I really enjoyed this book! It was a great historical nod and I loved the witchy elements. Not my favorite of Howes' books but I did recommend it to several patrons and purchased a copy for the library.

The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs was a pleasure to read. The first book I have read from this author and I'm hoping to read more in the future.

Synopsis: A magical bloodline. A family curse. Can Connie break the spell before it shatters her future? A bewitching novel of a New England history professor who must race against time to free her family from a curse, by Katherine Howe, New York Times bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.

The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs by Katherine Howe is the second book in the paranormal historical fantasy The Physick Book series. At the time of picking this one up I did not realize the book belonged to a series so I definitely had not read the first book. I’m guessing that it probably would have been better to have done so in the fact that I just could not connect to this one at all when reading it.

The story followed a young woman, Connie Goodwin, who is studying the women of the past during the Salem Witch Trials. The same character seemed to be in the first book so I probably missed some things there that might have helped bring my one and half star rating up or perhaps it was just the style of the back and forth story and I may not have liked the first. Other’s have enjoyed this so I’m chalking this one up to being the wrong reader for the story and would suggest giving it a chance if this series sounds like one you’d enjoy.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Let me start by saying this book
Is predictable yet enjoyable. Connie will drive you up a wall especially the way she treats Sam.
The pacing is slow in the beginning but does pick up as the story unfolds. It is busy with a fatal curse, concealed spells, magical lineage and witches. This is the second book but you don’t have to read the first, it flows smoothly.

The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs by Katherine Howe may be a sequel to The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, but it is not necessary to read one before the other. While there are references to Deliverance and her book throughout The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs, Ms. Howe provides all the background you need to understand Connie's story. I say this with confidence because I did not read the first one but thoroughly enjoyed its sequel.

For any reader who is not in academia, Connie's story about her teaching and the pressures to obtain tenure and publish her book are fascinating. At least, I thought they were because they are so far removed from the corporate world, where increasing sales and lowering costs are the driving forces of any decision-making. The world of academia appears just as cutthroat but more nebulous, wherein your success or failure hinges not on the company's performance but on your own ability to put up with the constant research and competition. I appreciate this insight into a world that never interested me for my own personal goals but remains such a large part of our educational system.

The other half of Connie's story, the witchy one, is downright fun. I love a good witchcraft story, especially one where almost all of the characters maintain that belief in witchcraft has merit given its influence in our society and the fact that such belief continues in our highly logical, scientifically-minded world. Her urgency to save Sam from the family curse does remind me of Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, but that is where the similarities end. The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs has more gravitas to it, surrounding its tale of magic with scholarly insight that makes the story that much more believable.

While The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs has its moments of darkness, the story as a whole is an entertaining one. Ms. Howe's approach to the idea of witchcraft, as well as the practice of it, lends credence to its possibility. At the same time, Connie's desperation to save her partner and uncover more of her past in order to do so makes you understand the scholar's excitement about research, that thrill of finding something no one else did, of making connections that have the possibility to change someone's life, of physically touching the past in a way that most people will never be able to do. It is almost enough to change my mind about getting a doctorate. Almost being the operative word.

A great read that kept me engrossed and entertained. While this book is a second in a series I was able to read and connect with the characters without getting lost.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I loved the cover for this book and it is what really drew me in. The story overall is good; I was very interested because of what was written about the book but to be honest, this was not really my cup of tea. I was hoping that it would be more like the first book but it just didn't full get there for me. I love Howe's writing but something was missing here for me. I am sure that plenty of others loved it though. It was nicely put together and the plot was there, but I felt like it could have been better written at parts. However, this was a fantastic idea and I am glad to have read it.

So excited when this came out and thank you to NetGalley for my copy. I am a huge fan of the first book and this one did not disappoint. It picks up several years after the first one ends and is just as witchy and enchanting as the first. A must read for Deliverance Dane fans.

Now I am all about witchy things, magical things, folklore things, etc. I had not read the first book in this series, but this book can be read as a standalone novel, though I'll probably go back and read the first. I love all of the ancestral stuff and potions and herbs. I do not like learning about the boring stuff behind academia, and I wanted more heat between the two main characters.

Wasn't aware this was a sequel when requesting but found out this was standalone. Overall really good writing and an enjoyable story.

I found this to be very enjoyable. I read the first book seven years ago and loved it. The history and magic were fascinating. When I started this one I had to read some summaries of the first book to remind me of the characters and plot. Howe did a good job though of putting in details and mentions about the first book which made it easier to connect events.

The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs, by Katherine Howe, is a delightful story. The excellent tale keeps the reader continually reading just to discover the next twist of the story. The paranormal element folds right into the story; or is it the other way around? As the story develops humor, tragedy, friendships, and family relationships provides the theme that fills out the story-line. The descriptions and character development offer the tale enlivening details to keep readers attention.

This book is the sequel to The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, which I have not read….. Yet. 🙂 But

I was totally engrossed in this book. I loved the historical tie in to the Salem Witch Trials and all the “witchiness” this book offers.


Katherine Howe does a fantastic job in really letting you feel what each character is feeling. The story line is intriguing and not a dull spot anywhere in the book. I look forward to reading more from Howe.

Katherine Howe is a wonderful author and I eagerly await each of her books. This one was no exception. Well written and with appealing characters, I was quickly drawn into the story and unable to put the book down. Rich and vivid with plenty of excitement.

This one has everything that appeals to me in an autumn novel: witchcraft, academia, cursed romance, and family secrets. The greater Boston area setting is just a bonus. In this novel we return to the world of PhD Connie Goodwin, her steeplejack Sam, and archives of the greater Boston area (Salem, Marblehead, etc.). If you enjoyed The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, pick this one up, it’s such a lovely follow up.

The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs by Katherine Hobbs takes us back to the world first began in The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, a journey into the world of witchcraft, American history and the patriarchal and religious views that oppressed and tried those born with the gifts.

"...You be an abomination,' the vicar said, softly and so friendly-like that at first Livvy thought she must have misheard him.
'What?' Livvy said.
'You best be getting on,' the vicar said, dropping his voice to a sinister whisper. 'Wee Cromwellian. Little spawn of the pretender. I'm just back from London you know.' He stepped near enough that she could feel his wet breath on her cheek.
Livvy's wrists ached. In the pillory, back in Pendle, she'd been left so long the bones in her wrists grated together like dry pebbles.
'Oh, aye.' The vicar's poxed eye gleamed. 'I saw it all. Cromwell's body dragged through the streets on a sledge. Hanged for a day, then his head hacked off. Driven on a pike twenty foot high. Mounted above Westminster Hall. Can you conceive it? The Lord Protector himself, slack-jawed, pecked by crows?'
Livvy's feet inched her along the wall, away from the vicar, nearer the door. Three feet. Then two. Almost near enough to grasp the handle.
'Go on. Get out of here,' the vicar snarled. 'There's no call for likes of you in God's house?'
Her hand fell on the door. Pushed it open. The evening mist drifted in, carrying the smells of sheep and darkness.
'This were never God's house,' Livvy said, too loudly, and stepped into the coming night..."

Connie Goodwin is a young tenure professor in Boston whose future looks incredibly bright. She is highly recognized in the field of early America and it's history with witchcraft. The trials of Salem as well as other lesser known incidents having made her opinion sought after. But beyond those tragedies, Goodwin has also made her research about the women who were gifted in home remedies and medicines and the societal changes in their acceptance and then oppression of these women.

"....Well,' Zazi said, 'I guess I see witchcraft as kind of a catch-all term. That encompasses many different forms of folk spiritual practice. It's a way for people-often women and people of color-to claim power for themselves..."

But there is another reason that this subject matter is so dear to Connie. She is the direct descendant of one of the women tried and executed as a witch in Salem. An ancestor whose abilities were far more than even her persecutors could have known. But with such power comes dire consequences. In Connie's heritage is not only the gifts but the curse that comes with it.

"...You mean cunning folk?' Connie said. Of course. It made total sense. The argument of Connie's book was that belief in witchcraft didn't go away after the 1700s. It merely changed. Went underground. Why wouldn't it have spread? Mixed with other traditions? Many streams, bubbling together, coursing together toward-what?
What happens to witches when they aren't called witches anymore..."

Now Connie must dig into her past and the past of New England in search of a potion or spell or conjuring to put to rest her family's curse. For if she cannot, it will be the death of the man she loves.

I am a huge fan of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and was excited to hear that Katherine Howe was returning to the world she started in that book. With The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs, Howe expands on the role of the conjuring women that history has labeled as witches over the centuries both here in the Americas and in Great Britain. But it not only witches, but any woman who dares to upset the realms that were once under the control of men or religion. Even in the world of academia where a tenured Professor is not looked upon the same if she is a woman as opposed to being a man.

But central to this tale is how we have viewed those we call witches of the centuries. The healing women that people turn to and when things go wrong are quick to turn against. Howe paints these women as very real women. Women whose gifts are more a sense of responsibility than any kind of power. Women who history and the church will painstakingly paint in a very dark light.

A good read.

I did not know this was a sequel but was happy to see that it could be a standalone. The story follows Connie who must find a way to save Sam from a deadly curse. I requested this book because of one word: witches. Yes, I love anything and everything that has to do with witches and, hey, there was romance involved, so clearly a book for me! While I got all of that, and more: action, mystery, even anxiety (ha!), I felt incredibly bored at times. The story lingered too much on history (yes, the author knows her stuff), academic life (um, I'm married to a professor - I live this life!), and Connie being...Connie (annoying, mean at times to Sam, too focused on work, etc. etc.) and I think because of this, I was losing interest too quickly. Either way, this book is for anyone who has more time than I do to appreciate every word of this story. At least the ending was appropriate! Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this eARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

I love when a book is a sequel but it really isn’t because you don’t feel like you need to have read the previous book to understand the plot of the current one.

Connie Goodwin needs to finish her boom to get tenure but she’s been held back by herself for a bunch of different reasons which slowly unravel throughout the book. She’s kind of stuck until some events force her to become unstuck.

I loved how family history is always at play in Ms. Howe’s books.