Review of “Whispers in the Vineyard” by Justin Kojok

Score: 93/100 (9.3 out of 10)

Whispers in the Vineyard by Justin Kojok is an exciting, modern take on the classic Shakespeare tale, Romeo and Juliet!

The book concerns two rival wine-making families in the fictitious village of Domeabra, a village with a rich culture, history, and traditions. It is surrounded by lush “undulating hills” and nature. However, its chief geographical feature is that it is home to two large vineyards that produce the wine that accounts for much of the village's economy.

One vineyard is owned by the Daanua family. The other is owned by the Laar family. The Daanua and Laar families have a long-standing rivalry that is implied to have once been tense and violent. More recently, they've turned to more peaceful means of competition like with the annual Great Domeabra Wine-Off, a wine-tasting competition in which the families have traded wins and losses. It is part of the annual festival, which includes singing and dancing, somewhat serving as the festival's main-event.

Shaking things up, there's a newcomer in town named Loom, a descendant of the Daanuas who is returning to her ancestral land. Loom is the Juliet of the novel, the main protagonist, and the eyes through which we learn about Domeabra.

Loom's dance partner, rival, and romantic interest in this novel is Feika Laar of the opposing Laar family.

As you might have guessed, Loom and Feika are the main couple of the novel and are gradually able to put their differences aside in the interest of love and peace, but will their families? None of that should be too surprising to a reader.

What might be surprising is how involved this book is in regard to the world-building. Domeabra is a really interesting and beautiful place with an interesting history and fun cultural practices/traditions like song, dance, art, and competitions.

Loom and Feika are decent enough protagonists in their own right, but there are other supporting characters who brighten this book and make it more enjoyable. There's Aisha, the humorous troublemaker and firestarter who makes private issues into a public spectacle. There's also Mama Afi who serves as Loom's guide, mentor, and as a bit of mediator in the disputes between the families. Nia helps us to learn more about Feika, adding more depth and intrigue to his character as we learn about his vulnerabilities.

Similar to Driving For Justice (by the same author), Whispers in the Vineyard emphasizes the power of stories and the people, relationships, and meanings behind them. We are told:

“Every vine, every leaf, and every grape seemed to whisper tales of the past, tales of love, rivalry, and unity.”

“...every vine has its story, just like every wine has its soul.”

This doesn't become self-indulgent and repetitive the way that the author's previous book arguably did, although reading these lines after seeing similar ones in Driving For Justice did dampen their impact a little bit, as beautiful as they are. Again, it's like hearing the same rhyme or tune in every one of a singer's albums. It gets cloying after awhile.

There are still some other beautiful passages that are bit different from Driving For Justice like:

“Change is like the seasons, inevitable and necessary.”

The author again uses poetic techniques that add to the beauty of the writing. For example:

The words “wrinkled” and “crinkled” are paired.

There's alliteration like in:

“...the dreams of tomorrow, setting the stage for a dance of destiny”

“...delightful dance of flavors”

Now, there were a few things, like with Driving For Justice, that irritated us. Similar to John in the last book, it seems or feels like Loom has some sort of main character syndrome going on. She gets presented like a Mary Sue who is going to solve everyone's problems. It doesn't help that so many of the other characters constantly praise her and view her like a female messiah of some sort. It just seems so unearned and undeserved. We had the same feeling with John.

For example, Mr. Adomako tells her that she is “the catalyst” for all the positive changes going on in the village including the relationships healing between the feuding families.

Geez, talk about showering someone with praise and giving a bit too much credit to one individual! So, you're saying that before Savior Loom arrived, everything was just a living hell? There was no good to be found anywhere? People were just at each other's throats and every day was Hate Your Bloody Neighbor Day?

See where that all falls apart?

A similar thing happened with John and his wife, Lila, in the last book. It just seemed forced and excessive. The main characters of these books just seem to hog all of the praise, admiration, and credit, and it gets pretty annoying. So, no one else is worthy of admiration, praise, and credit?

It doesn't end there. They make a whole play about all the great things that Loom did for the village that supposedly brings everyone “to tears” and makes them emotional.

Anyway, we did enjoy this book a lot more than Driving For Justice, even though Driving For Justice is probably a better, more valuable book overall. Whispers in the Vineyard did less to test our patience and annoy us. It respected our time and our attention spans, which is something that Driving For Justice constantly tested. It also featured solid characters and exceptional world-building.

Check it out on Amazon!