Rating: 
Summary: A MAGICAL, SPELLBINDING LOOK AT LIFE AND LOVE
Review: Set in Burgundy and spanning the years 1808 to 1863, The Vintner's Luck tells the magical, spellbinding story of Sobran Jodeau, a vintner from the village of Aluze. On a midsummer's night, Sobran's life is forever changed when he is visited by an angel named Xas, a gorgeous creature with wings that smell of snow. The Vintner's Luck is definitely a character-driven novel and while each character certainly shines, it is the love and friendship shared by Sobran, the Baroness Aurora and the angel Xas that steals the show--and the reader's heart. All, however, is not sweetness and light. The scene in which Lucifer visits Xas and the consequences that follow are heartbreaking to the core. I could find absolutely no mistakes in this perfect novel. The characters were fully drawn and believable, the prose lyrical yet clear, and the pacing perfect throughout. The Vintner's Luck is a book that achieves enormous depth while retaining a simple, fairy-tale quality--all to the good. Anyone who reads The Vintner's Luck should be prepared to bask in its spell for years to come.
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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