Review: Don't Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon

Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Publishing Date: June 2nd, 2011
Genre: Adult, Mystery, Fantasy
Pages: 496 pgs
ISBN: 9780061689376

Rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from GoodReads:

On a soft summer night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother, Sam, about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.

Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn’t fear the dark and doesn’t have bad dreams—who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam’s hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed—a promise that could destroy them all.

My Review:
This book was given to me by NetGalley for review. It is about a little girl, Lisa, who goes missing and it switches from the time she goes missing to 15 years later. 15 years later her brother, Sam, and his girlfriend, Phoebe, is trying to figure out what happen to this little girl. Mixed up in this mystery is a fairy story. Did Lisa get kidnapped or did she go into the land of the fairies? I really liked the writing style in this book and really like the character of Phoebe. She is full of curiosity and also self-doubt. She never seems to have much confidence in herself and is always trying to save others rather than dealing with her own issues. I don't want to give too much away but the fairy element to the story was really intriguing too. I kept reading and reading because I needed to know what happened. Were there really fairies or are the fairies a result of the childrens' imagination? I have never really read a book quite like this. It had all the elements of a mystery novel but it had the added element of fantasy as well. I have to say at times it did get a bit confusing (near the end). I also have to say that I'm not too sure how I feel about the ending. Again, I don't want to give anything away but a part of me thinks it was a perfect ending but in another way I feel like it left a lot of questions. Overall I did enjoy reading this book and I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.