A Discovery of Witches

I mean this in the best possible way: this book is like is Twilight grew up. By which I mean that the vampire in this book finds himself besotted with an actual adult: a tenured professor of history with a particular interest in alchemy. They're somewhat more mature about their whirlwind romance, and Diana starts off with the backbone that Bella didn't find until halfway through the last book. But this is still a whirlwind romance between an over-protective and possessive vampire and a naive and somewhat ignorant woman who's only too happy to be swept off her feet.

I loved every minute of it.

It's not a perfect book. The exposition can get a bit clumsy. The romance is possibly too dark for some tastes and there's some questionable things about it. But this is fantasy, not real life. Sometimes you just want to get lost in a chilly story about a girl and the over-protective vampire who has fallen head over heels for her and, oh yeah, they have to save the world.

I've been reading so many short, quick books lately, that I'd nearly forgotten how nice it can be to just stretch out and luxuriate in a single book for a while. Harkness' world is full and rich, and I loved spending a week there, sipping wine and leafing through ancient texts with the characters. This is everything I want from a book about vampires, and I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the trilogy.

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