Review: The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy

Feeling so happy that I read this book. I had seen people love it, and it got me so curious. Then I traded for a copy of it, and couldn't help but read it right away. And I'm so glad that I did so. But the beginning was very slow for me, but then the rest of the book was so amazing. And so I'm giving this four stars.

This is a book set in 1942, in the time of war. But it isn't about the war at all, which I liked, as the story in this book was very interesting and exciting. It is written from the point of view of sixteen year old Aila. And I adored this girl. I enjoyed getting to know her, and my love for her only kept growing. Loved her so.

This book tells a story about how her mother has just died, and her father has to be at war, and so she and her eight year old brother get sent to their mom's home place, to live with her old childhood friend. From the beginning of this book I enjoyed the writing a lot. And it only got better, which I am so happy about. But I also found the first one hundred pages or so to be pretty boring. So that I feared I would not want to read more, if I put the book down. Ack. And so I did not put it down until I had finished it. And I am so glad that I did not give up. Because after those first pages, this book got way more exciting and mysterious and I could not stop reading. And I loved everything about it. Eee. Aila was such a great character to read about, at all times.

Reading about her relationship with her brother was really interesting too. They are both grieving for their mother, and missing their father. They love each other, but are fighting so often. Hurt my heart. I adored her brother, but he kept a few secrets from her, and I did not like that at all. Hmph. Still, I liked them both. This book is about them having to go live with another family for a time. And reading about that was pretty interesting too, how they got to know these people. And this new town, which was all kinds of mysterious.

I am not going to write too much about the plot of this book, as I don't want to give too much away. But gosh, I can say that it was so exciting. This book is from the point of Aila, but also a few small chapters from a villain too. I adored Aila so much. And the villain actually freaked me out. It was awesome. This is a book about Aila learning to live in a new town, with a whole lot of new people. There are some school scenes, and scenes with her making friends and enemies. It was mostly interesting too. Liked her friends.

But this is not a normal town. Which Aila and her brother learn about pretty fast. Which I'm happy about. In this town, something huge disappears every seven years. It has been happening for thirty five years now. Those who live in this town cannot smell anything. They cannot see stars. They cannot see their reflections. And some other things too, and something new is almost about to disappear again. I loved this plot twist a whole lot. A bit of magic. A bit about the war. A whole town cursed. Exciting to read about.

This book is a bit slow, but it was also so incredible. I loved learning more about this town and how they are missing so much. And learning the rules for it, and reading about them all trying to find out why things started to disappear. There are secrets about Aila's family. And something about her new family too. And oh, their new family was amazing to read about. I adored them so much. Two parents, whom were kind and sweet, and a boy, Will, one year older than Aila. And oh gosh. How very much I loved that boy. Eee.

I'm not going to say more about what happens in this book. Just that I enjoyed it a whole lot and it is full of mystery and surprises. The small romance killed me a little. The friendships were all amazing to read about. And I simply adored Aila. There were a few sad moments in this book, but there were not many of those. Which I'm happy about. Most of this book was about the mystery of this town, and how they could make things better. And how Aila wanted to help them find out how to stop it. I simply loved reading it all.

There is not a lot of romance in this book, but there is a little of it, and I loved it the very most. Aila and Will together was the most adorable thing. And when their romance finally started to get more near the end of the book, oh. I loved it very very much and so wish there had been much more of it. They are the sweetest together and I loved how they started out as getting friends, then feeling more. They have some awesome moments together. And also, Will was such an amazing character too. I adored him the most.

Feeling very happy about choosing to read The Disappearances. It was such an exciting and interesting book. Full of mysteries. With awesome characters and a creepy town. And such a great setting too. And despite the start being a bit slow, I loved this book. And I think everyone else should read and love it too. It's worth it. There are bits of magic in this story too, a bit about a curse as well. And I loved reading every moment of it. I wish there would be another book about these lovely characters, though. I would love that.

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