Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am halfway through this book and NOTHING of consequence has actually happened to develop any kind of compelling plot. If you've read the synopses on this web-page, and any of the other reviews that readers have posted, I will skip the details and just get to the point: Ms. Harkness is torn between writing a modern-day bodice-ripper/romance novel and a lifestyle column out of Better Homes and Gardens or Martha Stewart Living. Her endless and pointless descriptions of furnishings, meals eaten (or not), heirloom wines drunk (or not), riding boots that fit like a glove without benefit of personal contact with the boot maker - Lord, I could go on and on! They not only tax the reader's patience but they drag the almost non-existent plot into realms of the ridiculous. These characters are just so boring and boilerplate I thought that I was reading "Twilight" fan fiction with the names of the protagonists changed to avoid copyright infringement! So what if the author is able to write about the history of scientific thought and can quote Latin, Italian, and Occitan (old French spoken in the district of Clermont-Ferrand, an area that I have actually spent considerable time visiting). Anyone with access to Google could do likewise. There is so little of a story here that I am amazed that her publisher allowed this to go to press (and just think of the hundreds and hundreds of pages resulting from poor, wasted trees!). The big question here is (if you care, which I doubt): Are vampires, demons (sorry - I will not use the affected spelling Ms. Harkness imposes on her readers), witches, and humans four separate species, or are they all one? Duh? I ASK YOU - WHO CARES??? I for one am sick to death of people writing about vampires and making them as human (read, loveable) as possible. If you're going to do so, then at least do something inventive or clever with them. Ms. Harkness is reduced to describing her vampire protagonist as looking "like a prince," dressed in the latest Italian sportswear, and wallowing in every worn-out cliche in the English language. As for Diana Bishop, the so-called teller of the tale, one is supposed to believe that an intelligent woman who has been able to earn a Ph.D. from Yale, has a teaching fellowship at Oxford, and is a rather good athlete to boot, is incapable of understanding her own inherent magical abilities or learning to dress like an adult. Please, give me a break! If you're going to write a book called "A Discovery of Witches" then please, WRITE ABOUT WITCHES! Not vampires! We already are inundated with the genre! Do yourself a favor and, as they used to say in those great early talkies, "give it the air!" Read "Angelology" if you want a gripping novel about the supernatural that is not only well-written but doesn't insult your intelligence as well.