Thank you, Netgalley and Imprint Publishing, for an advanced copy of The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring.

Fleeing an upheaval in her homeland in Buenos Aires, Mavi seeks refuge as a teacher at the Vaccaro School for Girls on a remote island off the coast of South America. Here, Mavi hopes to reinvent herself and hide from a past that destroyed her mother as well as her hope for a prosperous future. However, Mavi soon learns this new world is not one without obstacles. The school is almost completely isolated from the rest of the world, surrounded by ice, heavy mist, and freezing temperatures that make leaving impossible for most of her stay. The land is also part of a local legend that promises certain destruction unless a sacrifice is made, something Mavi and her fellow teachers try to overlook but soon feel the weight of when the students become sick and begin acting strangely. Education quickly becomes a minor concern as the school is turned upside down and Mavi realizes her safe place is not so safe after all.

Faring does a fantastic job of creating a truly haunting environment in which common elements and characters feel dark and dangerous. It’s easy to immediately get drawn into the picture she is painting, rapidly flipping pages to solve the many mysteries of the Vaccaro School; however, this momentum does not last. The plot begins to draaaaaaggggg as the story goes on and on with little-to-no new developments. I found myself seriously considering giving up, no longer dazzled or curious by the characters or events. I powered through, though, finally turning over the final card after reading 85% of the book, the big reveal, which simply fell flat for me. A confusing dud in which the whole plot was turned on its head, to be exact. The reader frustration was real and I was so done with Mavi, the mystery, the whole book.

Although I would not recommend The Tenth Girl to my friends, I would consider reading another novel by this author. She possesses a writing voice with great potential that I think could definitely create something magical.

I absolutely loved this twisty, turning, wonderful book. I was drawn in by the world that Sara Faring created - a haunted boarding school for girls at the edge of the world, a delightful and spunky heroine fleeing Argentina's dirty war, a missing tenth student at the heart of a mystery. The book had me by the throat, and then it twisted me upside down. As soon as I finished, I went back and read the whole thing again. It was that good. If you liked Melissa Albert's THE HAZELWOOD, or any gothic novels from REBECCA forward, you will enjoy this book. What I loved the most about THE TENTH GIRL was its ambition. I know they are big shoes to fill, but it reminded me of Borges in its sense of play and the utter joy with which it played with history and reality, while also pulling me along in a straight-up amazing story. I loved it.

I went into The Tenth Girl knowing that the book was a slow-build read with a lot of info dump in the first two-thirds of the story. My friends had mentioned that despite this that it was worth it to get to the plot twist because it was so well done. Knowing that beforehand definitely helped motivate me to keep reading a story I would’ve otherwise DNF’d before hitting the twist.
The Tenth Girl is a dark horror novel that takes place in an Argentinian Finishing School in the 1970’s, where the main character, Mavi, becomes an English teacher to ten young girls. Only thing is that the tenth girl is missing, and no one seems to have a straight answer about where she is. There is a lot of history that is craftily folded into the main plot of the story that adds richness to everything. I will not spoil the twist in this story, because I greatly appreciated finding all of the clues leading up to it. Despite finding the little breadcrumbs that were left, I was still blindsided!
Definitely check out this book. It’s creepy, dark, and full of surprises, the writing is hauntingly beautiful, and I’m already looking forward to the author’s next book!
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book turned out to be less of a gothic thriller and more of a high concept, meta, sci-fi kind of story, which was very surprising! As a reader, that's not my usual fare, but I can see how it would appeal to fans of that genre. It definitely took many unexpected turns, so if you love genre-bending plot twists, this may be for you.

I was interested in the literary elements of this novel. I loved the backstories about Argentina and the family histories of Mavi and Angel, for example. Much of the prose is also compellingly strange. I loved the line, "Have I released myself from the loop of gory arithmetic I once thought was a life?"

Although I admired the twist ending, it felt somewhat familiar to me, since it reminds me strongly of a TV show I've seen.

Thank you so much to the publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

“Panic creeps up on me, slowly, steadily, from its hiding place on the stones, and latches on to me with its greedy, sucking mouth.”

This book was not what I expected in the least, but that WRITING! THE WAY THINGS ARE DESCRIBED!!! The prose was gorgeous and I am now a big fan.

This is one of those stories with a plot so complex and detailed, that if you don’t pay attention and focus with everything you have, you’re going to feel lost. And I don’t think I was in the right headspace to study the plot the way I needed to. (which lowered my enjoyment plot-wise).

But if you’re interested in a creepy, atmospheric (the atmosphere reminded me so much of the Bronte sisters), then this is the book you need!! Also, it takes place on the very tip of South America + is written by an Argentine-American author, so the cultural/historical content enriched my life.

Sidenote: There was nearly a reference to my favorite The Bell Jar quote!!!!! This book says: “I’m here, I’m here, I’m here, I’m here, I’m here...I feel the mantra like a heartbeat, its rhythm giving me new life.” And Sylvia Plath wrote: “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.”.

✨✨✨✨Overall✨✨✨✨: I am very interested in reading more from Sara Faring!!!! The writing style was so darn dreamy. Gosh.

I am so disappointed in this book. I wanted a ghost-filled horror novel and instead, I got a badly paced, confusing mess. The first 25% spanned only 2 days and it felt like nothing happened at all. I hated the dual perspectives and it made no sense, even with the twist. All of these characters were surface level and dull. I didn't know their personalities or who they were. There were a ton of characters too and I think that hindered getting to know the characters at all.

*Spoilers*
I think setting an RPG/VR game during this is insensitive. I get that the big question of this novel is why someone would want to play a game that had so much violence against women and girls, but I don't think this setting was appropriate for this question. I was happy that the latinx representation was own voices but I thought the twist was disrespectful to the horrible atrocities happening during the time period. It's set during Peron's dictatorship in Argentina. He murdered anyone who disagreed with him and stole children from dissenters, giving them to supporters. Still, to this day, many who were children during this period are finding that they were stolen from other families and their whole lives were lies. It's one of the biggest atrocities to happen and they're still finding bodies to this day. I think that this story and plot could've been dropped in anywhere during time and space and the big question still could've been asked. I don't think this was the right background for it.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Imprint through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

I enjoyed the ambiance of this novel, which was a twist on the young-inexperienced-teacher-trapped-in-a-gothic-haunted-house trope. I loved that it was set in Argentina, and I thought the twist was great. It was a little long, but overall I think horror and sci-fi fans who love meaty, twisty stories that demand attention and patience will be rewarded.

The main story, about Mavi, a new English teacher at an incredibly exclusive boarding school in Patagonia, takes places in 1978. Mavi's mother was one of the <i>los desaparecidos</i> and Mavi is looking for a place to hide, so this job at the end of the world seems perfect. The remoteness almost makes up for the incredibly restrictive rules and the sneering attitudes of the Head, her son and the students. There are supposed to be ten students, but this year there are nine - what happened to the tenth? Slowly, Mavi realizes that things are Not Quite Right with the Vaccaro School. The secondary story is that of Angel, set sometime in the present (lots of current references). But what is Angel? Why does he have "crystal" hands? And who is Charon?

The answers are all there at the end, but there are two huge twists before then. There are a few clues to the biggest twist, though not enough to really give it away. It's the ending that lost points for me because it felt very rushed and doesn't completely hold together.

eARC provided by publisher.

Absolutely thrilled with this next-gen gothic thriller - it’s everything I love about classic gothic atmosphere and mystery with an updated premise. With the addition of a setting that feels almost like it’s own character, this jumped to the top of my recommendation list. Can’t wait to see what Sara Faring does next.

Fans of gothic horror, unreliable narrators, and atmospheric stories will love The Tenth Girl. This was a phenomenal story that kept me guessing at every turn. The ending was nothing like I expected and I absolutely loved it. This book is begging for Guillermo del Toro to make a movie adaptation- that’s the kind of feeling it gives you. I loved that the author wove in historical and elements from Argentina. It enriched and deepened the story. Highly recommend this fantastic book.

I loved the beginning of this story but then it started to change. It switched from being in the actual real world to like a game world? I did not like that at all. I really did like it until the shift in the story happened.

This was a highly anticipated release for me and I loved it! I love all things creepy and scary and i was not at all disappointed!

Mavi is running away to a school in Patagonia in the remote Southern region of Argentina. She has been accepted as an English teacher to a small reopened school. She was told she'd have a class of 10 girls, but only 9 show up. As she begins asking about the 10th girl she realizes there is more to this school than she realized. The building is on the native Zapuche land. The land, building and inhabitants were all cursed as legend has it. I only gave 3 stars to this novel as although the beginning hooked me, it really lagged in the middle. However, I am very glad I finished it as a great twist does occur toward the end. Due to language and complexity, I'd recommend this for grades 8 and up.

The book certainly has an air of gothic horror to it. Right away we are introduce to this house that has been reopened as a school after many years of being empty. Apparently the rumor is that it's haunted. Of course that doesn't stop of main character from running there after having nowhere else to go. This honestly is perfect for fans who love gothic ghost stories. Its creepy and leaves you feeling like theres something constantly behind you. There is something odd after the first chapter and its the way the writing just changes. It definitely caught me off guard and took me a while to get into once I continued reading, but without revealing why, it really did make sense with the situation. Once the reader gets past it, they really are in for a macabre ride as they continue this book.

I found the first chapter of this book compelling. The style was interesting, almost from a different time period, like an old fashioned adventure book, or even similar to Jane Eyre. But then the second chapter happened, and what the hell. It was nonsensical to the point where it became hard to read. Sentence structure seemed to fly out the window and it was just annoying, honestly. I’m no longer going to continue these books with multiple perspectives if I can’t get behind all of them. It’s too much.

This is by far the hardest review I've probably had to write to date for the simple fact that everything mentioned could easily stray into spoiler territory very easily. I don't think I've ever read anything like it under the YA umbrella before. I thought I knew what I was getting into, but I was sorely mistaken in the best kind of way! I'll be the first to tell you that I am a big, fat chicken when it comes to being scared - not a fan of horror movies whatsoever. So I also choose wisely when it comes to reading this type of story. I thought for sure I could handle a YA "thriller". Ho boy! I had to stop reading before bed because the descriptions were so vivid and goose bump inducing that I just knew it would give me nightmares. Again, big, fat chicken here!

The story itself is so unique, complicated and layered. The characters are fascinating, mysterious, and even despicable. The atmosphere is dark and deliciously creepy. The twist mentioned in the blurb definitely got the ball rolling. AND! THAT! ENDING! had me doing double takes and rereading. I honestly don't think I've wrapped my head around it yet. My jaw remains on the floor!

The release date could not be more appropriate as The Tenth Girl is the perfect Fall read especially around Halloween!

The Tenth Girl is for fans of The Haunting of Hill House! If you loved the creepy feel and images from the Netflix show this is the book for you. Set in South America, at a boarding school, Mavi escapes the government that took her mother by becoming a teacher. When only 9 students show, Mavi begins questioning what happened to the 10th girl and what really happens to the house at night. And just when the book builds into a direction to escape the house, a huge twist to the plot lays before you. You won’t be able to see this one coming!

What starts off as a gothic mystery quickly develops into something even more macabre in this dark and elusive novel. It was incredibly hard to keep up with (younger teens probably won't make it through) but ultimately satisfying.

Whoa super creepy folks! You gonna sleeping with your lights on after this one! Good luck with that! First book by this author. Can’t wait to see what she comes out with next.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.