I’m a sucker for sequels.

For January’s book, my book club read A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. As soon as I saw it was the first book in a trilogy, I knew I was in trouble. What’s worse, the third book isn’t published yet.

In A Discovery of Witches, Diana is in Oxford researching old alchemy books. She is the daughter of a witch and a wizard, but pushes her magic aside and refuses to use it–usually. One book that she needs happens to be at the very top of a shelf, and thinking she is alone, she levitates the book down to where she is standing. Unfortunately, someone sees her magic. He just happens to be a vampire.

The story is fascinating and kept me interested; interested enough to go get the second book from the library as soon as I finished the first one. My fellow book club members and I all liked it but felt that something was missing in the romance; there wasn’t enough suspense or chemistry between the two lovers. (My book club is awesome; we share books AND pitchers of margaritas!)

A Discovery of Witches ends with a cliffhanger, so I don’t want to say too much about the second book in the trilogy, Shadow of Night. Those of us who started the second book think the story is okay, but the references to history and historical characters are what keeps us reading. I’m about halfway through, and I imagine this book will have a cliffhanger at the end as well.

Lugging around a six hundred page book to ballet lessons is no fun, so I’m also reading The Ivy, by Lauren Kunze, on my Nook. This book is SO fun to read. The main character is from California, and moves to the East Coast to attend Harvard. The pace is fast-moving and witty, and will bring back all your memories of being a freshman away from home for the first time. I have laughed out loud several times while being unable to tell Emmy why I’m laughing. It’s good entertainment as I sit and wait for Lily’s dance class to be over.

Of course, The Ivy also happens to be the first book in a series. I’m not sure if I’ll continue to read the series, but so far I’m really enjoying this book.

What are you reading?