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| Goodreads Barnes & Noble Amazon Source: Library (but MUST own!) Published: February 2011 Viking Adult |
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism
*previously posted as a Special for Sundays favorite book*
My best friend and fellow bookworm, Kim, recommended this one to me not long ago. She knew that I'd been burned out on vampires for awhile and was looking for something completely non-Twilighty. Read: NO SPARKLY ANYTHING.
She suggested that I give A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness a try.
I reserved it at the library that day, because Kim has never steered me wrong. When it finally came in, it sat on my shelf for a couple of weeks because I was reading several other books at the time. It kept staring at me though, as neglected books are wont to do, so I picked it up and got started.
Holy cow, it never let me put it down. I finished it in just a couple of days. I LOVED it. Oh, how I loved it. It completely vanquished thoughts of unworthy vampires from my head, leaving it full of delicious dreams of Matthew Clairmont. One word: YUMMY.
He is what a vampire SHOULD be. He is my new literary love and I have no intention of letting him go.
I loved the story, the action, the characters, the threats...all of it. It's a fantastic story, and I'm glad I came into it late enough that I don't have to wait ages for the next book to come out. It comes out in July and I've already asked my library to purchase a copy. I hope they'll listen! (They did! I'm first in line for Shadow of Night!)
You'd be doing yourself a favor by picking this one up. It's got it all...action, love story, sexy times (but not *that* kind of adult sexy times like porn or anything. They keep it pretty low-key), a threat to overcome, a past to embrace. It's awesome. Truly awesome.
In fact, I'd say that it was so good, it made me incoherent. (I was going to think of some other witty and brilliant things to say about this book, but obviously, it taxed my brain too much for anything of either.)
Content Advisory:
Language: Moderate
Sexuality: Moderate (on the higher side of moderate)
Violence: Moderate
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