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What to Read After Binge-Watching A Discovery of Witches

by  | January 17
A Discovery of Witches

While it’s true we’ve been positively spoiled with amazing book-to-screen adaptations lately (hello To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Sharp Objects, Dumplin’, Big Little Lies…), it’s also true that we can never get enough! Adding to our embarrassment of riches this month is A Discovery of Witches, a new TV series based on Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy. The book series is about a reluctant witch (Diana Bishop) and an ancient vampire (Matthew Clairmont) who fall in love and maybe, just maybe, accidentally start a war between their species. Did I mention the show stars the gorgeous Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer, and that’s there’s both magic and time travel too? Obviously, we all owe it to ourselves to binge-watch this series ASAP—and then read these books while we impatiently await season 2…

Demon from the Dark

Demon from the Dark

by Kresley Cole

Craving a steamy paranormal romance now that you’ve witnessed Matthew and Diana’s undeniable on-screen chemistry with your own two eyes? Kresley Cole’s Demon from the Dark introduces us to outcast demon Malkom, who’s been poisoned with vampire blood and suffers from vampiric hunger, and spirited witch Carrow, whose party-girl reputation masks her own sadness. The sparks fly between these total opposites from the moment they meet, which just so happens to be when Carrow’s forced to try to lure Malkom into a trap...but they wind up being trapped in a prison together instead. Now, they have to team up to escape a horrible fate, and decide if they really want to resist the intense passion and longing they both feel for each other.

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Practical Magic

Practical Magic

by Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman’s magical realism novel Practical Magic, which was adapted beautifully for the screen as a feature film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in the 90s, is just the book for when you’re feeling wistful for a world where witches walk right beside us. Like Diana Bishop, orphaned sisters Gillian and Sally Owens are the latest in a long line of witches that stretches back centuries, and like Diana, they wish they could escape that nothing-but-trouble family mantle. It’s only after they’ve left home—Sally, by getting married, and Gillian, by running away—and then come back again that they truly begin to understand the power of their eternal bond...and their magic.

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The Wicked Deep

The Wicked Deep

by Shea Ernshaw

Fascinated by the dark side of the covens in A Discovery of Witches? Accurately described as Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic meets the Salem Witch trials, Shea Ernshaw’s YA fantasy novel The Wicked Deep centers on the town of Sparrow, where for a few weeks every summer, three sisters who were sentenced to death for witchery 200 years ago return to seek revenge. How? By stealing the bodies of three girls and luring boys into the harbor to drown them. And this year, only 17-year-old local Penny and a new boy in town, Bo, have a chance at stopping them. To say more would be to give away big spoilers, but suffice to note, if you think the vengeful witches out to get Diana and Matthew are bad, the Swan sisters might make you reevaluate.

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The Night World Collection

The Night World Collection

by L.J. Smith

“We are bound together,” Diana tells Matthew in an episode of A Discovery of Witches, and it’s true—they were destined to fall in love one day, breaking all the rules of their society. For another captivating series full of heart-melting declarations of forbidden love between supernatural creatures who live (mostly) undetected by humans, try the Night World books by L.J. Smith, the mastermind behind The Vampire Diaries. Darkly romantic, each installment of this addictive YA series brings together an unlikely couple: A secret vampire willing to risk everything to save the terminally ill human girl he’s quietly adored for years; a half-human vampire hunter who’s drawn to one of the creatures she’s stalking; a shapeshifter trying her hardest to resist stumbling head over heels for a man fated for someone else… Oh, yes, there’s plenty of angst, but happy endings, too.

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The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

by Holly Black

Did Matthew’s prickly vampire family end up winning you over? So too might the vampires in Holly Black’s gritty YA novel The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. For Tana, walled cities built to protect humans from quarantined vampires and the humans who consort with them, known as Coldtowns, are just part of everyday life. But when she agrees to attend a party with her ex-boyfriend one night, she has no idea how the decision will change her life...forever. Because when she wakes up the next morning, she quickly realizes a few things: 1) She’s surrounded by corpses, 2) The only other survivors of the massacre are her ex, who’s been infected, and an enigmatic guy who’s clearly harboring a dangerous secret, and 3) She can only save them all by venturing into Coldtown, where everyone knows you can never leave...

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A Discovery of Witches (Media Tie-In)

A Discovery of Witches (Media Tie-In)

by Deborah Harkness

We may have to wait awhile for the second season of the show, but more of Matthew and Diana’s story is ours for the taking in the All Souls Trilogy. In Book 1, A Discovery of Witches, vampire Matthew Clairmont first pursues history scholar/witch Diana Bishop as part of his search for a long-missing manuscript, Ashmole 782, which he believes contains secrets vital to his species’ survival. Yet his mission soon takes a backseat to his very real feelings for the historian, especially once he realizes she feels the same way about him. The only problem? A relationship between vampire and witch is strictly forbidden by an ancient covenant that governs all creatures, meaning that Matthew and Diana may have inadvertently started a war. If you’re loving the show but haven’t yet read these epic, time-hopping books, you know what you have to do.

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A Discovery of Witches premieres in the U.S. on January 17 on Sundance Now, and it’s already been renewed for two more seasons!

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Heather Waters is an Associate Director of Marketing at Simon & Schuster, where she runs the Get Literary and Tips on Life & Love blogs. She enjoys reading everything from romance to true crime to political memoirs, and in her free time you can often find her binge-watching Netflix, refreshing Twitter every 10 seconds, and listening to the latest episode of the podcast My Favorite Murder.
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