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Jan 06, 2014 Andrea at Reading Lark rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, arc, contemporary, paranormal, kindle, mystery, ghosts, 4-stars, edelweiss, read-in-2014

*3.5 Rating
Review Posted on Reading Lark 6/2/14: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2014/...

The Vanishing Season is a story of friendship, betrayal, and love. Maggie has recently moved to Water Street in Door County, Wisconsin. Her new home is an idyllic small town that caters to tourists in the summer and battles snowdrifts in the winter. Maggie isn't sure that she will be able to adapt after living in Chicago her entire life. To make matters worse, her family is struggling financially. Maggie kno *3.5 Rating
Review Posted on Reading Lark 6/2/14: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2014/...

The Vanishing Season is a story of friendship, betrayal, and love. Maggie has recently moved to Water Street in Door County, Wisconsin. Her new home is an idyllic small town that caters to tourists in the summer and battles snowdrifts in the winter. Maggie isn't sure that she will be able to adapt after living in Chicago her entire life. To make matters worse, her family is struggling financially. Maggie knows that moving to the old home they inherited will help with money issues, but she can't help being slightly resentful.

Maggie also worries about making friends and finding a job. She is home-schooled by her father because public schools were not a challenge for her - even after skipping a grade. This educational isolation makes it difficult to meet people in a new town, but Maggie quickly befriends her next door neighbor, Pauline. Pauline is the same age as Maggie and insanely beautiful. Pauline's best friend, Liam, is like her shadow and he quickly becomes a friend to Maggie as well. This trio soon becomes inseparable.

At it's heart, this is a story about the journey of friendship. Friendships are not always smooth paths. They often have detours and ruts. These detours often cause searing pain in our youth and leave marks. Maggie, Pauline, and Liam will all forever be changed based on their time together.

I have to say that it took me awhile to settle into this story and these characters. I didn't like Liam and Pauline for most of the novel; they both seemed selfish in so many ways. I didn't like the way they treated Maggie. On the other hand, I did like Maggie, but I didn't always approve of her choices. None of these characters are easy to love. In fact, the only characters I liked all the way through the read were Maggie's parents.

In addition to the contemporary story, there is another narrator who at first glance appears to be some sort of spirit or ghost. I admit that I found these elements to be distracting and confusing at first. I really had no idea who this narrator was or how they fit into the main story. I encourage readers to fight past the frustration with this narrator - everything will be clear in the end. When I finally figured things out I was in shock. I found this element to be extremely clever; I never saw it coming and its gives me chills.

On a side note: I love the cover of this one. It fits the story so well and has a haunting vibe to it.

One Last Gripe: The beginning was a bit slow.

My Favorite Thing About This Book: I really loved the twist at the end. It made me see the story in a completely different light.

First Sentence: A key is buried under the front stairs of 208 Water Street.

Favorite Character: Maggie - even though she frustrated me at times

Least Favorite Character: Pauline ...more

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Jan 15, 2014 Nicole marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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Jan 04, 2015 Amy Ferrantino marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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