Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

December PIFM Buddy Read between Iris and Nancy. Anyone who would like to join in is welcome.

Keep in mind, this thread will most likely contain spoilers

I'll join in. I won't be able to start for a week or so, but it'll be this month.

That's ok. I tend to read seevral books at once, so I can't exactly guarantee that I'd be going very quickly. lol

Iris wrote: "That's ok. I tend to read seevral books at once, so I can't exactly guarantee that I'd be going very quickly. lol"

I am the same as Iris - reading several books at once, so I don't know how fast I will progress through this one, but I will try. So far I have read about 30 pages, and I think it seems to be well-written.

I'd have to agree. I'm about 20 pages in and it seems to be very well written. But for some reason I'm having trouble really getting in to the story. Could eb the fact that the scene hasn't changed in 20 pages. If I don't get some action soon I may just fall asleep. lol

Stick with it. I read it last month for a challenge and it's wonderful. Very different, though.

Ok, so I don't know exactly what it is about this book. I usually read alot faster than this, but so far I'm only on page 79. I keep putting it down because there's still no action. There's no romance... yet. It just keeps going on and on about this book that the heroine had for all of maybe an hour. Yet for some inexplacable reason I keep picking it back up and reading more. lol All I can say is this better be one hell of a book. :)

Iris wrote: "Ok, so I don't know exactly what it is about this book. I usually read alot faster than this, but so far I'm only on page 79. I keep putting it down because there's still no action. There's no roma..."

Iris, I am doing exactly the same thing, and I am about the same place you are!

Hello everyone, I would like to join your buddy read too! I just started this book on monday and I'm on page 90. I agree that the book has started off a little slow but it is getting ore interesting as I read father along. I hope this book will end up being a great read! :)

Welcome, Taylor!

Today's input on the book... OK, so I fel really bad here. I read another 30pages last night and actually fell asleep reading this. But for the life of me I have no clue what I read. So tonight's mission, if I choose to accept it (which obvisouly I do since I haven't given up on it yet) is to reread said 30pages while still remaining awake. lol

Hi, Iris! I hope you are able to stay awake tonight while reading because I have made it to page 200 and I an say that it has become more interesting. The romance is starting to pick up and the plot is starting to take off. I'm really starting to enjoy it and the characters are complex which I like!:) How do you all feel?

Ok, so I reread the 30 pages from the other night. Nothing exciting, which is probably why I fell asleep. However, I kept on going and before I realiuzed it I'd read close to 100pages. I made it all the way to page 178 before I realized what time it was and had to put it down. I have to say it's getting pretty good. I'm really liking it. Although I must say that for someone who's been around for hundreds of years our hero really needs to kick it up a notch if he wants the girl. lol

I'm on page 240 and the book is really good so far. I wish I had the chace to read more than just forty pages today but oh well lol. However, I think Matthew will win over Miss Diana because he does seem to be a very attractive character in many ways. so far the book is great and I hope it stays that way! :)

Except for the fact she guards everything she says in fear she'll anger him, he seems so sweet and old fashioned as her "courts" her. I'm really loving Matthew's character.

I agree, Matthew is a character that I am definitely falling for lol. He is so charming even though he is over a thousand years old. But the things he does such as holding the car door open for her and watching over her are really great traits. Haha but when he gets angry he does become a bit scary! But he is worth it in my opinion.

Ok, page 300 and although I find the author verbose and at times rambling (do we really need to read 4 pages of witch DNA sequences?). I can't help but like this book. I'm honestly getting really in to it. I'm loving Matthew and how old world charming and sweet he is at times. It reminds me of an adolescent boy with his first crush.

Iris wrote: "Ok, page 300 and although I find the author verbose and at times rambling (do we really need to read 4 pages of witch DNA sequences?). I can't help but like this book. I'm honestly getting really i..."

I'm glad to hear that this book will get better, because I haven't been doing so well with it thus far. I keep picking up other books to finish that have grabbed me a bit more. I am going to take all of your positive comments and use them as inspiration to keep on reading, though.

Definitely keep reading! I'm on page 429 already and although I've most definitely read books alot faster than this, it does get better the further along you get. It seriously takes a strong and determined person to keep reading though. That first 300 pages were pretty much a borderline snoozefest. lol

Did anyone finish it yet? I finished it last night... finally! And I'm about ready to burst here! lol

Hi Iris,
I have been falling asleep over this book every night, but I promise that tonight I will give it a valiant effort --- and will start reading BEFORE I am exhausted!! I am not very far, though, but I WILL keep reading!

If you can get past the first 250 pages then you're golden. It actually gets interesting after that. I actually found myself reading so long my eyes started burning. When I looked at the clock it was 2am and I'd read over 70 pages in one sitting. lol I won't blame you if you decided to give up on it though. I almost did on more than one occasion. But I'll have to admit it does get ALOT better. I do have to agree with alot of the reviews though... the ending sucked! lol Now I've got to wait until Debra Harkness releases the next book to see what happens to all of them. In case you can't tell, I am so not patient when it comes to my books. lol

Hi Iris,
I am just about to page 200 and am determined to get past page 250 before I go to sleep tonight! It isn't bad or unpleasant or anything, but it isn't grabbing me yet either, so I am trusting you that it gets better later on. :) If it does grab me, though, then I will fly through it, because that is usually what I do if a book is really good.

Okay, now I am past 250 pages, it has gotten much more interesting, and now I am trying frantically to find more reading time in my day to read more of it--- which probably won't happen since I have a house full of company for Christmas! But I will do what I can. I just love Sept Tours, the house in France, and I want to go visit it - too bad it is fictional!!

I just found this thread. I finished the book last month and was dieing to talk to others who had read it. It seems to me to be a very unique story line. An unusual pairing of main characters.. witch and vampire and the support characters so much fun.

Iris, I FINALLY finished it! Wow!!! You are right - when is the sequel coming out?? Now I can't wait for it! What an ending!
What did you think?

This was my favorite read of 2011. I can't wait for the sequel. In fact, have the book on my PBS wish list as I read it as a library book and want to reread it before the sequel comes out. Btw, love her family home! hehe

Me, too! I love her family home, especially what happens when the house knows company is coming!! I want that feature in my own house!

I did not think I would like this book when I started it, because it took me about 250 pages to get into it. Once I got that far, though, I was hooked. Now I can't wait for the sequel to come out.

From what I understand the next book isn't set for release until next summer! I hate when that happens. Now I have to wait 6 months to read what happens to them next. Yea sure, we know they made it ok, Sarah got the note. But still... inquiring minds want to know. Hopefully the next book won't include 250 pages of things we could do without. I have to tell you, if not for the fact that I'm so persistent I probably would not have kept reading.

Now as to the houses... I loved Sept - Tours and would visit in a heartbeat if it were a real place! And don't we all wish we had a house like Diana's. Hey company's coming... let's just add another room including furniture. lol I wish!!!

Hey, I read the book after it was first released from the library. I'm having to wait a good year before the next one comes out. That's why I want to reread it again closer to then.

I guess I didn't mind the slower start simply because when you're setting up a series and the setting and/or characters are unique, it can take a little bit to get it all explained in a way that works with your plot.

I could agree with that except that like I said before... do we really need 4 pages on DNA sequences and oddities in the results?I mean seriously? How does the author think that the common person who would buy this book for a leisure read understand any of it? Don't get me wrong, once I got past those first 270 pages I couldn't seem to put it down. But that beginning was brutal. If not for the fact that the book was not cheap and it was a buddy read, I probably would have put it down and given up completely on it. lol Plus, if you're going to use this book as a set up for a series, she could have tried for a closer release date! By next July, and yes, that when the release is set for, most people who have read this one would have moved on to something else and completely forgotten all about it.

I agree,Iris. If not for us doing a buddy read, I am 99% sure I would have quit reading and put it on my "just-couldn't-stand-it pile (which has VERY few titles on - less than 5 or so from my whole adult life, I think, because I almost always finish what I start), but that being said, after those first 250 pages, I liked it, and by the end, I was loving it. Now I can honestly say that I really liked it, as a whole, and I do wish the sequel were sooner, so that I wouldn't forget all the details. If I had to take a test on which character had which exact powers and tell the details of them, I don't think I could do it, even though I just finished it today!
I also understand and respect that authors have to take the time to set up the characters, settings, and plot threads, but I just felt that portion was bit long. I think that a complicated plot like this probably requires more 'set-up' time.
All in all, I am glad we did this for a buddy read, and glad I read it! Thanks for pushing me, Iris, I really appreciate the motivation!

I have to admit though that in all likelihood I'm going to get the next book when it's released. I agree that I can't possibly remember everyone's abilities. lol But I can't wait to see what new abilities Diana develops.

Question... Was it just me, or did the twin thing kind of throw anyone else for a loop? I wonder how that's going to play out in later books, if at all.

In my other groups, I've not seen any book discussions on this book talk about the first 250 pages being as horrible as half of you on this thread are discribing. Personally, I loved the entire book and it was the best book I read all year. And a year between release dates on new books isn't uncommon. Look at the Sookie Stackhouse books. This is coming out in paperback tomorrow, so ordered it tonight as I read it originally as a library book.

Keep in mind that most books are about 200 pages. So when you figure that the first 250 pages consisted of the heroine denying what she is, spending hours upon hours sitting in a library doing research and going to yoga and rowing, yeah, it was slow. It don't think the story started getting interesting until it seemed like the entire paranormal community was out to get her and they went to Sept-Tours. I love books, am an avid reader (average a full length novel in about 2 days)and very rarely find a book that I am tempted to give up on. This one was really pushing it. I actually fell asleep reading it! lol However, that being said, in the end, I can honestly say I loved it and would definitely recommend it to anyone... with the added warning that the beginning is not at all indicative of the rest of the book.

I do find it funny though that people on groups have not mentioned how (not horrible) slow the first 250 pages are. I checked out B&N reviews while I was struggling with it, hoping that maybe I was alone in feeling that this was just ridiculously slow in the beginning and I was not the least bit surprised at how many people felt the same way. Reviews varied from people comparing Harkness to Anne Rice to warning people not to waste their money and time on purchasing the book. (For the record, Anne Rice is one of my all time favorite authors. And no, Harkness is nothing like Anne Rice. She is however a very good storyteller in her own right.)

Getting through this book can best be described as sitting down with a really old and beloved relative. You know they have really good stories to tell, if you could just get over all the rambling nonsense in the beginning. In the end you're glad you sat there for 2 hours and listened to them telling their story, but in those first 20 minutes you're hoping and wishing to God for a natural disaster to occur and interrupt. lol Again, keep in mind this is just my opinion. I am only one person. A person that has read close to 400 books this year alone, but still, just one person.

Iris wrote: "Keep in mind that most books are about 200 pages. So when you figure that the first 250 pages consisted of the heroine denying what she is, spending hours upon hours sitting in a library doing rese..."

Well said, Iris. I agree with your opinion about this book. What a perfect description! I am also an avid reader, and have had the same reaction, especially to the first part. But in spite of the slow-moving section, I felt that the writing was quite good in terms of style and quality all the way through, and I too would recommend this book, and will also buy the sequel, just to see what happens during the 'timewalk' and what happens to Diana. I read quite a few pages at a time, usually, and I had the same thing happen to me - I kept falling asleep while reading the first part. It wasn't bad or horrible at all, just a bit slow.


Since I read quite a bit, I also read a lot of reviews, but I always make up my own mind about the books I read - I never take someone else's word about a book being completely good or bad, and I try books myself before I will agree or disagree with a review. My point of view on that is that we as people are as invididual and different as the books we read, and what one person loves, the next person may hate. I am just happy that we have so many books and so many choices.

I have to add, Nancy, that I'm glad you chose to recommend this book for our buddy read. I had so many questions at the end of this that I just know will be answered in the next book. I'm thinking I will probably pick this up again in June so the story and characters are fresh in my mind when I buy the next book in the series.

If we can, let's do a buddy read for the next one - I am sure I will want to discuss it as I read. And I am planning to get it as soon as it comes out.

Tell me about it. I'm dying to know what happens and where they end up on their timewalk! Obviously there made it ok. But that doesn't mean Diana, with her independent streak and out of whack powers wouldn't cause havok in an earlier century. lol We should definitely try for another buddy read. Now that the story and characters have been set up it should run alot smoother from the very beginning I would think.