A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Kiki & Jules Ratings:   5+ Stars
 
  A Discovery of Witches was released to Kindle on February 8th and we jumped right on board purchasing our copies February 12th. So, needless to say this review is long overdue. It has been difficult for us to come up with the right words to do this book justice. This book is intellectually and beautifully written.  It is rich with culture, science, and history, wrapped in passion, love, and of course...magic!  The imagery set forth by Deborah Harkness is so vivid it will awaken all of your senses, and you won't have to be a Clairmont to feel it. From cover to cover, we laughed, cried, gasped, and loved every minute. Very few books have us burning our cell phones up with texts and calls as this one did.  We have read, re-read, and will absolutely re-read this book again, and again. How many books can you do this with, may I ask??


  Diana Bishop is an intellectual scholar teaching alchemy at prestigious Oxford, but more so she is writing a paper on the alchemical marriage.  One day while doing research at the famous Bodleian Library Diana requests a manuscript, Ashmole 782.  She senses instantly that this is no normal alchemy manuscript, but filled with magic.  See, Diana is a witch from a long line of witches dating back to Salem.  The only problem is that Diana does not want to be known as a witch nor does she even want to practice magic.  So when Ashmole 782 oozes magic Diana wants nothing to do with it and returns it to the stacks.  What Diana soon finds out is that Ashmole 782, until she called it from the stacks, was missing.  And every creature, from witches to demons to vampires would kill to get their hands on it.  The only problem is that even if they could call forth the manuscript they wouldn't get past the spell on it, but Diana could do both.  Now this witch, who doesn't even want to do magic, is the most popular being at Bodleian.

  One of the first people's attention she catches is that of geneticist professor, and vampire, Matthew Clairmont.  As Matthew sets forth to convince Diana to give him the manuscript he discovers something more in her.  Even though she claims to have nothing to do with magic, she glows with the power of it.  But it appears to Matthew that she has no real control of this power, and when pushed it makes her ill.  So he soon finds himself using his primal instincts and protecting her.  As every creature comes through the Bodleian walls the welfare of Diana Bishop is at risk.  Every minute Matthew spends protecting her, the less he thinks about the manuscript and the more he thinks about loving her.

This book takes you from the campus of Oxford, to Matthew's home in France, and back to Diana's home in upstate New York. You discover many of the secrets of Ashmole 782, then you discover some more.  All along the way you watch the relationship of Matthew and Diana grow.  You get lost in their rich pasts and get wrapped up in all the possibilities of their future.  And at the end you will be begging for more.  Five stars is never enough for this first installment in the All Souls trilogy. While Deborah Harkness travels the globe introducing all to ADOW, we impatiently wait for Shadow of Night, the second installment in the series, which is due out in the summer of 2012.  Oh well, I'm sure somewhere in the mean time, we will find ourselves getting lost in this story all over again!!

Happy Reading
~Kiki & Jules