Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Title:A Discovery of Witches

Author: Deborah Harkness

Rating: 1/2

Who Should Read it? Like books about magic? Quirky, adorable witches? Vampires and Demons? Then this book is for you; especially if you are tired of the nonstop romance that most vampire books seem to be. Don't get me wrong, this book has romance, but it's also got something that makes it feel a little more literary. It's important, though, that you don't a book with a lot of detail that takes a while to get to the point.

What I Have To Say:
Diana Bishop is not your typical witch. Born to a long line of witches, she decided to give up witchcraft at a young age, in an attempt to live a normal, magic-free life. But I guess normal is all relative, and witchcraft may be more impossible, and more dangerous, to give up than she ever thought.

I loved this book. It was like historical fiction meets magic, thus combining two of my favorite genres. The history comes from Diana herself - she is a quirky, independent, strong-willed and totally lovable character (who seems way more like a high-schooler than a full grown historian), and she has given up the life of magic to lead a totally ordinary life in academia, where she studies, of all things, alchemy. I immediately connected to her.

The book starts when Diana uncovers a book, Ashmole 782, that just so happens to be a book all the witches, demons, and vampires have been searching for for ages. How did she get her hands on it? Will she do it again? Suddenly, the library where she is working is FILLED with all sorts of magical creatures trying to figure out the answers to these questions. And of course, one of the creatures to show up is, naturally, a REALLY HOT vampire by the name of Matthew Clairmont. And, as must happen, because he is a vampire and a creature of lust, and despite Diana's natural and understandable fear of vampires, they fall immediately in love and, within 3 weeks, are wondering how they could ever be separated.

I understand that vampires supposedly have that effect on people, but I'll admit it - I'm sort of tired of reading about it. Diana is witty and charming and, most of all, INTELLIGENT, and I just can't believe that she would allow herself to be enamored so quickly. By a vampire. I know, I said I loved it, and now I'm ranting - this bit really did bother me, and I wish Harkness had managed to make this book happen WITHOUT vampires and love-at-almost-first-sight, but I also understand that it was necessary to set things up for the rest of the book.
Which was AMAZING!

Harkness uses lavish descriptions, painstaking and well-researched details, and witty conversation to move the plot along. And even though it was only her first novel, she masterfully weaved the world and idea of magic together with the world of academia and logic. It's beautiful, historical paranormal fiction, and I loved it. I'd read a lot of reviews that said some of the research and detail was overdone, but in the end, I totally disagree. I had a great time imagining all of the beautiful places, the intricate architecture she described. And I was presented with just enough information on the history of alchemy that I found myself wanting to actually research it myself.

So, the verdict - this book was amazing; I loved the detail, I loved the information on alchemy, and the only things I would change are the love story and the vampires. And I will definitely be reading the sequel just as soon as I manage to catch up on all the other books I have to read.

Summary: 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.

Cover Story: Totally love it! Just looking at it makes me want to study witchcraft. :-)

Let's Go On Vacation

So, it may SEEM like I have abandoned Brizmus Blogs Books once again, as I haven't written in an extraordinarily long time, but I am here to let you know that I have not. I've just been preparing for and then ON VACATION!


This is where I've been hanging out for the last weekish!

And while on vacation, I did LOTS of reading, so I've got some great reviews coming up for you! Reviews to expect in the weeks to come:
A Discovery of Witches: A Novel (All Souls Trilogy) by Debora Harkness
The Registry by Shannon Stoker
Insatiable by Meg Cabot
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire by Abigail Gibbs

Three whole books about vampires in there - I don't know how that happened. I do know, though, that I am TOTALLY vampired out. :-) The Dark Heroine, which I have ALMOST finished, might have to fight for stars, just because it was last.

In other news, I have also joined a book club, which I am SUPER excited about! I voted on the booklist for the next year today, and we should know by next week, so I'll definitely be posting about that! Yay!

Review: Something About Sophie by Mary Kay McComas

Title: Something About Sophie

Author: Mary Kay McComas

Rating:

Who Should Read It? Into romantic thrillers? Want a book that will keep you on edge and guessing till the end (just don't try too hard to figure things out, otherwise, you might)? This book is for you!

What I Have to Say:
Sophie is your typical small-town girl from your typical small-town. The only difference is, she's adopted. She's never really cared about her birth parents, though, so this doesn't really affect her. Until she is called to another small town by someone who claims to know something about her birth mother. But by the time she gets there, he's already dead. And that's when things get dirty...

This book was interesting in that all of the things that I liked about it were also things I didn't like. I find that often in books, characters are purposefully made to overreact to everything so that the drama can continue continue continue. And my reaction is often "NO ONE, not even a fake person, would EVER react that way." I don't like the overreactions, and I wish they would just react like a normal person. In Something About Sophie, it's almost as if the opposite is true - the drama is able to continue on in large part because the main character doesn't react. She seems perfectly at peace with herself about everything and yet bad things just keep happening. I liked this. But I also didn't like it. She was TOO at one with herself, TOO perfect, and it annoyed me sometime how she just didn't react or didn't care when it seemed like she should. It was SO the opposite of what I don't like that it ended up being equally bad.

Still, as a character, I liked her, along with all of the quirky people surrounding her. And even if SHE didn't care about her past and about why the things that were happening were happening, I cared for her.

I also enjoyed the way that the plot sometimes seemed to keep developing despite itself, if that makes sense. I had several ideas about who the culprit could be throughout (and in the end I was right), but I was never entirely sure and thus found myself dying to figure out what was going to happen! This thriller really had a thriller feel for me. Unfortunately, because of this, I was never really able to get in to the love story, which seemed totally forced and totally unreal (but then, I've never been one for books about love at first sight. I'm more into the love is a fight kind of books). It's fast and exciting with lots of twists and turns, but sometimes the twists and turns fell flat, because there seemed to be nothing provoking them.

Anyhow, all in all, I enjoyed the book, and if you're into romantic thrillers, I would definitely recommend this book. There are twists and turns all over the place, and it will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Summary: Answering a call that summons her to a stranger's deathbed, a reluctant Sophie Shepard is too late to hear what he was so anxious to tell her. What was so important that a dying man would think of her in his final moments? With the help of Dr. Drew McCarren, Sophie begins to dig into her past, setting off a chain of events that chills the quiet town of Clearfield, Virginia to its roots. With part of her wanting nothing more than to put Clearfield behind her and run back home, Sophie knows she won't rest until she discovers the truth. But growing closer to the residents also means uncovering their dark secrets: about the woman who gave her up for adoption, the mysterious part these strangers played, and the life she never knew she nearly had. Something About Sophie is an unforgettable story about the power of love...and the things people will do, both right and wrong, to protect it

Cover Story: For a (granted very very short) little while, I was okay with books that had a headless person on the cover. Then, I became annoyed. While I do, overall, think this cover is quite lovely. . .I just wish the body had a head. I really do.

Interview: Ophelia London, Author of Abby Road

I'm so excited to be hosting an interview with Ophelia London in the blog today. I greatly enjoyed her book "Abby Road," and now I've got some super fun interview questions with some super cute answers to share with you guys. Enjoy!

Brizmus Blogs Books:Hi Ophelia! Thanks so much for joining us today here at Brizmus Blogs Books! Abby Road was a wonderful book, and I’m psyched to have had the opportunity to read it for the blog. Tell us, what gave you the idea to write about a superstar obsessed with the Beatles?

Ophelia London: Thank you! I’m thrilled to be here! I got the idea for Abby Road many years ago. I was literally sitting around one day and wondered what it would be like if I became famous overnight. Come on, we’ve all done it, right? The first thing I ever wrote for the story was a scene of Abby being “discovered” by the manager of the recording studio where she worked. It ended up getting cut, but that was the beginning of it all. And the Beatles, well, I kind of stole that from my own life. :-)

BBB: From reading Abby Road, I got the feeling that you must have had SOME kind of experience with the paparazzi yourself. Is it true or are you just an amazing writer who does her research?

Ophelia London: Well, this is kind of embarrassing, and I’m only telling you because your blog rocks! I did a little “method acting” as I wrote the book. I kind of put myself in Abby’s superstar shoes and would walk around the mall, bookstores, wherever, pretending I was a celebrity incognito. Silly, I know, but it got me into her head and what I thought she might be feeling when she would try to do something as simple as go shopping and then be pounced upon by the paparazzi.

BBB:You can choose not to answer this question if you wish, but were any of the characters based on people from your life?

Ophelia London:Oh sure, I’ll answer it. My friends and family already know that I’m constantly stealing from them. Heh-heh. The character of Molly, Abby’s best friend/personal assistant, is bits and pieces of my closest friends. Lindsey, Abby’s older sister, is kind of a combo of my older and younger sisters. I wish I knew someone exactly like Todd, however. Still looking…

BBB: I haven’t read your Playing at Love series (though I’m definitely going to!), but it looks great! Can you tell us a little bit about how writing Abby Road was different from writing Playing at Love?

Ophelia London: Oh, thank you. I hope you enjoy it! Before Playing at Love, I wrote strictly women’s fiction, and had zero experience when it came to writing category romance. I hadn’t even read much of it. I loved the idea of writing a short, romance series, so I jumped in before I knew what I was doing. Woo-boy, there are so many rules when it comes to category, but my editor was very patient with me and I learned to love writing category.

BBB: Tell us a little bit about some of your works in progress.

Ophelia London:Right now I’m working on book three of my Perfect Kisses series (Playing at Love is book one). It’s been a blast. I’ve also got another women’s fiction going through submission and I’m even trying my hand at New Adult. I have a lot of irons in the fire!

BBB: Quick answers:

Favorite Band: The Beatles and McFly (I had to give you two, but they’re both British with 4 guys, so it’s okay!)
Literary Idol: Jane Austen
Favorite Music to Listen to while Writing: my book’s playlist or classical
Favorite place you’ve traveled: The Lake District in England
Favorite food to eat while writing: Trader Joe’s Powerberries
Favorite Book: “Pride and Prejudice”

BBB: I loved reading your “40 things to do before I turn 40” list on your blog. Can you tell us a bit more about that? It seems like you accomplished everything! Was there anything you were afraid you wouldn’t accomplish?

Ophelia London: About halfway through my 39th year, I decided that I wanted to really celebrate my 40th birthday—on a personal level. I started making a list on napkins and the backs of candy bar wrappers, but when the list started taking shape, I knew I needed to make it official, so I put it up on my blog and told everyone about it. I needed some serious accountability! “Teaching a class” was probably the one I dreaded the most. I mean, who LOVES to public speak? Not this girl! Funnily enough, I get the most comments about the “Letting my hairdresser to whatever she wants” one. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but I have such trust in my hair lady that I just sat back, sipped my Diet Coke, and let her have at it.

BBB: To continue with questions about the list – why’d you cross out “Go out on a date with a 25 year old one last time”? That sounds like fun!

Ophelia London: It does sound fun, doesn’t it? One of the interesting things I learned about myself while working on this list is what things are really important. When I started working on my list, hardcore, I decided that I didn’t want to be all cougar-y—as fun as that does sound!—yet I’d been meaning to start a serious recycling program at home. So…there ya go! Priorities!

BBB: Have you ever thought about branching out and writing something other than chick lit?

Ophelia London:Absolutely! I would love to write YA, maybe even some suspense, and like I mentioned earlier, I’ve got a little New Adult going on, too.

BBB: Now to finish – thank you SO much for joining us here today at Brizmus Blogs Books. It’s been a pleasure hosting you in the blog! To end, is there any question you’d like to be asked but never are?

Ophelia London: Thank you so much for having me, it’s been a pleasure! And yes, I don’t understand why no one has asked me why—since I look so much like Jennifer Anniston—that Brad Pitt and I aren’t together. It’s a puzzlement, right?

Well, that was fun, and I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did! Now, one question I wish I'd asked her that I didn't - what was her playlist for Abby Road? Was it entirely Beatles songs? I'd be curious to know! Another question I forgot to ask, she luckily answered in her own blog (check it out!) yesterday. When asked who she would get to play Abby, she picked Mandy Moore. I love it!

If you haven't already, don't forget to check out my review of Abby Road!

Review: Abby Road by Ophelia London

Title: Abby Road

Author: Ophelia London

Release Date: March 27, 2013

Rating:

Who Should Read It? Love a good chick lit with drama, romance, and excitement? Into good music? This book is definitely for you!

What I Have to Say:

I loved this book! I'll admit that, when I started this book, I wasn't sure what I was going to think. The summary made it sound amazing, but I found the initial writing style somewhat lackluster, and in the first 50 pages or so, things just felt somewhat fake to me. Superficial. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but still. . . And then things picked up, and I forgot all about everything I didn't like about the first 50 pages.

In essence, Abby Road is a coming-of-age story about Abigail Kelly, a famous musician going through a tough time, trying to find herself. She is completely broken which, despite her super-star status, makes her seem like a normal, totally relateable character. She's cute and quirky, with spunk and strength and back-bone, and her reasons for being broken are so real that it's easy to sympathize with her instead of just wanting her to get over it.

That said, I've always been a fan of books during which I regularly want to strangle the main character and scream at her all of the things that she's not seeing and that she should be doing differently. And Abby definitely had her moments. There were many times when I felt as if she was lacking a backbone (and I wasn't the only one, thus the drama of the book), and they were somewhat rough, but overall, they gave a much more real feel to the book.

More than just Abby being a wonderfully broken and lovable main character, Ophelia London really brings not just the characters, but also the places, alive. Abby takes a break from work in Seaside, Florida, the town where her sister lives. The beauty of the beaches and the majestic beach houses are brought to life through beautiful, flourishing descriptions. It is here that Abby meets the love-interest of the story, and the emotions and places are described with such loving care that I felt, at times, like I was there. Or at least I wished I was there, falling in love in the quaint town of Seaside.

Abby Road is a thrilling read full of clever witticisms, heartbreak and romance, drama with soothing moments, and totally (mostly, you've got your token evil bad guy) lovable characters.

Summary:Touted by the tabloids as the biggest rock star of our generation, Abigail Kelly is used to being in the spotlight. But beyond the glam of Hollywood, her world is falling apart. Still reeling from the death of her brother and wilting under the iron fist of Max, her manager, Abby banishes herself to the secluded beaches of Florida for the summer, thinking some anonymity and sunshine are just what she needs. What she finds, instead, is Todd, an ex-marine eager to embrace life after war. Together, Abby and Todd find the balance Abby’s life has been missing. That is, until Max resurfaces, demanding Abby return to Los Angeles to record her band’s newest album. As the pressures of public appearances, paparazzi, and late-night recordings start to mount, Abby will have to risk everything or lose the life she always dreamed of. Ophelia London’s ABBY ROAD is a love letter to music—both the kind you cherish and the kind you create—as well as a beautiful love story that proves even when everyone in the world can recognize your face, the only people who matter are those who can see inside your heart.

Cover Story:
It's super cute. It feels like a new musician trying to make her way in the great state of California, though, which kind of goes against the feel of the book. So, while I like it, it just didn't give me a true feel for what the book would actually be like. It evokes "true beginnings" as opposed to "fresh starts."

Note: This book was sent for me by review from Entangled Publishing. This in no way affected my review.

Review: Seventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman

Title: Seventh Heaven

Author: Alice Hoffman

Rating: 1/2

Who Should Read It?
It's really hard to say. This book is not at all what I expected. Somehow, I feel like saying "adults." I don't really know why, but it seems like maybe "adults," whatever that means, would enjoy it.

What I Have to Say:
This book really was NOT what I expected. I had never read anything Alice Hoffman before, and based on the reviews I had read of this book, I expected something beautifully real, magically simplistic. Unfortunately what I got was a motley crew of characters with whom I couldn't relate living what seemed to me to be awful lives and doing awfully stupid things.

This story is, overall, about a woman named Nora, a divorcee with two children who moves onto a street of married ladies who seem to think divorce is one of the worst possible things that could happen. Nora is an interesting character who could be more interesting but is unfortunately underdeveloped. Hoffman spends so much time jumping back and forth, back and forth between all of the characters living on the road that you never get a real feel for any of them. There are some for whom I THINK I am supposed to feel sympathy (Nora actually being one of these) but who I instead severely dislike. There is so much bad in all of the characters, and the author doesn't do nearly enough to show us that they may have a good side as well.

This wouldn't be a problem, except that it seems like she TRIES to. And fails. And so what we end up with instead is a story that trudges on for FAR too long while we wait for something to happen to characters we don't care about. And then when the book FINALLY ended, I still wasn't entirely sure why I had read it. Sure, some transformations and changes took place, but I never got a feel for the actual story, the actual plot, if there even was one.

That's a lot of negativity, but there were some things I appreciated about the book. Despite disagreeing with several of Nora's choices, I felt that the dilemmas she faced, the traumas she went through, were all very real. And there were times that I was amazed at the way she composed herself and reacted to, well, life. In Seventh Heaven, Hoffman also gives us a clear, if somewhat exaggerated, view of what life must have been like for a divorcee in the 50s. While this is not an issue I particularly think about, I can see how it might be appealing to some.

Also, despite seemingly trudging/sludging on at certain points, overall it was a fast, easy read. And the reading of it wasn't a completely unpleasant experience. I'd be interested to know if others had a better opinion of this book than I did.

Summary:
Nora Silk doesn’t really fit in on Hemlock Street, where every house looks the same. She's divorced. She wears a charm bracelet and high heels and red toreador pants. And the way she raises her kids is a scandal. But as time passes, the neighbors start having second thoughts about Nora. The women’s apprehension evolves into admiration. The men’s lust evolves into awe. The children are drawn to her in ways they can't explain. And everyone on this little street in 1959 Long Island seems to sense the possibilities and perils of a different kind of future when they look at Nora Silk...This extraordinary novel by the author of The River King and Local Girls takes us back to a time when the exotic both terrified and intrigued us, and despite our most desperate attempts, our passions and secrets remained as stubbornly alive as the weeds in our well-trimmed lawns.

Cover Story: Underwhelmed

Review: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

Title: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Author: David Mitchell

Rating:

Who Should Read It?This is a beautiful piece of historical fiction. Do you like Asian historical fiction? If so, read this book. Period. And just remember that it starts off a bit slowly.

What I Have to Say:
I'm going to be honest with you. I almost put this book down and didn't finish it - which is just NOT something I do. If I start a book, I finish it. Period. But the first 150 pages or so of this book were just PAINFUL for me to read. This book takes a look at what it was like in the late 1700s, early 1800s, on Dejima, a small Japanese island right off the coast of Nagasaki, where Dutch traders lived. It should be noted that this was a very xenophobic time for Japan, in which the Japanese traded with the Dutch and ONLY the Dutch (no other foreigners allowed), and the Dutch traders were RARELY allowed off Dejima and onto mainland Japan.

The book starts off on a positive note, when a female Japanese midwife manages to successfully deliver the baby of the magistrates concubine. The story then immediately turns to the Dutch living on Dejima. The lying, cheating, gambling, whoring Dutch who speak in such harsh, perverse slang that it took extreme effort to actually understand what they were saying and even more effort to actually want to understand what they were saying. I couldn't care less about these Dutch men and what happened to them, and if I had thought it was going to be about them, I would have put the book down.

Luckily (for me), though, there was the decent, virtuous Jacob de Zoet who stood out amoungst a group of repulsive slum. David Mitchell breathed such life in this character from the debut that, despite how awful I was finding the book (which, in retrospect, was sheer genius on the part of Mitchell, as it allowed the reader to get a real feel for what life must have been like then and what de Zoet must have been suffering with life on Dejima), I found that I kept reading just to figure out where things were going for him. And for Ogaewa, Aibagawa, Lord Enomoto, Dr. Marinus, and all of the rest of the large cast of characters that Mitchell put together (for a book with so many characters, he sure managed to breathe life into all of them).

And I am SO glad I did, because I sped through the last 400 pages of the book at record speed. The Japan of 1799 came alive for me, the customs, the characters, the way of living - everything was beautiful and brilliant, and I felt as if I was actually there. As the story progressed, de Zoet became more and more the good guy that the island of Dejima needed, and it became more and more evident that the villain wasn't Dejima itself, but a certain Japanese (whose name I will not mention for fear of spoiler).

As usual, David Mitchell has given us not just a compelling protagonist, but a compelling villain in a compelling setting complete with a rich plot that will leave you page-turning with desire up until the very end.

Aside from the usual David Mitchell brilliance, I thought one of these things that ultimately made this book so great was the way he dealt with the issues - the racism, the sexism, the religious differences, the blasphemy, etc. Today, we look at all of these things, and we think: moral issue. Back then, though, things were different, and they were even more different in Japan. And he dealt with these issues as they may have been dealt with back then, going into just the right amount of depth, while still managing to throw a modern day twist by actually acknowledging that these things are moral issues. It really brought to home the impossibility of life back then for a woman or a slave. Or, in Japan, even a person with thoughts of their own.

"The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" is full of laughs, it will make you think, make you cry, make you question, and leave you ultimately forgetting the you read about the characters in books (instead thinking that they were people you might have known in a previous life). Jacob de Zoet is a masterful storyteller with a masterful writing style and a creative mind to boot.

Summary:In 1799, Jacob de Zoet disembarks on the tiny island of Dejima, the Dutch East India Company’s remotest trading post in a Japan otherwise closed to the outside world. A junior clerk, his task is to uncover evidence of the previous Chief Resident’s corruption. Cold-shouldered by his compatriots, Jacob earns the trust of a local interpreter and, more dangerously, becomes intrigued by a rare woman—a midwife permitted to study on Dejima under the company physician. He cannot foresee how disastrously each will be betrayed by someone they trust, nor how intertwined and far-reaching the consequences. Duplicity and integrity, love and lust, guilt and faith, cold murder and strange immortality stalk the stage in this enthralling novel, which brings to vivid life the ordinary—and extraordinary—people caught up in a tectonic shift between East and West.

Cover Story: I love this cover! Oh so beautiful and oh so Japanese. The colors and the idea are just right. :-)