The Vanishing Bookstore is a lively tale full of adventure and girl power. If you’re into witchy fantasy with a historical anchor point, you definitely can’t go past this one!

I love the portrayal of camaraderie and sisterhood and the beautiful way in which the sisters and Isadora stand together against a timeless enemy. Beautifully written, I felt glimpse of Heather Webbers magical realism here, mixed with actually magic.

A lovely tale. Thank you to Net Galley, to Helen Phifer and to the publishing team for my
Copy.

I really enjoyed the first 1/3 of this book, but it went downhill from there. I feel like this is supposed to be a cozy, witchy, character lead story, but I really did not feel much connection to any of the characters, the plot felt like a D list movie and the dialog was just so bad. It just kept getting worse as the book went on. (view spoiler) The only redeeming character was Hades. I found the epilogue interesting but it was so mysterious that I am kind of confused why it was even included?

4.5 stars!

I received both audio and ebook advance copies from netgalley.

The Vanishing Bookstore by Helen Phifer is so amazing! The characters are so well written and I love their personalities. I want to know these women.

Listening to the audiobook, the narration was really well done.

This was a fun book. Witches and Salem and past lives? Yes please.

2.5 stars rounded up. This book was too… Precious for my liking.

A family of witches are hanged in Salem in 1692, and cursed to relive their lives over and over while hunted each lifetime by the same evil man who took their lives centuries ago. In present day, heroine Dora cannot remember anything about her former lives. After a strange and unsettling encounter in her London flower shop, Dora takes an unexpected trip from London to Salem. In Salem, her exposure to her family from whom she’s been separated slowly bring on odd memories. Dora must remember that she is a witch and help her aunts and mother to break the curse… all the while the book she hid in an old bookshop with her 1600s boyfriend is missing. Dora must remember where they put it!

I really enjoy a good story about the Salem witch trials. This book weaved in solid elements of reality: the unfounded hysteria, the innocent lives lost, the demonization of the murderers rather than the murdered. But these women were supposed to be witches, just good witches…

I had a few issues with this book. First, these characters - the whole family, the boyfriend, the antagonist - have lived over and over for centuries. I have a hard time believing that this time, they’ve had enough and this time, they’re going to “try something new” (all the new things, like stealing Dora’s dress from the Peabody Essex Museum). Second, Dora is so, as I said at the onset, precious. She is naive and foolish and lacks self preservation from the beginning. Lastly, why didn’t they ask the boyfriend where the book was? Why didn’t he offer them insight into where she might have taken it when they all knew she left with him before she died? Why did it fall to Dora, after hundreds of years, to figure that out? I recognize that her magic is what hid the book, but he could’ve told them where it was and helped this along… I couldn’t get past this plot hole.

The narrator did a wonderful job with timing and pace. It was overall a fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This audiobook is a must-listen for those who enjoy tales of magic, family secrets, and the enduring allure of books. 

A good witch story with mystery ,susense ,a curse repeat life's and an evil witch hunter. and a forever love of family and romance.
good narration,
Voluntarily reviewed.

Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC of this book. I chose to review it and this in no way impacts my opinion of it.

I was randomly browsing Netgalley one day when the title and cover of this novel caught my eye. I was hoping to find a new audiobook to listen to so when I saw The Vanishing Bookstore, I requested it immediately.

I found this to be quite the fun listen. The narrator did a fantastic job and I found her pleasant to listen to. The novel progresses at a great pace and I never found I was bored or that the story was lacking.

I will state for the record that the "vanishing bookshop" that the book is named after makes very little appearance in this novel. Based on the title, I thought it would have more space in the story, but that it did not.

I also wasn't really on the Dora and Ambrose romance train. I didn't really feel sparks or fireworks between the two of them despite their romance being "one for the ages".

I did, however, enjoy the flashbacks to the Salem Witch Trials and the history behind it all. If you enjoy witches, magic, and history, this novel is for you.

Reading in Between the Wines book review #7/125 for 2025:
Rating: 2🍷🍷
Book: The Vanishing Bookstore
Author: Helen Phifer
AVAILABLE NOW!!!

Sipping thoughts: If you love books about witches, then this is the one for you. I think it was a little underwhelming but had some great family dynamics. I don’t feel that there was much suspense or thrill but a cute story of resilience and love.

Cheers and thank you to @Netgalley and @BookoutureAudio for an advanced copy of @TheVanishingBookstore.

#TheVanishingBookstore #HelenPhifer #BookoutureAudio #NetGalley #ARC #advancedreader #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

A really nice story but I would have liked to hear more stories of their past lives

Thank you to netgally and the publishers for allowing me to listen to an advanced copy of this audiobook in return for a fair and honest review

While I enjoyed "The Vanishing Bookstore" by Helen Phifer with narration by Stephanie Cannon, I think the title was a big mistake. The room full of books was not the key part of the action. That said, I was rooting for Dora the entire way! And it appears there might be another installment of this story.

Thanks to @NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the advance reader copy.

This was a cute, sweet story about a multigenerational curse involving witches and a witch hunter. Dora and the women in her family were all accused of being witches and killed during the Salem trials (points for all the historical references). Through what seems like infinite lifetimes they are trying to find a sacred spell book, that was hidden, to help break the curse, but can they do it before their final life is up?
This really gave me Weyward vibes and I really enjoyed it-I'd even go as far as saying it was pretty cozy (even if it was unintentional)
# Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC

The premise of this book hooked me immediately. A magical bookstore lost in time, a centuries-old mystery, and a main character uncovering her family's secrets. It drew me right in. The book didn’t totally live up to the expectation I had, but I enjoyed nonetheless. The main characters- consisting of 3 witch sisters and the MC Dora, who is the daughter of one of the sisters. The close family of witches are cursed to relive their lives over and over again, with the same fate upon them each time. Desperate to escape the evil man who has cursed them centuries ago in the time of the Salem Witch Trials, they work together to take back their lives.

There are inconsistencies throughout. Why are these ladies living in the same place every lifetime? Why does the man who is after him want to live multiple lives as well, spending each one the same way- hunting them down? Why do some of the characters remember each of their lives lived and one does not? Why did it take SO many lives lived to finally figure it out this time? And...are they actually witches?! I thought these women said they were persecuted all those years ago for being independent, smart, witty- everything men despised and feared at the time. They actually ARE witches, though?!

Overall I enjoyed this read. If you can suspend belief throughout, the atmosphere is cozy and enjoyable. Don't go into the book expecting everything to make sense and enjoy the feel-good easy read.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I loved #thevanishingbookstore. If there were partial stars I would be heavily leaning towards a fourth. The story was both fun while also having a chase. And truly, anything that references midnight margaritas is a winner in MY book. The audio was easy to get into but I did find myself wondering why Dora didn't have more of an accent. Just those little things that kept me from going all in with all the stars. All in all, fans of Practical Magic should love this book and I definitely recommend!

#netgalley #arc

If you are a fan of magical realism, in general, or Practical Magic, specifically, this book is right up your alley. It is not a knock-off and has a unique storyline that is equally as interesting. The story follows a family of witches cursed to reincarnate and reenact their original hunting and deaths in Salem throughout subsequent centuries. The man who hunts them and the man who loves one of them reincarnates, too. I don't want to give too much away with the plot but it is focused on the most recent reincarnation of the three sisters & one daughter/niece. The characters are all well developed, which brings depth to the story and helped me really connect with the emotions they were going through. The book ends with an excellent segue into a potential sequel and I hope truly hope it is in the works.

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to access the audiobook version. I really enjoyed the narrator, Stephanie Cannon. She kept the mood appropriate for the different situations, whether it be light, suspenseful, or melancholy. Her voice is clear and easy to understand. The different characters are easily distinguishable, which makes the audiobook easy to follow. I listen to audiobooks at 1.25-1.5 x speed and that did not detract from the listening experience.

This has been my favorite non-fiction book in at least a year and I highly recommend it.

An engaging tale of magical awakenings, family, mysterious happenings and a really, really nasty bad guy! Most enjoyable.

So I’m always amused by w itch stories this was not as fun as I thought it would be and that’s about all. I have to say about that.

I really loved the concept and artwork at first glance of this book. However, I had trouble getting very far into it at all. I felt that the storyline was something that I’ve seen 1 million times over but even more simplified. Connections were a little too easy to make. I could see the next step coming a mile away. It just felt very predictable and very repetitive… like something that’s been done. The main character being this long foretold Savior. The way that the love interest comes back into her life in another lifetime and there’s an immediate recognition. It just feels very easy. Like they’re trying to hurry the story plot along. I tend to respect novels more when there’s more complexity to getting from point a to point B. I don’t want everything to be spoonfed to me. In some ways, this felt like fanfiction where you’re writing the book the way that you want it to happen because you want wonderful things for all your favorite character characters. That’s not saying that everything was easy on the characters, but there were a lot of very easy connections and it feels like there were a lot of steps that were skipped. I found myself becoming very bored very easily and was unable to complete the book.

The Vanishing Bookstore is a duel time novel set in the present day and 1692. Dora meets her mother for the first time and is told her life is in danger. She begins researching her past and discovers a secret that goes all the way back to the Salem witch trials.
This is not the usual genre I read but fans will enjoy the well researched fantasy fiction storyline.

Such a creative and unique fiction. I love the characters in the book. They are all lovely. The story thickens in the mid part, which I was hooked immediately. Fast paced and the narrator’s pace and intonation suit the story well.

Many thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for my copy.

I found this an enjoyable and interesting work of historical fiction. I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as a true “dual-timeline” novel, as the majority of the book takes place in the present, with some flashbacks to earlier periods, especially 1692 Salem, Massachusetts. Dora and her aunts have lived their lives over and over since that time, trying to avoid their demise at the hands of a witch hunter. I liked how their lives had changed—and not changed—in each incarnation, and how they continuously worked to conquer their nemesis. The narration of the audiobook was well done. But, the title bothered me, as the bookstore was really a small component of the story. It was important, yes, but I think it suggests a story that this is not. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook.