** spoiler alert ** 
 When I picked this up, I was imagining that it would be something a little different than what it ended up being. I pictured this book being more like the novel `Like Water for Chocolate'. I was both delighted & disappointed to be wrong. It reminded me more of books like `Practical Magic', `Chocolat', & `Sugar Queen'. 
 The novel follows the character of Ida, a young woman whose whole life comes to a screeching halt when she discovers that she is slowly turning to glass after a visit to a mysterious island. She returns there, hoping to discover a cure & ends up meeting the reticent photographer Midas, who is more inclined to spend his time photographing alone than with other people. As her affliction spreads, love slowly grows between the two of them. 
 There's things I really would like to say about this book & comparisons I'd like to make, but unfortunately that would give away too much of the book. I'll just let the reader know that this isn't a lighthearted story. From the very beginning of the book, the story deals heavily with loss. It took me a while to get into this book because I really was expecting something slightly different. 
 I did like the characters & I liked that each character was slightly sympathetic, even if they weren't the greatest of people. There's a lot of small & subtle details in this book, some of which I picked up on immediately & others that I do know that I missed. This is a book that will undoubtedly be better the second time I read it & know to look for these things. 
 All in all though... I did like this book well enough to give it 3 stars. If I could give star fractions I'd score it a bit higher, but unfortunately we can't. The writing is very good for a first novel & I'm curious to see what else this author will bring in future books. 
 (ARC provided by amazon vine)