The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy (ARC Review)

The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy

Series: Standalone

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Expected publication: July 4th, 2017

Genres: Fantasy, Magic Realism, Mystery, YA

Pages: 400

Format: ARC

Buy: Book Depository | Amazon

* Received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much! This doesn’t affect the review in any way. My opinions are, as always, my own.*

What if the ordinary things in life suddenly…disappeared?

Aila Quinn’s mother, Juliet, has always been a mystery: vibrant yet guarded, she keeps her secrets beyond Aila’s reach. When Juliet dies, Aila and her younger brother Miles are sent to live in Sterling, a rural town far from home–and the place where Juliet grew up.
Sterling is a place with mysteries of its own. A place where the experiences that weave life together–scents of flowers and food, reflections from mirrors and lakes, even the ability to dream–vanish every seven years.
No one knows what caused these “Disappearances,” or what will slip away next. But Sterling always suspected that Juliet Quinn was somehow responsible–and Aila must bear the brunt of their blame while she follows the chain of literary clues her mother left behind.

As the next Disappearance nears, Aila begins to unravel the dual mystery of why the Disappearances happen and who her mother truly was. One thing is clear: Sterling isn’t going to hold on to anyone’s secrets for long before it starts giving them up.

 

I am not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t this… It was an interesting book but… Well, that’s about it for me. It was interesting.

I really enjoy magical realism, I always find it fascinating and gripping. But with this one, I really thought of DNFing it until I reached 60% of the book, and it finally started to make me want to know what was going to happen… It was a bit too late to make me feel anything anymore tho. It was simply too stretched.

Don’t get me wrong, the mystery was done in a nice way and it was surprising but until more than half of the book I was bored and being slow paced didn’t help.

I liked some of the characters but I didn’t necessarily connect with them and there was a lot of times I wanted to slap someone… Especially the main character. I had a bit of a hate relationship with her.

What I liked about this book were the references it has to solve the mystery and although weird and sometimes a bit confusing, they are really interesting and above all creative! And that’s what drove me to end the book. And I am glad I did, because the end was surprising but it was already too late for me to be engaged with the story.

It was the difference between “okay, I didn’t expect that, nice” and “Wow! I wasn’t expecting that!”, do you know what I mean? I didn’t feel that thrill a mystery book is supposed to deliver.

I just think it could have been better, and less stretched. Maybe that would have made it more gripping… It was for sure an interesting book, and I would still recommend it if you like magical realism and don’t mind slow paced books, but I was hoping for a bit more.

Do you enjoy magic realism? What do you think of this one? Let’s discuss it in the comments!

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