This follow-up to The Physick Book of Deliverance Dance was confusing, even though I had read the first book and enjoyed it. After I read this, I went back and reread Physick, and now I understand it better, but - disappointed. I enjoy reading about the women who were targeted at the Trials, and I enjoy reading contemporary fiction about witches - but this didn't do it for me.
Three stars because of the prodigious research, which I love. Two off because the story just didn't cut it.

Connie Goodwin is a Boston professor whose family can be traced back to the Salem witch trials. Connie learns from her mother that there is a curse on her family this hundreds of years old. A curse that she is determined to break with help from notes left behind by Temperance Hobbs.

I enjoyed the story and the history of witchcraft throughout the whole book, but I found it to be a bit tedious in some spots. There is a lot of family history and many characters. I felt like I should have started a family tree to keep it all straight. The book jumps between the year 2000 and the 1600s and I enjoyed the events happening in the 1600s more. I also wasn't very happy with some of the vocabulary. There were many words that I had to look up to see what they meant. Too many "big" words really frustrates me when I'm trying to read for relaxation and enjoyment. As I said though, it is a good story.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advance read of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

If you like Genealogy and magic then this book is for you. I wished I had a piece of paper to keep track of the family tree, but that is my own OCD kicking in. ;)

This story picks up 9 years after the Physick book of Deliverance Dane. The cast of characters is roughly the same with a couple new and fun additions and it takes place in the same Boston/Cambridge/Salem area. This is a well researched and detailed book creating a story around history that one could see playing out if they just believe.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from Netgalley.com and the publisher Henry Holt &Co. Thanks to both for the opportunity to read and review.

The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs is the sequel to The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Set ten years after the events of the first book, Constance Goodwin has advanced in the field of academics all the while avoiding her mother and important questions from her boyfriend.

Intensively researched historically, Ms, Howe displays a deep knowledge of the challenges of being a female in colonial and post-colonial Salem. This book is an immersive experience, a richly detailed story that makes you feel what is happening to the characters.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs by Katherine Howe was an interesting read if you enjoy learning about the actual history of "witches" in early America. Basically.. they were women who would be called herbalists today! I didn't realize it was a second book in a series. So, I would have preferred to have read the first book first so that I didn't have to play catch up. Very enjoyable and full of historical tidbits and knowledge of life in Colonial America! Good reading for cold nights!

Howe’s Physick Book of Deliverance Dane was a favorite of mine in 2009 so I was thrilled to get this ARC, which continues the story of Connie Goodwin and her search for truth in her past. Howe’s writing is wonderful as usual, and the story is captivating as I’ve come to expect from the author. The primary plot line is somewhat reminiscent of Practical Magic, but Connie’s relationships with both the past and present make this one well worth reading. Howe writes with an engaging style that makes the reader feel as though you know the characters. As I read, I could feel Connie’s rising panic about her child and Sam. Her drive to safeguard her family forces her to reopen old wounds and the scene with her former mentor Manning Chilton was chilling.

I was delighted to see COnnie’s mother, Grace, play a larger role here and develop into a very interesting character. The Dane lineage becomes much clearer here, and Grace becomes a more well-rounded figure of power. New character Esperanza is also a welcome addition, bringing yet another strand of “women’s work” to the bigger story of cunning women.

I re-read Deliverance Dane before I cracker Temperance Hobbs, which was a good thing to do since many elements of the plot appear here. Howe has cemented her place on my list of must-read authors.

Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs.

I recalled enjoying The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane when I read it years ago, but the second book in the series was anything but 'bewitching.'

What it was was "BOOO-RRRING.'

Ohmygawd, a story about cunning women through the centuries and magical powers and rituals and magic was anything but exciting or thrilling.

I was BORED. To death. I am now a zombie because I am dead of boredom.

There is SO MUCH FILLER in here I have no idea where to start.

1. Okay, let's start here:

The academia filler and ball busting politics and stab-in-your-back rivalry that would make Caesar and his cronies laugh.

Professor Connie Goodwin spends most of her time hanging out in libraries, instructing her protege student, hanging out in more dusty libraries and seesawing back and forth about her loyal, but not so bright future baby daddy.

2. Your friendly, typical archetypes:

Connie as the absent minded professor

Her intuitive mother who knows stuff about everything and everyone before they know themselves

Connie's spunky protege, who is eager, peppy and not white

The dopey boyfriend who can't even tell his girlfriend is pregnant, not even past the five month mark...hmmm.

The scheming, conniving, not very slick, entitled villain who tries to get what he does not deserve

3. Pregnancy

I felt this plot device was unnecessary and added only to heighten the drama, and provide a catalyst for Connie to act on her intentions with her boyfriend, Sam.

4. Repetitive description

How many times can you use the word 'pale?'

Apparently, in this book, many times. The word is used to describe stains on a sheet, the eyes of animals and Connie's, the mist, the atmosphere, etc.

Where's the editor? Better yet, a thesaurus is cheaper.

5. Speaking of an editor, he or she could have lopped of 50 pages and no one would be the wiser.

I did like the flashbacks into Connie's female ancestors and the ritual Connie sought to protect her boyfriend but the hunt was drawn out and repetitive.

I ended up speed reading the last dozen chapters just to get to the end.

Excellent part two to the first book. The writer flows beautifully, her characters are wonderfully written - both flawed and perfect. I'm as because it looks like this is it for this storyline. Maybe she can continue forth with another character - Zazi perhaps? That would be fabulous! Or jump into the future with future with her daughters (fingers crossed!). I totally recommend this book. Fantastic author and story!

I would like to thank the author/ the publisher/netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I knew when I started this book it was by the same author that wrote The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, which I just loved back 20 years ago. What I didn't know was this book is a continuation of that book, and when I started to think the characters and the setting seemed familiar, and then made the connection - I was SO psyched! And I was not disappointed.

When I see a book about witches I want old school, Salem witch type witches and I want magic, and spells and herbs and stones and all things witchy. This book delivered all those things in droves. It's told in an alternating story line between the 1600s and modern day, which normally I don't love, but in this case kept me very firmly grounded in the book's witchy-ness.

I can't fully express how happy I have been to read this, all I can say is, if you loved The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane then you will probably love this. And if you haven't read The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, I highly suggest you hurry up and read it so you can enjoy this one as much as I did.

I loved her first book and the history behind it . I enjoyed revisiting this area again and felt this book was a good continuation of the series.
Overall it was a good book but not as good as the first.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

The daughters or Temperance Hobbs picks up several years after the book [book:The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane|4836308] ends. Connie and Sam are still together and living in Boston while Connie is a young tenure track professor writing a book. Her area of expertise - the history of magic in Colonial America, focusing on home medicines and recipes and the threats against women who had these skills. Connie is also the descendant of a woman who was tried as a witch in Salem. Through her studies and research, Connie learns that Sam's life may be in danger and she undertakes a quest, if you will, to solve her family's deadly curse.

The plus for me in this book was the look back in time to the female members of Connie's family. Learning about their lives, their fate, and what life was like for them was magical. These sections really set the ground work for the novel.

I mentioned that this book picks up after the previous book, but this book will also serve as a stand-alone novel. But, if you have read the first, you may find that it is nice to see where these characters picked up. Speaking of characters, I found that I liked Connie more in the previous book than in this book. I can't quite put my finger on why.

Another plus for this book is the amount of research the Author did. She knows her history! She also knows plants and their Latin names. Both of which were very nice touches to this book. So why three stars? BTW- 3 stars means I enjoyed the book. But for me here, there was just something missing in the story. I wanted more oomph here. I never felt as if anyone were in danger nor did I feel magic between Connie and Sam - not like I felt in [book:The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane|4836308]. For me, I wished there was more drams and less of the academic stuff. The academic stuff really slowed the book down for me.

Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

It was fun to revisit the world of Deliverance Dane and descendants. I loved the history of Salem, Marblehead and surrounding areas. The idea of finding artifacts and clues in a generational family home was enticing. However, I found that the believability (yes, I realize that I'm talking about witchcraft here) fell apart in the last few chapters. The scenes when the "recipe" comes together were too fantastical. But all in all, I liked it.

One pet peeve though, the use of the word "slurp" to describe a grown woman, a Professor no less, each time she consumes a beverage is really irritating. Unless she's ACTUALLY making slurping sounds every time she drinks these sodas and coffees....please, don't.

I chose to read this book because I loved The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. This book started out great with the mystery of finding the weather work spell. However, it slowed down and became more about what academia life is like, which I wasn't interested in. It does pick up at the end which is why I am giving this book 3 stars. It could have done without the entire middle section and focused solely on the magical aspect of Connie.

First off, thanks to NetGalley for the free copy of this novel. Second off, I am under the impression that there are prior novels to this one in a series called Lost Books of Salem. I have never read any of those nor have I read any of Katherine Howe's work prior to this. This is a completely honest, unbiased review.

Constance, Connie to her family and friends, Goodwin is a colonial history professor specializing in the era of witchcraft, a.k.a. Salem. She is also a direct descendant of a woman who was tried and executed for the crime of being a witch. Sneaky comments from her mother and historical familial pattern have lead Connie to the realization that her partner, Sam, is in mortal danger. Now she must find a way to same his life, and hopes that her ancestors have the secret

I first read the synopsis and thought, "Sweet! Witches, a family history, actual pieces of history floating around, and action. What more could you ask for?" And then I was introduced to Connie, and I was disappointed. She was whiny, lack some common-sense (who doesn't have a cell phone with a crappy car?), and didn't seem to know her own subject matter. It took a lot longer than I hoped to read it because I stopped every time she did something ridiculous to take deep breathes.

The familial historical chapters were my favorite. I enjoyed reading snippets of fact combined with the imagination of an author. In this case, it was the ancestry that led up to Connie's concerns for Sam. Connie is trying to find a way to save Sam's life, while Temperance also did the same for her husband Obadiah. There were a couple of chapters dedicated to the woman accused and executed as a witch, so that did give a little bit of a spoiler to the ending. However, getting to the ending

I rated this novel 3 out of 5 stars, because it wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. It does start off slow, then a little over halfway through it picks up speed. Maybe if Connie hadn't been so whiny then I would have liked it more. I might decide later to read another book by Katherine Howe, but probably not one of the Lost Books of Salem.

The women in Connie’s family seem to be cursed, as their husband’s die once a daughter is born. When Connie finds herself with child, she fears losing Sam, but she knows she cannot live without him, so she is determined to find a way to beat the curse and live a long and happy life together.

Howe writes the exact kind of book I enjoy, history plays a roll but it isn't necessarily historical fiction and there is always an element of the supernatural.

I really loved the first book, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, and was excited to get my hands on this second installment. The story picks up a decade later with Connie and Sam, who are still together, as Connie is finishing up her book and applying for tenure at her university.

The women in Connie’s family seem to be cursed, as their husband’s die once a daughter is born. When Connie finds herself with child, she fears losing Sam, but she knows she cannot live without him, so she is determined to find a way to beat the curse and live a long and happy life together.

This book is filled with more flashbacks to the women ancestors in Connie’s family that date back to the Salem Witch trials. This is another magical story from the author and was well worth the ten year wait. It makes me want to go back to Salem and spend more time tracing my own Puritan family as well.

You don’t need to have read the first book, this book stands alone. But if you did read the first one, there are some wonderful little nuggets that you will be excited over as they tie in to the first book with that insider knowledge. I may just have to read them both all over again.

Another stunning work from Katherine Howe. Loved Conversion and could not wait for her new book. This will be a great addition to our library collections. It will be very popular, especially halloween!

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the prequel to this book and was looking forward to the followup. I was a bit disappointed because although the story focused on ensuring the safety of the male love interest, the author chose not to include much interaction between the two protagonists. This is a shame because that relationship was one of the better aspects of the first book.. I found myself skimming through many of the passages that focused on defending dissertations and political machinations in academia. Those plot points did nothing to further the story.

This was a great followup to Katherine Howe's first book, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. I loved Connie's messy life and the alternating chapters with her witch family in the old Salem. Read this in one day.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

As a fan of the first book, I had really high hopes for The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs, but I walked away from finishing this feeling kind of disappointed.

The good: the story followed the mother-daughter relationships through generations of Hobbs women, and the alternating chapters between the present day with Connie and the past with her ancestors added a unique perspective to the story.

The bad: it felt like it took forever for anything to actually happen in the story. At least the first half of it was bogged down by tedious descriptions of everything-- the weather, faces, bars, offices, apartments, libraries, etc. The antagonist was very slow to develop and ended up just sizzling out in a very anticlimactic ending. Once things actually started happening, it became very clear how they would occur, and the ending held no surprises or twists. And then the book ends. Just as you expected it would. No excitement or new developments. I was hoping that after such a slow start, the ending would hold more action and plot developments, but it simply ended with her casting the spelled anticipated and that was that.