Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.

This one started a little slow but picked up in the end. I loved the ending, especially the way it was spun out to be someone you wouldn't have expected it to be. I liked the way this author went about telling the story of Simone. Leaving things out until the end made for a good mystery.
I was kind of annoyed at Dallin, especially when he started questioning Cora and Rosalie's discoveries. Also not sure why Beth was such a huge part of the story other than the fact that her wife was stricken by anxiety (which didn't seem to hinder her helping a stranger at all).

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more into romance stories and girlie books therefore am extremely pleased and grateful to them for opening up my mind to something totally different.

I enjoyed this very much. 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

The book was terribly slow throughout. Many times I struggled and wanted to give up. But I stuck with it and there was an exciting twist at the end. But sadly not enough to get more stars.

I felt this was a good book . I enjoyed the plot and characters and the marsh setting. Good mystery read

This story didn’t grab me. It was very descriptive about the marshes etc. I never connected with any of the characters and I found myself skimming a lot. I was interested enough to see how it ended, but it wasn’t a book I couldn’t put down. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

Interesting suspense story.
A young child finds a body in the Boggs, and no one believes her.
Fast forward 15 years and someone's asking questions.
3.85

Overall, this is a good novel. The premise intrigued me, as I’m sure it does many readers. While I think certain aspects of the premise’s execution fully developed, it still had merit.

Suspense
The book opens with young Rosalie becoming lost in the curraghs (boggy wetlands). She falls behind her brother Dallin and his friend Beth, and finds herself alone. Then she finds the skeleton.

The opening is beautifully written: the descriptions of the curraghs are appropriately eerie; there’s good tension between the siblings, partially due to their divorced parents forcing them to live apart; and the sense that the marshy land might swallow young Rosalie as she becomes increasingly disoriented. Rosalie is sympathetic here. When she finds the skeletal remains, she feels sad. But when a search team finds her hours later, no one believes her story about the human remains. The police search and find nothing. She and Beth search and find nothing.

When the story transitioned to the present day, the plot became bumpy. Rosalie was mourning the loss of Beth, who had been her wife, and has withdrawn from the world. But we didn’t know all that for quite a while, as the story focused on her need for routine and structure to keep going from some unknown past event. She had withdrawn from the world.

All of this makes sense. I got the sense that Rosalie was a woman struggling to keep her head above the waves of grief overwhelmed her. But it was slower paced in this section than many suspense novels are.

In fact, all the sections that focus on Rosalie emerging from her protective cocoon of routine are slow. It was beautiful writing. But there was a certain lack of tension that made these sections feel extraneous, as if they weren’t fully interwoven in the fabric of the story. They seemed to focus on character development at the expense of the plot. Or maybe the character arc at the expense of the story arc, if that makes sense.

By 40% of the way through the book, I still wasn’t feeling much suspense, and other than some odd threatening letters, I didn’t feel like the characters were in danger. Even the increasingly violent threats against their search didn’t grip me very much.

It wasn’t until about three-quarters of the way through the book that things clicked into place for me. Then it truly felt like a suspense novel. After that, the story raced, steamrolling everything in its path until I turned the last page for a satisfying, if abrupt, ending.

Characterization
I found Rosalie immensely likable. As the years between the skeleton’s discovery and the present, she had developed a habit of “talking” to the skeleton’s ghost. She named her Bogbean, after the flowers that she’d seen around the gravesite. There’s something rather sweet about this. Rosalie was a socially awkward, seemingly shy woman with few friends, and it was understandable that she might feel a bond with the dead Bogbean that no one besides her had seen and no one besides Beth believed that she had seen.

She tended to believe the best of people, but she didn’t comes across as naive, gullible, or stupid, in my opinion.

Cora was instantly likable, too. She was prepared to search the curraghs and determined to search every square inch of them. (She has measured it out on the map!) While she was obsessed over finding her sister Simone, she also longed for normality. She and Rosalie both needed closure.

Dallin, as Rosalie’s older brother, was a complicated and not always (or often) likable guy. He left town under a cloud, hasn’t spoken to their sick mother in years, and lies about, well, almost everything. Half the time I wanted to shake him and the other half of the time I wanted to smack him, and his sister apparently shared my feelings! He did get a small moment of redemption toward the end, though.

Narrative Style
One odd thing popped up in the narration. Bennett wrote most of the book from Rosalie’s 1st person point of view. But at random moments, short passages appeared in an unnamed person’s point of view. We read someone addressing the missing Simone as “you” and referring to an unknown man as HIM. It was easy to guess that these were from Cora’s point of view. But as she addressed “you” (Simone), the narration felt stylistically different from the rest of the book. It was also written in that deliberately ambiguous manner that is often used in current suspense novels.

I don’t think these passages served the story well. Sure, I got to know Simone a bit. But other than that, they came off as superfluous to the main story. Cora covered most of the information when she talked to Rosalie, and reading about “HIM” didn’t pique my interest.

Also, the use of “you” was off-putting to me. I’ve had some bad experiences with the 2nd person POV–don’t ask–and while this wasn’t technically 2nd POV, it flirted with it. This might just be my personal biases at work, and other people might find these passages suspenseful and intriguing.

Kudos to Rachel Bennett for experimenting with a different method of narrative storytelling, though. It’s always better to take the risk of trying something different in writing than to stick with the tried-and-true; even if it doesn’t quite work, you’ve still tried. The rest of the storytelling was well executed. Rosalie’s point of view felt natural and unforced.

Setting
All of this may sound as if I disliked the book. Au contraire. I did enjoy it. I read it in one day! It felt more like a mainstream novel with a strong suspense element, though, than a suspense novel.

I particularly liked the way Bennett uses the setting to develop the story.

This book could not take place anywhere other than the curraghs. Like the skeleton half submerged in the boggy land, every character struggles to stay on solid ground. Life threatens to suck them under, swallow them whole. Alone, they are like little girl Rosalie: wandering, searching for footholds, and fighting off panic.

Each of the major characters struggled to reach out to others. Dallin hid behind lies. Cora took shelter behind her maps and obsession Rosalie took refuge in her rigid schedules and isolation. Yet only working together could they be strong enough to make it through to the other side of the curraghs.

Recommended
This is a solid effort from Rachel Bennett. I’d recommend Little Girls Tell Tales to those who like slow-burning suspense novels rather than the high-octane, big-twist version. 3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4.

Trigger warnings: bereavement, homophobia, missing persons, child abuse, murder.

Thanks to One More Chapter Books, Harper Collins, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This review will appear on my blog on May 18, 2020.

Rosalie lives on the Isle of Man with her brother Dallin in an isolated village. One day she wanders off and loses herself in the wetlands and discovers a body. When her story gets around nobody seems to believe the little girl who tends to exaggerate. Fifteen years later, Rosalie still lives in her old house, but her brother has long since moved out and does not keep in contact with her. Rosalie is getting over a loss in her life and pretty much keeps to herself, but quite unexpectedly Dallin shows up at her door with a friend Cora. It seems that Cora has heard the story of Rosalie finding a body many years ago, and Cora is intrigued as her sister disappeared around that time, and Cora wants to explore the desolate area. We then learn the secrets that Rosalie has kept to herself and slowly discover that the village is not quite what it appears to be.
The story plot was good and I thank the publishers and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn't completely taken in by this story. Unfortunately it just lacked a bit of oomph for me. The story trundled along quite nicely, but it was quite linear in atmosphere. Not really balancing out any of the negatives with a positive or including anything to bring the story to a satisfactory conclusion. The ending was a bit meh. I think if I give it another go in a couple of years I might enjoy it a bit more, but this time, it just wasn't for me.

The story and the characters are more interesting than the ending. I found the solution to be far-fetched, but I liked Rosalie and her story and the mystery of the body in the marsh. And I also found the story of Cora and her missing sister intriguing. I devoured the book and wanted to know how the 2 stories would come together, but I was disappointed by the resolution.

Such a great book. Will read more from this author. Will be recommending this to other book readers who love this genre

For me, this was an enjoyable read but it didn't grip me and I wasn't desperate to get back to it once I'd put it down. I think part of the reason for this was that the main character was somewhat peripheral to the mystery, although she had been the one to find the body. The stakes didn't feel high enough for her in terms of the mystery - her story lay elsewhere.

I also thought it was a little depressing! I know thrillers aren't generally a laugh a minute, but some light to go with the shade would have been welcome.

Having said that, I found it vivid and was easily able to 'see' the characters and the setting.

Great book, haven’t wanted to put it down! Definitely stayed up way too late reading this enthralling read.

2.5 stars

My favourite part of this book as the descriptions of the area and the farmhouse. It seems like such a comfortable and peaceful place to live!

It didn't really say who Beth was besides a childhood friend until the 21% mark, I feel like that relationship should have been clarified sooner. Also Rosalie's age - she was supposedly 26, but she acted so much older than that. It might just be how she lived in solitude and had her routines though.

The story was pretty slow up until the 80% mark or so. At 54% I considered adding it to the DNF pile, but I read some reviews that said it had a great ending so I kept going. I felt like the story was threatening to veer into a romance between Rosalie and Cora, but I'm glad that it was subtle and not the focus-point. The ending wasn't all that exciting, and there was one big plot hole, but not a bad read.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of “Little Girls Tell Tales” in exchange for my honest review.

So back in 2004 Rosalie gets lost in the curraghs ( totally looked it up- it’s a densely wooded wetland. Think boggy and swampy and woody to give you a mental picture) while going on a walk with her brother. During this time she was lost, she happened upon skeletal remains. When she was found, no one believed her. Searches were done and the bones were nowhere to be found. In present day-err, well, 2019, brother Dallin who is now estranged from Rosalie shows up with this chick named Cora. Wouldn’t you know, Cora is searching for her long lost sister Simone and she’s pretty sure that Rosalie’s skeleton is who Cora is looking for. But how did Rosalie’s story end up on the ol interwebs? Rosalie is a total introvert since her wife Beth died. She hasn’t charged her phone in Months or checked social media-she still talks on a landline for crying out loud, so she certainly hasn’t shared her little tale to the world. Ok, kind of got sidetracked there. Now-what did I think of the book? Solid 3 stars. Rosalie is an interesting character, Dallin makes you dislike him strongly, and Cora is hard to read. Rosalie’s neighbors are oddballs. The story itself was pretty good, although the ending felt a little far fetched. It starts off pretty slowly too, but definitely redeeming once you make it to the second half.

I thought this was a good book. I loved Beth’s character and her growth throughout the book. I wouldn’t like more closure at the end. Overall, it was a great book but definitely a long read.

A little girl comes across a skeleton after getting lost in a wooded bog. No one believes her and the skeleton can not be found once she has made her way out of the bog. Years later a stranger comes calling asking her about the skeleton, could it be this girls long lost sister? An unlikely trio begins to revisit a past 20 years old, trying to find clues. But when they get close to the truth will they be in danger?
A suspenseful tale start to finish!
My only critique was that the end felt a little rushed, however the book was beautifully written and the characters were delightful. Overall 4 solid stars

3.5* Surprisingly 'gelling' despite the many things that the author adds to the storyline.

This is my first read by this author and I'd certainly read more. She took a child's encounter that wasn't fully understood and made it into a murder-mystery tale with enough added in to strengthen the tale, and with (just a few more than needed, IMHO) characters that padded it out and added some 'hmmm, I wonder...'.

It had more darkness and more secrets than I expected and the eventual connection between the dead person and the current persons in the tale felt real, with a touch of the bunny boiler made famous by Glenn Close. I did wonder about the emotional stuff going on between 3 characters and how true or not the deceased's sister was, and not all of those aspects got fully clarified, which was a little irritating. But, in terms of the whodunnit, it was just on the right side of being over done, and the tale worked for me.

ARC courtesy of Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.

In 2004, young Rosalie becomes separated from her brother, Dallin, and friend, Beth, while walking through the wetland on the isolated Isle of Man. Having strayed from the path, it’s hours before she’s discovered shaken and exhausted, and reporting she found a dead body. Rosalie is known for telling tales, so when the police are unable to locate the body most believe it's just another tall tale.

Fast forward to 2019. Over a year since Rosalie's wife, Beth, died, Rosalie is still struggling mightily with grief. She's shocked to find Dallin, who has long been estranged from their family, on her doorstep unannounced with a woman named Cora. Cora’s sister went missing many years ago and she believes Rosalie found her in the wetland all those years ago. Rosalie becomes wrapped up in Cora's plan to find the body and confirm it's Cora's sister. When disturbing things begin happening to Cora it seems someone doesn't want them to keep searching.

Rosalie is a fantastic character. The setting is intriguing and a character itself. I don't know if this book is intended to be the first in a series or a stand alone, but I look forward to reading whatever the author publishes next. Recommended for fans of character-driven mysteries. 4.5 Stars

Content Warnings: SPOILERS statutory rape (not on page); homophobia; child abuse END SPOILERS

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own.

Very slow book starts to get you gripped about three quarters of the way in. Got a bit confused at times who the story was about