When Libby and her mom and sister need a new start they move into a home that has been passed down in their family through several generations. It sat empty for decades but the home feels strangely alive when they move in. And not in a good way.

Ominous events threaten to tear their already struggling family apart, and their home seems to be the cause.

I was sucked in by the plot, and while I did feel there was too much detail to wade through, at times- I was invested early on. If you’re looking for a dark mystery, that’s not quite natural and keeps you in suspense, this should be your next read!

2.5/5 stars rounded up.

I really liked What We Harvest back in 2022, and I was excited when I got the ARC for this book.

It sucks that I have such mixed feeling about it.

The first half was pretty good. Fraistat built the tension and mystery around the house so well, and the complicated family dynamics introduced in the aftermath of Libby's attempt and bipolar III diagnosis kept my interest in the story. I also really liked the descriptions of the house and the rooms - they always gave the ick vibes that fit the setting perfectly.

But the other things really kept this down for me. For instance: I didn't like the romance. Flynn, the love interest, is crucial to many things that happen throughout the book, but the romance between and Libby felt weird and lacked any chemistry to me.

The reveal of the mystery was also a disappointment. The tension became straight up paranormal horror. It should have worked for me, but after it, I felt myself growing more detached from the story. I was skimming to get to the end, which was seemed hastily thrown together after the action-packed climax. I wish the plot let itself breathe a bit more rather than rush like it did.

All in all, strong beginning that became gradually mid as it went on. I think I still will follow Fraistat's coming works, just in case something else of hers catches my liking.

Wow! This book made my skin crawl! What a creepy, fabulous horror story, that will keep you on your toes. Full of battles with mental health, family problems, and starting over, this book takes you on a journey to find answers to a long running mystery of the house of masks while Libby also learns how to put her life back together after a self inflected tragedy.
This book may not be for everyone. With lots of talk about mental heath and Libby’s struggle with bipolar along with her families difficulties to move passed a suicide attempt, I know those can be sensitive topics for some readers. But I do feel that the story shows the characters growth and how they learn to trust each other and themselves. I couldn’t put this down I thought it was a great read!

I don't have a lot of YA favorites, but absolutely adding this one to my list. This book is incredible, it is a thriller/horror that is very fast paced. Libby was such an interesting character, and you see her realistic challenges and step into her shoes with the way the author wrote her. There are a lot of twists and turns and I loved how it handled mental health representation. If you are a fan of Haunting of Hill House, it was very similar to that- so you will most likely enjoy this book too! 4.5 stars!

THIS BOOK! Can I give it some extra stars, please? I adored it. I never read YA, don't even remember requesting this book on NetGalley, but I saw it pop up on my Kindle and decided to give it a chance. Part thriller, part horror, I haven't a read a book this fast in ages. I adored how the house felt creepy and haunted, and yet at times you also wondered if it was trying to help Libby, the main character. I loved how mental health was dealt with through Libby in a realistic, respectful way, and I adored how the author so artfully showed how it affects the whole family. The story itself was so, so good. I loved a touch of love story. I loved how there was a mystery to be unraveled. I loved the ghosty bits. Just so well done. I'm literally off to find this author's other book!

I think this book delicately handles a difficult situation that is how people invalidate or dismiss those with mental illnesses because of that MI. Overall I think the book handled that without villianizing mental illness. Something that I didn't love was the take on the family relationships. They just seemed to be really flat in an otherwise well developed world and story.

This was a fun thriller/horror book. I liked the premise of this one. Beware of this book though if you don't like bugs haha but overall was an enjoyable read.

4.5/5 ⭐️
Wow. What a book. This somehow captured the eerie yet deeper meaning that the tv show version of Haunting of Hill House did but twisted it to include masks and a whole lot of bugs.
First, trigger warning: this story does talk about suicide. Mostly it is the main character looking back on her failed attempt. But the undercurrent of it is threaded throughout the story. Still, it is not dwelled on too much or goes into too much. So just a heads up for anyone who may not be in a place to read such.
Besides the suicide attempt, the main character is also dealing with her recent diagnosis of bipolar III. I personally have a limited experience of interacting with people who have bipolar, but from the little I know, I thought this story did a great job showing what it is like but also not demonizing it or making her mental illness something to be fixed.
Similar to Haunting of Hill House where they took more personal concepts and wove it into a paranormal world, this story does the same thing. It was encouraging and heartbreaking simultaneously with its deeper meaning while also scaring the crap out of me.
I highly recommend this book. It was excellent.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

Thank you #NetGalley and #Random House Children’s Publishing for allowing me to read A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat. I do want to state that this is not typically the genre I prefer to read, but enjoyed it.

Libby is not your stereotypical girl she is used to performing and acting. Recently, her life has done a 360. Now, she is currently faced with dealing with her depression and bipolar disorder as well as starting over including even moving to an extremely old house. The strangest thing about starting over is the fear. Libby’s fear about not only this house, but what it is doing to her sister and mom is real. If you want to know more about Libby and her family’s creepy adventure in the House of Masks, read A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat today. #APlaceforVanishing

(3.5 rounded to 4 stars) Very creepy! This was incredibly well-written and atmospheric. I enjoyed Libby’s character. I feel like it was a tad heavy on the backstory and it would’ve been really cool to add some illustrations or even a floor plan of the house!

This is not going to be a book for everyone! If you really like creepy things, grotesqueness, or just feel you can handle things better than most i.e. you're not overly squeamish - then this book may work for you.

Overall, I was very impressed with the story line and how it ended and firmly believe this should be read during the spookiest season!

Thanks to @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I’m struggling with how to rate this one. Hyper paranormal and spooky with some decent descriptive writing and certainly some unique plot points, but there’s just too much that sat wrong with me (and not in a good horror kind of way). Too much of the plot was revealed through explanatory narratives by ghosts in the end. The pacing was lopsided and everything ended really quickly compared to the build. And seriously how did they all get treated at the hospital in the end with no one asking any questions??

Biggest problem for me was the exploiting of trauma that I don’t see evidence the author has personal experience with- very specifically bipolar 3 and suicide. The descriptions of attempted suicide and suicidal ideation were constant, intense, and pervasive (SERIOUS content warnings here). It feels wrong to use that depth of mental health trauma as the entire plot and main character.

I really enjoyed this book. It's very creepy (WARNING: if you hate bugs, DO NOT READ) and had some great characters and atmosphere (you can practically smell some scenes).

The pacing felt a little off -- there is a A LOT of history and backstory here, which sometimes feels rushed. But overall, a great read with a gorgeous cover.

I appreciated the mental health backstory (trigger warning: reference to suicide), and the genuinely helpful insight on how to manage thoughts that run away from you.

The fact that this family is so fractured from Libby's health crisis, nicely tees up the mystery that unfolds and how the family struggles to manage it together. It also provides a nice analogy for the idea of wearing masks.

At its heart, this is a haunted house story...but then it ends up becoming a little something more. The beginning has some good scary scenes, but once you get a sense of what's happening in the house it read more like a thriller to me personally. (There is a bit of a romance in there too, but thankfully it rides along subtly in the background.)

If you like gothic horror and or supernatural spookiness, this is for you. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Made for a fun thriller/horror read. If you're a fan of the genre, you'll enjoy this with one exception- if you can't handle bugs, you will not enjoy this book

Libby and her family move into their family home after she has a stint in a psych ward when she got a bipolar diagnosis. They're looking for a fresh start but the historical house has many secrets. The locals tell stories of disappearances stretching as far back as the first owners, people who held seances with mysterious masks. Libby tries to tell her mother the place isn't safe but she refuses to hear anything bad about their new beginning.

I have to applaud the author on how they portray mental illness in their book. It is handled with such care and doesn't seem to shy away from the struggles that the family has to go through when dealing with it. There is tension through out the book where you feel Libby dealing with illness and not knowing if what is happening around her is real or just part of her disorder. At first I was not happy with how the mom was treating Libby but the further along we get in the book the more we come to realize something isn't right with her mom.

I do wish there were illustrations for the stained glass windows. They were described vividly but sometimes I still wish there were illustrations. The bugs added more creepiness to the story. There were moments where my skin crawled because of the bugs and the descriptions on the page.

A Place for Vanishing is an eerie and atmospheric read. Libby as the narrator is not always a reliable because of her disorder so not always can tell if what she sees is real or not. When the supernatural comes in it is blended naturally into the real. The characters felt real and their development progressed with the mystery of the house. I highly recommend this book. It is a fantasy horror that is a chilling well crafted story.

I thank Netgalley and Random House for providing an eARC of A Place of Vanishin.

A Place for Vanishing was a unique haunted house story... filled with lots and lots of bugs. I thought the idea of House of Masks and it's elaborate history was really intriguing but I honestly hated how buggy it was. The main character Libby is dealing with her own demons and she makes for such a strong character for this story. I also really enjoyed the family dynamic throughout the book.

Solid 4.5 stars. The only drawback to this book is the gross bug factor, but that element is also what makes the story wonderful. I love a good dark fantasy or sentient house story, and this book has both. If I had time, I could have read the whole thing in only a few days. Libby is such a well fleshed out character with an internal monologue that feels true to someone learning to live with her mental health issues. Getting to know Flynn more as a person other than his medium identity and family connection to the House of Masks would have been better, but the struggle is more about Libby, Vivi, and their mom doing what generations of their family haven't been able to do - survive the house. The perfect amount of spook, disgust, and fascination propelled me through the chapters. After every time I put a bookmark, I found myself reading past the point I "stopped." The house as a setting, its grounds, and its inhabitants - natural and supernatural - are greatly described. Reading this reminds me of House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig and Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and to best understand that I suggest reading. The ending was a little obvious, because Fraistat wrote herself into a corner that I only saw one inevitable way out of for the characters, but that does not make the fight any less satisfying for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for allowing me the opportunity to read this book early.

If you don't like bugs don't read this one. Seriously just don't! I loved Fraistat's other book What We Harvest and this one is right up there with that one. The mystery that the author wove throughout the story was spot on and the characters were amazing. The plot and pacing were so good for this one that you really can't put it down. I cannot wait to see what else Fraistat has in store for readers!! Because, so far she is an auto buy author for this reader.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.
This book was great! I can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you @delacourtepress for the #gifted copy of this book!

Don’t let this pretty cover fool you into thinking this is a sweet read! It’s sweet as in creeptastic but not sweet as in cute. 🤣

I always love a good book about a haunted house with paranormal activity and this one was perfectly done! Libby is a teenager struggling with bipolar. When her mom decides to pick up and start over at a new home they all felt like it would be a good fresh starting point. Unfortunately for all of them it is anything but. Rumors swirl in the town about the history of this house and disappearances of past occupants. As Libby tries to make sense of what of happening she makes friends with the local neighbor boy as he seems to know more than he's letting on. Libby discovers there is no shortage of bugs 🪳in the house and there is a strange affinity to these bug masks she has found. Will she get to the bottom of this mystery before she loses her family to something much more sinister?

This young adult horror book is the epitome to a Gothic haunted house story. I loved the eerie dark vibe this author creates as she describes this house and all the creepy crawly things living inside. This book is awesome in the way that the house itself feels like its own character. I love books like that! I felt like the overall idea behind the masks and history really made this book! It is a unique idea that worked really well.

This book actually covers quite a bit between mental health, family love and loyalty, ghosts, seances, and a little romantic love too! I really enjoyed this as being that it is young adult, it felt like it had more character development than you normally get in a young adult book. I really enjoyed this one and would absolutely grab another book by this author!