Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring. This tour is being hosted by Fantastic Flying Book Club. I’ll be sharing my review and there will also be a giveaway.
The Tenth Girl
by Sara Faring
Publisher: Imprint
Release Date: September 24th 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Horror, Mystery, Historical Fiction
Simmering in Patagonian myth, The Tenth Girl is a gothic psychological thriller with a haunting twist.
At the very southern tip of South America looms an isolated finishing school. Legend has it that the land will curse those who settle there. But for Mavi—a bold Buenos Aires native fleeing the military regime that took her mother—it offers an escape to a new life as a young teacher to Argentina’s elite girls.
Mavi tries to embrace the strangeness of the imposing house—despite warnings not to roam at night, threats from an enigmatic young man, and rumors of mysterious Others. But one of Mavi’s ten students is missing, and when students and teachers alike begin to behave as if possessed, the forces haunting this unholy cliff will no longer be ignored.
One of these spirits holds a secret that could unravel Mavi’s existence. In order to survive she must solve a cosmic mystery—and then fight for her life.
BOOK LINKS
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/38462717-the-tenth-girl
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Sc08NN
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-tenth-girl-sara-faring/1129819251#/
Bookdepository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Tenth-Girl-Sara-Faring/9781250304506?ref=grid-view&qid=1562925061244&sr=1-1
iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-tenth-girl/id1449477545
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-tenth-girl
Google Books: https://books.google.fr/books/about/The_Tenth_Girl.html?id=WWwBvgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
My Review:
What a strange book. Not what I expected, but still really 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.
The softest scrape of my shoe’s soles on stone echoes here: The house can feel me in its belly.
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.
Souls aren’t like steam, I realize. They’re like viruses, spreading to the surrounding organisms, infecting them with their unfulfilled dreams and inescapable worries.
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. 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.
Born in Los Angeles, Sara Faring is a multi-lingual Argentine-American fascinated by literary puzzles. After working in investment banking at J.P. Morgan, she worked at Penguin Random House. She holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in International Studies and from the Wharton School in Business. She currently resides in New York City.
Her first novel, The Tenth Girl, will be released by Macmillan/Imprint on September 24, 2019. Sara is represented by Sarah Bedingfield at Levine Greenberg Rostan Agency.
AUTHOR LINKS
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17694905.Sara_Faring
Website: https://www.sarafaring.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarafaring
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarafaring/
Giveaway:
Prize: Win a copy of THE TENTH GIRL by Sara Faring (US Only)
Starts: 18th September 2019
Ends: 2nd October 2019
Follow The Tour:
The link above should have the updated links, but you can see the bloggers participating below.
September 18th
September 19th
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September 21st
September 22nd
September 23rd
September 24th
Confessions of a YA Reader 
Great review, it has a creepy, creepy cover!
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I can’t believe we had the same post day on the tour! That’s cool 🙂
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It is. 🙂
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Thank you! The cover is really awesome and fits the book so well.
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OK wow, this book sounds…. Really weird and very dark but I’m oddly still very intrigued?! I’m a total chicken though so I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle the creepiness but… I’m tempted. Haha great review!
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Thank you! I don’t get scared easily, so I’m probably not the best at saying if it would be too creepy for you. It definitely has some dark parts.
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Great review! This sounds very exciting but I’m not great fan of slow reads. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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Thank you! I’m not good with slow reads, but I still tend to like the creepy ones.
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I’m so excited for this book! The cover is so gorgeously creepy, and everything I’ve heard about it just makes me want to read it more!
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The cover is awesome! I need to buy just based off that (but I liked it, too). I hope you enjoy it.
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The more I see this book, the more I want to read it! It sounds very atmospheric which is right up my alley and truthfully I have had it in my sights for a little while now. I am deff adding it to my TBR.
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The school/house is such a cool setting, especially since it’s so hard to get to.
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Uhg. Sounds right up my alley for sure. I am really digging those super spooky ish atmospheric reads lately. Things like The Wicked Deep and Sky in the Deep (what’s with all the deeps? Maybe that’s a theme!)
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Those were both really good!
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Great review, Kristi! ❤ Thank you for mentioning those trigger warnings at the start, since I wasn't aware of it beforehand. This one does sound very intriguing though, and I love the idea of these overlapping timelines.
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Thank you and you’re welcome. I hope you like it if you get the chance to read it.
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