So this one wasn't for me. It had a lot of promise, with a Gothic horror factor that I love, and the fact that it's set in a boarding school - it should be a home run. But something fell flat - it felt like the story meandered and, at 450 pages, was way too long. The differing timelines and narration made the story feel confusing instead of intriguing, and I ended up skimming large portions of the book to see if any of the plot would really begin to form into what the summary promised, but it wasn't meant to be. I won't be recommending this one, although we did purchase for our collection in case someone else gets more out of it.

Eerie? Yes. Creepy? Yes. Frightful? Yes. Written well? Not so much. Character development? Not really. Upsetting. It is so hard to find books that are written in a place that many students I teach with, are from, and this one is right from that area. However, bummer, it wasn’t written that well. The character design in this book left something to be craved and that was extremely upsetting after being setup for a creepy, horror filled book that could catch anyone’s eye (especially with the glorious cover).

However, I just cannot in good conscious suggest or continue reading this book. I had to fight to get to the 50% mark and that was by a very slim margin that I was able to. I DNE’d this book at 51% and could not pick it up again after that. It could have benefitted from a better character development and a better world in the end.

This was dark, creepy, & horrifying. The story was twisty & turning & definitely kept me guessing. Especially the ending. Never saw that coming. It’s Gothic Horror with creepy children. Who doesn’t love creepy children in their stories? There are many trigger warnings for this book so be aware before you pick it up. That being said I really enjoyed the book, however it won’t be for everyone.

Based on the summary, The Tenth Girl should have been an instant winner for me. Gothic, horror, mythology, own voices, ghosts, historical: so many spectacular things! Unfortunately, for me, it did not live up to its alluring description. Perhaps I should have realized that trying to fit so many wonderful things into one book would lead to something less than wonderful.

Mavi has escaped the Argentinian government, after her mother has been arrested, and finds refuge at the Vaccaro School teaching English to ten young girls. Angel is an ambiguous being who is also at Vaccaro School, but not visible to any of the other residents, and clearly from the future (as the setting is 1978). The story is told, alternating between the viewpoints of these two characters. There is something clearly amiss about the school (especially since nobody has seen more than nine girls), and evidence of a haunting becomes more and more clear. Mavi and Angel form a connection and work together to solve the mystery of the tenth girl and save the residents of Vaccaro School from a terrifying fate.

The setting of this book is amazing! The detail put into the landscape and the house are commendable, and the descriptions of the various terrors and deterioration are beautifully horrific. Faring clearly has a connection to the setting, and has put her heart into the descriptions. But for me, this is where my enjoyment for the book ends.

The characters, and I mean every character, has a back story. This leads to a lot of unnecessary detail into things that do not advance the plot or benefit the story. In fact much of this detail in back story just felt frustrating, as certain things would be so clearly outlined, but other's were never fully revealed or explained (still trying to figure out why Angel's brother in law must not be named). I love it when a character has a vivid backstory to help develop and give them depth, but in this case most of the details felt like throw away facts, completely useless in developing the characters. Most characters remained flat and shallow throughout.

The twist was also really frustrating for me. I love a good twist, and even more so when I can't quite figure it out, but not this twist. It was so far from anything that I was expecting that I almost put the book down for good. I felt angry and let down and cheated even. The second half of this book was a completely different read from the first half, you are suddenly reading in a different genre entirely. For me (especially since it turned into a genre I particularly dislike), it ruined the book. For others it may be the revelation that turns this into their favorite book.

I will still recommend The Tenth Girl to the right reader, because for the right reader this book could be life changing. But, for most, this book will likely flatline.

A secluded school with centuries of history and secrets that houses a plethora of teachers and students with varying skeletons in their closets certainly makes for an interesting experience! The characters are unique (and some are actually alive!) and drive the detailed, and sometimes confounding, plot to deliver a heck of a story!

I received a Netgalley ARC of Sara Faring’s The Tenth Girl in exchange for an honest review, and despite the publisher’s blurb warning readers of a twist ending, I was not prepared for what I discovered in the text. Faring achieves the gothic atmosphere in one of the most perfect ways since Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. With a dark, foreboding house, characters you feel you can’t completely trust, and a total lack of connection to the outside world, Vacarro School could not be any creepier if it tried. There were nights, such as the first sighting of the mysterious tenth girl, that found me lying awake after reading, and I certainly felt what Faring’s character Yesi describes when she asks “But isn’t it kind of beautiful to experience primal fear? To feel your pulse quicken because a pile of well-laid stones catch shadows and carry sound in unusual ways? How often are we so bored and anesthetized by our routines--in our safe surroundings--that we lose all sense of what’s magical about our existence?” At moments like these, I was so prepared to love this book, to recommend it to every reluctant reader who wanted “something scary” that I wasn’t prepared for the twist.

Without saying too much, I felt like the VERY twisted ending did not do enough to explain some of the finer points of the plot. Faring spent a fair amount of time getting me invested in the Vacarro School world, and I just couldn’t wrap my brain around how all of those plot details added up with the new information. This is NOT the twist ending, but you know how you feel like the rug has been yanked out from under you when you’re loving the newest episode of your favorite sitcom, only to find out it’s all a dream? That’s the exact sort of reading hangover I experienced with Faring’s twist. The last quarter of the novel didn’t focus on what I wanted to know, and my pace slowed from “I can’t read this fast enough” to “I just have to see this through to the end.” Add to that the feeling that sexual exploitation of minors was treated with a light hand, and you’ve got a book I wanted to love SO much but couldn’t totally get behind.

I changed my mind about The Tenth Girl about six times while I read it, but overall I enjoyed this wild YA thriller.

This might be the hardest review I’ve had to write also, because so many of the things that I loved about the theme, message, and complexity of this book have to do with the big, spoiler-y twist at the end. So, instead, I’m going to give you a list of the things I loved about The Tenth Girl, and leave you to discover as much as I can.

One. The atmosphere in this book was insanely effective. The school is almost another character in the book itself, like many great horror classics, and Faring’s descriptions were graphic, detailed, and tangible. I felt like the creaking doors and moving hallways might be happening in my own house down the hall, instead of inside the book in my hands. This novel was eerie, unsettling, but most of all engaging; I had to finish once I’d been sucked into the story.

Two. I never knew what I thought was going on. Mostly in a good way. While there were definitely confusing or redundant moments for me, most of the time I felt a pleasant, ambiguous confusion that made me more curious instead of less. Every answer in the story led to more questions and I never had a solid theory for what was going on until the reveal. Which brings me to the next things I loved more than anything:

Three. The Twist was completely unexpected. And, while some may not, I loved it in particular. As soon as the reveal came so many things clicked right into place. Without saying too much, I have a little experience with the topics and contexts that she explores in this wild 180 and that made the story all the more rich, understandable, and insane. I thought this twist was just over-the-top enough and it really added another interesting layer of complexity to the story. Very interesting.

Four. I love how this book holds up a mirror and asks us to discover truths about ourselves. Now, this is the part that I’m going to struggle to describe without spoiling anyone. The Tenth Girl posed questions about humanity and our choices, about the consequences and environments of those choices and what they say about us. Faring does not shy away from questions of morality and modern social responsibility and I whole-heartedly enjoyed this turn into the philosophical.

The Tenth Girl may be a somewhat divisive novel, it may be confusing at times and a little meandering, but damn if it isn’t a great story anyway. I wholeheartedly enjoyed my read and I hope you do too.

If you like a dark, creepy and chilling read than The Tenth Girl is for you! I really liked the writing. I thought the story was unique. It has plenty of suspense and of course a huge twist.  I am going to say that this book does have a lot of trigger warnings. Please take precaution before reading this book. That being said I thought it was a great and unique horror read but it might not be for everyone.

This is the kind of book that will have completely divide opinions – some are going to absolutely adore it, and others will struggle. I found it a really intense, twisty read with so many shock surprises that I didn’t see coming.

The story follows a young girl called Mavi as she escapes the strictness of her home life to be a teacher at an elite Argentinean boarding school. When she arrives at the school she attempts to cope with the strange goings on, with people going missing, students and teachers acting in strange ways and rumours of the mysterious others. Mavi has to find the secrets hiding in the school and stay alive in the process.

I must admit that the blurb and the gorgeous creepy cover really lured me into this book. It has a fantastic gothic setting that I completely fell in love with as well as some brilliantly complex characters. Mavi was an excellent protagonist and I really liked her.

The best thing about this book is definitely the atmosphere. I’m a big fan of horror novels and this definitely has some really spine tingling moments, and I felt really uneasy reading some of the more intense scenes. It’s a brilliant piece of writing that will absolutely have readers on the edge of their seats. I really enjoyed Sara Faring’s writing style and I’m looking forward to reading more from her in the future.

The story is quite quick paced, with plenty happened to keep you coming back for more. I did feel like some of the twists were in there just to shock you, and didn’t add all that much to the story line. I did really enjoy the Argentinian myths element of the story. It was creepy and fascinating and something that I had never read about before.

If you’re looking for an intense and addictive read that is absolutely perfect for Halloween/Autumn, you should definitely pick this one up. A dark and chilling Gothic thriller, with beautiful writing and an excellent setting.

Where do I start with this book? This may be my first one star rating. I thought that this was going to be such a good book. The cover artwork is amazing. The premise of a gothic, psychological thriller set in an Argentinian boarding school, revolving around local mythology? I thought for sure this was right in my wheelhouse. Unfortunately, right from the start I was confused about characters and had trouble following what was going on. But I thought that would remedy itself, but it never really did. The book couldn’t seem to find its flow. It would be heading one way and them it would veer off in another direction. I did enjoy the gothic tone of the story and the way that the Others were written at times. They were extremely creepy and I guess that is what I expected throughout. It took me a while to read the 450 pages and I really should have just DNF’d it. Because I truly wanted to throw my Kindle across the room when the “twist” was revealed. Talk about out of left field, and NOT IN A GOOD WAY. That was maybe one of the worst plot twists I’ve ever read. It made NO SENSE. It seemed like this was not what the synopsis promised. I was extremely disappointed in this book. I’m interested to see what others think. I received this book as an e-ARC from Netgalley and Macmillan publishing.

The most succint (although perhaps least helpful) review I can write for this is just that it isn't for me. Not really my thing. I thought it would be, when I requested it from NetGalley, I like atmospheric Shirley Jackson esque horror, but it didn't really feel like that for me.

I had a lot of difficulty getting into this book, the two points of view slow things down because when the viewpoints switch we often experience the same day from the other point of view, as opposed to getting anything new. It was a little tiring. And yes, I like atmospheric creepy type horror, but it is slow going almost by definition, so I need some other stuff to keep me interested until that pays off even a little. It wasn't until 20% through that anything happened of real interest, and before then there wasn't enough character or setting building to keep me engaged.

So, my non-spoiler review says: slow going, not enough tension, not enough exploration of a cut off location or a boarding school, not enough payoff of concept.

<spoiler> The concept itself was interesting, I suppose. I definitely didn't guess it. Part of that is because there's almost no hints or foreshadowing, so I didn't get even that little frisson of "Oooh! That's clever!" as I do with many other books with high concept twists. It could have been done better. Honestly, I was a little more frustrated that this big twist meant we weren't going to get any payoff from the boarding school haunted house mystery. I had all sorts of ideas that Carmela might have used her daughter as the sacrifice, and then when that clearly wasn't it, that maybe her daughter was possessing Sarah and she was keeping the girls to keep Marie alive there forever. I wanted to explore those ideas more, not the video game idea which was neither explained to my satisfaction nor fleshed out enough to work as a real twist that solves any of the mysteries. There are so many mysteries and plot threads left just as "well thats the plot we wrote into the game, we don't have answers, too bad" and I just didn't enjoy it. When I read a mystery or thriller or horror, I expect things to slot into place better than that. </spoiler> If I had been more engaged and eager to get back into the book any time I put it down, I could probably forgive it a bit more, but as it is I forced myself to keep going so I could get answers to some of the mysteries and they never came. It didn't feel like a good use of my limited reading time.

There was one line I particularly liked and I am very glad I read, "How can I kill worry without also murdering that precious tenderness I feel? I think they stem from the same part of my overactive brain." I am over empathetic and have anxiety and those are so linked and this made me feel a little less alone. If only we could just stop worrying about death but keep the ability to appreciate life as it is fleeting.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book through NetGalley, but my opinions and review are wholly my own.

I think this book had a lot of potential but after 30% it didn't keep my attention. I think the concept is unique but the pacing was too slow for me. I feel bad for not being able to finish it but after a week of trying to muddle through I decided it was time to move on to my other reading obligations.

I just did not like the writing in this one, and honestly I could not finish it. This is set up as a YA novel, but I can guarantee that my daughter would not have enjoyed it either.

The Tenth Girl by Katy Rose Pool 3 stars

So, I feel like this book was very 50/50 for me. There were things I thought it did well delivering on and things that felt out of place and kind of flat.

I was very excited for this Patagonia Gothic horror with an unimaginable twist. As far as the setting and the atmosphere goes, I was very pleased about the feel of it. It delivered on remote location, isolation and the feeling of almost being trapped by the wilderness. It was cold and dark and gloomy and the Gothic feel of curses and crumbling structures really gave me that spooky feel I was hoping for.

However, I feel that the plot was lacking for me. The way the structure of the language is poetic and full of pleasant similes, metaphors and analogies. (And by pleasant I mean well done, cause they were definitely spooky and fitting for the setting.) But the flow was off for me. I felt like I kept waiting for that moment when everything clicks into place and I’m excited to keep reading instead of falling asleep or just giving up because I’m not following. (And maybe I’m just stupid lol).

The other reason I say that this book is fifty fifty is because of the ending. I feel like it was one of those endings where you either love it and appreciate the attempt made by the author or you think it was a big swing and a miss. And honestly, I feel like I might be the only person caught in the middle. I thought it was a good surprise and kind of fun, however I also feel like it might have been a build up to a disappointment. I just felt like I had to wade through a lot of boring plot to get to the end.

This title started out with a very intriguing premise. There is a cursed island and school with a deep rooted mystery. I instantly wanted to learn more about what was happening, who our characters were and what would happen next.
I unfortunately lost interest very soon. The timeline between our main characters was very confusing. It seemed to be the same storyline, yet one was apparently in the future looking through time, I think, maybe. I got frustrated with trying to figure it out and who the other characters were around him.
This confusion was not helped by the abundance of nonessential information thrown into the mix. Faring’s writing was very wordy and the language was often well beyond that of her intended young adult audience. I quickly went from looking forward to a mysterious YA novel, to being bogged down by a heavily existential epic. I was not excited anymore.
Faring also went into a bit of politics, a look at ghosts, and kept bringing up new mysteries without any clues to past ones, that the whole storyline got lost in the new. Needless to say I was unimpressed by this title. I would have loved the simple mystery provided in the description, but couldn’t get on board for the overload that was given. There was great world building at points, and some wonderful mysteries, it was all just too much.

Do you believe in ghosts?



Perhaps like Mavi you're more inclined to the solid truths of the world: facts, science, and logic.



There are ghosts that you whisper gleefully against a child's receiving ear or in the safety of a bonfire amidst your friends and kin. Such ghosts are dismissed with the first light and recede with the final tendril of night.



However, there are other vengeful entities that clasp onto our lives and haunt us with painful memories and reminders of a past we try to lock. Then...there are the sinister spirits that escape the logic of this world. They hold the skeleton key needed to unlock all locked doors. Slowly, they make their presence known, for they delight in human fear and uncertainty. For los Otros, nothing serves as greater entertainment than the pastime of breaking the human spirit.



For me, The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring held all the elements of a compelling thriller turned horror story: gripping first person narratives, mysterious entities, a boarding school of nightmares, and an author with a clear vision. Faring led us through the labyrinth of darkness surrounding Vaccaro School alongside Mavi where we made a slow decent into a world that parallels our own. Here, we saw our human existence through demonic eyes and realized that monsters wear so many faces.



Our main protagonist, Mavi, is running from a totalitarian government that killed her mother. Mavi's strong sense of self through the mantra “I am yours. You are mine. The color cannot be stripped out of us.” truly resonated throughout the story. More than ethnicity, Mavi embodied a resilient spirit that she drew from her mother and the history of her heritage. Moreover, Mavi championed the idea of embracing the self in order to triumph against adversity.



The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring is a work that will always be waiting in the corner of your room or secret box in your closet. Once you pass through the halls of Vaccaro School, you will also become a part of a game los Otros play.



So now, I'll ask again:



Do you believe in ghosts?



You're about to.

Scheduled to post 10/1/19.

Where did I stop? Page 50

Why? While I liked the setting itself, the desolate landscape of Patagonia, the icebergs, the isolation, the book was slow to start. It's a dual POV that's insinuating some weird things were going on in the house, but they weren't weird enough to hold my attention. On top of that, I couldn't adjust the font size in the digital ARC I had so I was reading, like, a size 8 font on a computer screen and it just made my reading experience seem like such an incredible slog. The thing it, it wasn't that bad. With a normal copy of the book I'd try it again, but between what left like never-ending pages and not the fastest start to the book I just couldn't push myself to keep reading.

The ending of this book was a bit of a weird one for me, but overall I enjoyed the book, It took me awhile to get into it and I almost put it down several times, but I powered through and am glad that I did.

Sara Faring’s The Tenth Girl isn’t really my kind of book. And that’s putting it lightly. Maybe I’m just getting old (don’t say it), but lately I just haven’t really been into suffering, in TV or book form. I can’t say I’ve never read psychological thrillers, but I’ve just never been into scary things.

Probably because I actually get scared.

When I heard about Sara Faring’s The Tenth Girl, though, I had a very personal and particular reason to give it a try: the author, a multi-lingual Argentine-American, was writing a tale set in Buenos Aires, and that was something I really hadn’t seen before, something I wanted to support.

So here we are, and I will say a couple of things, starting of course, with the most important one: I surprisingly enjoyed this book. I know, I know, but don’t expect me to go watch IT next. I have a limit.

Of course, this book isn’t scary per se, it’s more your mind is tricking you into thinking you’re scared kinda thing, which you’d think would be better, but it’s worse. Thankfully, I was too concerned with the setting, with how different it was, with what it meant for someone to be telling this story in Buenos Aires, and sounding like they actually knew Buenos Aires, to be as scared as I thought it was gonna be.

Some might have found the setting boring, or unimportant. I appreciated it more than I ever thought I would. The setting sometimes, if it’s used the right way, tells it’s own story, and in this particular case, the setting was, in some instances, the story to be told.

And hey, I wasn’t too distracted to try to guess the twist! There’s always a twist in these types of books. And let me tell you, I didn’t even come close to guessing. Like, if I’d thrown impossible scenarios around, I still wouldn’t have hit this one. I just never even thought about it. I’ve just told you this has a twist, and you’re still very much unlikely guess what that is.

For me, that’s a good thing. A reason to keep reading, to invest.

Plus, did I mention there’s some history to be learned here, about the military regime, about what it means to be part of a country with a very different idiosyncrasy. I’ve heard people say that authors from some countries (Argentina among them), make everything about the military regime, and that can’t be the reason or the background for everything, but I couldn’t disagree more.

You are, after all, your experiences, and the experiences of the people who came before you. And I’m glad this book understands that – and is trying to celebrate a different kind of protagonist than the one we’d usually get.

Do I recommend it? Yes, if you like horror and mystery. I will say, however, that there are multiple content warnings in this book as it includes violence, death, torture, sexual assault and pedophilia, among others. So know that going in, make your own decisions, and if you do read it, come share your thoughts with me!

The Tenth Girl is available today.

Review: 4 Stars

I was really looking forward to The Tenth Girl because it looked like it was going to b creepy and it also had a boarding school setting. I loved the idea of a missing girl, a boarding school setting and a plot based on myths. I wound up really enjoying all the characters and the story. I have never read about Argentina or Patagonia, so I was hoping to learn a bit about what it is like there. The setting was a huge draw for me. This book really wound up crossing genres and I don’t even know how to properly classify it. Parts of it were eerie and horror like, and other parts were something else entirely. I really loved how original this book was and how it didn’t fit into any one box.

The characters were interesting. I wound up really enjoying their different personalities, and I especially loved all of the girls. The story switched back from the point of view of Mavi, a teacher at the boarding school, and Angel who is a ghost haunting it. I really loved the way ghostly life is depicted and how the afterlife was portrayed. It really got me thinking about life after death and the portrayal of it was quite vivid and an interesting take on ghosts. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it and I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.

While I did enjoy the haunting aspect I wish that there was a bit more meat in the middle of the plot. The beginning and the ending were both spectacular, but the middle could have used a little more direction. I really wish I could talk more about the ending, because that plot twist caught me off guard and made me look at everything that had happened before then completely differently. This is one of those books that you could read a second time and see it with entirely new eyes. I found the plot twist to be really unique and very fascinating.

The eerie setting of a haunted boarding school was everything I wanted it to be. The descriptions of the land and the surrounding country side were so vivid I felt like I could easily visualize the entire setting. I was happy to learn about Patagonia and see pictures of it after talking with the author, because it was really cool to see what inspired the book. I do wish that there was a bit more to the middle of the plot and more Patagonian culture. I really enjoyed this haunting tale and its unique twist. The Tenth Girl is a perfect read for this fall season.