My letter “V” pick for the A to Z Book challenge was THE VINE WITCH by Luanne G. Smith. I wanted to like this book more, I really did. It has a wonderful gothic feel at the start, and beginning a book with the protagonist as a toad is definitely intriguing. From there, the story sort-of dragged for me as Elena, our young witch emerges from a seven year curse and begins the journey to find out who cursed her to get her revenge.

The story meandered and it felt like the author couldn’t decide if it was historical fiction, fantasy, YA, or a gothic horror story. The romance between Elena and her love interest was slow and without much substance until it suddenly accelerated out of nowhere with minimal chemistry. I did like that Elena wasn’t a stereotypical heroic protagonist, and the prose in this book was rich and lush and perfectly suited to the story. The ending, however, lacked credibility and overall, I have no real urge to move on to book two. Three and a half stars.