What to Read When You're in Harry Potter Withdrawl

This summer I have been going through major Harry Potter withdrawal. So much so that I re-watched the first three movies in a row! Maybe it's because I'm used to that expectation of a new blockbuster each summer? I don't know. But if you too are going threw HP withdrawal (let's make it an official syndrome) here is a list of five similarly magic themed book series to get you through.

1. Lev Grossman's The Magicians (2009) and The Magician King (2011):

This is sort of like if Harry Potter was a university aged depressive post-modernist slacker and discovered that he was magic. That description doesn't make it sound too entertaining but Grossman has created a unique world that is one part Narnia and one part Hogwarts with a little urban existentialism thrown in for good measure. I am eagerly awaiting the third book.

2. The Magicians and Mrs. Quent (2008)and The House at Durrow Street (2010) and the latest The Master of Heathcrest Hall (2012) by Galen Beckett:

This series is set in a Jane Austen like world of manners, morals and appearances but Magick is always lurking behind the scenes as a threat to disrupt and destroy "normal" life. There are undertones of Jane Eyre in the strange relationship between the heroine the elusive and Mr. Quent which takes place in a Gothic manor on the moors. Sound familiar?

3. Cold Magic and Cold Fire (both published 2011) by Kate Elliot:

This series features strong female leads who live in a parallel Industrial Age universe. At a science based college,that is sort of like Hogwarts, they discover that they have magic powers and are thus charged with saving their world (of course). I liked the first book but wasn't really able to get into the second.

4> A Discovery of Witches (2011) by Deborah Harkness and her latest Shadow of Night (2012):

This has been called Harry Potter for Adults but I found it much more in the vein of Twilight. The heroine is a witch in love with a vampire who, in spite of her status as a university professor, is just as clueless as Bella. (See the review I wrote for Suite 101). The sequel seems to have an Outlander feel as the characters time travel to the 15th century England. I can't wait to read it.

5. Oh just give in already. Reread the Harry Potter series. You've got the rest of the summer (or do my cheater's version by reading the first (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) and last book only (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). You can fill in the blanks).

Comment below if you have others to add to the list that I've missed!