Review #1: The Physick of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe.

After a rather unsuccessful attempt to feed my child beet and carrot "juice", I throw up my purple stained hands and dig in to blog.

I hate to start my adventure in book reviewing with a negative review but to stay true to reviewing what I am currently reading, i must say it ain't good.

The title in question is the hot on the bestseller lists "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" by Katherine Howe.

I will say time and time again I am up for just about any type of book. I will enjoy a cozy mystery every now and again while also enjoying The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer.

It's all based on mood, style and whether you can spin a great tale, however simple.

Howe's book has a really fun idea and could probably make a nice car payment movie starring Kate Hudson but it lacks depth.

The plot is a simple one. 2 parallel stories, one set in the present, the other set in the late 1600s to early 1700s.

The present story involves a highly educated research student fresh out of grad school ready to move on to her doctoral dissertation. She goes to Harvard. Her Grandma owns a home in Marblehead, super spooky and old. She is asked by her mother to go and clean it up so she can sell it. Yeah, adventure.

While she's there we discover the character Deliverance Dane which opens up the other story. Is she a long lost undiscovered Salem witch? Female grad student soon to find out with help from hunky local guy. You must read to find out!

Or not. Unfortunately it did not grab me in the way I thought it would. The story, the witches, the location, all set up to reveal a really good book but I just didn't care about the characters.

My recommendation for a layered, multi-generational, secrets and lies kind of tale would be The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Now that's the kind of book that gets my toes tingling. Check it out.

As for Deliverance Dane, I'd wait til the movie starring Jennifer Aniston as the grad student (cuz we all love her right?) and Angelina Jolie as the witch. Ooooh, i can see it now.

Thanks for reading!