You Had Me...Then You Lost Me

TITLE: The Doll Factory
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Macneal
PUBLISHER: Atria
PUBLISHING DATE: August 13, 2019

FROM GOODREADS: In 1850s London, the Great Exhibition is being erected in Hyde Park and, among the crowd watching the dazzling spectacle, two people meet by happenstance. For Iris, an arrestingly attractive aspiring artist, it is a brief and forgettable moment but for Silas, a curiosity collector enchanted by all things strange and beautiful, the meeting marks a new beginning. 

When Iris is asked to model for Pre-Raphaelite artist Louis Frost, she agrees on the condition that he will also teach her to paint. Suddenly, her world begins to expand beyond her wildest dreams—but she has no idea that evil is waiting in the shadows. Silas has only thought of one thing since that chance meeting, and his obsession is darkening by the day. 

MY THOUGHTS: So I have to get something out of the way.  When I placed a hold on this at my library, I clearly had it confused with another book. Or else I dreamed up the synopsis or something because needless to say, it turned out to be something VERY different from what I anticipated.  And I was okay with that - in the beginning.

So it's the 1850's (yep, I thought it was more modern - told you I was confused) and Iris and Rose are twins working in an old woman's shop making dolls.  Iris is in charge of the faces and it's evident from the beginning that she possesses more talent and has higher aspirations.  However, Iris has not pursued them because her sister Rose was severely deformed as a child from small pox and Iris does not want to leave her side.  She feels an obligation toward her and Rose plays it up for all it's worth.

Then you have Silas.  He works in taxidermy.  Or the closest thing. He loves recreating morbid art and also aspires to be a feature artist in The Great Exhibition.  So from the start the reader picks up on the fact that Silas is not the most stable shelf on the wall.  One day the two accidentally meet and Silas becomes obsessed with Iris. 

I feel like I could ramble on but this book continues and Iris branches out on her own and quite possibly finds love and quite possibly finds death.  I'm not going to spoil it and let's be honest, I couldn't if I tried because I skimmed the last 40 or so pages because I was bored to tears.  However, the highlight of the book was the little vagrant boy named Albie.  Albie does what he can to earn money so his sister one day won't have to be a prostitute and so he can buy himself some teeth.  (Now there's a sentence I'd never thought I'd type)  He grows so attached to Iris and honestly, I'd have been happy to just have more of him in the book - and he was already quite present. 

So I kind of feel like I'm not being fair about "The Doll Factory."  The first 50% of the book I could clearly see it being a 4 paw read.  However, the last part killed me and drastically dropped my opinion.  It is a rather Gothic read which I enjoyed, but it's fairly romance heavy and I just wasn't in the mood for that.  If you decide to pick this up, I hope you enjoy it more than I did.  Also, hopefully you know what it's about because I clearly did not.

RATING: 2 PAWS

ANIMAL TRIGGER WARNING:  Several dogs are killed tragically...and then dissected. Evil Silas!