I just finished The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe.  I’m just going to c&p what I wrote as a review of sorts on my online book club:

It took me a while b/c I just wasn’t that into it.

I tried last night to figure out what was turning me off about this book.  Anyone who has read Dan Brown books might understand.   Brown books are really plot-driven, suspense, clue-finding books.  The characters aren’t well-developed, but that’s not what drives the story so it doesn’t matter.

Howe kind of tried to do the same thing here, but instead of being suspenseful and surprising it was really predictable and more than a little dull at times.  I knew how the main “twists” would turn out many chapters before they actually happened.

The entire book came off as someone’s dissertation-turned-novel.  Howe uses as many SAT words as possible, which was a little annoying to me. It almost feels forced at times, like she’s hitting the thesaurus button 10 times a page.

Howe also tries to throw in a romance, but it’s very secondary, almost as an afterthought, and isn’t that believable.  I didn’t feel connected to the main character at all.

The topic is witchcraft and the Salem witch trials, so I was very interested at first.  I don’t want to say I hated this book, because it definitely had its moments.  I also don’t want to discourage anyone from reading it since it is, after all, a B&N recommendation.

Overall, I would just describe this book as “eh”.

Now, I think I’m going to read Pride and Prejudice just for kicks since I keep dropping it down my “to-read” list.