Jenn Writes

Revenge, redemption and romance, this magical tale has it all

As with all good fairy tales, The Vine Witch starts with a curse, with Elena Boureanu a toad wallowing in a murky pond. And that’s just the beginning.

Luanne G Smith’s book opens up the darkest aspects of humans, with Elena plotting murderous revenge on the one who cursed her, as well as battling hexes and other evils along the way.

Set in the magical French valley of Chanceaux, at a time when science is in its infancy, this fantasy tackles the big issues of transformation and revenge, and loss and self-discovery, but with a gentle, almost magical, touch.

It begins with Elena breaking a seven-year curse and trying to return to her previous life as the gifted vine witch of Château Renard. Unfortunately, things have changed, and the chateau no longer produces the wines for which it was famous. What makes things worse is that new owner, Jean-Paul Martel, does not believe in witches, his approach to life and wine-making steeped in the newly discovered scientific method. “He’d been taught to believe only in what he could see, feel, hear, taste, or smell.”

Elena has to hide her skills and, with her weakened powers, try to tackle the hexes that have been laid over the vineyards, fight the evil threatening the chateau and its people, and rescue the vineyard’s reputation.

Smith weaves a wonderful story filled with unexpected twists and turns, magical descriptions (where wine is described as “the taste of lust on the tongue”) and entertainingly believable fantastical characters.

As for the ending … do all fairy tales end with ‘and they lived happily ever after’?

This adult fairy tale is a magical read.

Available on Amazon or at any good bookseller.

P.S. I came across this book a while after it was first published, and I’m very glad I found it. “Better late than never.”