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Witches, Vampires, Daemons...Oh My!

Today I received the second volume in the trilogy by Deborah Harkness Shadow of Darkness in the mail. I was very excited because I had been waiting for this book to come out since reading A Discovery of Witches last year. How I usually come across a good book is by looking at the title and then reading for the first few lines of the first chapter and the synopsis of the book in a book store - I love book stores and books themselves and want to eventually have a room filled wall to wall with books.  For this book, however, I discovered it in a magazine, Glamour, I believe. When reading their review of the book I was instantly hooked and had to have it. When I finally read it, it certainly did not disappoint. 
A Discovery of Witches is the first book of the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. In this first book, the reader becomes acquainted with Diana Bishop, a historian who has tried her entire life to be normal after the sudden death of her parents when she was seven, and Matthew de Clermont, a vampire geneticist. Through both of their need and effort to find a powerful book - Ashmole 782, whose contents were believed to hold clues to the past and future of all beings - and pure destiny, the two fall in love, but it isn't happily ever after. A witch and a vampire in love goes against all the rules put in place by the Congregation - the Congregation is made up of three witches, three vampires and three daemons (highly intellectual beings). Together, with the not so reluctant help of their family and friends, they embark on a journey to stay together, keep the world of non-humans from going extinct, and reacquainting Diana with her magic that for so long she has kept hidden.
Deborah Harkness, being a history scholar, uses a lot of historical fact, characters, and places throughout her book.
1. Diana's relative Bridget Bishop was the first to die in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.
2. Matthew's character was friends with Darwin, Shakespeare and many other famous people throughout history - most likely due to his being born in and around 500 A.D.
3. When talking about Matthew's past, she uses actual historical events - the bubonic plague, the Knights Templar, the Crusade, World Wars and so on and so forth.
4. Some places she describes are Oxford University and the Bodleian Library - which is part of Oxford where Diana is doing her research.
Though I do not want to go into too much detail as to what happens in this book, I will say that it is a good read and if you are into witches, vampires and romance, I highly recommend this book.

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