A review by dereadergal
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

2.0

I found this book to be written well, the descriptions of the settings and characters were impressive, and made me want to learn more about Salem lace reading, the surroundings, and it's history (even travel there), but there were some serious flaws that made this book quite unlikable. For one, it was hard to follow because of the flip flopping between characters, a few narrators, and the the biggest part, the self confessed unreliable main narrator, Towner, so I was having troubles believing what was going on, and definitely not connecting with, or liking any one particular character. Not to mention that critical questions were not answered at the end and left readers dangling, particularly the death of Eva, did she die by accident, suicide, or is she really even dead, or is it all fantasy? There was a great mix of action, devastating domestic abuse, persecutions, mental illness, magic/witchcraft that could have made several great stories, but all smashed together made it confusing, disjointed, even slow moving at times, and basically not a very solid good read.