In 1692, on the outskirts of Salem, a young woman hides a journal under the loose floorboard of a bookstore covered in vines. She hears the dogs barking in the distance as she runs away and the bookstore vanishes behind her. In present day, Dora lives in the UK, running a flower shop when she is called to the US to see her mother, a woman she thought was dead. She leaves her friend to look after her shop while she is gone. When Dora meets her mother, she is ill, but tells Dora that their lives are in danger. That is when Dora's memories begin to come back. She digs into their history and learns about the mysterious bookstore, but no one knows where it is. She is able to pick her way through the thorns and brambles with her childhood friend, and eventually they find the bookstore. Inside she finds the journal, but will that be her undoing or salvation?

Having been to Salem a couple of years ago, I loved the setting. It made sense that the three sisters, Lucine, Seraphina and Lenora lived there and although they sold cures and herbs, the secret that they were witches was not well known. These women have been cursed to live their lives repeatedly while being hunted by the same diabolical man, George Corwin. Dora does not know anything about them being witches, until she visits her mother and memories begin to return. She is the reincarnation of the woman who hid the book, and only she can retrieve it. The story is told through various POVs, so I had to pay attention so I knew whose it was. There are two animals, Hades and Ophelia, who play parts in the story, one a crow, the other a cat. I really liked the parts they played. I did find that the middle of the book dragged a bit, but it really picked up later in the story. There are some suspenseful scenes, but nothing too descriptive. As far as a witch/witch hunting book goes, this was an easy read. It was a story of family, family secrets, memory, witches, history, survival, relationships, and being alive. Of course there is a happy ending for the English family (their last name, not nationality), but the story had a rocky road to get there. Overall, this was an enjoyable story, and for someone who doesn't read a lot of fantasy/witch stories, it was a good choice, but I would recommend reading this one.

The premise sounded so promising—Salem witches, a vanishing bookstore, a hunt across lifetimes? That combination had all the makings of a magical, gripping read. But unfortunately, the execution fell flat for me.

The characters were... honestly quite dull. They had little to no personality beyond liking certain colors, drinking, whining about the past, and repeatedly vowing to stop the witch hunter (while doing absolutely nothing about it). For someone who’s supposedly been chasing them across centuries, you'd think they’d have come up with a plan by now. Spoiler: they didn’t.

There were so many inconsistencies that I started to question my own sanity. One moment, they say the witch hunter murders them all. The next, it’s just Dora, and the rest live on in grief? Which is it? And why, across literal lifetimes, has no one fought back against George? Especially considering how easy it was to stop him in the end? Like... why didn’t they just do that before?

Also—who in their right mind hides in the exact place they were once killed and then invites their entire family over, fully aware a centuries-old enemy is actively hunting them down? Make it make sense.

And don’t even get me started on the “vanishing bookstore.” I was promised something whimsical and mysterious. Instead, we get a rundown shed hidden in overgrown bushes. And Ambrose—who hid it—doesn’t even remember the location? Why didn’t anyone try to retrieve it for centuries? The questions just kept piling up, and the story never offered satisfying answers.

I really wish the book had lived up to its concept. There was so much potential here, but for me, it just didn’t deliver.

This was a good fantasy, magical, and spellbinding dual timeline tale.it had an engaging plot that touches on family, history, secrets, witches, relationships, survival, an awaking of memories, a quest to break a curse, a search for a missing bookstore, amd other issues and twits. I enjoyed this writing style and the vivid descriptions. I highly recommend reading!

Paused my read of this as just can’t get into it. The timeline is jumping around all over the place and I just can’t follow who any of the characters are

Got into fantasy and really enjoyed this book! The Salem witch trials have always interested me so this book was really good!

First off, there is not actually a bookstore in this story, but don't let that dissuade you from reading it. It's a brilliant mix of past and present and I was absolutely hooked from the first page. Telling the story of three witches from Salem who are cursed to live the same lives over again until they can find the missing spellbook and break the curse, The Vanishing Bookstore is a spellbinding book and I was engrossed. There are some logic gaps if you think too hard about it but none of them really tripped me up.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The subject matter was intriguing - but the plot and characters fell a little short. The bookstore from the title needed to be in the book more.


Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

Thank you to the publisher for the digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a great quick read! It's a mix of past and present, a mix of magic and mystery.

I was looking forward to reading this, with witches and books... What wasn't to love?

However, I struggled to read it.

The characters were great, and well established. I loved the character build up, and the descriptions helped me picture them in my mind. The environment too... I could see the places the author was describing.

However, the title is so deceptive, because the book did not have a bookstore at all. It was a wooden shack that had some books in it, and it didn't vanish... It just ended up hidden by the trees and foliage.

The story was drawn out, and I found it somewhat of a slow burn. The author also loved to repeat a lot of things, and it really started to get annoying.

A captivating blend of mystery and magic, this book pulls you into a world where the past and present intertwine. Dora's journey keeps you hooked from the first page to the last.

# The Vanishing Bookstore by Helen Phifer Review

CW: Violence, suggestive content, any triggers surrounding the Salem Witch Trials.

My Rating: 3

*I was given a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review*

So I’m gonna change up my usual style of review and break this into impressions by section

**First 25%**

Here’s the thing.

This section of the book isn’t awful, or the worst, but it just didn’t feel like it knew what it was doing. It didn’t feel like it knew it’s setting, nor did it feel like it knew it’s audience. All the characters are adults, but the writing is very Middle Grade/YA to me. In addition, the book just comes off as overly simplistic and not complex.

The characters don’t really stick out for me, I just didn’t get a lot from this book to be honest. I didn’t think this book was the worst, but I expected more out of it. I expected the characters to be a little better formed, they weren’t, they just weren’t.

The writing style wasn’t super complex, or pretty, or evocative, or fast paced. I really just didn’t find this book to be terribly remarkable. It wasn’t especially bad, but it wasn’t especially good. It was terribly *meh*.

For the setting, it just felt bland. Nothing about the setting stood out, the plot felt like it was dragging, and the setting dragged with it. There wasn’t anything that felt distinguishable about the setting, which I get isn’t always a focus but I like there being something to hold onto in the world building. I got the impression that the author didn’t know a lot about the states, and it seemed that she could’ve (should’ve) done more research into the place she was setting her novel.

I do think the George and Dora story line had potential, I did think the way I felt about Katie was substantive. I actually cared about her and her well being, and I disliked George almost immediately upon his introduction, which raised my star rating for sure-being able to communicate a character without writing much about him deserves praise. I just wish she’d done that for her protagonists.

And some of it is just cringy, there’s a line that a character “like pink only second to black” and would’ve painted her house black if she could. It just came off cringy and like the author was trying to have this gothic character who was into death and darkness, and it didn’t feel natural.

**25 to 33%**

This is where I felt it began to pick up a bit, the language and writing was still clunky, but the plot got a bit better for sure.

The characters seemed to be a bit more fully realized, I got the impression that Dora was more of a person than she was in the first fourth of the book. I think that’s a disservice, Dora should’ve been fully realized, or at least somewhat realized, from the get-go, but she took way too long to get there. Sephy and Lucine were overly bland too. I get that they’re supposed to have lived for a long time, and were brought up in a puritan household when they were initially born (they’re immortal, I think, or at least close to it). I did mix up Lenny and Lucine

The world building and setting still felt a bit cluttered, it was more realized but it wasn’t completely clear how things worked. I was still confused at that point on what was going on with Ambrose and Isadora. I think maybe there was reincarnation, or some kind of descendant, but it’s not well done, I think there could’ve been a better way for the author to lay out the plot and leave hints. This jsut felt like it was confusingly leading with the twist.

At this point, I surmised George was the man “chasing across lifetimes” and that Dora and Ambrose were a separate couple away from George. But if George was the bad guy, and Lenny knew that, then why did she allow Katie to run the shop and possibly be a victim? Why not close the shop and say “we’re out for the month” or something? That just felt felt reckless with an innocent woman’s life. And I wouldn’t think Lenny would do that as a character we’re supposed to root for.

**34% to 60%**

This is where things finally started to make actual sense.

Thank god.

This is also where Dora actually shows concern for Katie, which no one else has by this point, and it’s unclear why. Like, did they not think George would come for Katie? Dora still only worries about Katie being in the shop, and handling it on her own, but that’s okay because she *doesn’t know anything*. Once she does, she wants to go to London to help Katie, she wants to protect Katie, but her aunts are perfectly willing to allow Katie to possibly die.

So, the explanation seems to be that they’re immortals, and they’re all reborn over and over again, and dies over and over, because of a curse. Which I think honestly should’ve been revealed earlier on in the book rather than a third of the way in, but whatever.

I also did actually start to want to pick up the book at this point. Just to see what happens, the setting is a bit more realized and made the book more readable. But I still found that the book felt like it was written like a YA novel, or maybe even a mid fanfiction. It was just so simplistic that it felt like it was the author’s first novel, which it wasn’t. She didn’t seem to know where her setting was (with how the characters from the US talked, in particular).

**60% to End**

Things did pick up more, but all the problems were still present.

And I really didn’t believe in Ambrose and Dora’s relationship, I mean they had their cute moments, for sure, but it just wasn’t that great or that convincing. Everything just felt as hollow as the rest of it did.

In the end, it just felt like the premise promised wasn’t really delivered on. The reason I picked up the book was not the real and true plot and I felt a bit cheated.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the premise but I ended really disliking the writing style. It is too much exposition and the pacing is all over the place.

In this magical and unique dual-timeline historical fiction novel, readers discover a bookstore on the outskirts of Salem in 1692 that is somehow connected to Dora (a florist in twenty-first century England), her family’s mysterious past, and the mother she thought had died. As she discovers their family’s secrets and the stranger who appeared at her flower shop and seems to be stalking her, Dora must use these family secrets to find this hidden bookstore and the tool that can save her family. Unique in its premise and magical system, this novel is a complex, thrilling new book that weaves in elements of many genres into a seamless and intriguing narrative. The characters are the stars of this brilliant novel and alternate timelines between each chapter, and the female friendships and family ties are really well-written and drive the novel’s events forward in some exciting ways. With their brilliant characters and excellent dynamics between friends and family members, these characters are really intense, exciting, and interesting. With its high stakes, incredible historical setting, and dynamic characters, this is a unique historical fiction book that readers will struggle to put down because Dora’s family secrets are empowering, exciting, and complex since the truth really is stranger than fiction.

Dora lives with her Aunt Lenny in London. She runs a flower shop and often wonders about her family as Lenny is very reluctant to talk about them. One day a man comes into the shop and there is something about him that troubles her. Lenny's reaction when she tells seems strange. Suddenly she decides that she needs to go back to Salem in the USA. She is also insistent that Dora goes with her.

Unsurprisingly Salem thrives on its history of the Witch Trials in the sixteen hundreds. Here Dora meets the mother she never knew & another aunt. Their family can be traced back to the infamous witch trials. They are caught in a cycle that can't be broken unless a certain book can be found. The book is in a bookstore but no-one can find it. Can Dora save her family from this never ending fate?

Told from two timelines this story works very well. I enjoyed both of them. Often when a story is told this way you want to stay in one timeline but I enjoyed both. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

I so enjoyed this book. I love to read a book with magic in it. The characters were so fun and man it brought my one visits a couple of years ago to Salem back to life for me. This author has quickly become a favorite of mine.

For those who have a love of witches that are fun and a book with magic and history and mystery. Read this!

It was just an okay book. I really don't feel like you get a lot of every characters' background and personality because it's just kind of supposed to be known with the different incarnated lives they've all lived. The pacing felt very quick but slow at the same time.

This book was so different to the usual books I read, but I really enjoyed it!!

The concept was super interesting, and I loved all the twists and turns. I did find a couple of bits confusing and felt parts needed extra details or explanation, and I also would’ve loved more of a history on the witch hunts in Salem. However, overall I did learn a lot and enjoyed the book overall!

4 stars out of 5 ⭐️

Helen Phifer has been one my favourite authors after I read her Maria Miller detective series because her word building and the plot was so unique that I was drawn to it. But didn’t know she’ll be this good in the vanishing bookstore. Here, she crafted a magical tale about a family of women accused of being witches during the Salem Witch Trials. These women have been cursed to live their lives repeatedly while being hunted by the same evil.

The story has been told in two different time lines as in Salem and present day. In 1692 Salem, A woman accused of being a witch hides a journal in a vine covered bookstore and runs. The bookstore mysteriously vanishes and is never seen again.

I enjoyed the writing, the dual timelines, the search for a missing bookstore. But sometimes I felt the plot has few plot holes and the 30ish something fmc is kind of annoying thing and it took long time to meet her mother as well but other than that I enjoyed it.

The English sisters were hanged in Salem in the 1600s, but have been cursed and are reborn into continuous lifetimes, along with their niece, Dora, her great love, Ambrose, and an evil witch hunter. Dora, with no memories from her previous lives, now works in a flower shop in London. She must remember in order to find the key to breaking the curse.

The premise of this book was promising. The first two chapters - a prologue in the witches' original lives in Salem, and an introduction to Dora and her shop in modern-day Long, had great potential. Unfortunately, once past those two sections, the book went drastically downhill. It was poorly written, had gaping plot holes, poor dialogue (real people do not speak in dramatic paragraphs), no stakes, and zero depth.

The magic system makes little to no sense, with the author glossing over any hole in the story with the fact that the witches "don't worry our pretty little heads about it" (Yes, that is LITERALLY a quote when a plot hole is brought to light). Dora is written as if she is a teenager/young adult, but is in fact a staggering thirty-three. She is spoken about constantly as "so young", referred to as "the girl" and generally treated like a child rather than a grown woman. She also speaks and acts in a juvenile way. Ambrose, who is also her age, is exactly the same, referred to as "just a child". I was shocked the first time their ages were mentioned, and their infantilisation continued to be off-putting throughout.

General inconsistencies also irritated me. For example, they're said explicitly to look different in each lifetime (apart from hair and eye colour), yet are also spoken as to look the same. Dora is called the "spitting image of her mother at her age" by someone who apparently hasn't seen her mother at all in the lifetime. A dress that Dora wore previously fits like a glove, without any discussion about potential size difference.

The entire plot is about a witch-hunter, yet there is no urgency whatsoever. The chapters ramble on about miscellaneous, irrelevant, mundane things. When the plot finally comes to fruition it is short-lived in a poorly written action sequence that's over quickly and easily. It's laughable that this battle has apparently waged lifetimes. Also, the titular bookstore appears briefly for a couple of scenes, with no explanation and nothing deeper than "it's a bookstore that they hid away".

The author's note at the end confirms that the novel includes inserts from the author's own life and interests that make little to no sense to a reader. Giles Corey was included in such a flippant manner, which is quite disrespectful to a real human being. His inclusion had no actual relevance to the plot. It existed only to tie in the reader's own interest in witch trials in Salem. To be relevant to the plot, his connection should have been explored properly. Perhaps he was a friend to the sisters. He existed as a minor, irrelevant character who was name-dropped unnecessarily.

Quite frankly, this book should not exist in its current form. It needed a great amount of editing and re-crafting that it didn't receive. I was very disappointed. I would have DNF'd it but I don't like doing that for NetGalley reviews and prefer to give a full chance to any book.
General inconsistencies also irritated me. For example, they're said explicitly to look different in each lifetime (apart from hair and eye colour), yet are also spoken as to look the same. Dora is called the "spitting image of her mother at her age" by someone who apparently hasn't seen her mother at all in the lifetime. A dress that Dora wore previously fits like a glove, without any discussion about potential size difference.

The entire plot is about a witch-hunter, yet there is no urgency whatsoever. The chapters ramble on about miscellaneous, irrelevant, mundane things. When the plot finally comes to fruition it is short-lived in a poorly written action sequence that's over quickly and easily. It's laughable that this battle has apparently waged lifetimes. Also, the titular bookstore appears briefly for a couple of scenes, with no explanation and nothing deeper than "it's a bookstore that they hid away".

The author's note at the end actually shocked me. I feel like this book is a vanity project, with inserts from the author's own life and interests that make little to no sense to a reader. Giles Corey was included in such a flippant manner, which is quite disrespectful to a real human being. His inclusion had no actual relevance to the plot. It existed only to tie in the reader's own interest in witch trials in Salem. To be relevant to the plot, his connection should have been explored properly. Perhaps he was a friend to the sisters. He existed as a minor, irrelevant character who was name-dropped unnecessarily.

Quite frankly, this book should not exist in its current form. It needed a great amount of editing and re-crafting that it didn't receive. I was very disappointed. I would have DNF'd it but I don't like doing that for NetGalley reviews and prefer to give a full chance to any book.

This was a cute story about witchcraft and a mysterious bookshop. Fans of Alice Hoffmann will probably like it a lot. I enjoyed it but would have wished for a bit more character depth.