Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - The Winemaker's Wife

Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel

15 reviews

katiejohns's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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caitsgreats's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

TL;DR: Alternating between WWII era and modern era in France's wine country, four women grapple with the events of Nazi occupation and the continual fallout of their choices in life and love.

What I Liked:

Stuck the landing. The last 25% of the book is 5*, easy.
Correct details about how sparkling wine is made

What I Didn't Like:

Shallow (or shallowly-described) characters
If not shallow, otherwise tough-to-love characters
Oscillated harshly between "very chill" and "held at gunpoint by Nazis"; tone and tensity weren't well balanced

I fear I'm too harsh on romance novels. I have very specific requirements about what I like, so if romance is your genre, I think this is a well-loved example with a rich environment and a beautiful set of moments. No sex scenes, no heavy romance, but love is in the air. I really do think what makes this book shine is its attention to detail in winemaking, and the fact that the ending is so, so beautiful.

For better or worse, I have a history in winemaking, including sparkling wine, and I can attest to the factual nature of this novel's descriptions of how Champagne is made. This information is nuanced and hard to nail down, especially about how riddling worked at the time. It was a highly precise process, and volatile, given the pressurized nature of the bottles of wine. I'm exceedingly happy with the setting descriptions.

For spoilers reasons, I won't go into details about the endings, but I almost DNF'd this book, but the ending made it worth it. Stick to the end, you'll be happy you did.

I'd recommend this book to someone who doesn't need heavy sex or romance in their romance novels, but instead appreciates niche interests, tough-to-love characters, and WWII settings.

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jennifertremblay's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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bree_of_the_woods's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The setting, and historical side I found riveting. I also enjoyed the usage of multiple timelines and POVs to tell the story. Over all it was engaging and captured my attention. The holocaust is a tragedy of such proportions I won’t attempt to capture it in words, and all stories from and of that time period are so meaningful.
However I seriously disliked how absolutely stupid Olivia was. Even when she had facts put in front of her, she still kept saying “what? Huh? What is going on??” It made me want to scream. The early miscommunication with Julian was obvious from the beginning and I thought it absurdly drawn out.
Inez I realize is supposed to be a complex character, showcasing the trauma that selfish and flighty behavior can get you, but having two dimwit female main characters felt hard to swallow about 70% in. I was just wondering when someone would find a brain. Her post-chateau story felt unbelievable, especially so after the ending, and we see her cowardice is still strong.
The novel did have a good finish, so I’m glad I stuck it through, but I wish the women would have developed more through the storyline.

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amybartoli29's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sarahflanders's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

3.5

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abbyrousell's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The plot of this book is engaging and the mystery made me want to continue reading to find out what happened. However, the writing style is very tell not show, so it is difficult to become emotionally attached to the events and empathise with the characters and how they develop when we are just told straight up the things they do for redemption very quickly. The plot was quite predictable and the ending took a long time to get to but then felt very rushed, but I still read the entire book and enjoyed it .

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