Book One

A Discovery of Witches
Deborah Harkness

Let me start by saying that I can't recall what I knew about this book going in, but I know that I wasn't aware of much when I opened the cover. Obviously I knew there were witches and that it was set in the present day. There was a discovery in that the protagonist discovered she was a witch. Or so I thought. Hopefully this isn't too much of a SPOILER to say that I was surprised (and disappointed) to discovery it was also about vampires and daemons and romance. Typically none of those things get me excited about a book, and I almost closed it and sent it right back to the library. I'm so glad I didn't.

If I'd read the Goodreads review, I would have known about the vampires and the romance, but I heard about this book in a four-sentence blurb in Entertainment Weekly.  I am a lover of history and find the Salem witch trials an intriguing part of our history.  So it's easy to suck me into a book that references that time.  Diana Bishop is a descendent of the Bishop clan--one of the first witches tried in Salem.  For personal reasons, however, she has stopped using her magic.  As the reasons are revealed, I found myself more deeply enthralled with the story and with the family history.  I also found myself caught up in the romance between Diana and Matthew, a vampire geneticist.  Harkness weaves a tale of romance in the middle of a tale of history and the supernatural and the academic world.  Her tale is gripping and hypnotizing.  Much like after my reading of Rowling's Harry Potter series I was left wishing I knew how to conjur the spells for cleaning my house and could certainly stand to be living in a house that adds extra rooms to accommodate its residents.  I hope knowing about the vampires and the daemons--and the romance--don't turn anyone away from this book.  It's referred to in some places as a grown-up Twilight--don't let that stop you either.

This book is the first in a series, and I'm glad I waited until now to read the first book.  That means my wait for book two is only a few months long!