Books for YA!: ARC Review: The Vanishing Season

Title: The Vanishing Season
Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson
Genre/s: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Stand-Alone
Released Date: July 1, 2014
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Synopsis:

Girls started vanishing in the fall, and now winter's come to lay a white sheet over the horror. Door County, it seems, is swallowing the young, right into its very dirt. From beneath the house on Water Street, I've watched the danger swell.

The residents know me as the noises in the house at night, the creaking on the stairs. I'm the reflection behind them in the glass, the feeling of fear in the cellar. I'm tied—it seems—to this house, this street, this town.

I'm tied to Maggie and Pauline, though I don't know why. I think it's because death is coming for one of them, or both.

All I know is that the present and the past are piling up, and I am here to dig.I am looking for the things that are buried.

From bestselling author Jodi Lynn Anderson comes a friendship story bound in snow and starlight, a haunting mystery of love, betrayal, redemption, and the moments that we leave behind.

My Thoughts:

When I first saw the cover of The Vanishing Season, I instantly fell in love with it. Then I read its synopsis and my feelings for this book grew stronger. I mean, how can I not. It has an aura of mystery (the missing girls) and horror (a ghost), two of my weaknesses. But when I finally have it in my hands and read it, I realized, I've been fooled. It's not what I expected and I mean that in a not so good way. It was like, whoever wrote that synopsis above, didn't read the story entirely. It’s like he only read two chapters of the book and base the summary from there. But if I am wrong and the person who created the summary truly read this, I think he needs to find a new job other than this, because he clearly wasn’t cut out for writing summaries.

So here is what this book is about. The story revolved around Maggie, who just moved in on the house in the Water Street, Pauline, her new neighbor and Liam, Pauline's best friend. It was more contemporary romance/tragedy kind of story rather than a mystery/horror.

The mystery element of this book, about the missing girls in Door County, was very minimal. It was only a background, like it was part of the scenery or the vibe of the place or something. It still affected the characters because you can feel the menace in the air and how the people in the place where cautious but it was not where the story revolved around. It wasn’t the focal point of the story. It, also, wasn’t solved properly. There was a guy who got arrested, though but he was set free due to lack of evidence. So technically, the case is still open, leaving a loose end at its wake.

The ghost the synopsis mentioned is, also, not your haunting poltergeist type. Disappointing, I know. She was more like a passive kind who roams and observes the living without interfering with their lives. She was also our very insightful narrator who’s trying to find the purpose of her non-existence.

So if you're craving for a creepy book with a ghost and missing girls, I'm sorry to say that this isn't what you're looking for. But don't fret because I know a book that's perfect for you. It also has a ghost, lots of missing girls and it will scare the living daylight out of you. Click my Say Her Name review here.

Sorry, I digress.

Anyway, if I will ignore the misleading marketing stunt, because it's not the author's fault, I will say that the story was quite okay. The writing was beautiful but I didn’t find anything special about the plot. It’s basically a love triangle with unreciprocated love between best friends and new friend.

So overall, The Vanishing Season was an okay read but I will not recommend it due to its predictability and boring factor.

My Rating