I think I may be generous here, but it's warm outside and I'm in a good mood. The book has had tremendous press and I think the hype has worked against it by unfairly raising expectations. The premise is good, a family of women who each possess a magical ability to tell fortunes in lace. The funny thing is that really, no one is foretelling anything. Lots of allusion to mysticism (and a few ghost-sightings thrown in for good measure), but it's really a straight forward story about a troubled woman, Towner Whitney, who comes back home and is forced to wrestle with her demons.

This isn't a new story and the author doesn't really add anything to the telling. There's quite a lot going on in the novel that could be interesting, but really just seems to be taking up space. I can think of worse novels, but I can also think of a heck of a lot of better ones.