Is it just me or are mediocre books the hardest to review? This book was a perfectly fine way to spend a few evenings, but it didn’t leave a lasting impression. I guess based on the premise I expected it to be darker and more sinister. Instead, I got a bit of witch fluff.
Connie Goodwin is a grad student at Harvard studying history. She’s especially interested in the Salem witch trials. Plot machinations make it so she has to go stay at her family’s old property that is just barely habitable. It seems like a downer at first since she was hoping to spend the summer searching for a new primary source, but surprise surprise, she actually ends up finding a lead in her family’s own home. It’s all very convenient. Throw in a love interest, a curse, and a villain and you have The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.
Like I said, this book is perfectly fine. I just wish it had had more personality, more humor or more gothic creepiness. The writing was good and the audiobook narrator didn’t let the story down. I’d only recommend this book to very specific readers who are either very interested in witches or looking for mindless fluff. (Not that there’s anything wrong with mindless fluff, this just isn’t my particular brand)
This book is so relentlessly MEH. I read it when it first came out and keep meaning to go back to it to see if it improves upon the second read. Unfortunately, I remember just enough of it that I’m in no way motivated to actually start re-reading.
Relentlessly MEH! A completely perfect description!