A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness

I ordered this book from the library because the second one came out (triple decker novels, how I love you!) and I didn't want to read the reviews of book #2 without reading reviews for book #1, and since I couldn't find the reviews (I didn't look very hard) I just ordered the book instead.

This is what comes of finally getting a library card!

Diana Bishop is the last of her line of witches, descended from the infamous Bridget Bishop, who was executed in the Salem Witch Trials. She's a historian (yay! you get one Tika point, Harkness!) who is interested in alchemy, which means she gets to muck around in old books all the time. At Oxford. Like one does.



And then she meets this vampire

HA HA HA I crack me up. No, not that vampire. Bella never went to college, remember? She's doomed to an eternity of finishing high school because she chose was chosen by was written into the wrong vampire family. My apologies for the Twilight sidebar; here is Alexander Skarsgard holding a cat.

Do you feel better now? I know I do.

Anyway. So Diana meets a vampire who is SOOOOOOOOOOER OLD, you guys. And he falls in love with her (did I even need to say that?) and at first I was all, "if there are vampire/witch sexytimes in this book, I may set myself on fire."

But then 437 pages went by and there was only a little over-the-shirt action even though they were married by like page 230, and I found myself beginning to despair over the LACK of vampire-on-witch sexytimes.

I am nothing if not consistent.

Harkness created a good world, EVEN IF her vampires can go out in the day and don't have fangs.  I begin to suspect she may also be a Student of the Past because the detail, my sweet pie-fillings. the detail! It made my historian heart happy. Wine cellars, antiques, references to super-famous historical figures - they're all there and astonishingly not overdone so good job, author.

In penultimate closing: I liked it and I'mma read the next one (in which there is TIME TRAVEL and KIP MARLOWE so how could I not?).

Oh Rupert. I wish you were mine.

A Discovery of Witches gets 8 out of 11 covens for being pretty damn good indeed, but only 1 out of 4 Delaneys for smut. Up your sleaze game in book 2, Harkness!

And in ultimate closing, I got you this because I still feel bad about Edward up there giving you the side-eye, and because I read approximately a zillion pages waiting to imagine this...

And this!