I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about this book. The parts I liked the most were the side stories of customers who came into Tilo's store, different Indian-Americans or newly arrived Indians in America whom she helped. Their stories were familiar, but still drew me in and came alive.

Tilo herself I didn't really warm too. She's certainly a consistent character--if there she had a motto it would be "the rules don't apply to me." She's always doing just what she wants. When she drags up on an island and begs to become one of the Mistresses of Spices the Old One says she's a terrible candidate in that she seems the most gifted at the magic (aren't they always in these books!) but temperamentally she's undisciplined. Is she ever!

So often she refers to herself as someone who's always doing the sacrificing, but in reality it seems like she didn't last long at all before she starts bending the rules of her job, even when it doesn't seem necessary. Central to her rule-breaking is the romance at the heart of the story which just didn't appeal to me at all. Raven (yes, that's the guy's name) is like the hero of a Lifetime movie--the guy who's *not* going to kill you. He's handsome, rich, with a hidden pain. Well, not that hidden. He literally shows up at the woman's store and starts poetically reciting the Story of His Pain. It's actually quite odd. And in the end not that sympathetic to me.