3 out of 5 Hoots
I was really excited to read this book because it promised vampires, demons, and witches….unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations at all. Before I get into the review I want to just tell you what the book was supposed to be about.
A witch by the name of Diana Bishop ( who refuses to do magic) temporarily found a manuscript that can reveal the secret to the origins of vampires, witches, and demons. This attracts the attention of Matthew Clairmont, a 1,500 year old vampire, as well as the attention of powerful vampires and witches who will stop at nothing to get their hands on it. Since this manuscript is enchanted it of course gets lost again and Diana and Matthew must join forces to find it before war breaks out between witches and vampires.
This book really sounded so promising! The book delves into the genetic component of witches, vampires, and demons. Matthew is a scientist who has spent his life researching the genetic codes of vampires, witches, and demons and this portion of the book was interesting. It was neat finding out that a witch’s magic ability is encoded in her d.n.a. So if she were able to control fire they would be able to know that just by analyzing her d.n.a. That is such an interesting concept! They also explained that when a vampire is created is causes every cell in their body to mutate. The scientific aspect of all of this was so fascinating I really wish they would have focused on that but instead they focused on the romance aspect and that is where everything just fell apart for me.
It is a little cliche for a woman to fall hopelessly in love with a vampire, but this took it to levels beyond twilight. I mean the relationship here kind of went from 0 to 60 incredibly fast. It was troubling to me how quickly she feel in love with someone who basically dominated her. He would tell her to sit down, be quiet, and do as she was told and she would listen. Of course she talked a lot about being a strong, independent woman who can take care of herself, but never really showed that. She really did not want to learn how to use magic because Matthew would protect her. She almost accidentally killed herself with magic because he had to go away without her. Seriously, he wasn’t even down the road when she became overwhelmed with sorrow that “witch water” poured out of every part of her and she almost died!
And let’s not look past the part that when he finally said he loved her they started calling each other husband and wife. She even calls a vampire he made hundreds of years ago her son. It was just really odd. The book had a lot of drawn out parts that only focused on their relationship and the manuscript and oncoming war took a backseat. Basically, everything that made the book unique took a backseat to a really weird romantic storyline.
Overall, the book was okay. It had a lot of potential but it missed the mark for me. The only reason that it didn’t get 2 hoots was because I did enjoy the science aspect of it. All I know is that I will not be finishing this series or watching the show.
The Owl's Book Nest 