The Vanishing Season

by Jodi Lynn Anderson

For Maggie Larsen, the town of Gill Creek is only a stopgap before college and freedom. Until she meets Pauline and Liam. What starts as an uneventful year suddenly changes. Someone is killing teenaged girls, and the town reels from the tragedy.

• ISBN10: 0062003275
• ISBN13: 9780062003270
• Publish Date: 1 July 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Bianca]

This is no place for anyone with a heart.

— On the surface, it’s about these flawed characters in a really compelling love triangle (the best I’ve read to be honest). And yet, this was truly just a story about isolation, loneliness, and longing. So beautifully written, and so sad. Just my cup of tea.

[readingwithwrin]

I suggest going into this book without having any expectations because the reviews I read for it were not the best if they had already expected something from it.
Maggie is the main characters as well as a mysterious paranormal person. Maggie’s family has fallen on hard times and has moved to a small town and started over after having left Chicago. With Maggie being homeschooled she doesn’t really get to meet many other kids besides the next door neighbors. But this causes some problems after a while and a love triangle happens. What kept me interested in this book was the paranormal part and figuring out who it was and why they were still around. If you want a short winter read that’s what this one is.

[anastasia]

Full Review on my blog!
This was not quite what I expected. I was expecting more mystery and intrigue and less typical contemporary vibes. The only moments there is anything paranormal is during the ghost POV sections. The rest is about Maggie and her growing as a person and adjusting to a new life.

This is the first book I read by Jodi Lynn Anderson. I did liked the plot, although I didn’t connect with the main characters, so I felt that I might hadn’t enjoyed it as much as expected. I really wanted to love this book, but I honestly don’t know how I feel.

The Vanishing Season a book a thriller with a paranormal twist, about a girl who has just moved to a small town where girls are disappearing to later to be found dead floating in the lake. The book is told from two POVs,Maggie’s and a spirit that observes the trio; but it’s most in Maggie’s POV.

Maggie has moved from the bustle of Chicago to a very isolated small town called, Door Country because her mom lost her job. It’s a difficult move, but Maggie has a neighbor, Pauline, who she easily makes friends with. Pauline is a beautiful and rich girl and somewhat eccentric. Maggie also meets, Pauline’s best friend Liam. Liam also Maggie’s neighbor who is madly in love with Pauline. But Pauline doesn’t see Liam that way. Maggie finds a friendship that she didn’t expect to find and had good and funny moments with them, but they’re always aware of the disappearances.

It was well written, but not exactly my style. I just didn’t get very excited about The Vanishing Season. It felt like it took me a year to read… The murders, which were supposed to cramp their style, didn’t really seem to hold them back much. The romance was kinda predictable. I may or may not read more of this author, I’m not entirely sure yet. It was alright though.

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[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

If you read The Vanishing Season after having read Tiger Lily, it’s inevitable that you’re going to want to talk about both of the books and make some (almost unfair) comparisons. I adored Tiger Lily, and it’s one of my favourite books of all time, but I didn’t adore The Vanishing Season. It’s very difficult for me to write a review for it, because it was simply just boring. I don’t know how else to explain it. So here, have some bullet points, because those make everything better.


Boredom

The Vanishing Season wasn’t enthralling or exciting in the slightest. I was bored after thirty pages of the slow (yet still beautiful, I will give it that) writing and sluggish pace. The whimsical writing didn’t work for me here as it did with Tiger Lily. Instead of captivating me and drawing me into the world, I was left stranded.


Uninteresting characters

These characters didn’t stand out to me at all. Tiger Lily (yes, I’m comparing the two again) has an amazing selection of characters that I loved reading about. From Tink (*sobs*) to Peter to Tik Tok, they were all brilliant. But Maggie and Pauline and Liam were flat. I didn’t care about their lives or their problems or their relationships. Liam succeeded in pissing me off, which meant that I spent most of the book rolling my eyes at him and yawning at the other two.

Ending

The ending still made me sad, even if I did skim most of the chapters prior to it. I didn’t feel a connection to the story or the characters, so it kind of felt like I was watching the ending on the news. I was detached, but it was still a sad story and I felt for the characters towards the end. Not enough for them to actually appeal to me or make me cry, but still.

All in all, I’m very disappointed because I was expecting another all time favourite story from Ms. Anderson. This isn’t enough to put me off reading her other books, but it has certainly lowered my expectations a little. Or a lot.

[celinenyx]

3.5 Stars

From the blurb The Vanishing Season sounds like a kind of mystery, written from the perspective of a ghost. Although this isn't entirely wrong, the book has a different focus.

Maggie moves to a town right in the middle of a lake with her parents. It's a lonely and cold place, but she meets two amazing friends, Pauline and Liam.

The book is basically about the friendship between Maggie, Pauline and Liam. The murders of teenage girls plays in the background of the story, and rarely touches the main characters. It's not a mystery in the traditional sense. The main mystery is who the ghost narrative (written in italics throughout the story) is, and how it ties in with the bigger picture.

The cover fits the story very well. Most of the story is set during the winter months, and it's very cold and bleak. What I really liked about the story is that it's unconventional - the double narrative, the character dynamics and final resolution are all non-standard. I liked the way Maggie's parents acted. They were very parent-like without being crazy protective or crazy my-kid-deserves-freedom, like many parents in YA are.

Like many other people reading The Vanishing Season, I somehow felt a bit distant to the characters. There is not much of a plot; it's more a kind of meandering and unfolding kind of book, which is fine with me. The emotional punch just wasn't there for me though, which is what this book does want to achieve. Maybe if it had been a bit longer, and had more indepth scenes, I would have felt differently.

The Vanishing Season was good. In some ways it reminded me of Code Name Verity (without the planes and the war) because of the close friendship between two girls. This is a good book if you want something different and not too long.

[Kelsenator]

Not for me, not what I expected the story to be about.
Full review to come close to release date.