A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Title:  A Discovery of Witches
Author: Deborah Harkness
Pages: 579
Genre: Adult Fiction / Paranormal
Source: Purchased

A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together. 

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. [via GoodReads]

While studying at the Bodlein Library in Oxford, Diana Bishop calls up the manuscript Ashmole 782.  Little did she know how something as simple as that would change her life.  She was born a witch but she refuses to have anything to do with magic.  Suddenly Diana finds herself in the sights of witches, daemons, and even vampires.  Or, should I say, one swoon-worthy vampire.  When she finds herself being chased and even threatened by those who believe she knows the secrets of Ashmole 782, she'll find herself even more threatened by one vampire who may want more from her than just the contents of the manuscript.

While the book itself is rather long (over 500 pages), the story felt anything but that.  I was intrigued by its characters, the witches, vampires, daemons, the mystery of Ashmole 782, and especially, the romance between Matthew and Diana. 

As a fan of paranormal romance, I think A Discovery of Witches is one of the best.  Diana is a strong, independent character and you can't help but love reading about how her perfect life gets turned upside down.  There was so much depth and individuality to all the characters that you meet that you instantly feel connected to many of them.  In spite of the paranormal aspects, they were very believable.  

While I did have some trouble half way through the story, I thought the research aspects were just a little overdone and wordy, I still found it to be a beautifully written novel delving into both history and the supernatural. I can see where some have compared it to an adult Twilight - but I also found it like Diana Gabaldon's epic Outlander.  In the end, I'd say it has a lot of both of these and fans of these types of novels will devour this one.  Masterfully told - I cannot wait for the next installment in the trilogy.

My Rating:

Graveminder by Melissa Marr

Title:  Graveminder
Author: Melissa Marr
Pages: 324
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchased

Melissa Marr is known to young adult readers as the author of the popular faery series Wicked Lovely. Her debut leap into adult fiction lands her in the small community of Claysville, a town where the dead walk free unless their graves are not properly tended. Into this eerie maelstrom, Rebekkah Barrow descends as she returns to a place that she once believed she knew. Kelley Armstrong justly described Graveminder as "a deliciously creepy tale that is as skillfully wrought as it is spellbindingly imagined." A new genre author to watch. [via GoodReads]

In 1712, Abigail Barrows unknowingly opens a gateway into the land of the dead.  With no other choice, she unwittingly signs a contract with Death in order to bring the deceased back to where they belong.  Abigail was the first Graveminder who ensured the dead were taken care of, and if they should rise, it was her responsibility to escort them back to the land of the dead.
 

The Undertaker helps the Graveminder to bring the dead back while protecting her at all times. Through the years, the position of Graveminder and/or Undertaker has been passed down to someone in either the Barrows or Montgomerry families. 

Due to their important positions as Graveminder and Undertaker, the townspeople of Claysville have also agreed to the contract with Death. Because of this, they have been granted longevity and near perfect health. Since the contract was agreed so many years ago, no one is quite sure what it says, but they do know that anyone who is born in Claysville can leave, but they will always return.  And should they die outside the town they will rise from the dead.

Rebekkah Barrow has just become the newest Graveminder after the passing of her beloved grandmother Maylene.  She has recently returned to Claysville after being away for some time and has just reunited with her long lost love, Byron Montgomerry - whom surprisingly has just acquired the position of Undertaker. When one of the dead begins to wreak havoc in the town, it will be up to them to save not only themselves, but the townspeople.

This is Ms. Marr's attempt at adult fiction - or urban fantasy as I like to call it.  I found it a little disconcerting that it is a third person narrative - and, to make it worse, there were varying points of view chapters too.  Once I got over the confusion though, I did not have a hard time grasping who was who and what was what.  

For some reason, I had trouble liking most of the characters in this novel.  I especially did not see eye to eye with Rebekkah - she fit in more in one of Ms. Marr's young adult novels than she did in this one.  Byron was okay - yet forgettable.  Although he was more likeable then Rebekkah, he was still nothing to write home about.  

I found the story very predictable.  While I enjoyed the parts that took place in the land of the dead - these areas were much more vivid and the characters were superbly interesting, yet these good moments were not enough to overlook the others that weren't so good.  The "rising dead" had a zombie feel to them - they rose from their graves and bit people - yet they specifically note that they are not zombies.  Since I was always a step ahead of the characters and the mystery the story felt long and uninteresting.  

The best part of all, it (so far) seems to be a stand-alone.  We don't get many of these lately - so that gives it extra kudos in my book. All in all, I found this one to be more on the weird side than anything else.  It was okay - but not something I'd recommend (at least, not in the foreseeable future).  

My Rating:

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
Pages: 352
Genre: YA/ Fantasy
Source:  Purchased

A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows. [via GoodReads]

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was peculiar... to say the least.

Young Jacob knows there is some truth to his grandfather's tales of growing up in an orphanage where children with certain abilities could grow up safe from harm - when on the day of his grandfather's murder Jacob sees a monster standing over his grandfather's lifeless body.  Could the stories of these children with certain pecularities be real?  Jacob never thought so.  He was always thrilled to hear his grandfather's tales but never thought they were anything other than stories told with plenty of exageration and enough flare to peek the interest of a child. Obviously no one believes, his version of his grandfather's death but with the help of his therapist, he is able to convince his parents that a trip to the island that housed his grandfather's orphanage, the infamous Miss Peregrine and children with super powers might be the only way to preserve his sanity.

Jacob was a wonderful protagonist.  He was such an insightful and depth-full young man.  The mystery surrounding his grandfather's death, the orphanage and its inhabitants really made for a fascinating, odd, and sometimes creepy story.  My only concern was that Jacob had the voice of an adult and not so much that of a teenager.  I also felt that the author was a bit wordy in his descriptions.

But I must confess, my favorite part of all were the creepy, vintage photographs scattered throughout the story.

From what I read, these are authentic and unaltered photographs that blend seamlessly with the narrative to create an exciting and refreshingly unique fantasy.

All in all, I was captivated by the first chapters of this story.  It had a very strong start, a not-so-great middle, and then the storyline grabs hold of you and spits you out at the end looking forward to more.  So beware the slow start, but try to persevere, as I promise the climax will be an explosive one.  Eerily fantastic!

 

My Rating:

Ripple by Mandy Hubbard

Title: Ripple
Author: Mandy Hubbard
Pages:  260
Genre:  YA/ Paranormal
Source: Purchased

Lexi is cursed with a dark secret. The water calls to her, draws her in, forces her to sing her deadly song to unsuspecting victims. If she succumbs, she kills. If she doesn't, the pain is unbearable. To keep herself and those she cares about safe, she shuts herself off, refusing to make friends or fall in love-again. Because the last time she fell in love with a boy, he ended up dead.

Then Lexi finds herself torn. Against her better judgement, she's opening up again, falling in love with someone new when she knows she shouldn't. But when she's offered the chance to finally live a normal life, she learns that the price she must pay to be free or her curse is giving him up. [via GoodReads]

Lexi is cursed to kill anyone near her when she's swimming in her true form as a siren.  Oh yea, did you think this was a mermaid book too?  Nope, and I promise you'll figure that out a few pages into the book so I'm not giving anything away.  After accidentally killing her first love, Lexi refuses to swim in the ocean, instead she's exiled herself to swim every night in a tiny lake far away from home and from anyone finding her - causing their accidental murder.  Not only has she exiled herself to swim so far from home but she has also alienated herself from her friends and even her grandmother. 

As an outcast, she's found a daily routine - she goes to school, spends the day ignoring her old friends or being ignored or mocked by them, after school she goes home to her grandmother, then when everyone is asleep, she makes her way to her lake where she either swims the night away, or not, and instead wakes up the next morning suffering the consequences.  Everything is uneventful, until the day that Cole makes ripples in her life with promises of renewed friendships and love.  But how can someone cursed find happiness?

Ripple was not what I expected it to be... and that's a good thing.  Ms. Hubbard's tale was much darker than I thought it would be.  As crazy as it may sound, Lexi was a relateable character (you know, aside from the whole siren thing).  Her struggles and turmoils were believable and her need to just be normal was strongly felt.  

Cole comes across as a sweet young man - one, with no ulterior motive in befriending Lexi other than to be nice.  I wish we would've gotten to know him a little better.  He didn't feel as fleshed out as Lexi did... nor, for that matter, did any other character in the novel.  I wish I would've fallen for him as I do for other characters but, nonetheless, their love story was a sweet one.   

I'm really enjoying these different sides of paranormal - for sirens aren't part of the normal stories I tend to read about. All in all, a simple and quick read, with some suspense and a light romance.

My Rating:

2012 Reading Challenges

Challenge guidelines:

This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2012 - Dec 31, 2012.

Any genre, length or format of book counts, as long as it is a book that's been sitting on your shelf for some time now. Only books released in 2011 and earlier! NO ARCs and 2012 fresh-off-the-press releases allowed!

You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.

When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the 2012 TBR PILE Reading Challenge (You need to include the info + host list + challenge button. You can also grab the button code and add it to your sidebar!)

You can move up levels, but no moving down.

Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2012, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.

At the end of each month one of the hosts will post a wrap-up. Every wrap-up will have it'sunique theme, a mini-challenge, a giveaway and place for you to link up your reviews from this month. For each review you link up, you will get one entry in a drawing of one book of choice from Book Depository. It's open to INTERNATIONALS. For participating in the mini-challenge you will get +1 entry.

If you miss a wrap-up post + giveaway, you can link up your reviews next month. Do not, however, try to link up one review twice - we will be checking ;)

December is a wrap-up for the whole year. All the book reviews you linked up January-November + the ones you'll link up in December will be entered into a HUGE giveaway - 12 books, 12 winners, INTERNATIONAL.

You don't have to follow all the hosts to join the challenge, but you do have to follow all of us to be entered in giveaways!

Levels:
1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - A Sweet Kiss
31-40 - Love At First Sight
41-50 - Married With Children

1. The challenge runs from January 1st, 2012 through December 31st, 2012.

2. "Romance" isn't limited to steamy Harlequin novels. There is a huge selection of books in this category such as contemporary romance, historical romance, romantic suspense and paranormal romance to name a few. As long as the story has romantic love between the two main characters your selection will fit this challenge. The novels do not need to have a happy ending either, there can also be unrequited love.

3. Choose at least 5 novels to read. You can change your choices at any time. Crossovers between other challenges are fine.

All kinds of books count such as eBooks, Audiobooks...etc.

If you are looking for suggested reading see Best Romance Novels Today, Romance Novels on Wiki or Best Romance Stories.

In my opinion, you can't go wrong with Jane Austen, Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks and Georgette Heyer.

4. Read the books at your own pace in 2012 then post the link to your review(s). You don't need to have a blog, posting your reviews on Goodreads and LibraryThing counts as well.

Basics

It goes from January 1st 2012 to December 31st 2012

To sign up, use the form at the end of this post!

You can sign up any time from now until June-ish

I would love you forever if you would follow me, and if you're interested in fairy tales, then you'd probably find my blog interesting anyway!

What Counts

Any retelling at all, or original fairy tales. When I say original fairy tales, I mean books that include many elements of many fairy tales, but aren't actually based on any fairy tales. Some examples are The Princess Bride by William Goldman or Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (BEST BOOK EVER!) Basically a book that should have a fairy tale based on it, but it's too late for it to be the other way around.

Participating

All you need is a desire to read fairy tales, and preferably a way to post reviews. Whether it be a blog, Goodreads, or Amazon, it doesn't matter.

Levels
3 books - Peasant
6 books - Fairy
9 Books - Witch
12 books - Princess
15 books - Dragon

Here are the guidelines:

1.The challenge will run from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012.

2.Since this is an author challenge, there is no restriction on choosing your novels. They can definitely be from other challenges. However, the authors must be new to you and, preferably from novels. Anthologies are a great way to try someone new, but only a third of your new authors can be from anthologies.

3.I want this to be an easy challenge, so you can pick to do either 15, 25 or 50 new authors. It all depends on how fast you read and how adventurous you want to be. For me, I want to say I’m going to do another 50 new authors, but with two kids, I didn’t made my goal in 2011, so I’m going to be smarter and say 25. If you reach your goal halfway through the year, don’t stop. Any new author you try can be added to Mr. Linky. We all want to know about your new experience.

4.After reading your new author, write your review and then come back here and add your link to Mr. Linky. Make sure you include your name and the author, but adding the title is completely up to you.

5.Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike are welcome. You don’t have to have a site to participate. You can link up via Facebook, GoodReads or even Amazon if you’d like.

Challenge Details:

• Timeline: 01 Jan 2012 - 31 Dec 2012

• Rules: Read 100+ books in 2012 (any genre)

• You don't have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

• You can join at anytime. All books read in 2012 count towards the challenge regardless of when you sign up.

• At the beginning of Jan 2012, you will find a link to specific month to add your reviews.

• Audiobooks do not count, but all other formats are accepted.

• Only fiction, no non-fiction.

• This challenge can crossover to other challenges.

Guidelines:

• Timeline: 01 Jan 2012 - 31 Dec 2012

• Rules: There are FOUR (4) LEVELS to choose from:

- One Chomp: Read 6 Zombie books in 2012
- Two Chomps: Read 12 Zombie books in 2012
- Three Chomps: Read 18 Zombie books in 2012
- Four Chomps: Read 24 Zombie books in 2012

• You don't have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

• You can join at anytime. All books read in 2012 count towards the challenge regardless of when you sign up.

• At the beginning of Jan 2012, you will find a link to specific month to add your reviews.

• Audiobooks do not count, but all other formats are accepted.

• Only fiction, no non-fiction ;)

• This challenge can crossover to other challenges.

• You DO NOT have to write reviews of the books you read, but if you decide to then Mr Linky will be available each month so you can link up your reviews.

Info:

*Goal is to read 12 books in a year. You can pick ANY 12 books you want and read. Starts Jan 1-Dec 31st.

*You can join at anytime.

*Books can be any format (bound, eBook, audio).

*You do not have to be a book blogger to participate. Some people have just a Goodreads page. You can keep track on there too!

*Post this reading challenge on your blog so you can keep a list of the books you’ve read for this challenge. Please include a link back to this post so other readers can join the challenge too.

*You can list your books in advance or list them as you read them. It is not required that you review the books you read for this challenge but feel free to do so!!!

 

What can I say?!  I love a good challenge. 

 

Are there any others you guys can recommend worth participating in?  I'm always open for ideas.