I thought for certain when I started this book that it was going to be a full 4 or 5 star. The beginning was so promising. I loved the spooky atmosphere, the vivid descriptions of gross medical procedures, and the mysterious relationship between Jane and Augustine as they got to know each other. Jane herself was a character I was really interested in and related to, and I was excited to read from her seemingly logical and analytical perspective. I was ready for a really cool paranormal gothic horror with some psychological horror thrown in.

And then the magic was introduced and pretty much dashed my hopes and dreams.

I wouldn't say the magic element ruined the book, but it definitely changed the tone and dragged the story down for me. I have nothing against magic, being a fantasy fan and all, but that just wasn't the vibe the beginning set it up to be. I would have enjoyed it much more if it just wasn't included at all, and was just simply about a paranormal descent into madness. The most interesting part to me was the question of "is this real, or am I making this up?"

Overall, I enjoyed my time with this book, but it hurts me to think of the potential it had before it let me down.

I would recommend this to someone who likes atmospheric, gothic settings, and to those who like a descent into madness storyline, even if it wasn't done the best it could have been in this book. Just make sure you have the expectation that, even though the intro to the book makes itself out to be logic and science based, it is not. There's a lot of wibbly wobbly magic stuff that you are not properly prepared for.