The vanishing season / Jodi Lynn Anderson.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From New York Times bestselling author Jodi Lynn Anderson comes a haunting and lovely small-town romance, perfect for fans of Gayle Forman, Lauren Myracle, and Laurie Halse Anderson.

When Maggie's parents move them from bustling Chicago to small, rundown Door County, Wisconsin, she thinks she'll spend a year reading classics and killing time until college.

That plan changes as soon as she meets Pauline and Liam. Soon the three are inseparable, stretching out the love between two childhood best friends to fit over all of them and all their grand dreams.

But what starts as an uneventful year suddenly changes. Someone is killing teenage girls, and the town reels from each new tragedy. And as the dynamics between Maggie, Pauline, and Liam shift and collide in irreversible ways, they all will experience love and loss hand-in-hand--but only two of them will survive the winter.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Anderson (Tiger Lily) once again works her magic to conjure evocative settings and soulful protagonists in this modern gothic romance featuring a displaced adolescent and the ghost who is mysteriously drawn to her. The story begins shortly after homeschooled Maggie reluctantly bids goodbye to Chicago city life to move with her parents to a remote Victorian house on Lake Michigan in Door County, Wis. The tranquility of the community is disturbed by news of a serial killer in the area. Despite widespread fear and distrust in the area, Maggie enjoys moments of contentment with new friends Pauline and Liam, neighbors with a deep childhood bond. But when Maggie's presence threatens to put a wedge between Pauline and Liam, all three must rethink their relationships with each other. No one (except, perhaps, the invisible ghost who traces their every movement) knows where their decisions will lead. Interspersed with the confused memories and profound revelations expressed by the ghost, this tantalizing novel offers a singular perspective on a complicated love triangle and a tragedy. Ages 14-up. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up-When Maggie Larsen's family moves to Gill Creek in Door County, she expects her life there to be less exciting than her life in Chicago. However, she meets Pauline and Liam, and her life is never the same. Maggie falls for Liam, who loves Pauline, and the love triangle is destined for tragedy. A ghostly narrator is telling the story, and by the end, only one girl will survive. Along with the love story, there is a killer in Door County who targets young girls, but this story line only loosely ties in with the main narrative. With all this death, Maggie learns that there is also love that lasts beyond the end. Cassandra Campbell narrates the story with a haunting quality to her voice and depicts well all the heartbreak of the characters. Her voice at times has a sleepy, peaceful sound to it, which downplays the horror of the killer's attacks. Anderson manages again to perfectly capture unrequited love and the perspective of the injured party of love triangles as she did in Tiger Lily (HarperCollins, 2012). A ghostly tale of a short life, fans of Anderson's other works will enjoy this and fans of the out of body narration of If I Stay (Dutton, 2009) may find a good comparable read.-Sarah Flood, Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, KY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Though bright, disciplined Maggie and flighty, enigmatic Pauline might be the focus of this atmospheric tragedy, the ghostly voice observing the teens and piecing together its own memories is its sorrowful heart. Maggie moves to sleepy Door County, Wisconsin, from the bustle of Chicago, and while helping her parents to fix up their ramshackle lakeside house, she works hard at fulfilling her college aspirations. But when her next-door neighbor Pauline pulls her into her orbit, and panic sets in over a series of murders in the area, Maggie finds herself veering off her perfectly planned path, particularly with regards to Pauline's friend Liam. All the while, a ghostly voice hovers over the lakefront community, noticing small details and recalling pinpricks of feeling, which ultimately point to a heartbreaking conclusion. For all the mythic overtones of Maggie and Pauline's friendship, Anderson still manages to give her characters authentic teen voices, striking an uneasy balance between naivete and worldliness. The pace might be slow for some, but readers who like their romances tragic and dreamy should dive in.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2010 Booklist

Horn Book Review

Maggie moves from Chicago to rural Door County with her family and reluctantly befriends beautiful, magnetic Pauline and outsider Liam. The teens' world is rocked when local girls start vanishing in the fall, then turn up dead come winter. Anderson alternates a ghostly first-person narrator and more factual third-person narration centering on the three teens. A surreal, haunting story. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

In this moody thriller set on an isolated Wisconsin peninsula, the tourists are gone, a serial killer's at large, and incendiary passions ignite in winter's deepening bitter cold.Smart, responsible Maggie is every parent's dream. She hasn't complained about leaving her Chicago life and friends behind for the shabby house in Door County, where she knows no one; aware that her parents are doing their best in difficult times, she wants to spare them knowledge of her unhappiness. Her new friendbeautiful, impulsive Pauline from the mansion next door, who takes abundance for granteddraws Maggie into her world, which includes Liam, who's been in love with Pauline for years. Though Pauline insists she doesn't reciprocate, Maggie notices their interdependence. She observes Pauline's beauty, wealth and freedom with wry detachment, but she needs all her self-control to tamp down her growing attraction to Liam. A series of unsolved murders whose victims are local young women provides narrative counterpoint. Community benefits are held for the survivors, but parents guard their daughters fearfully. Trust's in short supply. After Pauline's sent to Milwaukee for her protection, Liam and Maggie draw closer, and Maggie's swept away. As she did in Tiger Lily (2012), Anderson provides an observer's voice, a sort of pared-down Greek chorus, that foreshadows and warns of what is coming while remaining helpless to prevent it.An intensely gripping tale with a surprise ending that's fully earned. (Fiction. 12 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.