Welcome to Litsy!

The audiobook and the two narrators were fantastic and I loved the first half. But the tense atmosphere quickly gave way to catty characters and an underwhelming ending.

Very gothic atmosphere, but VERY slow-moving. I didn‘t really care for the characters at all, which made it hard to be really emotionally invested. OR maybe I just read this book at the wrong time, and you will love it! 🤷🏼‍♀️The narrator was great! #Libby #audiobook

To read my review ⬇️

http://mandi1082bookreviewer.home.blog/2021/07/19/the-temple-house-vanishing-by-...

Watching the sun rise over the neighborhood while walking to this audiobook. It‘s a Libro.fm ALC for July, and I love—love— audio narrators with a good Irish accent. Set at a boarding school in Ireland in the 90s, surrounding the disappearance of a girl and her teacher

I just didn't like this one! I struggled with it a lot. But you may love it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the Kindle Version of this book.

Did I get so sucked in by the growing sense of menace in this book that I had no choice but to read into the wee hours of the morning? YES! What a debut novel!

Me when I come across an Enid Blyton reference while reading : 🤩😍

Bit in two minds as to this one.
It was dark and sinister and showed great promise, was written very well but it kind of lost pace and became a bit jumbled.
There is a secret love triangle going on at a catholic girls school between Mr. Lavelle the art teacher, Louisa and Victoria but things end in disaster when both Louisa and Lavelle go missing.
Years later a tenacious reporter tracks down Victoria to find out what happened years ago.

It might sound like your standard girl-goes-missing mystery/thriller, but Donohue manages to use a well-worn plot to interrogate all manner of very literary themes: class, religion, jealousy. I was particularly taken with the way she presented the ramifications of our collective obsession with true crime. A must read for fans of Picnic At Hanging Rock or The Secret History. Extended review here: http://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/new-releases/

This beautifully atmospheric dark drama is full of moody setting and passion-filled youth. I immediately get Rebecca vibes from the writing, and from me that is a sublime compliment. The Gothic tones and corrupt understory both blend into an artistically thrilling piece of fiction.

Twenty five years ago, Louisa won a scholarship to the elite Catholic Temple House boarding school, run by nuns. She and another student Victoria formed strong friendships with the bohemian art teacher Mr Lavelle. One day, though, Louisa and Mr Lavelle just vanished. What became of them? Fast forward to the present day, and a journalist is now investigating whether they ran off together, or whether tragedy struck.

This has a real gothic feel about it. It‘s The Secret History meets Picnic at Hanging Rock. It‘s a haunting, sad and quite disturbing tale, beautifully written and atmospherically told. The angst of and rivalries between teenage girls is wonderfully observed and astutely portrayed. It‘s a slow burner of a page turner but it did have me gripped until the end. A very clever novel and an excellent debut.I look forward to reading more by this author.

Bath bomb
Candles
G&T
Kindle
🛀😍

#netgalley #arc

#Pigeonhole read.

I really enjoyed this one.
Dark, brooding and all offset against a Catholic girls school.
Louisa is the new girl and trying to gain acceptance into an "elite coterie" of girls.
They all seem rather obsessed with Mr. Lavelle the art teacher, eccentric and Bohemian he sets the girls hearts a flutter but Victoria in particular is totally obsessed and believes they are going to run away together.
But then both of them vanish...
Can it ever be solved?

Started out well, very sinister Catholic girls and weird teacher then I thought it just lost pace and was quite drawn out to the resolution.
Mr. Lavelle is obviously toying with the girls affections and lapping up the attention especially off the very obsessive Victoria but she can‘t see this and only her friend Louisa can who is also attracted to Victoria.
It all comes to a head and all gets a little complicated towards the end.