The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy #3)

Deborah Harkness Website

Book Details: Written by New York Times Best Seller Deborah Harkness. Published July 15th, 2014. 576 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at Amazon

Official Synopsis: After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the 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. 

In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

My Thoughts: A magnificent ending to a phenomenal series! In the finale to The All Souls Trilogy Diana and Mathew have traveled back home from 1590 to discover things are not how they left them.  With a death and birth of family loved ones Diana has a hard time accepting what has happened since they've been gone. Diana and Mathew come back changed for the better with Diana finally in control of her powers. With so much still to uncover before the little ones are born the whole family comes together; vampire, witches and daemons, to help find the book of life and its missing pages.

I just absolutely loved this book and thought that Deborah Harkness did an amazing job tying everything up. I was also very excited to see a couple characters from 1590, who Mathew and Diana had to leave behind, show back up to help finish the story off. I definitely could not put this book down and felt like I was apart of the story the whole time I was reading. I was very surprised and excited to see that the author also left the series open for more to come!! I cannot wait to see if she does anything more with the series!! I just cannot express how much I love everything about these books and the world Deborah Harkness has created. I would recommend this whole series to anyone who enjoys a great story!

Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy # 2)

Deborah Harkness Website

Book Details: Written by New York Times Best Seller Deborah Harkness. Published July 10th, 2012. 584 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at Amazon.

Official Synopsis: A Discovery of Witches introduced Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and reluctant witch, and the handsome geneticist and vampire Matthew Clairmont; together they found themselves at the center of a supernatural battle over an enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Drawn to one another despite longstanding taboos, and in pursuit of Diana’s spellbound powers, the two embark upon a time-walking journey.

Book Two of the All Souls Trilogy plunges Diana and Matthew into  Elizabethan London, a world of spies and subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the mysterious School of Night.  The mission is to locate a witch to tutor  Diana and to find traces of Ashmole 782, but as the net of Matthew’s past tightens around them they embark on a very different journey, one that takes them into heart of the 1,500 year old vampire’s shadowed history and secrets. For Matthew Clairmont, time travel is no simple matter; nor is Diana’s search for the key to understanding her legacy.

Shadow of Night brings us a rich and splendid tapestry of alchemy, magic, and history, taking us through the loop of time to deliver a deepening love story, a tale of blood, passion, and the knotted strands of the past.

My Thoughts: Again simply amazing, even though there is nothing simple about this book. The world the Deborah Harkness has created is a masterpiece of detailed information and history. I could not put this book down and I didn't want to. One of my very favorite series!! I just want more and I am counting down the days until The Book of Life is released next week!! There are so many amazing pieces to this puzzle I couldn't believe how much I had forgotten since I last read this book. So much happens it's impossible to write a synopsis that would do this book justice, so for this review I used the official one. Vampires, witches and daemons all working together and against each other all at once. Both Diana and Mathew get a reunion with family long gone but never forgotten, heartbreaking and heartwarming simultaneously. I just wish I could think of more to say the would accurately portray the genius of this story and all it's parts. Love! Love! Love!!!

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1)

Deborah Harkness Website

Book Details: Written by New York Times Best Seller Deborah Harkness. Published February 8th, 2011. 579 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at Amazon

Synopsis of A Discovery of Withes:  Diana Bishop, our leading lady in The All Souls Trilogy, hails from a long line of powerful Bishop witches. While studying in the Bodleian Library for an upcoming lecture she comes across an enchanted manuscript, Ashmole 782. After a life worth of denying her witchey descent and anything paranormal the last thing she expected was it to come looking for her.  Diana has caught the attention of the magical community; witches, vampires and daemons, and there is no going back. That's when she meets the mysterious and brilliant vampire, Matthew De Clermont; changing her life forever. 

The more time Diana and Mathew spend together the harder they fight against their true feelings for each other. Mathew becomes very protective of Diana and realizes the growing trouble brewing in Oxford and takes her away to his family home in France. Diana is unaware of The Congregation, devised of three vampires, three witches and three daemons, who rule over all creatures. One of the main rules is that species are not to mix with each other and that includes Mathew and Diana's growing relationship.  Once Diana discovers these rules her feelings for Mathew are too far past the point of turning back. Now under the protection of the De Clermont family Diana has to win the approval of Mathew's mother Ysabeau, who is not very happy about their forbidden relationship and the trouble it is sure to cause the family. 

Diana is taken from the safety of the De Clermonts by a witch of The Congregation and tortured in order to reveal the secrets of her power. While she is being tortured the ghosts of her mother and father appear to talk her through the pain and help her remember a story from her childhood. After Mathew realizes he cannot protect her from her own people they leave for her aunt's, Sara and Emily, house in Madison, New York. There they work on harnessing all of Diana's powers and controlling them. A discovery is made involving Diana's blood that could change the world of creatures forever.  Diana and Mathew travel back to Mathew's past after another attack on their lives. Hoping it will give them the time they need to find Ashmole 782 and a witch who can help Diana with her magic.

My Thoughts: I am just in awe of the history and detailed information that's just pours from Deborah Harkness. This book is beyond amazing and has me just as captivated the second time around. I could not set it down for a second, any extra moment I had I spent reading more. The connection between Diana and Matthew is electric, they are my most favorite fictional couple out of any book I have read. It is so easy to visualize everything that is happening and where thanks to the authors attention to detail. The relationships between all the characters are so lively it feels like you are there with them watching it all happen. I just absolutely love this series so far and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a great story!!