Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This was a free book through Amazon First Reads program. I loved the idea of witches who take care of vineyards using their knowledge of plants and the earth along with some magic. I enjoy reading about witches and I love me some wine! In this case, these two things did not pair well together. The novel had a clever start with young witch Elena emerging from the swamp. She is the victim of a curse and has been turned into a toad. Luckily she is able to turn herself back into her witchy form though her magic is weakened. She suspects that the man who she refused to marry is behind the curse. She returns to her vineyard and finds that her grandmother is now the cook and caretaker. She sold to a man named Jean-Paul who prefers to grow grapes and make wine using science. He is failing dismally. Elena realizes there are hexes on the vineyard. This is where I stopped because I could see the middle and ending a mile away. I then skimmed the last three chapters to check my predictions. I must be a witch too! Elena battles the hexes, hunts down the person who cursed her (not who she suspected), and J-P and Elena work together and begin to fall in love. I could perhaps have tolerated the predictable story but the writing was that of an amateur. Other than the content, it read more like a book for middle grade students. I realize this was the author’s debut work, but in my opinion this needed a lot of polishing and reworking. I want to be challenged when I read and this book did not work for me. It is very rare for me not to finish a book, but I happily quit this one and I won’t look back. To end with a wine analogy: The Vine Witch is like Arbor Mist and I prefer a nice bottle of Intrinsic Cabernet Sauvignon.