SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion

Starting on August 1st and reading until the 12th, Jeann and Myself will be buddy reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, Anybody is well come to join us :)

If I don't read it beforehand, I'll join you all :)

Sure the more the merrier :0) I know I'll have a hard time holding off reading this one but I just have way to much going on to start early ...lol

I think I might join you all as well! I will be back to reality at that point (summer's almost over... sad day), hopefully I will have time. But since you are doing it for a couple weeks that should work for me!

Great! Looking forward to chatting with you then :)

I might join you as well, this has been on my to-read list for a while.

I loved this book...might have to do a reread with you all since the second book just came out.

I'll be peeking in, if I don't re-listen to it with you. BTW, the audiobook was awesome, especially when it got to the meat of the story.

Yay sounds like quite a few of us are interested in reading this book!

Lisa Kay wrote: "I'll be peeking in, if I don't re-listen to it with you. BTW, the audiobook was awesome, especially when it got to the meat of the story."

Audiobook was good and still available on iTunes for $5.95.

I just started it early yesterday as I had finished my other book earlier. It's a big hefty one though, I'm only on page 10 and was reading for an hour or so.

I ended up going for the audiobook. I will probably start it tomorrow in my way to work.

Just started Chapter 5, I'm enjoying the excellent writing and the mix of supernatural beings (vampires, witches, etc.)

Besides that, nothing much has happened so far.

Yes, Jeann, it takes awhile to take off, I think.

I'm planning on starting this, this afternoon after I finish my Zumba workout and my supper my days have just gotten busier since I decided to start working out ...lol

Oooh good on ya Kat for working out!

Chapter 9: (view spoiler)[ That's weird, I was really enjoying the beginning as it reminded me of The Historian but now all of a sudden it's turned into a Paranormal romance? Hope it's purely for character building and not like this all the way through. (hide spoiler)]

In the middle of Ch. 4 and like Jeann, am enjoying all of the supes. I like the author's take on witches. I really like Diana but that girl needs to lighten up. Maybe Matthew can help her relax a little ;)

Just reached Chapter 10, seeing some signs of (view spoiler)[Twilight/50 Shades oh no!! Whether that comes with the vampire territorialism when hunting their prey (or being attracted to someone that is not their own kind), I'm not liking this whole thing with Clairmont suddenly finding that he's in love with Diana and that he's a danger to her, etc. There was barely any build up besides him stalking her and the yoga session and I think him saying that was a little premature.

I really hope this doesn't go pear shaped in terms of being similar to Twilight because I was really enjoying everything before then. (hide spoiler)]

I clicked on your spoiler then clicked back really fast! I wanted to see a little but not too much. :) (view spoiler)[I saw your Twilight comment and that's something I was afraid of. I'm glad there isn't instalove though. They are attracted to each other at some level at this point but they aren't ready to get married after 2 seconds. (hide spoiler)] So far (ch.5), there has been a lot of world and character building. Not too much in the plot department. But I'm not finding myself to be bored. Which is good. I am listening to it and I like the narrator. Whenever I listen to a book I hear THAT particular narrator's voice in the other books I am READING!

Haha I know it's tempting but I spoiler tag everything just in case ;) I don't think there was much evident of that earlier on, but definitely when you reach Chapter 8-9 you'll start to see what I mean. I hope it's just a passing thing though.

That's why audiobooks weren't for me - I tend to read books with a certain voice in my head but once I've heard the narrators voice thats all I can hear!

Just started (only on chapter 3). I'm really loving the writing so far but not much is happening besides background on Diana. Did anyone else find it funny that vampires are supposedly very into science and academia? Vampires = scholarly? Cracked me up LOL :)

I'm in the middle of Ch.6 and every time Diana does something with Matthew she has to remind us that she wouldn't normally ever do this with a vampire. But why? We haven't really learned why witches don't interact with vampires (or demons). I mean, besides the small problem that they drink blood. :) But every author/series has different nuances with the supes and I'm just curious about why witches are so prejudice against demons and vampires. Or did she explain this when I was trying to listen to my book while hearing, "Mama! Mama!" in the background? Which totally could have happened.

Hmm I think I've just reached Chapter 13 and I haven't really found any particular reason why. I think we are just meant to assume that vampires, witches and daemons live in a segregated society and don't really interact with each other.

Okay thanks. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss something! It's hard when listening because I can't go back and check. Not while driving anyway.

@Komal - Yes that was funny! And now he is inviting Diana to yoga??

Grrrr...I still haven't had the time to start this yet :( my work week has just been crazy It's a good thing I'm allowing myself 2 weeks to get this one done...lol

Hehe the yoga thing is hilarious :D I like how the author is so descriptive with what Diana is doing at the time! Like the food and the wine later :)

That's alright Kat, we have the buddy read over 2 weeks for that reason. I started a bit earlier because I have a buddy read next week as well.

I'm still waiting for the awesome science/historic stuff to come up, but at the moment it's just PNR at the moment which was a bit unexpected.

I'm on Chapter 13 (view spoiler)[I'm starting to notice the similarities to Twilight as well. Mathew is starting to resemble a more moodier version of Edward. Also is it me or is Mathew kind of snobby? Let me know what you guys think. (hide spoiler)]

Oooh I've read the whole book and the second as well. They are awesome!! Enjoy :)

I'm on Chapter 35 and I must say if you didn't like the book at Chapter 13 then pretty much the whole book is going to be like that. Komal - (view spoiler)[Definitely the Twilight resemblance, something about Diana annoys me, perhaps her idleness or her feigned innocence or something.

Yeah Matthew is kind of snobby, especially with "look at all the awesome wine I have and all the awesome food I can feed you" (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 23 spoiler (view spoiler)[Think I'm missing something about Ysabeau's suddenly taking care of Diana, I mean she started out despising Diana having a history of not liking witches and all of a sudden she's all protective of her? Wonder what happened. Other people tell Diana not to trust Ysabeau, so I have a feeling something is going to come of it as yet. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 28 spoiler (view spoiler)[ HAHAHA he comes home, says he loves her and then they are Married?! That's pretty hilarious, provided it feels like yesterday when they just met.

The Twilight similarity is really hitting me hard. Girl meets vampire boy who wants to eat her, he tries to keep her safe, they decide that nothing can come between them, she is taken care of by his sheltering family, vampire is rich and stuff, the only way they can be together properly is if he turns her into a vampire? The witch/history stuff is just a bonus. It's definitely written well and everything but I feel like I've read this story before. (hide spoiler)]

Hi everyone, I'm about 83% of the way done (Chapter 36) and I'm on the home run. I must say, I didn't expect this to be a romance book, more expected a richly inventive and descriptive novel from the blurb. I don't mind it too much though, except for some criticisms that I made above about what it's similar to. Even though it's a big book, I haven't gotten bored or felt the need to put it down.

I think in some places it could be condensed a lot more, ie. about the yoga or food but I did enjoy reading the descriptions on what was happening. There's a lot of detail that goes into Diana's world.

About Diana, even though she's apparently super smart and a professor, I find she still acts overly juvenile in some cases. There's a quality about her that is meant to be incredibly innocent and naive, but that's probably how you balance out an overbearing, posessive man.

On that note, Matthew doesn't really do it for me. I don't like how he tells Diana what to do and just thinks that he knows what's best for her. I could say more about this but don't want to provide any spoilers or anything.

Just finished the book, wow the last few chapters came out of nowhere, I have no idea what just happened.

Chapter 39 (view spoiler)[Who the heck are all of these people that just randomly turned up? They are somehow related to Diana in some way "ancestors" but I'm not sure how or where they turned up and their significance? (hide spoiler)]

Here's my review which contains my thoughts on the whole book - contains spoilers so you may want to wait til you've finished. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I've just started Chapter 6. It's such a strange book, don't you think? It hasn't completely grabbed me yet but I'm intrigued, I have no idea what direction she'll take this. I thought the (view spoiler)[bit about her brief acting career and the effect she had on the cast (hide spoiler)] was really neat.
I also liked the whole vampires make good scientists part too, it makes sense since they're alive for centuries.

Sidenote: Are turtlenecks popular in America? Because so many heroines wear them, including Diana and I swear no one wears them in real life. Why would a woman, especially in her 20s wear them? I mean of all the clothing to choose from.

Oh my word, I'm nearly 100 pages in and I thought her name was Debra. And then I realised that the author's name is Deborah and was thinking how weird to name the main character after yourself but slightly change the spelling. Then I realised I'm an idiot after checking and finding that her name is Diana.

lol Josie that's hilarious! I'm not too sure about turtlenecks, no one wears them here in Aus because it's quite warm weather.

I'm so so sorry guys I'm going to have to back burner this read until next month I just found out today my dog has Lyme Diease so Pretty much all my spare time is going to be taken up with her :( but I will come back and post when I finally do Get to read this :)

oh my god Kat I'm so sorry to hear that!! I'll have you and the doggy in my thoughts :(

Thanks Jeann, she has to be on medication for a month before she has to go back for more blood work to see if we caught it in time, my poor little girl, she's a real trooper though :)

Just got through Chapter 12 and things are starting to move a little faster. The author still spent a good 15 minutes describing the food, but at least we were able to learn about the manuscript. (I don't know how to spell anything since it's audio, so I'm sticking with words I know:) I really do like Matthew so far. He isn't too alpha (is there such a thing? *sigh*) and isn't trying to dictate everything Diana is doing (view spoiler)[but from reading earlier comments that may change. :/ Aaaaannnnnnd, here comes the Twilight/50 Shades "I am a monster and can't be what she needs. Let's not even ask her what she wants" part. (hide spoiler)] But, so far so good, I'm just waiting for the pace to pick up a bit. At this rate I will be listening to it for the next 4 weeks!

Josie! LOL! I don't know if many women where turtlenecks. Certainly not in Arizona where I am. Maybe in the New England area. But I was thinking the same thing about TEA!! Do they really drink that much tea? I would be running to the bathroom every 5 minutes if it were me. TMI, but that's what I keep thinking every time she talks about how she has her tea for 5 minutes.

Sorry to hear about your dog, Kat :(

I've never seen anyone in the UK wear turtlenecks either! So if they're not in Aus, UK or Arizona, is it just an author thing?
Lol, I have to admit that I'm a bit of a tea drinker. It is a big thing here, it's like our answer to everything. Have a problem? Come in and have a cup of tea!

I'm near to Chapter 10 and it's still pretty slow. Does everything have to be described in that much detail?

I don't know how I feel about Matthew at the moment. I was a bit confused with (view spoiler)[the sudden change in wanting to find out about the manuscript. When she said:

"Look," I said, my need for information about the manuscript pushing all other thoughts aside, "we're both interested in Ashmole 782..."

I thought, since when? I thought she wasn't interested and now suddenly she is? It was quite an abrupt change. (hide spoiler)]

Hmmm... good point about Diana's interest in the manuscript. I hadn't caught on to that. I got through Ch. 13 and 14 this morning and enjoyed hearing about Matthew's lab and his research. I know what you mean about the detail. I get it. Matthew can sense every exact taste in a glass of wine. I don't need to know about every glass of wine. I'm still enjoying their relationship. I don't mind the PNR aspects of the story. But I am enjoying the history and science more than I thought I would. I can be kind of a smut slut :)

Lol, Breann! I'm not a big wine drinker so that bit will fly right over my head. I'm surprised it's so... romancy. I went into it expecting no romance at all actually. I haven't read any today, maybe I'll try to set a target and get to Chapter 15 tonight.

I read the wine bit, it was so ridiculous. Seriously, this book could have been halved if you take out the pointless details. I'm a bit bored tbh, I'm hoping it picks up. Diana's not a very engaging heroine so that probably makes the slow pace of the book worse.

On a different note, I can't believe Matthew is (view spoiler)[over 1500 years old. That would freak me out but Diana doesn't seem to worry at all. Would he not act weird? I thought he'd be about 200-500 years old so that surprised me. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 22 (view spoiler)[Bella and Edward just had their confrontation with the Volturi I mean Diana and Matthew had a confrontation with the congregation. So sorry. Anyway, I'm not so sure I'm liking Matthew's attitude about the whole thing. He isn't even going to try and be with her? He is just kicking her to the side and doing what he needs to do back in Oxford? She isn't even fighting them with this! She is staying behind! Up until this point I was enjoying their relationship, it was very sweet. I understand he is trying to do the big bad vampire I am your alpha thing, but he wasn't very alpha male before this and now all of a sudden he is ordering her around like he's been doing it all along. I would like to get back to Matthew's lab thank you very much. It was much better there. (hide spoiler)] But I do LOVE the narrator for this one! Glad I decided on audio version.

(view spoiler)[HAHAHA you just made me laugh Breann about the Volturi thing! I found those chapters very boring where she was staying back and developing her relationship with Matthew's mother. We wanted to know what Matthew was doing! Most of the time she just mopes. And also because Matthew isn't there, something major happens too. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 29 (view spoiler)[They finally had The Sex. At least I think they did. There weren't many specific details. No biting during an orgasm? What kind of vampire sex is that? Like I said, smut slut.

I was a little thrown for a loop with the whole marriage thing. Diana seemed pretty okay with it. I know they are in lurve and everything but they have barely known each other, what, a month? If that? I am just waiting for Matthew to find out that she was taking a nosey look through his things. But like Diana said, he did it to her and we all know two wrongs absolutely make a right, right?

The chapter ended with her being snatched up by a witch. Hopefully, we will get to some action now. Sucks the chapter ended in a cliffhanger just as I pulled into my driveway. I will probably have to wait until tomorrow now! :( (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[Nope, they didn't have The Sex. They never did in that book, and it's explained later on when they touch on DNA and everything like that.

The whole insta-love and insta-marriage thing was a bit too full on for me but hey if Diana's fine with it then it must be ok right? lol (hide spoiler)]

Thanks. I wasn't sure. And this is something I like to be SURE OF!

LoL the way it was briefly covered too you'd never even know it. The action got me excited too but not for long...

Less than 5 hours left... I'm getting there! :) I'm on my phone so I can't spoiler tag anything. Be warned.

Again, I am so glad I chose the audio version. Sara is just too funny and the narrator really helps you feel how snippy and short she is towards others. I love it when she is annoyed, cracks me up. I've enjoyed the time Diana and Matthew are spending in the Bishop house. Love how the house is alive. We're finally getting back to Ashmole 782 after our short visit into PNR land (which I enjoyed *almost* every minute of). I'm in the car listening saying WTF??? And Holy Shit!!! Good thing nobody can hear me :) but I love the twists and turns that are finally happening and her parents role in the manuscript. When her mom told Diana about her Dark Prince I can't help but go aww! The pace has definitely picked up and things are moving quickly! Can I just sit in my car and listen all day? No? Fine. I took a nosey peek at the description for book 2 and am now super excited to read it!

Hey guys, wondering if anyone wants to read the sequel next month?