Potential spoilers ahead, though I will try to be vague!
This book has a really enchanting premise—a magical bookstore hidden through time, a family curse tied to Salem’s dark past, and a woman desperate to reconnect with her mother... it delivers on atmosphere, nostalgia, and some lovely writing in places, especially in the earlier chapters. The dual timelines had potential to add depth and tension, and the opening scenes genuinely drew me in.
There’s a charm to the way the author weaves memory, history, and witchcraft together, and readers who enjoy gentler magical realism might find the story comforting and imaginative rather than dark or intense.
That said, I struggled to stay fully invested as the plot progressed. Dialogue sometimes felt unnatural or overly dramatic, with characters speaking in ways that didn’t quite match their supposed age or emotional state. Dora is often written with a tone more suited to a much younger protagonist than she is meant to be, which is a bit jarring. Similarly, the stakes often felt low despite the looming threat of a witch-hunter, which diluted the tension and sense of danger. Sometimes I was pulled out of the story due to a general lack of urgency. It lost some of the potential tension that could have been built up in the story. Because of this, it did take me longer to get through the book than I would have liked.
The magic system and rules of the world aren’t clearly defined, and some plot elements felt a bit rushed or underdeveloped. The bookstore, a major focus of the blurb and title, plays a surprisingly small role overall—appearing only briefly and without much exploration.
I think this book would appeal to readers looking for a light, atmospheric witchy tale rather than something deeply suspenseful or high-stakes. It has heart and a magical premise, but could benefit from the author taking a closer look at the world she’s trying to build and letting us fall into it a little better.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to have an ARC for an unbiased review.

Book Review: The Vanishing Bookstore by Helen Phifer

The Vanishing Bookstore by Helen Phifer is a contemporary fantasy novel that intertwines elements of magic, family secrets, and the haunting legacy of the Salem Witch Trials. Set in both modern-day London and 17th-century Salem, the story follows Dora English, a florist who discovers her hidden magical heritage and embarks on a quest to break a centuries-old curse.

Plot Overview

The narrative unfolds through dual timelines: in 1692, a young woman conceals a journal in a vine-covered bookstore before fleeing from impending danger; in the present day, Dora learns that her mother, whom she believed dead, is alive and that their family is bound by a curse tied to the mysterious bookstore. Dora's journey to uncover her family's past and locate the elusive bookstore is central to the plot, blending elements of historical fiction with supernatural intrigue.

Strengths

Atmospheric Setting: Phifer's vivid descriptions of Salem, both historical and contemporary, immerse readers in the eerie ambiance of the town, enhancing the novel's magical realism.
Engaging Dual Timeline: The alternating narratives between the past and present are seamlessly woven, providing depth to the storyline and keeping readers invested in both timelines.
Character Development: The protagonist, Dora, is well-developed, and her relationships with her family and love interest add emotional depth to the story. Supporting characters, including magical animals like Hades the crow, contribute charm and warmth.
Critiques

Underutilized Bookstore: Despite being central to the title, the titular "Vanishing Bookstore" appears briefly and doesn't play as significant a role in the plot as expected, leading to some disappointment among readers.
Pacing Issues: I found the middle sections of the novel to be slow, with repetitive elements that could have been more concise.
Rushed Conclusion: The resolution of the story, including the final battle and the epilogue, felt hurried to some readers, leaving certain plot points underdeveloped.
Conclusion

The Vanishing Bookstore offers a captivating blend of historical intrigue and magical realism, appealing to fans of witchcraft and family sagas. While it may not fully deliver on the promise suggested by its title, the novel's atmospheric setting, engaging characters, and intriguing premise make it a worthwhile read for those interested in contemporary fantasy with historical roots.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced copy to honestly review.

In The Vanishing Bookstore, Helen Phifer weaves a captivating tale that seamlessly blends historical intrigue with contemporary suspense. The narrative begins in 1692 Salem, where a hidden journal in a mysterious bookstore sets the stage for a centuries-old secret. Fast forward to the present day, Dora, on the verge of reuniting with her long-lost mother, is thrust into a perilous journey uncovering family mysteries tied to the elusive bookstore.

Phifer's storytelling has garnered high praise from readers. One reviewer exclaimed, "I smashed this in one sitting and could not sleep until I finished it, which ended up being 3 am!" Another noted, "I devoured it over two evenings... and stayed up until WAY past my bedtime on the first night because I didn’t want to put it down!"

The Vanishing Bookstore is available in various formats, including eBook, paperback, and audiobook, catering to diverse reading preferences. For those intrigued by tales that intertwine magic, suspense, and historical depth, Phifer's latest offering is a must-read.

‘The Vanishing Bookstore’ is a tale that stretches through time - from 1692 Salem to present-day London. It’s a story filled with sisterhood, mystery, humor, and heartwarming coziness — all wrapped in a nostalgic, witchy blanket. Think *Sabrina,* *Practical Magic*, *Hocus Pocus*, or *Charmed*. If you grew up loving those, you’ll feel right at home here.

At the heart of the story is kind Dora English, a London florist with an uncanny green thumb. Since losing her parents in a tragic accident, she’s lived with her Aunt Lenny. Life is quiet — until a surprise trip to Salem upends everything. Dora discovers not only that she has another aunt and that her mother is still alive, but also that her family has been cursed and pursued across lifetimes by a vengeful witch hunter.

Understandably, she doesn't take the news well. Especially when she learns that she’s the only one in the family who doesn’t remember their past lives — and that their survival depends on her remembering the location of the bookstore where she hid a special spell book three centuries earlier, the bookstore that no one has seen since. As Dora uncovers more about her magical heritage and the centuries of persecution her family has faced, the witch hunter closes in and time is running out…

I truly enjoyed getting to know the sister witches and the animal familiars added a lot of charm. I did wish for a bit more magic throughout; while the story is very atmospheric and heartwarming, the magical elements felt a little sparse. The mystery was engaging and kept me turning pages, but the ending felt slightly rushed. After so much buildup, I expected a more intense confrontation — George Corwin, the antagonist, seemed less formidable than I’d anticipated.

I also would’ve loved more insights into Dora’s relationship with Ambrose, her love interest. (But perhaps that storyline is being saved for a sequel?)

Helen Phifer’s writing is confident and smooth, clearly showing her experience. The book is sprinkled with just enough historical detail to satisfy fans of the Salem witch trials, and its cozy, enchanting vibe makes it a perfect comfort read — a nostalgic escape from reality.

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for providing this book for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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.