The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe

Connie Goodwin is a PhD candidate in American History at Harvard. Her ambition is to become a professor. For her dissertation, she starts to research a new source of material related to the Salem Witch trials. Her mother requested Connie to attend to the mess that her grandmother's house had become. Cleaning it out, packing up the things inside, getting it ready to be sold to pay off the tax lien.

Connie reluctantly goes to Marblehead, MA and moves into the house. While she's there, she starts having visions of the past and blinding headaches which she can't explain. At first.

There is a dual storyline in which we go back to the times of the Salem witch trials. Deliverance Dane is a "cunning" woman, which means that she tends to her patients with herbs and such. She has true power though and, more often than not, utilizes it to help those under her care. She was caught in the furor over the witches and did not survive.

It is a power that is passed on through the women in her family. From mother to daughter to granddaughter and so on.

I think the book was very well written. I could see the images in my head that Ms. Howe painted with words. I'm obviously not going to give the ending away but, if you're like me and fascinated with that time, it's worth the read.

The Magicians - Lev Grossman

This is wonderfully, completely unlike what I expected it to be going in to the story. I said this on my online book club and it's really the only way I can think to describe it. Imagine Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia hooking up one drunken night and having a baby. Toss in an ending where all is not happily ever after and you'll get the idea of this book.

It starts out with a world weary teenager named Quentin. (Aren't they all?) He's intelligent, one of the smartest in his class in Brooklyn. What sets Quentin apart from his classmates that he secretly believes in magic and a world called Fillory. It's from a children's set of books that he's read over and over and over. He longs to become part of that world because he thinks it will solve a lot of issues he's had in his short, unremarkable life.

In actuality, he's not a normal teen. He's a magician and soon gets an invitation to attend Brakebills which is a magickal college in the Hudson Valley. He attends and advances quickly through the years there. He falls in love with another student named Alice. Along the way, he grows up, grows into his power, becomes a goose for a while, and learns some good lessons about controlling what you do. What you do eventually creates who you are.

I think that if you liked Harry Potter or ever wished you could find a Narnia of your own, you should read this book.

Thorn Queen, Richelle Mead

I stumbled into the middle of a series unknowlingly. Having said that, I ordered the first book already after reading this one. It's very good. Very sexy too.

Eugenie has apparently become Queen of Thorn Land. Not that she wanted to. But she did when she killed the former king. I think that happened in the last book. She is a shaman who protects the human world from demons, spirits, and faeries and the like. In this book, she starts to refine her power and realize her destiny as the mother of the savior of the Otherworld. As a little backstory, she is the daughter of a tyrannical leader who has the power to summon storms and other elements along with a human. She can travel in both worlds easily.

There's a lot that happens along with some good nookie. :o) Always a good thing in a book. I'm not giving away too much but I definitely think this one is worth the read.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - JK Rowling

OK. I make no secret of my love for HP. Here's why ... this is a well crafted, well written story for all ages. Everyone can read this series and get something different out of it. For kids, it's a chance to see someone their own age accomplish a task that no adult thought he could do. For adults, it's a classic tale of good and evil, the trials and tribulations that go into making us human. Love.It.

When the story begins, there are celebrations all over England but many people aren't sure why or what is being celebrated. They don't have any magic in their blood so they are unaware of another culture living within their midst. The celebrations taking place amongst witches and wizards in the Wizarding world. You see, their greatest enemy to date has been defeated and disappeared but no one is quite sure how. The person who defeated Voldemort is ... a baby? Little Harry Potter caused the Killing Curse that Voldemort sent at him to rebound and strike its creator. However, the Potters are murdered just before Voldemort turns on Harry so he's left an orphan.

In come the Dursleys. Petunia is Harry's aunt, his mother's sister. She has a deep loathing for anything to do with the magical world but reluctantly agrees to take him in. They proceed to treat him neglectfully, almost cruelly, until he's about to turn eleven. It would border on child abuse in the US, if not set foot over the line into it.

Harry is about to enter secondary school, which is our equivalent to middle school from what I can figure. And odd things happen when he's upset or angry. His hair grows back after a particularly horrid haircut. Ugly sweaters shrink so he can't wear them. He's flicked out of harm's way when in danger without knowing how he got there. Petunia and Vernon know that he's a wizard but are determined not to let him join or know about that world.

After a disastrous trip to the zoo (where Harry somehow removes the glass from the python tank and sets it free), a letter arrives for Harry. He's never gotten a letter from anyone so he's not quite sure how to handle it. He accidentally starts to open it at the table where it's confiscated by Uncle Vernon. Once they see the coat of arms on the back of the envelope, Vernon and Petunia set out to prevent Harry from getting the letter. Their journey takes them to a tiny little island on the sea. Lo and behold, someone arrives at the stroke of midnight on Harry's eleventh birthday to the tiny island hideout.

This man looks like a giant and is able to knock the door to the cottage down. He then proceeds to tell Harry exactly who he is, much to the displeasure of Vernon and Petunia. And so changes the course of Harry's life as he knows it. A brand new world opens to him, one in which he leaves the stigma of being the forgotten, orphaned child behind and can succeed or fail based on his own talents.

Well, I won't bore you with an exact retelling of the story. And I'm sure most of you reading this have already read the books. lol ...

And to those critics who called Twilight "the next Harry Potter" I'd like to say ... STICK IT!

Face the Fire - Nora Roberts

I think I want to be Mia Devlin. lol ... is it possible to become a fictional character? The chick has it all together. She's smart, beautiful, a successful business owner, has a rockin' body ... and is a hereditary witch. What's not to love?

Oh right ... the evil powers that want her to fail at her portion of the task set to the Three of Three Sisters Island. They want to cause her death. She also has to either accept or reject the love of her life, Sam Logan. It's a fascinating look into how a strong woman can still struggle with basic issues like compromise, love, acceptance, and compassion. Does she win? Does she lose and plunge her island into the sea forever? That's for Mia and Nora to tell you.

And she owns a bookstore. I think it's nirvana.

Heaven and Earth - Nora Roberts

In this second book of the Three Sisters trilogy, Ripley Todd is the focus. She turned her back on who she is and what she possesses on the cusp of adulthood. The story pulls us into the middle of the 300 year old culmination of the spell cast on the island by one of the original Three. For Ripley to stop what's building, she has to forgive and accept herself without condition.

Again, I love the story and I love the final scene on the beach with Ripley making her choice. I know this is brief but I'm trying to review it without giving too much away.

Dance Upon the Air - Nora Roberts

Nell Channing is a hunted woman. She's on the run from an abusive husband, who thinks her dead. She finds her way to the Massachusetts coastline and to a little island called Three Sisters. There is lore and legend attached to it, as there usually is to such places. In this case, the island itself is created by three witches and cast out to sea to protect them from the insanity of the Witch Trails in Salem Town in 1692.

In this first of my favorite trilogy, Nell rediscovers herself, finds her courage, and falls in love. She also discovers she's a witch, one of three descendents of the original Sisters who created their island. And she learns to begin harnessing that power. She uses that power, along with love, to free herself of the enslavement that her ex-husband tries to re-enforce.

I truly love this series. So much so that it influenced my desire for a sapphire engagement ring, which I got from my husband. :o) I just didn't realize it until now.