Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for the ARC.

This was a cute premise for a book, so I was intrigued. Perfect for those that love magical realism with romance sprinkled throughout!

The summary instantly reminded me of Ashley Poston’s works and in within art? I loved the idea!

However, as much as I wanted to love this book, I found the execution unsatisfying and I lost interest quickly. The romance is fast, which I don’t mind when it is done well. While it was cute, I felt no connection to the characters’ relationship. Moreover, I found that the book dragged much more than it had to.

The scenes dedicated and describing different paintings were a highlight for me, as well as scenes where they go to different paintings.

Overall, I wished this book was for me, but ultimately it wasn’t.

Did you like the movie The Night At The Museum? If so, this book is for you! The Art of Vanishing is about a museum employee, Claire who works the night shift. She starts to notice the subjects of the paintings are not always in the same spot. Jean, observes the world by day and roams the vast realms of art by night. He has formed a little crush on Claire and one evening decides to invite her into his world. Claire climbs into the painting and the magic begins.

The pacing and feel of this book reminded me of Remarkably Bright Creatures and Tom Lake. It has the same cheery, easygoing vibe. I adored Jean. I found his energy and demeanor refreshing. He looked at Claire as if she was the masterpiece. I liked the juxtaposition of the two of them; Jean with an innocence about him and Claire living through the harsh realities of life. The contrast is what brought this charming story to life in and out of the painting.

This book was such a cute read! I loved the concept of the main character, Claire, being about to hop into the paintings at the museum she worked at. Imagine how many different places and things you’d get to experience!
This book was beautifully written - I would never have guessed this was the author’s first work. As a reader, you are really pulled into the characters’ world and feel like you are experiencing what they are (which isn’t always easy to accomplish).
Personally I didn’t love the pandemic plot line in the story (or any story) - but that is just my own preference!
I also was really hoping the main characters ended up together in the end and it felt a little incomplete to me that they didn’t.
Thank you to Random House and Ballantine for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

well written romance with some really awesome characters and a great hopping into portraits idea! very timely, too. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

3.25 stars ARC book review
I absolutely loved the premise of this book, the idea that the subjects of a painting would be alive and able to move, watch and hear what the museum goers are saying and doing. Of being able to go inside a painting and interact with the people depicted by the artist. My issue with the book was that at times the execution felt like it fell short.

In the first chapter we meet Jean, who is in the painting. He sees Claire arrive to clean the museum for the first time and is taken with her. I felt that by starting with his point of view, it made it easier to see him as a full character in the story and not just a two dimensional figure in a piece of art. If anything it took me longer to connect with Claire as she is so closed off.

Though I really enjoyed the first half, it stopped working for me in the middle and I never reconnected with the story. If you love art, romance and a little magic I recommend checking this out as it may work better for you.

Thank you to the publisher Random House - Ballantine Books, author Morgan Pager, and NetGalley for the gifted digital ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

The premise for this book was so intriguing! An employee at an art museum discovers she has the ability to fall into paintings! She ends up falling in love with one man in particular in one of the paintings. The story was whimsical and kept me interested. The dialogue between characters was a bit of a miss for me. It did not flow as naturally as I wanted. But overall the storyline kept me hooked and I was invested in the characters. I look forward to more books from this author! Thank you Net Galley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was cute. Maybe too cute. And it went by fast. I coupled this with some heavy reads so it was a nice palette cleanser. Man inside a painting falls for a woman in the real world during times of COVID. This reads like a short story and has a bittersweet end. It had some beautiful reminders: not losing the imaginative side of our childhood or how people come into our lives for a time and reason. I think I struggled with the dialogue or perhaps it was that the characters felt underdeveloped. I also feel like the ending took a turn that made it feel forced. But I still had a good (and soft) time.

This story had so much promise with a unique premise but unfortunately needed a ton of editing at the line level. I’m sad the publisher didn’t push the author to really Home the manuscript. Hopefully the final book is more polished.

Slide this in right with your Ashley Poston's on the shelf because the next magical realism book is here! Such a unique twist on the concept with a heart-warming ending. Found family and trauma-healing spans the ages in this janitor x painting come to life story. This book does have quite the whirlwind romance, but it was kind of refreshing to have something really kick off after several slow burns.

One of my favorite things about art is looking at a piece and imagining what it would be like to explore that particular landscape or moment. I wonder what lies beyond the bend in the road that disappears at the edge of the canvas or on the other side of the mountain. It's similar to what draws me to books time and time again. So, the idea of entering a painting a la Mary Poppins style sounded too intriguing for me to pass up. I liked that the author used an actual painting instead of a fictional one. She described it to a tee, if you're an art fan you'll recognize Matisse's 'The Music Lesson'. This added another dimension to the story. It is a lovely work and the inspiration it brought for setting and characters was dazzling. It is easy to see why the protagonist was drawn to stand before the painting and stare at the slice of life within.

Jean is 19 years old he exists within the painting, his essence captured along with his two siblings by their father Henri Matisse. They were painted during WWI in France. They don't age, remaining physically unchanged, but they can see the world that their frame faces. During the day they remain still in their chosen spots, but at night the characters are able to roam their own painting and that of the others hanging on the walls. From lavish parties to horse races if it's featured in the gallery the subjects in all the paintings can visit these locales. Claire is a night janitor at the museum. Her life has been no picnic up to this point, but she has found solace in art since childhood. She is slow to clean her assigned areas because her eyes often wander to the worlds captured beyond the frames. She thinks she's seen a flicker of movement, but surely not. Still her eyes can't help but to continue tracking along the paintings even though she feels silly. She stands before Jean's painting and reaches out her hand soon she finds herself in a France from the past. The relationship that blooms between these two in stolen moments is charming. Both characters are likable and have to explain things from their respective timelines to each other which makes for some smile inducing moments. Life throws serious curve balls at Claire making her time in and out of the painting difficult.

The issue this novel has is in terms of development. It needed a little stronger characterization and all the relationships we are privy to lack development that ventures beyond the surface. The story still holds its own, but it had the potential to be more. It kept me at arm's length, preventing me from forming the connection necessary to be invested in the characters. Although it was enjoyable overall.

This multi-genre debut took unexpected turns that kept me flipping pages. Recommending this one to fans of magical realism and art. I 💯 appreciated that the author gave us a realistic ending instead of being cheesy.

There's a lot to love about <i>The Art of Vanishing</i>. I'll be keeping an eye out for what Morgan Pager writes next.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to Random House | Ballantine for providing an Advance Reading Copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The premise of this book is one of the most unique I've ever encountered, and I thoroughly enjoyed the execution, despite some minor issues.

This is a dual pov story, with the "main" pov that of Jean, the son of Henri Matisse, forever frozen in time in one of his father's paintings, and the corresponding story of Claire, a new museum employee who truly *sees* him as she cleans his gallery after hours, and has the extraordinary ability to join him in the world of the masterpieces.

I truly enjoyed seeing the world through Jean's perspective, and how the author imagined the world behind the frames. We saw a peek of this in the Harry Potter castle, but now we get a chance to delve into this world where you can experience anything and everything painted, yet your world is "stuck", never changing, never moving, never meeting new people.

We see how Jean and the other painted characters perceive modern society, and how they must guess at what is happening beyond the museum doors.

Jean and Claire's relationship is full of hope and joy, while being pampered by the realities of their circumstances.

The writing, and the characters, at the beginning were a bit simplistic, and almost turned me off, but both matured as the story went on. By the end, I was feeling uplifted and thoughtful at how the author captured the different nuances of a stressful time in our history.

Such a wonderful story! Absolutely loved the world, characters and magical realism.

I thought the plot was unique and fun. Being able to jump into famous paintings would be such a delight. I thought the different worlds and magical realism were so well written. I really felt transported along with Claire. Pager's descriptions and pacing were great. This was a good blend of romance, history and art.

Claire and Jean are lovable characters that you root for. Their love story was incredibly sweet and I was charmed by them. If you love sweeping love stories, Claire & Jean deliver.

A wonderful debut that is going to steal readers' hearts!!!

I was thrilled at the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Art of Vanishing. The author is lovely, and I was so excited to hear about her first book being published!

The premise of the book was original and so much fun!

I loved reading about Jean's world and meeting other characters along the way. I almost found myself wanting to rush through Claire's chapters because of how much I was drawn to Jean and his world. I also thought it was interesting how the author used the pandemic as part of the storyline. It was unexpected, but it worked so well, and I loved how these chapters dove into some of the characters in the art and showed them letting loose and having fun throughout the other pieces.

What kept me from rating this a 4.5/5 is how quickly Jean and Claire fell in love. I would have loved to see just a little bit more from them before diving right in. However, overall, this was a fun read and one I'd recommend, especially for anyone who enjoys the art world.

I look forward to more from Morgan Pager.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted ARC

The premise of this book was so charming, and I liked the dual POVs, but I couldn't get over how clunky the writing was. I kept waiting for the story to flow as artistically as the paintings from the book's setting, but it never quite got there. I liked the concept more than the execution.

It was a bit hard for me to connect with this story as it was a slow moving plot centered somewhat around COVID. I really liked the premise and the characters, but the writing fell kind of flat for me.

I really loved the premise of this book and the magical realism of it. As a lover of art, I wish I could walk into paintings like Claire. I was obsessed with her adventures through all the paintings. They were such an amazing, unique setting for a book, and truly so beautiful. But as much as I loved those background elements, I struggled a bit with the story itself. I found the beginning of the romance, and the beginning of the book as a whole, fast for my taste. The romance did grow on me a lot, and I ended up really liking Claire and Jean as a couple. I also liked that we got to know them as individuals, though that came quite a bit later in the story. They both had strong development in the end. As for the external conflicts in their relationship, I really liked the second one, but I did not like the first. Unfortunately, the second was resolved a lot faster than the first, and felt rushed. I also liked the ending, though it was a bit bittersweet. So overall, there was a lot about this book I enjoyed, but certain elements kept from loving it. Though I would still recommend this book.

The Art of Vanishing presents an utterly captivating premise: paintings that come alive when no one is watching, with inhabitants who have been observing the world from their frames for centuries. Morgan Pager's debut novel introduces us to Jean, trapped in a painting for over a hundred years, and Claire, the museum's newest night employee who discovers she can actually enter the artworks surrounding her. Their growing connection across these different realms held so much promise, and the lyrical writing truly shines in the early chapters as we discover this magical museum through both perspectives.

Where the novel struggles is in its pacing and execution. The alternating viewpoints between Jean and Claire create an interesting narrative structure, but the story takes time to find its footing. Just as the magical elements begin to truly enchant, the novel pivots into the pandemic era, which felt like an unexpected and somewhat unwelcome intrusion into the whimsical world being built. While I understand the thematic relevance of isolation and connection across barriers, I found myself wishing for more development of the characters' relationship before this external conflict appeared. The dialogue occasionally feels stilted rather than revealing of the characters' distinct personalities, leaving me wanting more emotional depth despite spending considerable time with both protagonists.

Despite these critiques, there's something genuinely special about the concept and certain moments of Pager's writing that kept me engaged throughout. The exploration of art as both sanctuary and prison creates fascinating tension, and the author's evident passion for museums and artistic history enriches the narrative. While I found the ending unsatisfying and some plot developments jarring, I genuinely enjoyed the journey and would certainly read more from Morgan Pager in the future. For a debut novelist, there's impressive ambition here and enough magic to make this worth recommending to those who love stories where art and reality beautifully blur. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this intriguing debut.

The story felt like it dragged on a little and the end felt a little incomplete. It definitely gives Night at the Museum feels

I wasn't as much of a fan of this as I thought I would be. I love the concept - it's very unique, and I enjoyed seeing the paintings and understanding where the characters came from. I just feel like the characters themselves fell a little flat. Well written, just not for me.