“Mrs. Clifton, may your dreams be filled with stars and not with shadows.” I was lucky enough to get a copy from the publisher for review.

I am not normally a fan of historical fiction, but this sounded interesting. It grabbed my attention from chapter one, and I am glad I gave it a chance. The beginning was very addictive and I did not want to put it down.

What would you do if you started to lose things we take for granted? What if you could not smell or see your reflection? I really enjoyed seeing on the characters start finding out about the disappearances. I also like the suspense knowing a new disappearance is coming soon.

This is the debut novel for Emily Bain Murphy, and she did an amazing job. I loved her writing style, and I cannot wait to see what else she brings to us in the future. ( )

I loved this book, and I am honestly surprised it is not more popular!

The basic premise/backbone of the story is not all that unique. There is a location where a few towns are cursed and people are being blamed for the curse, finally, the heroine sets out to discover why the towns are cursed and how it can be removed. As I said, not all that unique. BUT, the unique details that this book brings add flesh, blood, and life to that backbone and the end product is something very intriguing and enjoyable to read from start to finish.

For example, I loved the concept for this curse, where the town and everyone in it are slowly degrading, losing something every 7 years, like their sense of smell and being able to see stars. I also liked that the towns did not just give up after being cursed and found ways to combat the curse through variants, if only for a short time. The part of this book that I enjoyed the most was the link that was created to Shakespeare and his work, it was so cool to read and follow as Aila unravelled!

Also, Will and Aila were pretty cute! ( )

Aila and her brother, Miles, are sent to their deceased mother's hometown to live while their father goes to war. Taken in by their mother's best friend, they find that many others in the town are not as friendly. Every seven years something disappears for the townspeople. There are no scents, no one has a reflection, no one dreams, and the stars do not shine overhead. Some have discovered remedies that bring back the sensations for a time, but no one knows what caused the "curse" or how to fix it. But there is plenty of blame to go around. Two stories are told alternately, that eventually come together in the end.

I did like this one. I'm not sure why it had to be set in the past, it felt like that was just a method to get rid of the other parent. At first I was annoyed by the side/alternate story line, but as the book went on I was drawn into it also. ( )

The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy is a very intriguing book! It's about two siblings that have to go live with their mother's childhood friend when their mother died. Their father was called to war. This was in the early 1940's. The family and town they live in now is very strange. The family is very loving and nice but has secrets. The town hates the new kids. Slowly things are revealed but not all. Every seven years the people lose something, they never know what! The seven years are up and they are worried about what they will lose this time!
Great twists and turns! Great fantasy world! I was just going to read a little then sleep but ended up reading until I finished it! I couldn't stop! ( )

This book was... amazing. I adore the World War II era so much so when I saw this book took place during that time and had an interesting plot line, I just knew I had to buy it. And this book didn't disappoint. I mean, different things vanishing from three small towns every seven years for no reason? How could that not make you want to pick this book up and find out why? First it was everyone's sense of smell. Then it was the stars being taken from the sky, then everyone's reflections and the colors from ink and paint. It was like clockwork for these towns and no one born there could escape it. The Disappearances followed them no matter where they went. Visitors to the town temporarily lost everything as well. But the towns had a way to make up for these loses with Varients, little pouches of dust that could temporarily bring back what was lost. I had to know what brought about this curse and why. By the end of the book, I still couldn't piece it all together. However, it all came together and the author answered all of the questions I might've had.
And there were the characters. I loved almost all of them. They were all so different and the cute romance that slowly develops through the book had me smiling.
There were some twists and turns I didn't see coming and I could easily sympathize for the characters. I can't imagine having to live life without some of these things that the towns went without or had very little of with the Varients. All in all, this book was amazing. I loved every second of it. I wouldn't call it a slow book by any means but it definitely picks up with the last hundred or so pages. It's definitely one of my favorites now. And despite the mystery of it being gone now, I think it's a book I'd definitely enjoy reading again. Considering I almost never reread books, I'd say that says a lot about this particular one. ( )