A young witch emerges from a curse to find her world upended in this gripping fantasy of betrayal, vengeance, and self-discovery set in turn-of-the-century France.
For centuries, the vineyards at Château Renard have depended on the talent of their vine witches, whose spells help create the world-renowned wine of the Chanceaux Valley. Then the skill of divining harvests fell into ruin when sorcière Elena Boureanu was blindsided by a curse. Now, after breaking the spell that confined her to the shallows of a marshland and weakened her magic, Elena is struggling to return to her former life. And the vineyard she was destined to inherit is now in the possession of a handsome stranger.
Vigneron Jean-Paul Martel naively favours science over superstition, and he certainly doesn't endorse the locals' belief in witches. But Elena knows a hex when she sees one, and the vineyard is covered in them. To stay on and help the vines recover, she'll have to hide her true identity, along with her plans for revenge against whoever stole seven winters of her life. And she won't rest until she can defy the evil powers that are still a threat to herself, Jean-Paul, and the ancient vine-witch legacy in the rolling hills of the Chanceaux Valley.
***
[Her eyes rested above the waterline as a moth struggled inside her mouth]***
(47North, 1 October 2019, 263 pages, ebook, bought from @AmazonKindle via #AmazonFirstReads)
***
***
I'd never heard of the author before but decided to read this because I liked the title, the cover and the blurb intrigued me. This was a good call. Books about witches and witchcraft have become more and more popular recently. I've read a decent amount of witch fiction myself. The Vine Witch offers something very different, a type of magic I've never read before which makes it stand out. I loved the characters. Elena is feisty and fierce and I sort of loved her. Jean-Paul is adorably short-sighted and naïve. I also loved the setting, a beautiful valley in France. The Vine Witch worked on every level.
