I want to open by saying that my response to The Tenth Girl says more about my personal preferences as a reader than it does about the quality of this book. I'd been hoping for something Gothic, which this was to a certain extent, but other genre elements were more foregrounded—particularly paranormal and science fiction—and I simply don't enjoy them as much. I know many other readers who have really, truly loved this book.

Bottom line: if you're looking for old-school Gothic, along the lines of Wilkie Collins, this probably isn't the title for you, but if you're open to other genres, you're quite apt to enjoy this title and to be repeatedly surprised by it.

Mari just wants a place that she belongs. She has lied about her age and teaching experience and it has finally paid off. She has been hired as an English teacher at a finishing school with a rocky and possibly haunted past. She is ignoring all of the warnings because we wants to hide from the military that has taken over the government and she also doesn’t want to face her mother’s disappearance. She is willing to overlook a lot, but when she can’t get a satisfactory answer about a missing student, her secret investigation uncovers more than even her mind could have imagined.

The Tenth Girls is a stand-alone gothic thriller with an added twist. The story is told through two different timeline viewpoints and readers must discover the connections. Faring has definitely provided a different ending than I was originally expecting. Although I would have liked my ending too, the unexpected twist was refreshing. This book will be enjoyed by many readers and it definitely should be tried by all triller fans.

There are moments that I pray we never experience or witness in life but at the very least we have observed on TV or the movies. Those moments before a doctor walks up to a character and everything is suddenly moving frame-by-frame. Or when you know a car crash is about to happen. And the world seems to. Just. Stop. But of course, it doesn’t. It just moves so excruciatingly slow.

Until the moment the news you know is coming, but those the doctor is approaching doesn’t, drops. Until the screeching of the cars stop and the cars collide. There is this split second when the world goes dead. Deafening silence. And then with a snap of the fingers? With an explosion of immeasurable cruelty, the world careens out of control at a cataclysmic speed.

This is the workings of The Tenth Girl By Sara Faring. Horrifyingly mesmerizing. Obscenely memorizing. It will grip you in the gut and it will not let go. But it is not full of action and it is not paced like a thriller. It is a slow-moving terror. It does not care about the breath you’ve been holding for two hours. It does not care that you hear the silence, see the dark and feel a presence.

It does not care that when you close your kindle you have to side-eye it as you walk away, because what if it is watching you. Ok. Maybe the last one is just me. I blame that on The Girl with All the Gifts. But I blame a lot of things on that book and M. R. Carey.

No. Faring doesn’t care. She just ratchets everything up, instead. Until The Tenth Girl is ready to reveal its shattering conclusion. The dark will consume you slowly and completely. Then you will be the on the other end of the doctor’s news. In the cars that crash. In that shocked silence that is attached to a turbulent, abrupt and merciless bullet train.

Beyond the ability to maintain terrorize readers for 400 pages, Faring’s spectrum of writing abilities is wielded appropriately, never forced that adds unexpected depth and wonder.

Angel is a teenager that is often brought to life by a teenager’s typical humorous observations, with a true to tone teenage voice and literally laugh out loud wit.

-It is hard to pick these quotes. So please understand that this aren’t necessarily the epitome of examples. They are the best references I could find that, out of context, aren’t in the least bit spoilers. Because I don’t do spoilers.-

“…the size of a centaur with thick veins threading through the skin of his arms; they popped up when he was hot, or turned on (don’t ask, please don’t ask), or pissed off.”

Effortlessly she swings into more atmospheric writing…
“I can feel the brightly colored threads moving through consciousness, like the yarn on Circe’s loom; her skin warm to the touch… She’s running along a field, running, running, running. “

“I’ve absorbed an extension of myself, effortlessly. Like a concert pianist nailing a ridiculous chord during one practice as if by magic. I broadened my handspan on the cosmic keys, my footprint on the sand of the new world, in more ways than I can understand.”

And then, of course to the utterly disturbing.
“The edges of her lips look strained and vaguely wet, like she also just ripped the delicious head off a small and fluffy creature with her teeth and holds it back by the damp root of her tongue.”

Last, but certainly not the least of importance, but the least I’m qualified to talk about is the implications of colonization and genocide that Faring interweaves throughout the Tenth Girl. What has happened and since become of the indigenous Zapuche when the De Vaccaro family eradicated them from their land is a cornerstone to the setting and story. It is Faring's representation of cultural erasure at the hands of the entitled, colonizers and conquerors.

It is how the country I live in was created, when Europeans took the land From Native Americans. It is a shame that haunts America today and will as long as it exists, as it should. Because that is what was earned.

The Tenth Girl is a warning to heed. Yes, it is a brilliantly written horror story. But it also integrates the real- life horror of genocide that while might have started a millennia ago, continues today.

This was truly one of the most original stories I've ever read. The story takes place in a remote
South American village in a school for girls that has been closed for sixty years after tragedy struck. It's been re-opened to teach daughters of wealthy families from around the world. The protagonist, Mavi, a young girl fleeing the political uprising in Buenos Aires that took her mother and has left her to fend for herself. She gets a job teaching at this school and she figures it's the perfect refuge to escape her past before it catches up with her.
But things aren't all they seem to be. The eclectic faculty, the foreboding director of the school and dire warnings to stay in her room at night all make this story intriguing, terrifying and spellbinding.
I don't know that this story would be great for younger readers as there are very dark topics such as rape, pedophilia, and molestation.
The ending, no spoilers here, totally threw me for a loop. I didn't see that coming at all. It kind of makes me want to re-read the book knowing how it ends.

Special thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for providing a ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Tenth Girl is definitely original. I was unsure what to expect from a YA novel that has a dark, Gothic feel to it. This is out of my normal realm of reading. However, I thought I would give it a try.

Sara Faring's imagination is spectacular. I always marvel in how writers can actually put stories on pages like this. I love the dark, eery, twisty feel of The Tenth Girl. I love how it incorporates mythology with an indigenous culture.

I did, however, have a hard time getting into the story. The plot - switching between two different voices - was a little hard to follow. I had to fight really hard to get over the weirdness of it.

As for the ending, spoiler free, I am not sure if I love it or hate it. There will definitely be readers who love it because it can be mind blowing. There will also be readers who do not like it because it can be viewed as a cop out. Me? I haven't a clue. I am both disappointed, unsatisfied and WOW'ed at the same time.

Maybe that's the point?

Thank you to Imprint and Netgalley for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.


Normally I would tell you about the book and what is going on, but as much as I loved the cover and the synopsis this didn't go for me like I wanted it too. The atmosphere was great, the setting was amazing, the background good. But even though the chapters told me who was telling the story at that point. The back and forth between present and past and different characters completely threw me off. By the time a twist was revealed I wasn't that invested in this story. For me this had a ton of potential but failed to follow through.


I think a lot of readers will love this, but I didn't find this such a gothic mystery more like a futuristic sort of mystery that really didn't deliver all that well. I really couldn't follow the story and to be honest it held me in some chapters and I could barely remember what I read in others. I really hate to sound like I am tearing the book up. It just wasn't my thing at all.

I read about 1/4 before deciding that it wasn't for me. The premise was interesting but I just couldn't connect with the main characters - the minors were indefinitely more interesting. And in the 7ish chapters I read, nothing was happening other than the potential revelation of the 10th girl.

Not bad by any means - just not for me.

What a strange book. Not what I expected, but still good.

First I'll start with warnings. This is a mature ya/na book. It's dark. It's crude at times (which doesn't bother me). There are a lot of dark topics at least mentioned including suicide, child abuse (all types), minor/adult relationship (rape), drinking, a lot of swearing, crude sex comments, a mention of a naked man, gore, death, missing girls, miscarriage, and more. This is not a book for everyone.

The Tenth Girl is told in alternating (not always) chapters. Mavi in the 1970's and Angel in 2020. But the stories overlap. A school with a dark history reopens after a mysterious illness killed most of the people there. The school was said to be cursed. The local Zapuche tribe cursed it to keep other people away. The legend mentioned that people would have to sacrifice a girl to keep the curse away for so long. So, weird place to reopen a school, right? But there are a couple people left from the original owners and Carmela De Vaccaro wants to start a new program there. She chose some middle school aged girls and a handful of teachers. The school is almost impossible to arrive and leave. The only way is by boat when the weather is ok.

Mavi is only 18, but she lied about her age and history. She is running. Her mother was taken by the military government and Mavi was afraid they would take her, too. So she goes to this isolated school, hoping for a new life as an English teacher. When Mavi arrives, she finds that the school has very strict rules. Including one that says that they cannot leave their rooms at night. It's not safe at night.

"You would be well-advised to lock the door behind you, if you wish to survive this place," she sends back, her morbid warning echoing down the hall.


Mavi doesn't listen though. She is curious and wants to explore. Especially when she has 10 places in her class, but only 9 girls. When she asks about this, she is told the Tenth Girl is sick, but will be around. But no one sees her. Mavi starts feeling odd things. Can there be dangerous ghosts haunting the school? Some of the girls start getting sick and another disappears. Mavi decides she needs to figure out the secrets to the school and help save these girls.

Angel is an Other. Time is circular to the Zapuche, so Angel from 2020 shows up at the school in 1978. The Others have no real form. They can come and go and must feed off the people at the school. They eat their dreams while draining them of energy. Angel finds a way to possess Carmela's son, Domenico. Angel is dealing with the grief of losing family. Angel has a kind of mentor that sort of helps. But mostly is just really rude and gross. Angel, in Domenico's body, starts to interact with Mavi. To the point of truly caring for her.

As more and more people end up sick, the house also seems to get sick. The weather is bad, they are almost out of food, and the house is rotting inside. Mavi and Angel work together to find this Tenth Girl that came to warn Mavi to get everyone out of the school. A warning no one else listens to. They don't believe Mavi. There is a thought that the Tenth Girl is the daughter of Carmela's that recently died.

The pacing of the book is very slow, but it has such a dark atmosphere that kept me reading. I also thought the writing was really good. Overall, I liked the book and there are some major twists that I can't talk about. It was weird, but I think I liked it? I feel a little silly at some of the clues I missed. I gave this book 4 stars. Thank you to the publisher for my review copy.

I am still questioning my true feelings towards this book. There were so many varying plot elements that made it difficult to keep up. While I enjoyed the characters there were many moments where I was left confused and needing to reread multiple sections of the book in order to understand what was taking place.

Beautifully written Gothic ghost story with many twists and turns. It will keep you guessing until the end.

Unusal ghost story, pulling in some local mythology as well. Personally, I’m not appreciative of these kinds of stories but it did keep me intrigued.

I struggled to read this book in a timely manner. First, it read soooo slow. The pacing needed to be altered to keep the reader interested. I kept abandoning this book and coming back later and having to trudge through until I hit something interesting. It was rough going.
To be fair to the author, I may not be a fan of this type of read. Way too unbelievable but perhaps that was because the tempo was too slow.

2.5
Pacing people!!!!!

This type of story is all about pacing. We have a mysterious house with characters who have secrets so information needs to flow at a nice steady pace to keep the reader engaged. That didn't happen here so therefore, I didn't like it.

This book started off well. There are some dates and different years and characters from different years interacting. Is everyone dead? Is it all a dream? You look for clues to help you and there were some viable clues-this was the exciting part. In the beginning all the characters were mysterious because they had secrets and they were pretty well developed.

Here were the issues:
The Curse-The plot of this story is very simple-there's a curse on the house. Faring continued to remind the reading of this freaking curse when she didn't need to. How does one over-explain a simple curse? Read this book to find out. That became super annoying.

Angel-So for 75% of the story, I thought Angel was a girl but nope, it was a boy. I feel like that wasn't intentional and it should have been obvious that it was a boy. Maybe I missed it at the beginning; if I did, please let me know.

The villains-There were three. The mom's jam was predictable. Miss Morecy, or whatever her name was, was a cartoon villain. She was just mean and we kind of find out why WHEN SHE INFO-DUMPS HER ENTIRE BACKSTORY AT THE VERY END! The best villain was Dom but we didn't get to see him being a great villain because of reasons I won't say just incase you decide to read it. Such a wasted opportunity to read a character with a different voice but no.

The Pacing-You won't keep the reader interested if you just keep piling questions while providing no answers. Everything came out in the end and Angel knew what was up the entire time and didn't say anything!!! Could he not say anything for some reason? Did I miss something? I ask this a lot because I tend to skip pages when I'm bored so there is a strong possibility that I missed vital information. The character's backstories are built up so much but when you find it all out, it's anti-climactic.

The Twist-Anti-climactic. I didn't guess it because there was one clue and I don't know how we were supposed to connect those dots. I felt like a read this huge ass book and it was all for nothing. I don't understand the point of all of it.

This was a decent debut, full of gorgeous writing, but with a few flaws. First, it read soooo slow. The pacing needed to be altered to keep the reader interested. I kept abandoning this book and coming back later and having to trudge through until I hit something interesting. It was rough going. Second, although I read many people rave about the twist at the end, it just didn't do it for me. I felt rather let down. Overall though, a decent debut.

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.*