This is the author's first book and it more than shows. I first became wary when about two pages into the protagonist's narration (present-day one) I had a full body description (using a mirror no less!) shoved down my throat. The author focuses far too much on unnecessary things (e.g., a two page description of a painting that is never mentioned again; descriptions of ivy on the walls) and I often found myself zoning out. Some "coincidences" were more than I could swallow, such as the protagonist meeting her love interesting while swimming in only her underwear... in the sea - my suspension of disbelief doesn't extend that far. What's more, the phonetic writing of the dialect made for difficult reading at times: not being familiar with the Boston accent, sometimes I wasn't sure which of two or three words was the one that I was supposed to be reading. 
 Having said this, the author deserves some credit for her world building of Salem in the 1600-1700's. Unfortunately, this doesn't make up for an idiot of a protagonist who can't see what's in front of her nose (despite being a Harvard PHD student) or the fact that we weren't even show her finding the all important physick book of the title and were only told about it later in a phone conversation. Not good.