Tuesday, July 6, 2021

ARC Review: The Temple House Vanishing

 



I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

Once there was a sixteen year old girl named Louisa, who attended Temple House as a student. Longing to feel seen, she became deeply intertwined with Victoria, a fellow student, and Mr. Lavelle, their art teacher. But one day Lousia and Mr. Lavelle disappeared without a trace. As the twenty-fifth anniversary of this unsolved mystery approaches, a journalist begins to dig deeper into what everyone thinks they know.

This was a haunting beauty of a book. Every character is complex and captivating, and the alternating perspectives the reader gets provide a look into the characters' motivations, thoughts and desires. Temple House itself becomes a character as well, damp and dank and cold and frightening. 

I could not put this book down. I became so caught up in the characters' world and having to know what really happened. I also became completely caught up in Donohue's writing style, where every single word truly felt like it mattered, and every sentence managed to be both beautiful and intense. The ending came as a complete shock to me (and the beginning came as quite a gut punch as well), but fit perfectly with what had come before. 

I'm still thinking about this story even after I finished it, and I highly recommend this book.

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