A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness

Goodreads Summary:

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's the only creature who can break its spell.

My Thoughts:

I love this book. Actually I should just say that I love this series but since I intend on reviewing each book separately I will start with, I love this book. First, you can tell that the author knows her shit. She is a straight up academic and she doesn't dumb anything down. I admit to having to look up some of the history mentioned and from my limited research I could see that this lady was a legit historian. After reading her books I wish I was still in college and I was in her class. She may have changed my mind on my major of Political Science to History. Enough fangirling and on with my actual review.

Diana has a stick up her butt about her family history. Which frankly I can't blame her. Who wants to grow up with an infamous witch's name anywhere near Salem, Mass? No one. Halloween would be a massive pain in the ass. Not to mention state history in elementary school, middle school, and high school. Long story short Diana didn't love her witch connection and it really didn't help that the family was still full of practicing witches. 

Our girl Diana grew up thinking that she was shit at witchcraft. She couldn't even light a damn candle, which is basically the shoe tying of spells. So she gave up and became a school nerd, as ya do when life is a pickle. She decided to focus on history, specifically alchemist history. While researching a key note speech Diana is in England working in an Oxford library when she comes across a witchy book. Since Diana hasn't been training as a witch, much the opposite, she doesn't understand the power she feels coming from the pages. I really liked that the way this interaction with the book was described in the book. Sometimes when opening an old book I like to put my hand on the cover, and in a way, introduce myself to the book. No, I don't think that I am of the witchy variety. I just love books. And so does Diana. 

This book was written for book nerds, who like a good story, can find bits of themselves in each character, and appreciates that the author thinks we can keep up. There is nothing worse than when an intelligent writer breaks things down for the peanut gallery. That might sound snobbish of me but I like that not everyone will appreciate the approach of this book. I don't think this book was written for those who exclusively read trashy romance novels. 

Diana and Matthew give us the romance but I like that the characters treat each other as equals with different strengths. Sure Matthew gets annoying with his manly shit, but I think in a lot of ways that furthers his development as a character. He recognizes that he is being a butt-head and then he works on fixing it. Not all characters act like real people who are self aware. I love this aspect of Deborah Harkness's writing, her characters feel like real people. They are flawed, they can can annoying and cliched but they recognize these parts of themselves along with the extraordinary parts of themselves.

I would recommend this book to lovers of vampire books, witchy books, romance books, and historical fiction books. It could be classified in some ways as all of those genres but at the same time it doesn't fully fit into any of them. 

While writing this review I was listening to the first episode of Grown-ish.

The Program by Suzanne Young

Goodreads Summary:

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.

My Thoughts:

I started this book without reading the description or any reviews. Yep, I judged it off the cover and title. I wanted something that was a series book and dystopian, I got what I wanted.

So get this, teenagers are offing themselves in record numbers. All of a sudden a kid can go from totally normal to "infected" and committing suicide. The descriptions in the book make it sound like the normal roller coaster of emotions that teens go through will randomly accelerate and derail. The book doesn't really give an explanation for this, just some theories. I like that the explanation isn't handed to me up front. I like that I will have to figure it out with the characters in the book.

So here are the good bits of the book: decent character development, decent plot, decent storytelling.

Here are the bad bits: it is of course predictable, the author doesn't give us enough reason to thing Sloane is "infected" she just seems like normal teen boohoo (maybe that is my mean girl judginess coming out), and the love triangle bit is tired (though it is extra fucked up in this one so I will give props for that).

I like Sloane, I don't really connect with her as much as other leading ladies in other books but then they can't all be Lena (Delirium... you haven't read it? WTF get on that immediately). Sloane feels like a normal kid in a fucked up society. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing. I wish she was a touch more rebellious, but then I wish that for all teen girls.

It is interesting and totally fucked up that the program deletes memories and therefore people from your life. I would be horrified to know that whole chunks of my experiences were gone in the blink of an eye. I think it is interesting that in the books they accomplish this with pills. As we are a society so bent on popping pills to make us better I think it is important to remember that those same pills can cause serious damage. Also, this book brought up a lot for me in terms of what it means to have your free will taken from you. I don't think it is right that a 17 year old can be thrown into this deep of treatment without anything beyond the word of a parent. I have felt for a long time that consent in treatment, even for minors, is a sketchy grey area and that needs to be addressed. I can't say that the author intended me to think about these things or not. You may not pick up on that vibe when you read it.

I think Sloane's relationship and connection with James is believable. I do wish it wasn't soooooo traditional. For once can the girl be the strong one in a relationship? Cause hello, real life.

The ending of the book felt inevitable but not in a bad way. I believe we repeat things until we learn from them and if you delete lessons learned, you will have to relearn them.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I have gotten my hands on the second book. I will post about it when I have finished it and thought about it a bit. I would recommend this book to dystopian series fans. I am not sure the writing is strong enough to woo someone who isn't a fan of the genre.

While writing this review I was listening to my stomach growl. Clearly, I need chocolate.

Midnight, Texas Series by Charlaine Harris

Goodreads Summary:

Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

Stop at the one traffic light in town, and everything looks normal. Stay awhile, and learn the truth...

Goodreads Summary:

There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular — and very wealthy — clients dies during a reading.

Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight...

Goodreads Summary:

At Midnight’s local pawnshop, weapons are flying off the shelves—only to be used in sudden and dramatic suicides right at the main crossroads in town.

Who better to figure out why blood is being spilled than the vampire Lemuel, who, while translating mysterious texts, discovers what makes Midnight the town it is. There’s a reason why witches and werewolves, killers and psychics, have been drawn to this place.

And now they must come together to stop the bloodshed in the heart of Midnight. For if all hell breaks loose—which just might happen—it will put the secretive town on the map, where no one wants it to be...

My Thoughts:

So... I never read the Sucky Stackhouse books. No, I didn't spell that name wrong, I promise. I did watch the Sucky Stackhouse TV show aka True Blood. I wouldn't say that I really enjoyed the show. I thought it was mostly stupid, but I did like that attractive dudes took their clothes off. The show often gave me a good eye roll and from time to time a chuckle. 

When I saw that the same writer had another series adapted to a show I assumed it would be crap like True Blood. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the show. The NBC series isn't great TV but it does entertain and allow you to turn your brain off, if that is what you want. 

I thought I would give these books a go since the Midnight, Texas series is thus far better than the True Blood series. I checked all three out via my local library app and read them all in a couple of days. First, I should point out that this rapid reading was not due to the books being overly engaging. 

The first book was decent enough that I decided to continue to the second. The second was decent enough that I decided to continue to the third. If there was a fourth, I likely wouldn't have read it at the same time.

The first book I would give three out of five stars. It wasn't terrible, it wasn't great. I was for the most part interested in what was going on in the story. I will say that I prefer the TV characters better than those actually in the book. The characters in the book are lacking diversity and depth. The story is fine so long as you go in not expecting much.

The second book I would again give three out of five. Again, I would say I prefer the TV characters more than the book characters. The story again was okay but nothing special. I wouldn't say this book was well written, but I wouldn't say it was poorly written. 

The third book, again, would get three out of five stars. If I was prone to giving half ratings I would say I would give the third book a 2.5 rather than a full three stars. This is because Fiji had a larger part in this book. I want to smack Fiji. Girl, get a self esteem and learn to like your fat ass.

So over all, Charlaine Harris isn't a great writer. She does have interesting things in each book. She has some over the top and annoying things in each book. I found Fiji the most annoying. Manfred wasn't a fully developed person. Olivia's back story and current method of making money are linked but the link felt lacking some how. There are a lot of people who have fucked up childhoods who don't murder for money. I guess I would say I would prefer more in depth character development than these books offer. Also, I would prefer Manfred to be more like the NBC Manfred in description, ability, and action. 

It feels so weird to say that I prefer the adaptation rather than the source material. I am not sure I have ever felt that way before. 

I will say I don't regret reading the Midnight, Texas books. If she writes another, I will likely read it at some point. I am hoping for a season 2 of the NBC show. I don't really recommend these books unless you like a cheap fast read. I mean cheap in that you aren't expecting great literature. I wouldn't ever pay for these books. If you want to indulge in these read, do what I did, support your local library.

While writing this review I was listening to the Rachel Maddow show. My god I am glad that she is back from vacation. I don't love Joy filling in. Rachel is my kind of nerd. I have such a lady crush on her. I want her to be my second best friend (Obviously, first best friend position is filled).

Also, Happy New Year kids. I will attempt to update more often. Life has changed a bit for me these days. I am one of those adults who had to move in with their Parental Unit's house to work on paying down some debt. It has been a fucked up few months adjusting to living at home again. Who knew that at 36 you could feel like an angry teenager again? The Husband Unit is getting a greater understanding of why I am the way that I am. Yet to be determined if that is a good thing. I have been reading a shit ton and not posting about it. I will be catching up on some of my more recent reads but definitely not all. I don't think I remember everything that I read in the last year and some change since last I posted.

As a different side note I would like to say that while I am an American, Donald Trump does not represent my America. I haven't posted since the election that put him in office. Partially, because I just didn't know how to express all of the anger, fear, hurt, shock, frustration, disgust etc etc etc that I was feeling. I still don't. Just today the Orange One was flexing his nuclear dick at North Korea. Donald Trump very well could be the end of America. I hope he isn't. I hope we the people are stronger than him. I will fight against him and his bullshit agenda as long as there is breath in my body. I am glad that Sen. Orrin Hatch is retiring. We don't need more of congress getting on their knees to suck the cock of such a tyrant. I intend on using my voice, my vote, and my money to support the America that I love. It is hard to see that America these days, but sometimes I get a glimpse. If you too want a glimpse I recommend picking up What Unites Us by Dan Rather. I haven't finished it yet but so far he is making me feel better about my fellow citizens and country.