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stavoosh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow. I felt like a child reading my favorite series while reading this book. It has every element I love: beautiful prose, logical storyline, high stakes, imaginative world-building, intellectual content, and not to mention the romance of all romances.
The story follows Diana, who studies the history of alchemy. The witch who represses her magic comes across an enchanted book in Oxford and returns it when she is unable to understand its magic. The plot takes off once creatures start pressuring her to recall the book for their own selfish reasons. Matthew, an old and well-respected vampire, originally wants the book for his own noble reason and they proceed to fall in love in their quest to understand the book, why everyone wants it, and why Diana cannot control her magic.
Diana and Matthew's love lifted off the pages and felt sincere in a magical way. I loved the slight enemies to lovers and later, a touch of fate. Harkness takes care to develop these characters with all their faults, personalities, and past creating dynamic characters whose actions made sense.
I loved the historical aspects of the book. I learned so much about European history which made reading such a fun learning experience. I also loved the way vampires, witches, and daemons were very sophisticated creatures that were explained adequately.
As someone who watched the show before reading the book, many of my questions were answered and I was very intrigued the whole way through. I prolonged this read as much as possible because I didn't want it to end.
I definitely recommend this book to people who like historical settings, calls to philosophical and historical texts, a plot of mystery, fantasy that blends into the real world, and romance!
The story follows Diana, who studies the history of alchemy. The witch who represses her magic comes across an enchanted book in Oxford and returns it when she is unable to understand its magic. The plot takes off once creatures start pressuring her to recall the book for their own selfish reasons. Matthew, an old and well-respected vampire, originally wants the book for his own noble reason and they proceed to fall in love in their quest to understand the book, why everyone wants it, and why Diana cannot control her magic.
Diana and Matthew's love lifted off the pages and felt sincere in a magical way. I loved the slight enemies to lovers and later, a touch of fate. Harkness takes care to develop these characters with all their faults, personalities, and past creating dynamic characters whose actions made sense.
I loved the historical aspects of the book. I learned so much about European history which made reading such a fun learning experience. I also loved the way vampires, witches, and daemons were very sophisticated creatures that were explained adequately.
As someone who watched the show before reading the book, many of my questions were answered and I was very intrigued the whole way through. I prolonged this read as much as possible because I didn't want it to end.
I definitely recommend this book to people who like historical settings, calls to philosophical and historical texts, a plot of mystery, fantasy that blends into the real world, and romance!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Animal death and Panic attacks/disorders
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I was expecting a fast-paced, plot-focused fantasy novel. What I got was a very cozy paranormal romance. This book was filled with so many scenes of dining together, going for long walks, family bonding, and dark academia (my favourite). I wasn’t a fan of the insta-love & slow burn, which I’m hoping will ramp up more in the next book, which I do plan to read. Overall, a nice read that I’d recommend to anyone who likes cozy fantasy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
ruthee's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Unlike others, I didn’t actually mine the pace or world-building…but the abusive relationship (red flag, after red flag, after red flag) framed as ‘that’s just the way vampires are, and my love is enough’ was so bad it just kept taking me out of the story.
It’s not often (if ever) that I completely prefer a tv or film adaptation to the original material, but in this case, my love of the tv series was what got me through this.
In audiobook, the narrator was good, except when it came to any accent that wasn’t their own. The English/Scottish/Australian ones ranged between literally lol to offensive…so strange for a professionally produced book.
It’s not often (if ever) that I completely prefer a tv or film adaptation to the original material, but in this case, my love of the tv series was what got me through this.
In audiobook, the narrator was good, except when it came to any accent that wasn’t their own. The English/Scottish/Australian ones ranged between literally lol to offensive…so strange for a professionally produced book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
u2u's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Loved this man, not usually into romances but this is more adventurous than anything. It’s slow at first and takes some time to think about what u have just read but besides that. 9/10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Infertility, Violence, and Pregnancy
jaynovara's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Medical content, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
baearles's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and War
bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, and Pregnancy
aduqu's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This book is perfect for adults who grew up reading supernatural YA romance novels.
Is it a literary masterpiece? No.
Do I think the love interest is sexist at times? Yes, but I have hope that will improve.
But overall, it's a fun read with a really fun and interesting world. It's exactly what I was looking for, and I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series!
Is it a literary masterpiece? No.
Do I think the love interest is sexist at times? Yes, but I have hope that will improve.
But overall, it's a fun read with a really fun and interesting world. It's exactly what I was looking for, and I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Alcohol
katvou's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Pregnancy
bookishchef's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
This book is like Twilight.
But without the love triangle.
And somehow even more toxic.
You thought Edward stalking Bella was creepy?
Meet Matthew Clermont! He is actually mentally and physically abusive to our bland Mary Sue protagonist named Diana.
If you're Matthew, life is easy.
Diana has a panic attack? Threaten her life.
Diana is feeling scared? Threaten her life.
Diana is feeling horny? Threaten her life.
Why? Because you just cannot help yourself of course. After all, it is sooooo hot when men treat women like
A. fragile objects they're supposed to control and protect.
B. things to literally kill.
This book perpetrates the idea that men cannot help themselves from abusing, controling, and commanding women.
Worst thing is, that every time Diana goes against Matthew's wishes, she is immediately punished by the plot. Which only confirms that women are supposed to listen to the men in their lives according to this book.
I have no clue how I, the reader, was supposed to find any of this romantic. All of the scenes were either highly uncomfortable or straight up abusive.
The excuse of "he just can't help himself" is as old as time and has been used time and time again to excuse shitty behaviour from men.
And Diana, the MC, decides that this excuse is not an excuse at all. She seems to think this is actually the way the world works. She doesn't even take the horrible "I can fix him" attitude that so many romance MCs take. Instead she just completely accepts Matthew as the toxic asshole he is and gives up every part of her life to listen to him and conform to his ideas of an ideal wife.
So yeah this book stole the toxicity from Twilight and made it 10x worse.
You know what else it stole?
THE WEIRD BABY PLOTLINE
Yup, you heard me correctly.
This author really looked at Renesmee and went "wow that's such a cool plot point".
Remember how Bella wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant because Ed was a vampire? Well, same goes for Diana in this story. For a solid 80% of the book, we hear nothing about pregnancy rates between witches and vampires. (Diana is a witch and Matthew is a vampire)
Matthew refuses to have penetrative sex because of *plot*, and Diana gets frustrated because of this. And then suddenly out of NOWHERE it is revealed that witches and vampires can't have babies together BUT Diana has *special* DNA which means she is able to conceive with Matthew. Matthew supposedly didn't know this, so his aversion to penetrative sex was completely unrelated.
Even so, this entire plotpoint seems to exist to make Matthew right once again, and to rip off Twilight.
Truly do not understand why this gets 4+ stars on Goodreads.
ALSO OMG WINE GETS MENTIONED MORE THAN THE MC'S NAME I STG
But without the love triangle.
And somehow even more toxic.
You thought Edward stalking Bella was creepy?
Meet Matthew Clermont! He is actually mentally and physically abusive to our bland Mary Sue protagonist named Diana.
If you're Matthew, life is easy.
Diana has a panic attack? Threaten her life.
Diana is feeling scared? Threaten her life.
Diana is feeling horny? Threaten her life.
Why? Because you just cannot help yourself of course. After all, it is sooooo hot when men treat women like
A. fragile objects they're supposed to control and protect.
B. things to literally kill.
This book perpetrates the idea that men cannot help themselves from abusing, controling, and commanding women.
Worst thing is, that every time Diana goes against Matthew's wishes, she is immediately punished by the plot. Which only confirms that women are supposed to listen to the men in their lives according to this book.
I have no clue how I, the reader, was supposed to find any of this romantic. All of the scenes were either highly uncomfortable or straight up abusive.
The excuse of "he just can't help himself" is as old as time and has been used time and time again to excuse shitty behaviour from men.
And Diana, the MC, decides that this excuse is not an excuse at all. She seems to think this is actually the way the world works. She doesn't even take the horrible "I can fix him" attitude that so many romance MCs take. Instead she just completely accepts Matthew as the toxic asshole he is and gives up every part of her life to listen to him and conform to his ideas of an ideal wife.
So yeah this book stole the toxicity from Twilight and made it 10x worse.
You know what else it stole?
THE WEIRD BABY PLOTLINE
Yup, you heard me correctly.
This author really looked at Renesmee and went "wow that's such a cool plot point".
Remember how Bella wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant because Ed was a vampire? Well, same goes for Diana in this story. For a solid 80% of the book, we hear nothing about pregnancy rates between witches and vampires. (Diana is a witch and Matthew is a vampire)
Matthew refuses to have penetrative sex because of *plot*, and Diana gets frustrated because of this. And then suddenly out of NOWHERE it is revealed that witches and vampires can't have babies together BUT Diana has *special* DNA which means she is able to conceive with Matthew. Matthew supposedly didn't know this, so his aversion to penetrative sex was completely unrelated.
Even so, this entire plotpoint seems to exist to make Matthew right once again, and to rip off Twilight.
Truly do not understand why this gets 4+ stars on Goodreads.
ALSO OMG WINE GETS MENTIONED MORE THAN THE MC'S NAME I STG
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Misogyny, Torture, Grief, and Pregnancy
Minor: Child death