The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy #3) by Deborah Harkness

Goodreads Summary:

Bringing the magic and suspense of the All Souls Trilogy to a deeply satisfying conclusion, this highly anticipated finale went straight to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. In The Book of Life, Diana and Matthew time-travel back from Elizabethan London to make a dramatic return to the present—facing new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home, Sept-Tours, they reunite with the beloved cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency.

My Thoughts:
This is the final book in the All Souls Trilogy. This book left me wanting more of Diana and Matthew's story but at the same time, it felt like a good way to end their story. Diana and Matthew are some of my all-time favorite book characters. This book did not disappoint. Diana has come into her own and Matthew has started to learn to be less of an overbearing butthead. I love the pacing of this book, you don't feel rushed through the story.
Diana has embraced her history and her future. She stops living in fear of those who wish her and Matthew harm. I love that this book can be applied to real life in that sometimes it takes a while but once you accept yourself you are unstoppable. We really should reach out to those who are different from ourselves, life is enriched by differences.

I have read this book three times now. I love the whole series and I can't recommend this series enough. I know a lot of people refer to this series as a "fangless" vampire series. I disagree with this assessment. I will say that this series isn't like other with or vampire series, but that isn't a bad thing. I never got tired or bored with these characters. I am so tired of the predictable vampire books and the overly quirky and annoying witch books. If that is what you are looking for, you may want to skip this series.

While writing this review I was listening to Let's See What The Night Can Do by Jason Mraz.

Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy #2) By Deborah Harkness

Goodreads Summary:

IT BEGAN WITH A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.

Historian Diana Bishop descended from a line of powerful witches, and long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont have broken the laws dividing creatures. When Diana discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to Matthew. Now the fragile coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires, and humans is dangerously threatened.

Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realize that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen Elizabeth, the vampire falls back in with a group of radicals known as the School of Night. Many are unruly daemons, the creative minds of the age, including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot.

Together Matthew and Diana scour Tudor London for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782 and search for the witch who will teach Diana how to control her remarkable powers...

My Thoughts:

So this book is written for the history buffs. This is the most historical fiction book of the series. All of the books have large doses of history but this book actually takes place in the past. Diana has serious power, so much that her Aunts can't help her and every other witch that she meets can't help her or sees her as a threat. 

Here's the thing about this book. It makes a statement about segregation in gene pools. If you limit where your genes come from it limits evolution. While Deborah Harkness is applying this to witches, daemons, and vampires it could also be applied to humanity. Just look at the weak-chinned royal families we know and it is a case in point that limited genes are not a good thing. I like that she is making this social statement. We shouldn't try to limit where love comes from and we should embrace it when it shows up for us.

Diana and Matthew have to figure out what their love means for themselves and they are given that chance while in the past. Diana can time walk, which hello, hella awesome skill to have. Can you imagine all the awesome times and places you could go?!? Obviously, Deborah Harkness wishes she could go back in time, but that is predictable seeing as she is a historian.

I felt like this read was true to modern characters while also being true to historical characters. I think we see people from the past as stupid, closed off, and incapable of understanding complex thought. This is not how Deborah Harkness writes her characters. They are full-bodied people of their time, open and understanding and whole people. A lot of historical fiction forgets that people are of a time and place, but they are also just people. I guess that is the biggest complaint I have with a lot of historical fiction, too much of it is over the top and not enough of it is relate-able. I like a story that I can see myself in, regardless of the time.

I would recommend this book to historical fiction lovers, history nerds, and anyone who loves a good story.

While writing this review I was waiting for my Indian food. Mmm naan. Also, I have a bitch of a cold and nothing helps a cold like Indian food.

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.

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

Goodreads Summary:

A powerful retelling of Sleeping Beauty that is "heartbreaking and heartwarming."

An American Library Association "100 Best Books for Teens"
An American Library Association "Best Books for Young Adults"

Ever since she was a child, Rebecca has been enchanted by her grandmother Gemma's stories about Briar Rose. But a promise Rebecca makes to her dying grandmother will lead her on a remarkable journey to uncover the truth of Gemma's astonishing claim: I am Briar Rose. A journey that will lead her to unspeakable brutality and horror. But also to redemption and hope.

My Thoughts:

This book wasn't at all what I was expecting. I was looking for a fairytwist and I got this heartbreaking story that I think should be required reading when covering World War II. 

I don't want to spoil this book for anyone so I will just say that there are awful things told in this story. This being said I think they are told in a way that has more impact than just reading a list of things that happened during a war that was a long time ago. This story makes what happened real and what the long lasting legacy such atrocities leave not just on the history of one person but their whole family.

I recommend this book to anyone. I think it is well written and powerful. 

While writing this review I was listening to an episode of Gilmore Girls.

Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon

Goodreads Summary:

Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her... and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.

Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her...the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland... and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite or forever doom her timeless love.

My Thoughts:

I love these books. I am not normally into lady porn, historical fiction, or sci-fi. I guess when you put all of those things together with a strong female lead I totally love it. Claire is not your run of the mill leading lady. She swears like a sailor and doesn't put up shit from anyone, least of all Jamie (much to his displeasure and extreme pleasure).

I have heard other reviews had a hard time with some of the bits to this book that took the ridiculous to the next level from the previous books. I found the adventures and weird new characters a pleasure. This book takes you away from anything you expect and then keeps going. I can see why some people wouldn't love that, but I do.

Pirates, the high seas, and plot twists and turns that are all over the place and yet fluid. This is the first time I enjoyed reading a book that took place on ships. Poor sea sick Jamie. I can feel your pain man! I am hesitant to give too much detail because I don't want to give spoilers. 

I would recommend this to fans of the show Outlander, but please start with the first book. I don't recommend jumping into this series out of order. Diana Gabaldon is an amazing writer. She knows how to get your blood pumping in a variety of ways, meaning, she knows how to write a character you want to jump their bones and characters you want to jump with a knife. Damn that Laoghaire MacKenzie!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Goodreads Summary:

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery.

So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jewish fist-fighter in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

My Thoughts:

This book wasn't really what I was expecting. Not that I am sure what I was expecting, I just know this wasn't it. I was pleasantly surprised. I knew enough about the book to know that it was a heavy read which is part  of why I held off on reading it until my book club picked it a couple months ago.

Yes this is a heavy read, but at times it is just a story about a little girl and sometimes it was touching and other times it is funny. The perspective of Death is interesting as he is mostly detached from humanity, and death is just what Death does. This little book thief was a bright spot, someone Death didn't want to detach from. The last line of this book was the most interesting and powerful to me. "I am haunted by humans."

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

While writing this review I was listening to my coffee brew.

Dragonfly In Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Goodreads Summary:

With her now-classic novel Outlander, Diana Gabaldon introduced two unforgettable characters — Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser—delighting readers with a story of adventure and love that spanned two centuries. Now Gabaldon returns to that extraordinary time and place in this vivid, powerful follow-up to Outlander....

For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland’s majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones ... about a love that transcends the boundaries of time ... and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his....

Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire’s spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart ... in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising ... and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves....

My Thoughts:

The second installment in the Outlander Series definitely didn't grab me as quickly as the first. This isn't anything against the writing per se, mostly there just wasn't as much action as the first book. But the story telling was rich and we got to know our characters better while meeting new ones.

This book is definitely quite sad but that didn't make me want to stop reading it, but I did take it a bit slower than the first book. Jamie and Claire have some rocky times in this book, but they stay true to who they are.

Overall, I liked the book but it didn't hook me as fast and as hard as the first. I am also not running to read the third. I fully intend to read the next book but I think I need a break as these are seriously long and seriously serious books.

I would recommend the book to those who have read Outlander, just be ready for it to be a slower and different read than the first. I wouldn't recommend reading out of order, I am not sure it is a stand alone read.

While writing this review I was listening to my husband and dog snore.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Goodreads Summary:

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

My Thoughts:

Months ago my bestie asked me to DVR the new Starz show Outlander as it was based on one of her favorite book series. I was not at all interested in watching the show but I figured I could crochet or read while she watched it. As it turned out, I was immediately a fan of the show and decided to read the books. Who could blame me, have you seen Sam Heughan? The first time I saw him I wanted to find some screaming rocks to fall through. (Note: I told my husband this and he rolled his eyes and told me to take a flashlight in case it got dark looking for screaming rocks, yep that is marriage to the right guy, he gets me)

I read the first book not quite as fast as I thought I would but that had more to do with a hectic work schedule than the book. I really enjoyed getting a deeper insight to the characters I already liked from the show. After having read the book the series is in my opinion doing the story justice. I really think fans will like the show so long as they don't get too hung up on details, which is hard for super fans.

I am not normally a fan of historical fiction. I suppose I am actually understating that a bit. I often hate hate hate historical fiction. This book was definitely an exception to that. I wasn't a fan of the sheer number of rape, almost rape scenes in the book. I know that it happened all the time back in the day (still does) but it was hard for me to read. If you have an extra hard time with rape you may want to skip this book, well let's say skip the series.

I would recommend this book to historical fiction fans and romance fans. There is a fair bit of sex which I suspect is why the books are so popular. I recently read an article that described both the show and the books lady porn. I feel this is accurate in a lot of ways. 

While writing this review I was listening to that horrible Aston Kutcher movie Valentine's Day. 

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Goodreads Summary:
"A fresh present-day story infused with an original take on popular history. Forget broomsticks and pointy hats; here are witches that could well be walking among us today. This debut novel flows with poetic charm and eloquence that achieves high literary merit while concocting a gripping supernatural puzzler. Katherine Howe's talent is spellbinding." --Matthew Pearl, author of The Poe Shadow and The Dante Club A spellbinding, beautifully written novel that moves between contemporary times and one of the most fascinating and disturbing periods in American history-the Salem witch trials.

Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest--to find out who this woman was and to unearth a rare artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge.

As the pieces of Deliverance's harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and she begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem's dark past then she could have ever imagined.

Written with astonishing conviction and grace, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels seamlessly between the witch trials of the 1690s and a modern woman's story of mystery, intrigue, and revelation.

My Thoughts:

I read this book as the September pick for my book club. I knew that it would be a rough read for me as I don't generally enjoy historical fiction but I thought that would be a side note, and I think perhaps that was the case for some readers. I was seriously annoyed by the tone and time shift in this book. I wanted to stop reading it several times. I didn't even finish it in time for the book club discussion. Part of that was because of my new 6 days a week work schedule and part of it was a admittedly a motivation issue.

This book read like a grad student's paper (yes I am aware the main character is a grad student) in that it was dry and hard to swallow from time to time while randomly being really good.

As you can tell I didn't love the book. I think if you enjoy historical fiction you might like this read. Also if you have a thing for the Salem Witches you would likely enjoy this read. Be warned though, if you are like me and have PTSD from college, reading way way way too many academic articles you may be annoyed by this book. Also if you don't love it when a book flip flops between time and story lines you might have the same frustrations with this book. 

While writing this review I was listening to absolutely nothing and it was awesome.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

In short: We follow 17 year old Andy through her emotional tail of her brother's death, her potential suicide, and the heart ache of the French Revolution as she relearns history through the diary of another.

This is not a feel good book. That is not to imply it isn't good, because it is written quite well. I enjoyed the style of Jennifer Donnelly quite a bit. We are instantly curious about this girl Andy who seems way too intense for no reason. We find out later she was present at the accidental killing of her little brother. She has grown up with an eccentric Mother and absent Father. The only thing Andy can hold on to is her music.

Andy can kick some serious ass on the guitar. In this way she reminds me of several musicians I know. All of whom started playing the guitar when they were teenagers at the height of depression. Music is something that I lean on as well. I don't play, but I listen to music every second that I can. I can relate to getting lost on three or four chords of a song.

There is a fair amount of French Revolution history in this book. It made me realize how much I had forgotten about the French Revolution. I went back in my history lessons and expanded them to assist me with the sections of the story that take place in 1795 in Paris.

While, as I said previously, this is not a light read, it is worth the read. I wouldn't recommend this to someone who is currently depressed. There are A LOT of depression triggers in this book if you are prone to the doom and gloom I would be careful of your own mood while reading this book. I always wished that more book reviews gave heads up to us depressives.

I was listening to Norah Jones while writing this review.