I often get my book fix through audiobooks because I just don’t have enough time during the day to sit and read for any significant length of time. One of the audiobooks I listened to recently was A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. The publishers summary (which of course are always biased) says it’s a sensual and historical mystery about a witch and a vampire basically breaking the rules that prevent their love. 

While the book started out somewhat interesting – a scholar in medieval alchemy and a centuries old vampire – and it ended somewhat interesting – as they prepare to time travel into the past to discover some secrets – the middle was a bit of a bore. Yes, I listened to the whole thing because I kept thinking it would get better, but it kept on in its tedious descriptions of wine, tea, exercise and eating. Riveting. Where was the romantic tension that would inspire me to think it was a sensual story? No where. 

Yes, this is a fantasy genre story, and people who liked the Twilight series might like this story, but I didn’t. As the best parts of the story came about 2 hours before the audiobook ended (at it was 24+ hours long), I came to realize I was being set up for a sequel, and rather badly at that. It was disappointing and I felt used honestly. Many many books end with a sequel necessary to move the story forward, but this one ended right in mid-sentence, so to speak, and it felt disingenuous.