace wrote some enjoyable murder mysteries set in/around vineyards. I'm not a big fan of wine although I do partake every now and again if I have to, so this setting has never really had an appeal to me but I am enjoying reading books which take place around them as I seem to be learning despite not needing the knowledge.

I liked Elena, I liked that she always referred to her guardian as Grand-mère rather than just plain old grandmother after the first instant. It really helped to sell the setting, it wasn't overly anglicised for us non-multilingual people.

I have to admit I saw the big plot twist coming from a mile away though. The rival lover, the rival witch, it was nothing new. But the suspense leading up to the reveal was good, the charging of Elena, the escape from prison. We got to see other branches of magic even crossing into the path of a Djinn. Again it was very rushed though, the escape could have been drawn out, the being undercover, the capture of Jean-Paul, these scenes could all have been lengthened. I wanted to see more of our villains power, more of the demon and their connection. I wanted to see both Jean-Paul and Elena sweat a bit more, especially Jean-Paul as he was nothing but mean to poor Elena until he started lusting after her. There could have been some more clues thrown in to the bad witch but the reveal was good. The warlock we meet during Elena being at the circus was also a nice touch, I enjoyed that foreshadowing. Luanne has talent, her pacing is just a wee bit off.

I bought this book admittedly because of the title. I am very much into my witches at the moment and so another glimpse into the world of magic and wonder really appealed to me. I love seeing how these things are interpreted by different authors. How magic branches out, who is shaped by what, and most interestingly of all, how the basis for all the witches I've ever read about are the same. There is never really any origin for magic, in all the books I've read so far its just been born and accepted there is no cause that anyone bothered to look for. There are witches and there arent. They are accepted or they're not. I love how that draws back to our real modern life. The witch trials were a massive thing still impacting us, women especially, all these years later. We read books like these believing that it is all just fiction and yet in some places, to some people, and not really too long ago, this kind of thing was too real. I think it is fascinating. Macabre, but fascinating. 

I'm sorry this was a short post, but there wasn't too much to say on The Vine Witch. I look forward to reading the next in the series but this book was over in a flash and a year or so later hasn't held a deep impact.

I'm going to award The Vine Witch a 7/10. It's got potential, and I hope the other books in the series are better paced or the story is drawn as a hole once I've read them all. Luanne just made me picture such an interesting setting and then raced through throwing all sorts of genres and new places at me, but not giving me time to actually enjoy it. It's a bit like a fever dream, or my trip to Dublin where the girls and I didnt sleep for three days because of a bad hostel choice. I remember I had fun when I wasnt fearing for our safety, and I would probably do it again. Like The Vine Witch, I had fun, and I might read it again. But it isn't at the top of my list. 

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