Rating: 
Summary: Interview with the Vampire-like Angel...
Review: Sensual Anne Rice-esque story in a beautifully designed book. Might make a novel gift idea to accompany a wonderful bottle of wine for any friend who enjoys a full bodied merlot while cuddling up with a good book. Easy, engaging read.
Rating: 
Summary: heavenly
Review: I have read this book three times from cover to cover and I never get tired of its beautifully written prose and vivid imagery. Knox creates a heaven and hell and an angel that are wholly real yet beyond anyone's imagination. The characterizations of even the most minor characters are carefully thought out and placed before her readers to draw us into this very different world. But it is the developing relationship of the two main characters I find so riveting and intriguing because it is so original. Xas is both adoringly innocent and inadvertently sexy. The way his emotions and experiences are depicted, the reader is able to feel everything he feels right along with him. I couldn't recommend this book enough, but be warned, though it deals with heaven, angels, and God, it is not for the average Sunday church-goer. The male/male relationship would probably stop many cold even though Xas and Sobran share a love and lifetime that takes them both on an incredible journey of self-discovery. I'm so smitten by this different angel, I find would love to read more of Xas in future books. The ending leaves the door open. Please Ms. Knox?
Rating:
Summary: beautifully written
Review: The Vintner's Luck follows the adult life of Sobran Jodeau, a winemaker in Burgundy, France in the early 1800s. Sobran prospers as a vintner, raises a large family, is well-respected in his town, he has a good life. This book also focuses on his friendship with an angel, Xas, who guides him through major decisions and transitions in his life, and brings him his "luck". For Xas, 55 years is just a small portion of time on earth as an immortal, within which (because of his relationship with Sobran) his existence is altered permanently. There are a lot of touching passages on how Xas remembers Sobran, on how he has fallen in love, this human side of an angel. There are also quite logical and scientific, yet beautifully written descriptions of heaven, hell, the heirarchy of angels, and the nature of God's will -- I like how this is reconciled with the free will of angels and humans. There are a lot of significant characters and many events that surround Sobran. Most of them are resolved well in the end, however a few seem unnecessary and just crowd an already eventful novel (such as the town's murder mystery). Although some readers may be taken aback by the fact that Sobran and Xas become lovers, I think this is just one aspect of their complex relationship that however exceptional, seems to develop naturally. Overall, the Vintner's Luck is full of beautifully written insight and themes. The language just flows and it is a difficult book to put down.
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