I had really high hopes for this one – I was ready for a great read. The fanciful side of this story, however, was not to my liking. It reminded me of Alice Hoffman, who I generally like, but who I have tired of recently. I feel a little guilty saying that since I have not read her latest two. But, I don’t really enjoy magical realism. If I am going to read fantasy, I want it to be fantasy. Otherwise, I prefer realistic fiction. That being said, this was quite a quick read and not unpleasant. It picked up in the middle during the section with Ursula Monkton, but that was about it for me. I really only continued reading to find the resolution and because I had abandoned the last book I started. I would give it two stars.