Let me start out by apologizing for the disappearing act last Thursday and Friday. I was having major technical difficulties that could not be helped. To my great relief though things are better and back to normal and so I'm really excited to share with you a little review on a book I finished over the weekend. {I love it. 5 Stars all the way}
Back story:: When I was 23 years old I discovered this passion that silently laid dormant inside of me. I LOVE to read. Before than I had read maybe 10 books {and that included the harry potter series}. Don't laugh, but for me it all started with Twilight. Even now 3 years and 100 books later I still hold a special place in my heart for that book because it opened my eyes to a whole new wonderful world of books. Afterwards I went through a downward spiral procession of paranormal fantasy. So when I saw A Discovery of Witches sitting on a shelf at my local Barnes and Noble my mind reeled with the possibilities of long nights reading and getting swept away into the forbidden romance between a witch and a vampire that I was promised on the book jacket flap.
I'll be honest the {witch and vampire fall in love} plot made me a little uneasy at first-- the whole genre has sort of been played out and I'll be the first to admit. First it was vampires, then werewolves which led to anything post apocalyptic that I get my hands on, and angels (fallen or any other kind). I stayed there for a while it was really fun. The more comfortable I become with reading, however, the more I sprinkled in some of the hard stuff. You know-- classics and women's fiction {affectionately known as "beach reads"} The good news
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harness includes a forbidden romance but, know that there is much more to it than that. For starters there's no teen angst or whining. This is {NOT} a YA book.
Our two lead characters, Matthew de Clairmont, resident 1500 year old vampire/scientist and fellow at Oxford, and Diana Bishop, early 30's witch/professor studying the history of science, particularly alchemy, are fully developed and well rounded. Their strengths and weakness are revealed throughout the story and they generally act like real people. Harkness has a gift for making the unbelievable; believeable. Like if there really were supernatural beings walking the earth with us, this is how you'd expect them to behave.
The plot unfolds gradually so give it a few pages for it to clamp onto you and never let you go. Trust me you will enjoy every bit of how Harkness unravels all the details of the story. As Diana and Matthew work together to understand the secret behind the bewitched document Ashmole-782 it seems that at every corner there is more than meets the eye. This includes all side of the supernatural world becoming interested in what the secret behind this manuscript means for them all.
Diana and Matthew's relationship slowly deepens over the course of the novel, but their love seems to run deeper than the average fantasy couple. They are far from perfect and somehow find ways to learn to accept the others faults and yet still choose to be together. They draw strength from one another and lift each other up-- and to me is much like a real marriage.
If science and paranormal stories tickle your fancy than race off to the bookstore {or ebookstore} and get this book. You will not regret it!!
Take a peek at some of the places and things you'll spend time with inside
A Discovery of Witches:
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| {via :: Bodleian Library at Oxford} |
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| {via :: Great topic of debate} |
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| {via :: Early morning crew} |
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| {via :: All Souls College} |
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| {via :: French Chateau's} |
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| {via :: plus a little bit of this} |
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| {via :: and that} |
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| {via :: Upstate New York} |
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| {via :: Grimoire} |
You know what else? It's perfect timing to read this book because the sequel
Shadow of Night hits bookshelves this July. You can pre-order it
here. So get reading my friends and of course don't forget to share your thoughts with me when you 're done. We can have our own little cyber book club. {Seriously...lets do that. Who's in?}
xO-Etheline
