This is a hard book for me to review. It did grab my attention from the beginning and the story line hooked me from the start. It did flip from past to present which normally I do not like but I had to find out what happened. Surprising ending which I love and it tied up all lose ends. It is a good writer who can hold your attention with a story that I normally would not llike

Idlewild Hall is a place where the girls no one wants are sent. But there is more than learning going on in this boarding school. Then one of the students disappears.

There are two timelines in this book: one in the 1950s while Idlewild Hall was an active boarding school and the other in 2014.

In 2014, the remains of the body of a young girl from a decades-old murder are discovered at Idlewild Hall, a school for girls now closed, that has always been rumored to be haunted. Fiona, a journalist, happens to be there when this body is discovered. Fiona is there because of another body—her sister’s—that was found on the school grounds years later.

Fiona had set out to learn the truth about her sister’s death and whether or not the one put in prison for her murder was actually guilty, but she discovers so much more than she planned. Although these discoveries help her to rekindle a relationship with her father, they could also destroy part of her life by causing her to lose her boyfriend as well as what is most precious to her: her own life.

Even in the 1950s, Idlewild Hall in Vermont is rumored to be haunted by Mary Hand, but no one knows who this girl really was or why she is haunting this boarding school, but everyone is terrified of her. Notes can be found written in old school books about her and have been there since the opening of the school. Could this ghostly presence be the reason for the disappearance and murder of each girl?

Katie, Sonia, Roberta, and CeCe are friends and roommates at the school. Each of them has been broken in a different way. Each one has a different story of sadness and/or pain— witnessing an almost-suicide, confinement at a Nazi prison, illegitimate, not wanted, troublemaker—but what it all boils down to is that they are no longer wanted at home. This school out in the middle of nowhere is where they were sent. Over time, they bond and become close friends.

Things are so strict at this school that when one of the girls receives a radio as a gift, she must keep its presence a secret from the teachers. Another girl keeps a secret journal in which she reveals the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps and prisons.

Sonia is excited when her elderly relatives decide they want her home for a weekend visit, but Sonia never comes back and her suitcase is found in the woods.

The two murders are committed years apart, but each has a story of betrayal, and each has its secrets. The twists and turns in this exciting story will keep you from wanting to put the book down. The ending is very satisfactory and all loose ends are tied up.

NetGalley sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A HAUNTED BOARDING SCHOOL?? YES, PLEASE!

Expect...

- Award-winning writing
- Enthralling storytelling
- Small run-down town Gothic creepy atmosphere
- Death, grief, crimes and old secrets that are gradually revealed
- Haunted boarding schoolhouse in one of the scary places on earth [New England]
- Forgotten broken adolescents
- School drama wrapped in a crunchy ghostly taco shell
- Friendship and bonding
- Historical fiction with interwoven dual time periods
be silenced

What happens when you are an unwanted troubled teenager with an unloving family? FIVE things happen…

Number 1: You get cast away to a boarding school. A HAUNTED ONE.

Number 2: Ghosts.

Number 4: The other girls in the boarding school are there for a reason: They are troubled too! AND MEAN.

Number 5: Something sinister and terrible!

READ THIS BOOK and find out! SO GOOD!

"It wasn’t easy to survive in a boarding school full of throwaway girls..."

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started reading this story but it wasn't the discovery of one of the better ghost stories I've ever read.

This story is told in two time periods - the early 1950s centering around four teenage girls and 2014 centering around journalist Fiona Sheridan. At the very center of the story is Idlewild Hall in Barrons, Vermont - a school for wayward girls. In 2014 the school has been closed for years but someone has bought the property and is starting to renovate it.

Twenty years ago Fiona's sister was murdered and her body was found on the Idlewood Hall property. As Fiona starts digging into the story of her sister's murder, evil people and ghostly apparitions start to rise to the surface.

I liked the way the story was told so that the reader gets background on when the school was still operating. It reminded me of the movie THE MAGDALENE SISTERS about a Catholic home for wayward girls, although it was scary because it was based on true events, not because of a ghost.

I loved the characters, the storyline, the setting - all came together perfectly for me.

I received this book from Berkley Publishing through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

From my blog:

THE BROKEN GIRLS is a haunting thriller set in rural Vermont. The novel is split between two time periods — 1950 and 2014 — and surrounds the mysterious boarding school, Idlewild Hall. In the 50s, we meet a group of teens labeled as troublemakers, disturbed and the illegitimate. The girls may be dealing with some of these issues but they’re also strong, intelligent, curious and protective of their friendship. Katie, CeCe, Roberta, and Sonia bond through their shared struggles at Idlewild and their personal home life experiences. Readers see the world through each of the girls' eyes via their own chapters. We also learn that one of the girls goes missing. Is it at the hands of the legendary ghost, Mary Hand, who haunts the school? Is the girl a runaway?

In 2014, we meet Fiona Sheridan, a freelance culture writer obsessed with the events surrounding her sister’s death on the grounds of Idlewild. She, too, is a strong character, fiercely protective of her sister’s memory. As a writer, Fiona feels she’s always trying to live up to her famous father, a retired journalist. She’s also dating, Jamie, one of the town’s police officers. Journalists and police, usually, don’t mix. Not to mention, Fiona and Jamie are, currently, dealing with a rocky relationship. When Fiona discovers that Idlewild has been sold to an unknown buyer, her investigative instincts kick in. Who would want to purchase a long-abandoned school? Is it someone who attended Idlewild?

THE BROKEN GIRLS is my kind of mystery. I love eerie settings, boarding schools, and the 1950s. This is the first time I’ve read a novel by St. James. She does a terrific job of creating an atmosphere of fear and unease. Not only because of the ghost of Mary Hand but the missing student and Fiona’s investigation into the buyer of the school. And someone definitely doesn’t want Fiona digging into the past.

It’s easy to see why THE BROKEN GIRLS was chosen as “March 2018 Library Reads Selection”. If you feel this might be a good read for Halloween, don’t wait! Dive into the novel now. THE BROKEN GIRLS kept me up late at night turning the pages to find out what happened next. The tight-knit relationship between Katie, CeCe, Roberta, and Sonia is the heart of the novel. I absolutely LOVE their backstories and adventures at school. The novel is full of great twists and turns. I also enjoyed Fiona’s relationship with her father. Although, I wished I’d known a little bit more about why he was so revered and spoken of in awe by members of the community.

St. James also does a fantastic job of weaving together the different stories of THE BROKEN GIRLS. I realize this is a stand-alone, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Fiona solve another case…along with the help of some trusty friends. Who are they? You’ll have to read THE BROKEN GIRLS to find out!

Looking forward to the next book from St. James, but in the meantime, I’m happy to check out her backlist.

I absolutely loved this book. From the very beginning, I was pulled in by the story and needed to know what happened. Each hint and clue that was given to unravel the mystery at hand had me trying to piece together what happened. I was like a small child on an Easter egg hunt and it thrilled me to no end. I loved that Simone St. James decided to switch between time periods while telling this story because it added so much to the story. Usually, when this happens in books it can be hard to decipher who is telling the story and where and when you are, but Simone did a superb job at keeping everything clear to the reader. I was never confused about who was telling me each part of the book. If you want a mystery that has the feel of a ghost story I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this book: you won't be let down.

Idlewild Hall is hardly a sanctuary. It’s more aptly described as . . . a prison.

In the 1950’s, the school is where the forgotten girls are sent. The troublemakers. The unwanted ones. The promiscuous and daring. The ones with intelligence that threatens the egos of the more masculine sex. It’s where girls who can think for themselves are banished. With bars concealed as dusty bricks and makeshift guards dressed up properly and called teachers, Idlewild is a penitentiary full of outdated rules and harsh regulations intent upon crushing the spirit. A place where the madness is not cured but nurtured, and where malcontent is not smothered but instead – fanned like a flame.

But there is some solace in friendship. There are four girls who share whispers in the dark and speak of their dreams by the moonlight that filters through their dirty, frosty window. The diverse walks of their previous life notwithstanding, they have found a way to bond and create a tiny sliver of happiness in an otherwise meager existence.

Katie, a wildly beautiful and reckless young lady with a smart mouth and clever ambition. Roberta, the athlete with fierce loyalty and a harbored and shameful secret. CeCe, the unwanted bastard child of a rich man is a girl who looks for every opportunity to be optimistic. And Sonia, the quiet and frail girl with a curious accent that speak of the horrors in her past that outweigh any transgression she could face at Idlewild.

They are all looked after by each other and, in the shadows, by another girl of Idlewild . . . or rather, a ghost. The haunting image of Mary Hand, a young woman whose spirit lingers at the school and shares frightening images as way of communication. She is always trying to get in while the other girls, well – they are always trying to get out.

As the present turns into history and the broken girls are forgotten, Idlewild Hall deteriorates into a pile of crumbled bricks and rubble. The gardens and grounds are nothing but haphazard weeds, their sole intent to cover and mask any sort of memory the school left behind. Wild animals in the shape of modern-day teenagers desecrate the remaining structure with midnight trysts and forbidden drinking parties. The place is as broken as the girls it once housed, but the mysteries of the secrets it holds hangs on for a select few.

One person who can never escape the clutches of Idlewild Hall is freelance journalist Fiona Sheridan, a local in the small Vermont town that sits on the edge of the the old school’s overgrown grounds. She finds herself back there more often than she’d like to admit to herself, her grief-stricken father, or to her conscientious police officer boyfriend. Fiona’s sister is what keeps her coming back; the girl she grew up idolizing was stripped of her youth when she was strangled and dumped on the grounds of Idlewild Hall. Abandoned in the night, discarded like trash in a dump, and left vulnerable to the elements of nature and of the gaping faces of the townsfolk who came to watch the aftermath, the death of the Sheridan girl was a scandal. Fiona has allowed the murder and its subsequent fall-out to remain a constant undercurrent of obsession in her life, no matter that her sister’s boyfriend was arrested and sent to jail for the crime. Something about the case always seemed to not add up, and it has been a thorn in her side ever since.

When a construction crew shows up at Idlewild and begins demolition, Fiona’s journalistic juices begin a slow and steady pump. The place has been abandoned for years, left to its own unsavory devices. Who would want to resurrect the place now? And for what purposes? As Fiona begins to delve further into the strange circumstances surrounding the redevelopment of such a sad and lonely structure, she uncovers more than she bargained for. There are certain secrets hidden in the depths of the school and its records that have been meticulously buried deep – almost as deep as the body found during the excavation of the school. Who is the dead girl, and what is her connection to Idlewild? Fiona will make it her purpose to find the answers, even if it means burning her entire life down around her in the process.

The Broken Girls is the newest novel by Simone St. James, the award-winning author of paranormal novels The Haunting of Maddy Clare and Silence for the Dead. With a knack for bringing history to life and twisting it together with creepy nuances and spine-tingling sketches, St. James is known for her impactful drawings of strong female characters and the descriptive ways in which she weaves their quests and plots.

My impression of The Broken Girls was ultimately one of regret. I was drawn to the initial storyline; there is something about boarding schools that always seem to attract me. They are usually saturated with disgusting wealth, intrigue, strong relationships, and mystique. This particular novel had a few of those bullet points locked down along with the appealing threads of modern-day mystery sewn in. However, there was something that felt continually disjointed about the novel and almost . . . unfinished. I wish the author had pushed the stories of the young ladies a bit more or left some characters out to create room for the established ones, and the misshapen way it all came together had me questioning what one subplot had to do with the other. It felt juvenile at times and underdeveloped, which was a shame because I enjoyed the style of writing overall.

Although I’m giving this novel 3.5 out of 4 stars, I still recommend it. I think it’s an easy read and enjoyable in the throwaway sense. I’m sure plenty of readers will enjoy the fast-moving plot and lightly shrouded mystery. It’s a good read for the beach or a road trip, but not ideal for those looking to become attached.

From the very first chapter I was hooked. Sometimes when a book bounces between era’s it gets hard to follow. With the Broken Girls it was so easy to tell who was telling the story, where they were, and what was happening. The past to present alternating chapters were perfect.

Broken Girls has a ghost story aspect with a mystery to solve. Who is Mary Hand? I was thrilled with each hint, each clue, and each step that Fiona took towards solving the mystery of what happen at Idlewood Hall. There were many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming yet thrilled me to learn about. I knew that Fiona would find the truth but I had no clue how she would manage to do it.

This book is amazing. It will definitely make my favorites of 2018 list. If you are a Gothic mystery fan this is the book for you.

Idlewild Hall has been abandoned since 1979. Until then, it was a boarding school of last resort, where parents sent the daughters they'd sooner rather forget. Now someone is looking to restore it, bringing back all of journalist Fiona Sheridan's memories of her teenage sister, Deb. Deb was murdered and her body left in the fields of Idlewild. A rich teen--her sister's boyfriend--named Tim Christopher was charged with Deb's murder. But it never seemed quite right to Fiona. So, she decides to write a story about the restoration, but encounters more than she bargained for as she begins to uncover years of long-buried secrets.

This is a wonderful, captivating book that drew me in immediately. I've never read anything by Simone St. James, so this was a welcome surprise. The novel alternates between two time periods: 1950 and 2014. In 1950, we hear from four girls attending Idlewild Hall--Katie, CeCe, Sonia, and Roberta. One of the girls soon goes missing and her disappearance ties to 2014, where Fiona is both searching for more information about her sister's death and, eventually, more knowledge about the missing Idlewild student. It's incredibly well-done and extremely suspenseful, drawing you quickly into the narrative and the two separate but related worlds.

The book plays on the boarding school mystique and offers up more supernatural elements than I was expecting, but they somehow work here. The novel is creepy and not one I always wanted to be reading alone in the dark! Like some of my favorites, Jennifer McMahon and Carol Goodman, St. James has a flair for the eerie and the ghostly, and it works well in this context. The boarding school stands stark and haunting in the book-terrifying at times-and you feel the fear ooze across the pages from the various characters.

Indeed, St. James does a great job capturing her characters, whom practically come to life before your very eyes. The group from boarding school are excellent--each different in their own way--and Fiona is an excellent, complicated character as well. While the two eras stood alone, I enjoyed how the stories intermingled and slowly tangled together, making the book quite fascinating and a real page-turner. This one wasn't what I expected; at times, it could be quite heartbreaking and touching.

Overall, this is an incredibly well-done thriller. It's quite captivating with lovely characters. A great discovery.

Is it only a little over a year ago since I discovered Simone St. James through the fantastic book Lost Among the Living? Apparently so since then have I read a couple of her older books, and I quite enjoy her haunting tales. The Broken Girls captivated me from the first page and I enjoyed this hauntingly tragic story. As a big fan of books with dual storylines was I intrigued by both stories.

Journalist Fiona Sheridan sister was murdered twenty years previously and her body was found lying in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. Although it seems that the case is closed with the boyfriend being tried and convicted for the murder can't Fiona shake the feeling that something about the case is wrong. While Fiona investigates Idlewild Hall that has now been sold do we learn what happened in the 50s, through flashback chapters, at the school when one of the girls went missing...

The Broken Girls is an engaging story with an underlying feeling of paranormal. It's the paranormal vibes that make this book a bit extra thrilling to read I think. I found that I hardly could put the book down when I started to read it and I enjoyed both storylines. This is a fabulous book, very atmospheric, and I can't wait to read more from Simone St. James.

Fiona Sheridan is a freelance journalist living in small-town Vermont. Despite being the daughter of a famous journalist, Fiona's career and life have very much on hold since the murder of her older sister 20 years before. Her sister's body was found on the grounds of a defunct girl's boarding school, Idlewild. A man is in prison for the murder, but Fiona still has questions and can't let it go. Even her relationship with Jamie Creel, the police chief, and son of the chief who investigated her sister's murder is hampered by her questions and emotional distance.

Idlewild itself was a second, maybe third-rate school where families placed girls who were considered to be unmanageable. The girls were disciplinary problems; broken in some way by trauma, a little too smart for their own good, or just illegitimate. The Broken Girls switches between the story of four friends in 1950 and Fiona in 2014. One of the four friends went missing, and it was assumed she ran away with "some boy." Never mind that the girls had absolutely no unsupervised contact with the outside world. The records from Idlewild have gone missing, no one associated with the school wants to talk about it, and the school itself is rumored to be haunted. When a body is discovered in a well during a renovation of the property, the missing girl case opens up again. Fiona is determined to get answers this time.

Those of us who have waited a long time for The Broken Girls will not be disappointed. It is intricate, suspenseful, and above all, emotionally involving. I was utterly caught up in the stories of the four friends; Katie, Roberta, CeCe, and Sonia. I wanted to know what had happened to all of them, and if Fiona's quest would be successful. This blend of Gothic, mystery, suspense and ghost story is not to be missed! Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for an advance digital copy. The opinions are my own.

RATING- 5 Stars

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.


Fiona Sheridan has been wondering lately if Tim really did kill her sister 20 years ago, and she is determined to find out the truth. She learns that a mysterious woman named Margret Eden has bought the Idlewild School and intends to restore, she decides that she has to write that story as well.


In the 1950s we see story unfolding in the eyes of the girls who were at Idlewild at the time. Roberta, Sonia, Katie and CeCe. We also learn the myth of Mary Hand, and why she scares the girls so much. We also learn that these girls aren't as bad as people think and many have been sent there to cover their own families secrets not their own.


In the present Fiona gets Anthony Eden to give her a tour and talk about the restoration of Idlewild, but she knows that something more is going on at this school that scares everyone. When a body is found in the well, little does Fiona know that in trying to solve that she will finally uncover the mystery surrounding her sister.


I want to say more, but too many details would reveal spoilers and in this story I think it is important to discover link by link on your own. I couldn't stop reading this, I thought it was going to be more centered on the ghost, but little did I know that the ghost would someone tie the two murders together and expose a lot of secrets.


I have to say this though I love the girls from the 1950s and I love Fiona, I was more than a little sad to learn about who was killed in 50s and found in the present day, especially as her story was revealed piece by piece in the past and the future. But this is a beautifully written story that masterfully weaves past and the present together for unforgettable story.

I'm a sucker for Gothics. The suspense, the atmosphere, the woman-in-peril who doesn't realize at first she's in peril who then has to wiggle out of it. So it seems pretty inconceivable in hindsight that it took me until 2016 to tear through Simone St. James' entire backlist on audio. Once I was done? I was bereft. Because by that point the publication date for her upcoming novel, The Broken Girls had been delayed. Well, it's finally here and I can say it was well worth the wait.

20 years ago Fiona Sheridan's sister, Deb, was found dead. Lying in a field, near abandoned Idlewild Hall, in Vermont. Pretty, vivacious, 20-year-old Deb had been murdered by her popular, rich, boyfriend, Tim Christopher, son of the wealthiest and most important family in town. Tim was convicted, is still in prison, but Fiona is stuck. Haunted by the tragedy and the wreckage it left in it's wake. She's dating Jamie, a police officer, son of the former chief of police who worked Deb's case, and is working as a freelance journalist. When she hears Idlewild Hall has been purchased and the new owner wants to reopen it as a girls boarding school, Fiona has the excuse she needs to start digging. Naturally, she unearths a whole lot of secrets.

In 1950 Idlewild Hall was a boarding school for families to dump off their cast-off girls. Girls who were trouble. Girls who were "bad." Four such girls are roommates, become friends, and all of them witness things they can't explain. There's a ghost at Idlewild Hall, Mary Hand - who shows you things that you can't unsee. Who confronts you with your greatest fears, your darkest secrets. They all see her and one day one of the band of four disappears...without a trace.

This is a time slip novel, moving back and forth between the 1950 story and the 2014 story - St. James taking two different threads and expertly weaving them together. I'll admit to some reluctance when I heard that St. James was leaving her 1920s English settings behind to move to 1950s Vermont, but that uneasiness was quickly replaced with the uneasy feeling this book's atmosphere evokes. Folks, it's creepy. Not just the ghost stuff, but the secrets. Fiona's psyche. The truth that's lying just below the surface that eventually bubbles up and boils over. It's riveting and page-turning and I waffled between savoring every delicious word, prolonging my reading pleasure and guzzling it like a college student whipping out a beer bong.

Usually in time slip stories there's one story line thread the reader is drawn to over the other, which was not my case here. I loved the 1950 girls - the girls nobody wanted, the girls everybody underestimated, the girls who ultimately end up saving themselves and finding their own brand of justice. In the 2014 story I was drawn to Fiona's emotional turmoil, her relationship with Jamie haunted by ghosts, and her persistent digging into the secrets hidden at Idlewild.

All of St. James' books thus far feature what one would classify as "romantic elements." That's certainly the case here, given the Fiona/Jamie relationship, but I will say of all her books this one probably is the lightest in the romance department. This isn't a criticism from me, but a heads-up to readers who were drawn to some of her earlier books where the romantic arc played a bit more of a prominent factor.

If you're already a St. James fan, this is a great book. I loved it. I'm jealous of all of you who now get to read it for the first time. If you enjoy Gothics and are looking for a creepy good mystery with a light touch on the paranormal woo-woo? This is it. St. James' monsters in this book feature the unknown supernatural but also the very real, flesh-and-blood terror that only living mankind seems capable of inflicting. Don't miss it.

Final Grade = A

Murder in a Haunted Girl’s School

Fiona Sheridan, a journalist, can’t get over the murder of her sister twenty years ago. Fiona keeps going back to where her sister’s body was found in the middle of an open field at the abandoned Idlewood School. Idlewood was a school where troubled girls were sent, and it’s rumored to be haunted by Mary, the ghost of a young woman, who died years before the school was founded.

The story encompasses not only Fiona’s tragedy, but tells the story of four roommates who were at the school sixty years ago. They bonded and became each other's strength until on of them disappeared returning from a weekend to visit family. The school called her a runaway, and her body was never found, but the girls didn’t give up their belief that something terrible had happened to her.

The atmosphere at Idlewood is eerie, just right for a ghost. The description of the school, even in it’s abandoned condition can make chills run up your back.

All the girls in this story are troubled from Fiona to the four roommates. Fiona can’t break free from her sister’s tragedy until she decides to take action and write about the renovation of the school. The other four are difficult girls, but I couldn’t help liking them and rooting for them to become successful women. One, Katie, was particularly resourceful and brave.

I highly recommend this book for lovers of haunting mysteries.

I received this book from Berkley Publishing for this review.

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James is a well-written, fast-paced, thrill-soaked ride told in (at least) two timelines.

The book opens with a young girl being followed by someone or something in the very dark on a deserted road. Who is she? Where is she? When is she?

In 1950, four troubled girls (Katie, CeCe, Roberta and Sonia) are staying at Idlewild Hall, a home for the worst troublemakers. Each has a secret that slowly unfolds as the pages are turned. Each secret is worse than the last.

In 2014, local journalist Fiona cannot let her sister’s murder go. She can’t sleep and she can’t leave the small town where the unthinkable happened. Her sister’s murder has stopped time for both herself and her father until Fiona hears rumors that Idlewild Hall, the site of the murder, is being renovated.

Woven into all of this (as though it was not enough!) is the threat of a visit in both timelines by Mary Hand, the resident woman in black and the ghostly creature who supposedly haunts the hallways, classrooms and grounds of Idlewild.

Between the two timelines, murders, disappearances and strange happenings abound. What a fun and utterly readable book!

Rating: 92/100

Buy this book when it comes out (today! 3/20) at Barnes & Noble | Amazon | IndieBound

The Broken Girls
Simone St. James


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The Broken Girls by Simone St. James:
A Roundtable Discussion
Simone St. James is well-loved by the staff here at AAR, so we have been eagerly anticipating her new book. The Broken Girls is a dual-timeline story centered around a boarding school for the teenaged girls society has turned its back on, and the mysteries that surround those who live there. The story hops back and forth between the 1950s and present day Vermont, so fans of historical fiction definitely have something to look forward to.

In the 1950s, a group of four young women are struggling to survive life at the bleak Idlewild hall. Each longs for love and understanding, but no one has the time or the inclination to grant them that, and so these four lost, troubled souls have banded together in hopes of creating something resembling a family unit. Unfortunately, forces both earthly and supernatural threaten their very existence.

In 2014, journalist Fiona Sheridan is still struggling to come to terms with the murder of her older sister. For the past twenty years, she has tried to content herself with the fact that the responsible party is behind bars, but something has niggled at her, making it all but impossible for her to move on. When she learns that Idlewild Hall, where her sister’s body was found, is being restored by a very wealthy, anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about the school, and maybe lay some of her personal demons to rest along the way. But as Fiona begins to look into the history of the school, long-buried secrets are unearthed, secrets with the power to endanger Fiona and those she loves.

AAR reviewers Shannon, Maggie, Kristen, and Lynn got together to share their thoughts and feelings about this complex novel that blends historical fiction with supernatural intrigue.

SD: I’m a huge fan of books set around boarding schools, especially schools for troubled teenaged girls. So, when I first read the synopsis for The Broken Girls, I knew I had to read it. What originally drew your attention to this novel?

MB: What drew me to the book was the author. I’ve read all of Ms. St. James’ novels and have enjoyed every last one.

KD: I’m fascinated by the ways that society has shoved ‘troublesome’ girls into locked away spaces, but I’m also trying to expand my reading, and books with flashbacks are not usually ones I pick up, so wanted to stretch myself.

LS: I’m a big fan of the author, and I’ve enjoyed all of her books so far. For that reason, I’d already planned to give this one a whirl. However, it had so many elements (creepy and possibly haunted old property, boarding school, dual timeline) that are just like catnip for me.

SD: I haven’t read many of Ms. St. James’ previous novels, so I’m definitely no expert, but The Broken Girls had a very different feel from the few I have read. The most notable difference for me was the lack of a romance. We do see Fiona struggling with the relationship she’s in, but that relationship wasn’t the novel’s primary focus. Personally, I missed the romance angle here. What about you? Did you find this novel different from others you’ve read by this author, and if so, did those differences work for you?

MB: I found the section regarding the girls at the school contained the eloquent, chillingly atmospheric, thrillingly spooky writing I expect in one of this author’s works. Those sections went straight from the page to my imagination, creating a motion picture with rich characterizations, eerie, hair raising moments of genuine fear and completely drew me in. Fiona’s story was of no interest to me and I wasn’t really interested in her romance, which in the end proved to be more an alliance than a relationship.

KD: This is the first by this author for me, so can’t speak to changes from her other works. However, I agree with Maggie that the ‘past’ stuff was completely compelling and the present less so.

LS: I also felt that the portions of the book set in the past were by far the strongest. The 1950s plotline was a little different in tone, but did still have something of the gothic mood found in St. James’ earlier books. The modern plotline, though, read a lot more like a straight-up thriller. Well written, but I had a hard time making myself care about Fiona’s relationship. I think this is largely because as a reader, I never felt like I got a real sense of her boyfriend as a person. I did miss the romance in this book, but I loved the mystery. On the 1950s side, I felt like the author did a good job of showing how trapped the girls at the school were, and even though there wasn’t a central romance, I got sucked into the mystery and the dynamic between the friends.

SD: Let’s talk a bit about the character of Mary Hand. I’m not a big fan of ghosts, so Mary was problematic for me and I didn’t feel she added much to the overall story. Sure, the idea of the school being haunted made it kind of spooky, but I would have been just as happy if Ms. St. James had just focused on the mysteries without adding in the supernatural element. How do all of you feel about Mary?

MB: Here again I had a disconnect between the historical portions and those taking place in modern times. In the historical portions, Mary very much lent ambience to the overall aura of the school, a home for girls discarded by their families through no fault of their own. Mary in many ways reflected that herself, lending to the idea that the location itself was somehow cursed. Two of the scenes which I remember most clearly are where Mary tries to harm CeeCee, and the portion in special detention. Those segments were written with such emotion and clarity that they sent chills down my spine. On the other hand, I found it ridiculous to have Fiona scared of a ghost in modern day America. We have plenty of real monsters here and a ghost would be far from the scariest of them.

KD: Right, so I wasn’t here for Mary at all. Maggie, I see your point that she added to the atmosphere, but she took me out of the story more often than not. I would have been more compelled, I think, by a monster who was alive and directly affecting the girls than a ghost. And in the modern day? Nope. Another reason why I couldn’t really be doing with Fiona and it felt like the book was trying to do too many things.

LS: I agree with Maggie that Mary Hand absolutely fit into the 1950s plotline. Her presence helped underscore what was happening in that school. I thought she was overemphasized in the modern-day plotline, although I don’t agree that it would be ridiculous for Fiona to be scared of her. GIven Fiona’s history with that school, I can see where she would be in an emotional position to be susceptible to believe in Mary Hand. I did like how Fiona was able to bring closure to the Mary Hand story, but in the modern-day plot, a little bit of Mary went a long way.

SD: Speaking about the characters, I sometimes found Fiona difficult to deal with. I could sympathize with her need to uncover the truth about her sister’s death, but I didn’t always agree with the ways she chose to investigate. In some ways, her single-mindedness was admirable, but I also found it frustrating. I wanted her to acknowledge the good things in her own life instead of constantly living in the past. How did Fiona’s character work for you?

MB: Fiona didn’t work for me. She wasn’t looking for closure to her sister’s death; the trial should have provided that. She was looking for details and that felt petty to me. I think I would have felt differently if she had come back to town after having carved out a real life for herself but that’s not what happened. It’s like she froze in place even after they received justice and I found that very frustrating.

KD: Ladies, we are in agreement. Every time we were in present day, I found myself fighting the temptation to skim. I never understood Fiona’s deal and never found a reason to root for her. I wanted her to find the truth of the girls’ lives, but all of the other stuff that came with Fiona was a waste of time.

LS: Fiona didn’t really work for me. I don’t necessarily agree that the trial would have provided the closure she needed; I’ve practiced law long enough to know that that just doesn’t always happen. Trials very often answer the question of “who” but don’t always get to the “why” or the “how” of what happened. And sometimes a person needs those answers to make sense of things. Even so, Fiona’s justification for many of her actions just didn’t ring true and didn’t seem very focused. I did, however, get caught up in her investigation of what happened to the girls at the school.

SD: I love historical novels, and I found the parts of the book set in the 1950’s to be far more compelling than the parts set in the present. Did one timeline work better for you than the other, or did you find yourself equally invested in both?

MB: I felt that in the historical timeline the author did a much better job of creating compelling characters, a scary setting, and a riveting plot line so it was by far my favorite. The contemporary portion felt like just another ho-hum small town police procedural. I would have loved it if that had been cut in half and we would have been given more of what happened to the girls as they grew up, rather than getting that in synopsis form.

KD: YES. I believe the book would have been stronger if had been structured differently. Instead of all the alternating bits, introduce us to Fiona – eliminate half of her drama, but use her as the vehicle to the story – and then spend most of our time with the girls and really let us settle in. Then, wrap up with Fiona – because I did enjoy knowing about the final outcome, but I didn’t need to spend so much time in the present as Fiona built her case.

LS: I’ve said it earlier, but yes, the 1950s plot worked a lot better for me. I enjoyed this book quite a bit and the 1950s plotline just haunted me. However, I do think a structure similar to what Lauren Willig used in the Pink Carnation series would have worked much better. In those books, the reader would often see the modern characters at the beginning and end of the book and check in with them a few times throughout the story. However, the historical plotline took up a lot more of the action. In dual timeline books, there doesn’t have to be a 50-50 split between the two time periods.

SD: So how would you grade the book? Since it didn’t work for me nearly as well as I hoped it would, I’d have to give it a C+. There were things I liked, but the story left me feeling disappointed. What about the rest of you?

MB: My overall grade for the story is a B. I loved the concept, thoroughly enjoyed the 1950s portion of the tale and loved the characters I met in that part of the story. I think if the book had been written solely in that time period it would be an A but the contemporary portions pull it down to a B.

KD: I’m going with a C+, because I was so ugh over the contemporary bits that I would have completely skimmed them if not for this review. The 1950s parts were very good, but oooooooofta with the contemporary stuff.

LS: My reasoning is very similar to Maggie’s but I did dither over my grade a bit. I think I’ll give it a B+ because the 1950s parts of the book did haunt me so.

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James is a 2018 Berkley publication.

Now THIS is my kind of book!!


Set in Vermont, alternating between 1950 and 2014, this well rounded thriller, centers around a girl’s only school named Idlewood Hall. During the fifties, this school was where troubled girls were sent, and where a group of girls forge an unlikely and formidable friendship which would cause a rippling effect for decades to come.

Over the years, the abandoned school was nothing more than an eyesore, protecting its memories and ghosts from the outside world, its most recent claim to fame being the general location of where Fiona Sheridan’s sister was found dead over twenty years ago.

Now, in present day, 2014, someone has taken an interest in Idlewood, determined to restore the old boarding house, which only intensifies Fiona’s obsession over her sister’s death. She convinces her boss to allow her to do a story about the school's restoration for the magazine she works for. While she barely manages to conceal her ulterior motives, the restoration efforts inadvertently led to a shocking discovery, and sends her down a rabbit hole, as she searches, not only for peace of mind concerning her sister’s death, but for the answers to a decades old mystery.

This gloomy, atmospheric thriller enveloped me in its Gothic fog, keeping me utterly riveted and on the edge of my seat from the beginning to end.

The creepy aura surrounding Fiona’s investigation into her sister’s death is nail biting suspense at its finest. This is a crime drama, thriller, and chiller all rolled into one. While the haunting of Idlewood adds a deliciously spooky element to the story, what is truly haunting is the heavy toll that losing a daughter and sister had on Fiona and her family, as well as the ever present feeling of impending doom.

But, the mystery of the disappearance of one of Idlewood’s boarders during the fifties was a story that goes beyond the ghostly rumors. It is poignantly sad and infuriating tale, that slowly morphs into an inspirational and touching story of friendship and long overdue closure.

I have always been a sucker for a good ghost story, mainly because contrary to the creepy, spooky, chilling aspects of hauntings, more often than not, ghosts are quite often helpful, or asking for help from the living, to give them long sought after peace, which is a not at all frightening when you look at it from that angle. This story is no exception, but I have to tell you, this ghost story packs a powerful punch and is incredibly edgy!!

But, mostly, this story is about solving all the mysteries surrounding two very different types of crimes, with two entirely separate circumstances. The author manages to connect the past to the present fluidly, despite the stark differences in themes and urgency. While the location and Idlewood provide a physical link, it is really the power of familial love and the enduring bonds of friendship, with a little help from beyond, that brings everyone and everything together in the end.

This story is evenly paced, giving the well timed twists a great deal of power. It is very well written, and embodies everything I love about a good thriller. Overall, this was an immensely satisfying read.

Pulling out all the stars for this one! 5 stars!!
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I am not a huge ghost story reader. In fact I rarely read any ghost stories because I like being able to sleep at night.

That said, this book has been all over my social media. It’s everywhere. I saw it on Book of the Month, long before I was approached to review it and admittedly was intrigued. I made a mental note to pick it up from my library once it was available and moved on.

Then it came across my desk for review. I was open to giving it a shot, and the cover was eye catching so I agreed. In Feb it was BOTM top pick and again, it was everywhere. While I was recovering from my surgery in Feb, I was looking for something I could read quick and enjoy. So I got a jump on my March reading and started with this one.

Vermont, 1950. There’s a place for the girls whom no one wants–the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good. It’s called Idlewild Hall. And in the small town where it’s located, there are rumors that the boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming–until one of them mysteriously disappears. . . .

Vermont, 2014. As much as she’s tried, journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister’s death. Twenty years ago, her body was found lying in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And though her sister’s boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can’t shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case.

When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past–and a voice that won’t be silenced (summary from Goodreads).

St James is a completely new author to me and I was blown away. This book had so much to recommend itself. Suspense (in spades!), romance, madness, ghosts, a murder with missing pieces. Everything.

The one thing that stood out to me above all else was the atmosphere of the novel. Fiona is grieving the loss of her sister and just can’t let it go. Personally I didn’t like aspects of Fiona’s personality, but I thought she worked incredibly well in this story. While I might not have liked her, I was still able to connect with her and feel empathy for not only her situation but her growth as a character.

I can’t really say what I didn’t like about her–maybe it was how she treated her boyfriend–or maybe it was something else but for some reason I wasn’t a huge fan of her. That said, her story was powerful and held my interest even if I didn’t like aspects of her personality. Her tenacity borders on madness, but she keeps plugging away at the mystery even if that means exploring the long and checkered past of Idlewild Hall.

Idlewild Hall reminded me of something out of a horror film. It’s basically where families send their daughters that they want to forget. It’s one step above insane asylum if you ask me. It’s rundown, creepy, and haunted by the resident ghost of Mary Hand.

Ahhhh Mary Hand, there is an old rhyme about Mary in the book. The girls all know it and she appears to each girl and shows them different things. Different haunting images. Don’t let her in. She says she wants to be your friend. But don’t let her in. It’s so unbelievably creepy but not to the point of being a horror novel which I appreciated. Though truth be told, I was totally creeped out and dreamed about Mary myself. I did have a few sleepless nights–full disclosure!

The plot of the book was unique. I liked how the ghost story and mystery coincided. The historical piece was interesting and while some of the plot points in the book were easy to spot and sort out using logic and reason, I still found myself wondering how a couple of other plot points were going to resolve. I loved how each piece unfolded and was resolved. The duel plot and time period worked incredibly well for this story and I absolutely loved it.

Let me go back to the cover for just a minute….the cover was fantastic. It hints at a gothic mystery with a hint of madness and ghosts which was exactly what this story was about. The cover was eye catching and gives readers an uneasy edge that will leave them dying to know more about the story within. I love this cover so much, it’s a perfect addition to the story.

This book met every single one of my exceptions. Now having discovered St James, I went and ordered all of her other books to start immediately. This book as wonderful and memorable. I absolutely loved it. Her style is beautiful, haunting and atmospheric. I can’t wait to read more of her novels! Get this book now. You’re welcome.

Challenge/Book Summary:

Book: The Broken Girls by Simone St James

Kindle Edition, 336 pages
Expected publication: March 20th 2018 by Berkley
ASIN B0738KSJ8F
Review copy provided by: Author/Publisher in exchange for an honest review
This book counts toward: NA

Hosted by: NA
Books for Challenge Completed: NA
Recommendation: 5 out of 5

Genre: Gothic mystery, suspense, ghost story

Memorable lines/quotes: NA