A fantastic story on every level! It is dark and mysterious while also being lighthearted and endearing. This is a fresh new approach to the numerous witches tales that saturate the market. Smith does a phenomenal job at reinventing how this genre should be written.

In some ways, this is the perfect book to read in autumn. There are witches, there is wine, there are sinister curses, romance…in short, it sounds fantastic. But even though I was suitably enchanted by the atmosphere and the concept in the beginning, the plot did not live up to its promise.

Elena is a vine witch, specialised for taking care of vinyards. Seven years ago, someone had turned her into a toad, and at the start of the book, she has just managed to shake it off. Her vinyard, damaged by hexes during her absence, is now under possession of a stranger who does not believe in witches. And to top it off, there are rumours of sinister ritual killings going around as well.

Good things first: the atmosphere is perfect. It’s pretty much what you’d imagine after seeing the cover – a witchy, autumnal book, great for reading around Halloween for those of us who want a seasonal book but dislike horror. The chapters are short and it reads fast.

The worldbuilding certainly helps as well. It’s set in France (a tad like The Vintner’s Luck, I suppose) and I loved how witches were handled. They’re very much of the old-school kind – spells that turn people into toads, spellbooks, covens, strange ingredients – only broom-riding was absent. It was fun to see. The only things that bothered me a little were that the introduction of some witches having some special ability (or every one of them? It was too vague) was a little too convenient and that I would have liked a lot more exploration into witches and their abilities than there was.

It seemed almost wasted on the plot. What starts off as a quiet story about witches making wine, quickly turns into an exciting murder mystery. And at that, it just…fails. The murderer is dead obvious. A lot of things stop making sense when it’s more convenient for the plot for them to be otherwise – witches are allegedly accepted, yet there is evidence they are hunted. People make the dumbest of choices constantly. A whole major plot point hinges upon a misunderstanding (huge pet peeve!) that is then reiterated again and again. A character has a chance to deliver a full speech before dying, conveniently explaining everything, and then another character who’s dying at the same time, holds on long enough to deliver a speech and explain some more as well. Oh, and have I mentioned one of them literally says “I am dead” before dropping dead? Because yeah. That happens.

If it stayed focused on the winemaking and exploring how wine witches work, leaned more into what it did well, this may have been a great book. Instead, all I’m left with are very mixed feelings and I’m not sure I can recommend it.

I want to start this review by telling you how much I loathe English books that contain German phrases. Not because I'm against German, but because most English-speaking authors completely butcher German grammar. As a German Speaker, I can tell how wrong said grammar is and I hate it. I got angry every time I had to read the just plain wrong way German words were used in Graudin's Wolf By Wolf.
Luckily, Smith did her research. I can't speak for the French phrases that were used, but what Little German was incorporated was done correctly. Thank the gods.

I'll set aside my nitpicking for now, don't worry.
The Vine Witch was in general, very interesting. Our main character starts out as a frog. She's been cursed by someone, and hopped around some moor or whatever for a long while now. Understandably, she swore revenge on whoever did her this dirty. But not before replenishing her witch-powers at the place she grew up in: a famous vineyard.
To be fair, I don't know anything about how wine's made, so I'll just skip straight over every aspect of that. And still, even knowing nothing (and also, to be frank, not caring about it), The Vine Witch was intriguing. Who done it? What's even going on? Who's that dude?

What I disliked most about this probably was the romance. But I got used to the flimsy way These romances are constructed. They don't feel real and are just there so you can slap the tag ROMANCE on it and be done with it. Also, I do not care about romance and love.
So, when The Vine Witch concentrated more on two straight people falling for each other while never Talking and less on a vine witch set on revenge, the story lost me a bit.

For a debut, this certainly wasn't bad. I enjoyed my time with this book, but I probably won't be reading the follow-up. This could've been a perfectly fine standalone.


Thanks to NetGalley and 47North for providing this ARC!

The Vine Witch is a readable debut about a cursed Vine Witch seeking revenge. The story starts out with a Magical Realism vibe as a young woman makes her way home after being cursed. She is intent on saving her home as well as getting revenge on the person who cursed her.

The story is set in the Chanceaux Valley of France at the turn-of-the-century. While the location is definite, the time period was intentionally vague. And I’ll admit, that drove me a little batty. I couldn’t ignore the impulse to figure out exactly when this story is set. The latest reference I found was to the Union for Women’s Suffrage which was founded in 1913. But there is absolutely no reference of World War I. Since you can’t responsibly set a story in France in or after 1914 without acknowledging WWI, the story must take place before the war. Even so, there was no reference to the building tensions and economic effect that was already apparent in 1913.

I did like the idea of wine witches. I enjoyed the clash of magic versus science and tradition versus modern adaptability. The story explored a lot of interesting topics even if it did ignore the looming war.

The writing style reminded me a lot of Alice Hoffman circa Practical Magic. That may be high praise for some, but for me that is a mixed comment. I find Hoffman’s writing to be pretty and her concepts to be interesting, but I always felt utterly disconnected from her characters. And I had much the same reaction to The Vine Witch. I was intrigued, and I liked the setting and descriptions, but I felt no connection with any of the characters. Honestly, when Elena Boureanu was first introduced in the book, I thought she was the villain! Part of the disconnect is caused by Elena’s secretive and distrusting nature, but I need to feel more for a main character in order to love a book.

The plot did keep me thoroughly engaged. And I liked the concept and the setting, so the story held my story all the way through. I had no problem reading the whole story in one day. But I still missed that emotional connection to the characters.

Late in the book, the story takes a different direction, veering from light Magical Realism into true Fantasy. That isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. But it was not how the story started and was not what I expected based on the description and the first half of the book. The added Fantasy elements also lacked the necessary worldbuilding. Suddenly the story went from having vine witches who charm plants into growing better to the story having mythical creatures and some sort of magic police. But that wasn’t explained well enough, and it got too muddled.

Apparently there is now going to be a sequel. I have mixed feeling about that. There were enough things left open ended to have enough material for another book. But on the other hand, I’m not sure it’s needed. I probably will check out this author again though as her body of work increases as I do think the author shows promise.

In this story we follow a vine witch named Elena who has recently broken a 7 year curse on herself to find the vineyard she has worked for her whole life in shambles, and under the new management of a handsome stranger.

Overall I think this story could have benefited from a few more rounds of editing. The premise sounded so amazing and I think the magic/ world building was the strongest element of this book. Its set in the vineyards of turn of the century France were the most affluent wineries use vine witches to create delicious wine. The first half was super compelling setting up the relationship and Elena trying to discover who wronged her. However, the second half felt so rushed and disjointed, it ultimately ruined my enjoyment. There was so much telling rather than showing and the ending left me wanting.

Also, due to the convoluted pacing it made the characters feel one dimensional. We were told Elena is a very powerful vine witch, but I never really felt connected to her and never really rooted for the romance.

Ultimately, I think this story has all the elements of a compelling and interesting tory of witches and betrayal and romance, the execution was just lacking.

Wow! I just loved this book! It was captivating from the first page. I loved the story line. And the characters! It was so exciting and full of adventure!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

A bewitching tale of intrigue…
Vine Witch Elena Boureanu emerges from a cursed state with revenge firmly rooted in her mind, only to find that the world she was taken from and the things that she loves have been altered as well. With her beloved French vineyards no longer under her care, Elena must convince the new vigneron, Jean-Paul Martel, that all the science in the world cannot understand the intimate knowledge and magical care that is needed to craft the most sought after wines in the world. Elena’s weakened magic responds to Jean-Paul as their mutual attraction grows. And just like the vines, their roots will be what weathers the impending storm and produces a bountiful harvest.

Luanne G. Smith creates a cornucopia of stimuli in her fantasy, mystery – The Vine Witch. The attention to detail, from the sprawling vineyards to the herb lined shelves, saturates the pages and paints amazing word pictures. I loved the concept that an excellent bottle of wine is not just a result of a scientific process but of a carefully nurtured art between a vine witch and her plants. As characters, Elena and Jean-Paul perfectly fit the story and reinforce the time-period with their mannerisms and attitudes. Their budding relationship matures naturally, like the grapes on the vine, into a vintage romance.

The thriller aspect of the story is a page turner, with a number of twists and turns. Luanne gives you enough information that you are fairly confident in the identity of the villian only to have the ending be nothing like you expect. The Vine Witch is a wonderfully conceived and executed story.



Luanne corked this 5-star review when she stated in the acknowledgements of The Vine Witch, “As a writer I’ve always felt that storytelling was the last true form of magic left in the world.” She has truly created a magical piece.

One thing I am absolutely in love with is wine. And the moment I saw The Vine Witch on bookstagram, I couldn’t help but be grabby hands because Magic + Vineyard + Wine = Y E S! The cover is an attention grabber, and the blurb just sounds so mysterious and intriguing!

We start off with Elena Bourenau, a cursed witch that found herself breaking her curse, and is able to find her way home to Chateau Renard. She vows to get revenge from her curser and get her life back together but then finds that her home is no longer really hers. She meets Jean-Paul Martel, businessman, dashing, mysterious and ambitious but also skeptic towards witchcraft.

First of all, Luanne Smith’s writing is so beautiful. There are times that I can almost smell the fragrance of wine, taste the food from the boulangeries, the way she sets the atmosphere in her writing is so vivid that I can sometimes picture myself in these french vineyards myself. The magic is also very interesting but I was wanting more in terms of the how the magic system worked.

And though I quite enjoyed the first half of the book, I found the second half quite dragging. I wanted more world building and see the characters blossom more. It was a good read but could have been so much more. The romance was also very insta-lovey. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for romance but there could have been more interactions, more moments before “the realization”.

I really had a great time reading The Vine Witch and can see that there is going to be a second book, so I’m looking forward to more.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy, was I excited to get a copy of this book. This was the PERFECT fall read. Luanne Smith has such a unique and gorgeous writing style. Her use of descriptors was perfect. She has great descriptive imagery and her dialogue was on point.

I was very into this book, I love anything witch or magic related so I just clung to every page.

I was super excited to see that this is going to be a series. This story feels far from over. I cannot wait to read more about Elena. She is such a powerful and fierce character that I just need more of.

I love the story between Elena and Jean-Paul. It just felt so natural. I am a sucker for that annoyed relationship turned soul mate.

My one suggestion is that if you decide to read this book, and you definitely should, do so with a glass of your favorite wine and make a night of it. You will not be disappointed.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me to review this title.

"Smoke, candle, oil, salt. Cone of energy form a vault. Safe within, safe without. Protect the one who sits devout. "
🍷🍷
Oh this spellbinding book was absolute magic. It had all my favourite elements. Witches, curses, potions, demons, revenge, murder, vine, and a handsome gentleman. What more could you ask for to read this Halloween.
🍷🍷
I got this e-book from @netgalley
in return for an honest review. The writer @luannegsmith has penned this marvellous story of a vine witch who is so much more. Every word has successfully captured the essence of the story. I could almost taste wine everytime I read about it in the book. The selection of the words is absolutely amazing.
🍷🍷
The story will take you to a beautiful valley where witches and mortals coexist peacefully. You will read about the vine and baked goodness and can almost taste them in your mouth. The gripping story will take you back to curses and revenge. How someone can cross all limits to be the best in business. To know more, go grab your copy now. This is something you cannot miss.
Ending this review with one of my most favorite lines from the book.
"For someone who didn't approve of spellcraft, this handsome mortal was very good at the charm business"
🍷🍷
#bookrecommendations #bookshelf #bookreview #halloween #halloweenreads #goodreadschallenge2019 #goodreads #writersofinsta #writerscommunity #thewritingcommunity #readersaddict #readerscommunity #bookstagram #bookreviews #witchstories #wine #authorscommunity

I really enjoyed this book. The magic system was so creative and I loved the turn of the century France setting. Most of the characters were very fun and I loved Elena. Sometimes they fell a little flat, but the fantastical elements made up for it for me. From the fantastic opening scene, I knew I would like this book. It’s a great October read!

The story was unusual with witches tied into wine and vineyards. It's a good/evil story with a dash of romance. I never thought about there being different kinds of witches with specialties. There is a sequel coming out June of next year. I will be adding it to my want to read list.

I’ll start off by saying that I really liked this book! Historical fantasy set in an early 20th century France, where automobiles were still scaring carriage horses on the roads and when cinema was having its birth. There is also a light murder mystery and although I wouldn’t call it a romance, there is a strong romantic thread. 
 
We first meet the heroine Elena as she emerges from a curse that had turned her into a toad. From that very moment, you can tell that Elena is incredibly determined and dare I say, badass! I won’t ruin the experience of how she escapes the spell, but that was one of my most favourite parts of the story. 
 
Burning with the need for revenge, Elena makes her way back to her Grand-mère’s vineyard to find out that it’s been sold in her absence to Jean-Paul, who very definitely does not believe in witches. 
 
The author was skilled in creating an atmospheric read and I really enjoyed her world-building where the magic and mundane both complemented and clashed. The plot moved well and there were a few twists that made the story all the more interesting. My only complaint would be on the romance side of things- the protagonists were rather antagonistic over each other and then rather abruptly fell into insta-love. However, their interactions were still quite charming and I wish we could have enjoyed a better build up to the relationship. 
 
Overall, this was quite an easy read and I am looking forward to the second book in the series.

This was exactly the book what I was looking for this fall. Basically, it had me at French VIneyard and witchcraft. There is overall good world building and intriguing characters. Of course, I didn't love them all, but I was 100% invested in seeing how it all worked out in the end. It's solid fantasy with a strong heroine.

Thanks to Netgalley for letting me read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I'd say it was a solid 4 stars experience for me. This is a story that I could fly through, and it still feels like interesting, potent fantasy.
We begin the story by meeting - of all things - a toad that lives in the marshland.
As it turns out, the toad is a young sorceress, cursed to live her life as a hopeless, little creature living in this damp, cruel place.
Elena is a vine witch, who spent the last seven years of her life under the influence of this curse. But before all that, she lived at Château Renard. This piece of land meant everything to her: she worked the vines the best way she could, producing exquisite wine at Chanceaux Valley.
Now she finds that everything has changed while she was gone.
The vineyard is now the property of Jean-Paul, who came from a big city to pursue his dreams as a vigneron. But he soon has to find out that there are things that science can not explain.

It was a very interesting first chapter and a clever way to start a story! I found myself intrigued from the start.
I love witchcraft and magic in books, and I enjoyed the magic system a lot in this one, namely that certain types of witches are best at working on certain types of product, like wine, beer, or perfume.
The setting felt really athmospheric to me as well, I liked the rich descriptions of the vineyard. More so, because I myself pretty much grew up at my grandmother's farm and fruit gardens.
The only thing I didn't like that much was the romance, which is just the "later on" insta-love that we know so well.
However, that didn't effect my enjoyment all that much, and I would very much recommend this to readers who would love to pick up something exciting and witchy and on the shorter side.

In The Vine Witch, Luanne G. Smith builds a magical alternate-universe turn-of-the-century France. The setting is very romantic, but also ambitious.

Elena is a Vine Witch, apprenticed at a young age to Ariella Gardin, mistress of Château Renard. As the story opens, Elena is in the process of saving herself from a malicious toad transformation. It has been a long two years of fighting the curse placed upon her. A run-in with a local fox during her amphibious adventures has left lasting scars. She returns home to find the vineyard she loves has been sold and hexed. Gardin, the woman she calls Grand-Mère, has lost much of her magic ability to age and grief.

Jean-Paul, the new owner of the Château, is a thoroughly modern man. Born and educated in the city, he was a lawyer prior to purchasing the vineyard. Despite his romantic notion to run the business himself, he is a man of science. He is positive that with the right care and maintenance, he can restore Château Renard to its former glory. Without the superstitious nonsense his neighbours rely on.

An overzealous investigator accuses Elena of murdering her former fiancé. Inside the magically fortified prison, she makes allies with her cellmates. Jean-Paul uses his background as a lawyer to defend her. Separately, our two protagonists fight for Elena’s freedom and discover just who is responsible for the misery blighting the Château.

With a little help from a cheese-making priest, Smith’s world does come together in the end. Elena convinces Jean-Paul to allow her to help set the Château’s fields to rights.

What follows is a tale of magic, romance, and revenge. The combination is quite ambitious. Pastoral vineyards overseen by generations of witches rest alongside a magical bureaucracy and early motorcars. Smith has to tread lightly. It would be very easy to make comparisons to the Harry Potter universe, or C. L. Polk’s alternate-Edwardian Aeland.

Historically, France has been a dangerous place to display any ability not directly attributable to the Catholic faith. Many people died as a result of being labelled a heretic. Smith does nod at the bloody past. However, I felt it set up a strange dichotomy. On the one hand, witches are seen by the city-dwellers as superstitious folklore. On the other, there is apparently a judicial arm responsible for policing magic-users. If there is a government arm responsible for prosecuting magic-related crimes, how is it that a former practicing lawyer is unable to see the work done in the Vineyards as nothing more than quaint tradition?

There’s a particularly fun description of an especially stony garden pest that I’ll let the reader discover on their own. I honestly laughed out loud.

I’ll give this book a solid 4/5. Once I got past the main introductions, I had a hard time stopping long enough to make notes. It’s a fairly fast read that should appeal to fans of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted.

There is some mild body horror at the beginning of the book. Some might find it a turn-off. I found it helped solidify the stakes right from the beginning. This isn’t a light and fluffy world; Smith’s world is a gritty, earthy place. You must tread carefully or be fatally cursed.

3.5 Stars. The Vine Witch sounded very promising. It sounded as if it had interesting and intriguing plot that would keep me captivated. Instead it was a weird beginning, characters who aren’t all that realistic, and PAGES (almost a full chapter?) of description and thoughts from the characters.

In short I was bored for the first half and most of the second, but the second is slightly better. The story at least starts to move along. Something I did like was the dual POV. It was nice to see magic from both perspectives.

Would I recommend it? Not really.

Would I read a sequel? Probably not, but I might skip to the end to see what happens.

I wasn't sure, when I finished this, if this was going to be a 3 star or a 4 star book. So, I'll compromise and say that I'll give this book a 3.5 star-rating.

This book grabbed my attention from the very first page. I mean, you don't often start of a book reading from a toad's perspective, you know?

And then, all of the wine talk came. So, just so you know: you'll have to have at least a little bit of an interest in wine, or otherwise you'll just find all of this boring.

The writing was great, especially for a debut novel. (Look, Enchantée, this is how you reference to French!) The world building was definitely great, but I wanted a little bit more out of the characters. It was very much a plot-driven book, but a lot of the times it felt like something in the plot just happened in order to set the characters in motion, for the sake of getting them to do something.

Loved the story, loved the writing, loved the setting. But I just expected more from the characters. (I mean, there's so little attention for who the characters are as people and even their outward appearances, I only found out Jean-Paul wore glasses after page 200.) I wanted more chemistry and character exploration. But I guess that's the only flaw I can think of right now, because the positive points I've mentioned above are really well-deserved, in my (humble) opinion!

The concept of a Vine Witch is an interesting one, instead of a traditional winemaker this town has a series of vine witches who use their craft to coax the best wine from the grapes.

Each vine witch works for a particular winery.

The main character of this story is Elena. recently released from a curse she finds her way back to her winery to find there have been some changes. She also wants revenge on the person that cursed her.

I really enjoyed this book and finding out more about the world that the vine witches live in. I wondered a few times what time period the book was set in.

There's a great love story and themes of friendship in the book and I definitely recommend giving it a chance.

This is the story of young vine witch Elena. After awaking from a curse she finds the world she knew turned on its head. She sets about turning the fortunes of her historical family vineyard, whilst being fuelled by vengeance to bring the witch who cursed her to justice. There is a little bit of romance thrown in there too.
I absolutely loved this cross genre novel. As a debut work I think it was outstanding. I was completely caught up in the magic, the fantasy and the romance. I am almost now convinced witches are responsible for making red wine!
I thought all the characters in this story were very distinct and felt Elena was particularly likeable. I certainly believed in the growing relationship between her and Jean-Paul.
Set in turn-of-the-century French vineyards, the book was very atmospheric. The descriptions of the wine’s aromas were so solid and intense they made me crave a glass! It was very well written, flowed nicely and was easy to read.
In all, I think this is a great read. I personally love a book about witches and magic, and this did not disappoint. I think if you loved The Night Circus and Caraval you will love this too.
The Vine Witch is available now! I can not wait for the sequel, which I believe is to be released in June 2020. Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this.