Monday, July 14, 2014

Review: The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18634726-the-vanishing-season
The Vanishing Season
by Jodi Lynn Anderson
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Publication Date: July 1st 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9780062003270
Genre: Young Adult | Paranormal | Mystery
Source: Edelweiss

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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. (Goodreads)
I was super excited to finally start The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson, as I have heard SO many great things about the author. I’ve had Anderson’s ‘Tiger Lily’ on my to-read list for a while now as well, and I’m super excited to start it now, hopefully soon.

Maggie is a good girl, one that will do anything to keep her parents happy. Even moving to the small town of Gill Creek after her mom lost her job. She never complains, even though the move is clearly something that she doesn’t want to do, but she understands the amount of stress that her parents are under, so she goes along with whatever they decide to make them happy. I both admired her for her this, and found it insanely frustrating at times. Especially when people took advantage of her, that really made me want to shake some sense into her.

I can’t say that I really cared for many of the secondary characters in this book. I never quite took a liking Liam and Pauline, teens that Maggie met in her new town. I knew something was up with these two from the very beginning. I especially didn’t buy the relationship between Liam and Maggie. Poor Maggie may have been into it, but Liam’s heart was elsewhere. Maggie did have some pretty great parents, however. I was also intrigued by the ‘ghost’ who narrated some parts of the story.

I really enjoyed the mystery feel to the book, it really kept me guessing. The ending was a big surprise that I didn’t really see coming. I expected something completely different to happen, but I was definitely wrong on my guessing. I can see how the ending of the book would upset some readers. It did make me a bit angry, but more for what happened with some of the secondary characters than with the main character. This type of ending is becoming increasingly popular in YA lately.  I also really enjoyed the writing style for the book. It had a hauntingly beautiful quality to it, which I thought went really well with the storyline.  The only issue that I really had with the book was that one of the side plots kind of left me hanging at the end of the book. While we really don’t get an answer on what happened, and that was a bit frustrating, I kind of liked the anonymity of that part of the story.

Overall; I did enjoy reading this novel, and I’m looking forward to reading more by Anderson in the near future. Tiger Lily is my book club read for next month, and I’m super excited to start it now.

2 comments:

  1. Oh Christy, you definitely have to read Tiger Lily. It's one of the most beautiful, heartbreaking stories I've ever read. IThat's why I'm looking forward to reading The Vanishing Season, although I've read many disappointed reviews (mostly coming from those who LOVED Tiger Lily), and it looks like you had some problems with the novel as well. I admit I'm quite apprehensive because characters, even secondary ones, greatly affect my liking of the book. But I just really want to experience Anderson's writing again so I'm going for it. Plus, I'm really intrigued by the ending. I always liked it if I felt strongly at how a book ended, even if it's a slightly unpleasant feeling. Lovely review, Christy! :)

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  2. The cover is so gorgeous. Interesting that a ghost narrates part of the story -- that definitely intrigues!

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