I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review. 
 Actual rating: 2.5 
 I am really on the fence about this book. It's beautiful in a strange way, but it's also disgusting and depressing at the same time. There were lines and parts of it that were filled with beauty, but then there were so many parts that made me shudder with horror. And not the good sort. 
 First of all, the title is a bit misleading. This book is not about the sorrows of Ava Lavender, but more about the sorrows and strangeness of her entire family. Starting with Great-grandparents and moving down the tragic line. This story tells in detail the gory fall of her great uncles and aunts, the painful life lived by her grandmother, and then by her mother. And yes, the sorrows were strange. I was kind of expecting the usual sorrows you'd get from a family immigrating to the States in the twentieth century, but these sorrows were plain weird and supernatural, which was neat, in a way. 
 That is the plot. Yes. That's it. The story of the weird family and all the terrible things they go through. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it? 
 And it is, in a way, though it does drag, I must admit. 
 Honestly, it's hard to point out one thing that turned me off of this book. The amount of depressing instances with little to no redemption was a major aspect, but also the stupidity of the characters. For many of them (perhaps not Emmaline, or Ava) happiness was easily attainable. For Viviane it was right in front of her face. It was just so frustrating to watch the characters ruin and wreck their lives when it all was preventable. 
 The last frustrating aspect to this book was that the format was unpolished. Leslye Walton frequently forgot to start a new line when different people were speaking to each other and the conversation ran together in confusing ways every so often. Hopefully this will have changed by the time the book comes out later in 2014. 
 The book was easy to read (when you weren't squirming with disgust at the gore and sadness) and went by quickly. I was invested in what happened, so that wasn't a problem. I don't regret reading it, but I wouldn't recommend it to any of my friends as it's just. so. dark.