The Museum of Extra Ordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

★★★

"The truth frightens people because it isn't stable.  It shifts every day."

I read the Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman and love it - but this one wasn't one of my favorites.  Maybe I was expecting too much?  Either way, I found it more creepy than anything and it took me longer than usual to get through (even with a six month old at home!)

I was really excited to read this.  Not only because of the author, but because of the history of Coney Island.  The premise reminded me a bit of The Night Circus: girl grows up surrounded by circus atmosphere, falls in love with the wrong boy, and spend they spend the rest of the book trying to figure out how to be together "against all odds."  I loved the historical references of the time period and the general mood of the novel, but I felt there could have been more setting and character development and less focus on certain secondary characters.  And I'm still not sure how I felt about the ending...