A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

*****
Diana Bishop is an American academic based at Oxford University, she is also a witch.  Through her specialism in the History of Science she encounters a mysterious alchemical manuscript, known as Ashmole 782, which displays strong magical powers.  As Diana has a severe aversion to using her witchy skills, she sends the manuscript back to the stacks, much to the chagrin of all the other witches, vampires and daemons in the vicinity, who don't believe that things are that simple or that she's so ignorant.
Matthew Clairmont, a charismatic scientist who also happens to be a 1500 year old vampire is the first creature on the scene and although Diana has been warned she can't help herself from being drawn in.  

I'm not going into any further detail as I dislike giving spoilers, but also it's such a huge book (almost 700 pages) I couldn't possibly do it justice and okay, I'm going to 'fess up and declare that this is my new guilty pleasure!  I LOVED it!!  I know I probably shouldn't and that there's many more worthy books out there and although it isn't perfect, I've given this 5 stars because I loved the whole indulgent experience! It's pure entertainment and I know I'll have to by the sequel in hardback as I won't be able to wait beyond the summer.

I see this novel as a wish-fulfilment for all the more mature readers of the twilight series, who felt a smidgen bad for being way too old to lust after Edward (go, on...I know you did, we've talked about this at work!) and have struggled to hide their guilty secret!  Deborah Harkness has given us a gorgeous, but definitely more age appropriate vampire with even more back story and hidden depths - yay!  As anyone who has read my previous reviews I do like my flawed, tragic but devastingly handsome heroes (who cares if it's a cliche?!) and Matthew ticks all the boxes, he's even a wine fanatic which allowed me to forgive him being a yoga bunny!

Diana is mildly irritating (which at least allows the female reader to feel superior as they'd be far cooler in the same situation) but she did grow on me as I became more involved in the story.  She does need rescuing too often, (although who can blame her with Matthew around?) and the whole denial of her witchiness was a bit grating and seemed a bit teenagey-angst for a woman in her mid thirties.  However, she does become more interesting as her abilities develop.

I know I'm gushing, and I accept it's not going to be for everyone, but it's an atmospheric, indulgent fantasy read that made me very happy and I can't wait for the next one!

Black Swan Rising by Lee Carroll

****
I'm part of the Transworld Book Group!  This book was read and reviewed as part of the Transworld Book Challenge. 

Garet James, a young jewellery designer, is having a rough day.  After being told her father has left them in a precarious financial situation, she wanders off her usual path home, gets caught in a rainstorm and so wanders into a strangely old-fashioned shop to ask for help.  Here she is persuaded to open a mysterious silver box which just happens to have the same seal as a ring that Garet was given by her deceased mother.  Although the box does strange things to her eyes, she agrees and takes it home where she lives with her father over his art gallery business.  That night after she opens the box, she is awoken by burglars breaking into the gallery and shooting her father.  From that point things become increasingly bizarre, she finds her mother's sudden death ten years earlier prevented her from telling Garet that her ancestors were "watchtowers" responsible for protecting the mortal world from evil and she is quickly drawn into the supernatural world of fairies and vampires where she has an important role in saving New York from despair and discord.

Although I do occasionally dabble into Urban fantasy novels, and have enjoyed quite a few of them it's not my usual reading matter.  However, through the Transworld Book Challenge (and this is the first time I've ever had any freebies!!) I saw it as an opportunity to try something slightly different without being out of pocket if it wasn't to my taste.  And...I really enjoyed it!
So, I'm not a hard core UF reader and that's possibly why it appealed to me, it seemed a little "gentler" than some of the other stuff I've read and more of a modern fairy tale.  I enjoyed the literary and artistic references...it even used one of my favourite films "The Red Shoes", which I always found compelling but slightly creepy, so I was kept a happy bunny throughout!

As the main character Garet is maybe a bit underdeveloped, but what I did think was a strong positive element was that she started out as a generally, normal young woman, with a job, friends and some kind of life and remained pretty much the same throughout, whereas in other UF the female protagonist tends to be an outsider who has always felt different and is desperate to be initiated into the supernatural and then has a complete personality transplant!  I liked that she struggled with her new abilities and couldn't do it all by herself and so still needed rescuing at times.  It was also refreshing that she didn't suddenly become irresistible to everyone she encounters (another irritating feature in some other UF I've read), but I liked that she remained "human" despite all that she sees and experiences.  
Will Hughes, also seemed a bit two-dimensional, and he's a bit "vampire light" but again, I'm hoping this is just down to being the first installment.  I'm not convinced about the love through the generations part of his relationship with Garet, but it didn't worry me enough to be a problem.

Overall, I found it an entertaining read, I love the fairy tale aspects and will definitely look for the next in the series to see where it all goes.  Sadly, some of the New York references were lost on me, but I'm sure people in the know will have understood them; it really felt throughout the book that the writers had done their homework, but didn't push it by inserting great chunks of research.  I thought the confrontation towards the end was a bit of a disappointment after all the initial excitement, but the ambiguity of who is "good" and truly wants to help Garet or is just out for themselves was interesting, particularly Oberon.  I enjoyed all the fey characters, especially Lol, who is a complete star, and the idea of fairies running a coffee shop and having late night radio shows appealed to my sense of the bizarre.

Heartless by Gail Carriger

****1/2
The fourth book of the Parasol Protectorate series, with the next one due out later this year.  I enjoyed this one and feel the series has found its way back to what attracted me to Soulless in the first place.  Apologies, for spoilers, but the series does need to be read in sequence to make any sense and its difficult to give a synopsis without giving anything away to newbies! (Look away, now if you don't want to know!)
After the adventures in the last book, a very heavily pregnant Lady Alexia Maccon is back in London and for reasons, best explained in the book, it is decided that it is best for "infant-inconvenience" if she and Conall reside in Lord Akeldama's second best closet.  There's an awful lot going on...Buffy is struggling to cope with his unavoidable lifestyle change; sister Felicity has not only joined the suffragette movement, but wants to stay with the Maccons; mysterious friend Madame Lefoux is up to something and a ghostly message implies that the Queen is in danger. As muhjah, Alexia is quickly on the trail, which unearths more secrets from her husband's previous pack.  Is there enough treacle tart and tea to cope with all this?
It's great to have the series back on form and this is a brilliant, fast paced romp.  It remains witty and fun and despite my continued reservations about Madame Lefoux, worked really well.  I knew where it was heading with the vampires swarming, but think it'll be a good move for future stories as it gives greater scope for Lord Akeldama to widen his interests and may avoid the constant dashing to the country for the werewolves (which always seemed a bit pointless, plot wise).
Conall is still (in my opinion) slightly sidelined, I would like a return of how he was in the first book. I love Floote (give him an even bigger role), Lord Akeldama is fabulous and Lyall remains for me one of the most intriguing characters is thankfully developing an interesting back story. 
My only (very petty) criticism is that the person on the cover looks nothing like I imagine Alexia - what does anyone think?

Blameless by Gail Carriger

*** 1/2
Oops! As I was writing the review for #4 in the series, I realised that I'd missed this out out!  Sorry!! As it's a while since I read it (last September) apologies for being brief, but I think I need to make a small comment to cover the whole series so far...
So, a brief overview and apologies for spoilers (stop reading now if you don't want to know!)
After discovering she is pregnant Alexia's husband Conall has thrown her out, believing that as a werewolf he cannot father a child and so assumes that she has been unfaithful.  Alexia has to return to her much loathed family.  The "infant-inconvenience" is creating many problems, most importantly it is putting Alexia off her food, but more dangerously, the vampires are out to assassinate it (and her)!  After an attack from mechanical ladybirds, Madame Lefoux and Floote accompany Alexia to Italy, the birthplace of her father to discover more about being soulless.
I enjoyed this more than the previous one, but...couldn't believe that Conall would behave the way he did and the ending seemed a bit weak; I'm think Alexia needed a greater outburst of her usual forthrightness.  I'm not sure about Madame Lefoux, I still see her more as a plot device, rather than an integral part and I'm really worried that Biffy won't be as appealing, or as beautifully dressed now!
Better and still great in parts, but not up to Soulless...still!

Godmother: The Secret Story of Cinderella

*
Lillian lives in a seedy flat in New York and works in a bookstore.  She recalls her previous life as a fairy and how being chosen to be Cinderella's Fairy Godmother was her undoing.  Lil is banished from the magical land and forced to live as a human where she grows old and has to hide her beautiful white feathered wings.  Flashbacks of her previous life show how the rather vain and selfish Lillian seeks to get her own wish rather than ensuring Cinderella and the Prince fulfil their destinies. Now Lil is lonely, miserable and desperate to return to her fairy friends, she sees her chance to redeem herself through helping her bookstore boss, George find true love with the quirky Veronica.
What starts as an interesting premise disintegrates as the story develops and the reader is left with the dilemma of deciding whether it's a fairytale ending or a serious case of undiagnosed mental health issues brought on by guilt and trauma in Lillian's youth.
Lillian is pretty unlikeable at any stage in the book and everyone else is so thinly characterised to be completely insignificant.  There's also one particular image quite early on that was just eeeuch!
So I think it's pretty clear that I didn't like this book.
Godmother came as an Amazon recommendation and as I love twists on traditional fairy tales, I assumed this would have been just right for me...unfortunately, not. I just didn't get it.