A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness has been on my reading list for a very long time. I finally decided to pick it up from the library and read it, and I'm so glad I did. This was another quickly finished book with many nights of staying up way too late to read it. This is the first book in the All Souls Trilogy. The second book, Shadow of Night is the next book I plan on reading and I can't wait to start it.
Diana Bishop is a Yale professor who is working at Oxford for the summer. She has a PHD in the history of science and her specialty is alchemy. Dianna Bishop is also a witch with magical powers, but she seldom uses her powers because of her fear of them and how magic played a hand in her parents’ death. While taking notes in the library, Dianna recalls a book, Ashmole 782, from the shelves. This book has been lost for centuries and is rumored to hold the history and purpose of the three groups of creatures that exist in the world: witches, daemons, and vampires, but of course Diana does not know this.
Matthew Clairmont, who is a colleague of Oxford and a vampire, witnesses Dianna use magic in the library, and knows that she has been able to recall the much sought after Ashmole 782. The two embark on a forbidden love affair and Matthew vows to protect Dianna from the other creatures trying to reach the manuscript through her powers.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It was fast paced with the right amount of action, suspense, and romance. Matthew has reawakened my love for attractive, protective vampires. The novel contains references to history (told by a very old vampire who has lived through some of the world's largest events) and the second book promises to contain even more historical interest. I would recommend this book, even if you think magic isn't your genre of reading. I don't want to give too much away, but the second book promises to be just as exciting as the first.
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