This is a slow burn but once I got into the story I was hooked.
This is a well written book with a good plot and plenty of twists and turns.

A twisty thriller that gripped me straight away, much like Simants' other titles. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this!

First of all a big thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

This was a very clever book full of twists and turns and I absolutely loved the ending! I could not put this book down I just had to know what was going on with Wren. I’m just sorry that I put off reading this book for so long!

This time I will the BAD one - I read this story, but I was not entertained by this one at all. Felt so flat where I should have felt scared or any other emotion.
Unfortunately completely missed the turning point that came when I was bored to the core (SO SLOOOW action and development here).
I liked the idea of redemption (I think I can call it that) presented here in some cases it would work well. Besides that I was looking at the time I would finish this novel as I could not manage to get into it...
Others love it, so maybe it will be your cuppa, but definitely not mine

This was intense, gripping and thought provoking and I really enjoyed it from start to finish. The characterisation was fantastic and I flew through this desperate to see what was going to happen.

A Ruined Girl was a bit slow to get going, but that being said I couldn't not finish it. Whilst not ground breaking, this is a really solid thriller.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

OMFG Wow!

A chilling opening had me hooked.

I simply loved everything about this book - great characters, authentic feel, compelling storyline and shocking twists!

Full review will be postedon my blog and updated here.

Highly recommended!

From amazon:
Harrowing, intense, twisty and absolutely unputdownable!

💥OMG!!!💥 This story is so real & raw - it will
stay with you well after you finish it! One heck of a #sleepstealer - I was blown away! Highly recommend #ARuinedGirl by #KateSimants!

I really enjoyed this book, definitely one that had me thinking about it even after I'd put it down. The characters and story really got under my skin. The author's note at the end and her knowledge of the childcare system was really interesting.

A Ruined Girl


Found this really hard to get into.  The italic chapter at the start was really jarring and it took me 3 or 4 attempts to read it.  When I finally managed to...found it jarring going to the next chapter as well and it took me a while to actually start enjoying the book after a bumpy start.

I did find it compulsive reading a few chapters in and liked how the story unfolded between then and now.

All the characters were really horrid though.  Wren, in particular, was immensely unlikeable...though her job was very interesting and her interactions with others characters were baffling.  .like she had no empathy and didn't even seem to like people....which is bizarre given her job!


Obviously she has this whole mystery going on...that we know will come out eventually but in the meantime she just comes across as an awful person....and to be honest, when the mystery does unfold ..made me hate her even more.

There was alot of forgiveness in this book...people being forgiven for things they really shouldn't have been and certain characters had transformations and opportunities they didn't deserve.

Luke's stalking of Paige was beyond creepy and I don't like how it was almost validated....he was a very scary kid.

My parents were amazing foster carers...so I struggled with the view that no one cares for kids in care and that it gives these kids a free pass to act however they want because of their bad starts....and also those people that were involved in their bad starts should have some responsibility!

With regards to Wren...I didn't understand why they put a rookie probation officer into a scheme that was so heavily scrutinised.  Wouldn't they use their brightest and best first?   I couldn't for the life of me figure out anything exceptional about Wren that would make her jump to the top of their list of dealing with massively high profile cases?  Maybe if there had been a proper friendship between Wren and her boss or we saw her be exceptional at any point...but as it was...seemed completely out of the blue and she struggled with her job every day, which was also strange given the position she was in. This needed to be built up and explained.  The development of this relationship would have really assisted the plot.

Overall the book was definitely a page turner but I needed a single character I could connect with to make it a rewarding read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliantly written, perfectly paced psychological drama that was completely captivating from the start.
The story was paced perfectly, and the suspense built up as the story came to it's climax.
An intriguing, unique book that I would suggest all fans of a good psychological thriller should read.

Just from the synopsis alone, this was quite a bit deeper than I expected. That being said, I did really enjoy this book. It kept me guessing until the end. Would recommend.

An area involving children in care. It’s set in the past and present and it’s a hard read. I really enjoyed it and it won an award which I totally appreciate. The story is tense and complex and one you will remember for a good while.

Full of thought-provoking moments, A Ruined Girl is a psychological thriller that travels between the past and the present in order to solve the mystery of “what on earth happened to Paige?”. Paige disappeared two years ago after breaking into her school counsellor’s house with her friend, Rob. Rob has been behind bars ever since but now, a government scheme set on reducing the population of the overcrowded prisons means Rob is released early. Probation officer Wren Reynolds has been tasked with his rehabilitation. Wren is convinced Rob knows more about Paige’s disappearance.

This is a tough one to review because every single sentence I type seems to sound like a spoiler so I end up deleting everything because I really don’t want to give anything away. What I can say is that the intriguing plot pulled me in right away and I thoroughly enjoyed the back and forth between the “now” and the “before” as I tried to find the clues between the teasers in an attempt to figure it all out before it was revealed to me. Some of it I got quite easily, some of it I didn’t see coming at all.

However, I must admit there were moments in the book where my interest started to wane and I was desperately longing for something, anything, to happen and shake things up. But the latter part of the book more than made up for that when it felt as if everything was suddenly happening all at once and I feared I might end up with whiplash trying to keep up with it all.

All in all, A Ruined Girl is a cleverly plotted psychological thriller that ended up on a much deeper level than I was expecting. This was my first time reading a book by Kate Simants but it won’t be the last time. One to watch!

A Ruined Girl, Kate Simants.

Two boys loved her. Which one killed her? One dark night Rob & Paige break into a house, the beat and traumatise the occupants, leave, taking only a bracelet. Nobody knows why, not even Luke, Robs brother and Paige’s closest friend. Paige vanished that night and Rob ended up in prison. Now Rob is free, Wren Reynolds has been tasked with helping Rob make amends with those he wronged as part of his probation. But Wren knows something else is going on, what does Rob know about where Paige went? Why was Wren so desperate to take Rob on as a client? And with everyone keeping secrets, how many is Wren keeping?

This book is one of the few crime thrillers that is impossible to figure out, with so many threads to follow, you, like Wren will find yourself tangled very quickly.

With a flickering narrative between past and present this novel also exposes the flaws and let downs in our fostering systems. Paige and Luke are devastating characters, Wren and Rob too are brutally let down by systems designed to protect and help them and so a cycle of destruction and abuse continues. Luckily, with Wren we see a flawed but ultimately, successful character who is desperate to rebuild her life and make amends.

A well written, clever, devastating book that is well worth a read. There is much more to this story than just your average thrill.
Instagram @laurenslittlebookcase

I really enjoyed this book however it is a right royal pain in the backside to review because of the dreaded spoilers, it would be impossible to fully review without spoiling the very well crafted plot so whilst I figure out how to do it justice, lets look at our setting and our main characters.

The books jumps between timelines, lets start with this part of the book. It takes us back a couple of years to the English city of Bristol, two of our main characters, teens (they are around 15) Luke and Paige live in a care home, their parents unable or unwilling to look after them. They aren’t alone in their home, they share it with many other kids but for Luke he may as well be by himself as he only has eyes for Paige. His unrequited love is plain to see but Paige thinks of him as a friend, a brother and nothing more.

Joining Luke and Paige we have Rob, Luke’s older brother who at 18 is recognised as an adult and is living by himself, he wants to take care of his brother but to do that he also needs to stay on the straight and narrow. But that is never going to happen as the three of them find themselves tangled up in a mess that ends up with one of them in prison and one of them missing.

Jumping forward in time the government have created a scheme to release offenders early back in to the community but to do it they have to visit all the people affected by the actions, Wren Reynolds is a probation officer who finds herself in a new role, she will be shepherding these offenders and her first case is Rob.

Wren is ready for a challenge, she is about to be come a mum for the first time, her heavily pregnant wife could go in to labour at any time. She is going to help rehabilitate Rob and as she starts him on his path to a new life she becomes convinced that Rob knows more about the events that landed him in prison than he is letting on, what is he hiding and why? Where is Paige and where is Luke?

A great book, it has it all and I had no idea whatsoever where it was going, I thought I did for a while but then I fell foul of some crafty twists. It is a dark book, any book that tackles children in a care home is not going to be sunshine and rainbows, A Ruined Girl doesn’t exploit these kids but it does show how vulnerable and impulsive children at this age can be.

A dark, well twisted web of a read.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Such a gripping and beautifully written novel. The main character was believably flawed and drew me in completely. Like the care system itself, the characters are complex and good intentions sometimes aren’t enough. I thought I knew where the story was going but it kept surprising me.

I already knew that A Ruined Girl had me in its literary grasp from the prologue, the way in which Kate wove the sentences that beautifully tied into paragraphs and then chapters had me immediately edging the end of my seat, I knew that this book was a thriller that was going to have me hooked on its every word.

We are introduced to Luke and Paige quite swiftly, we also come to understand the bond they share - one that many of us may be lucky enough to not understand. Both Luke and Paige live in a home for children who have yet to be fostered, where everyday is dog eat dog and where the bonds created mean everything. Luke is in love with Paige, in a life where nothing is sure, she is his sanity and someone who shares his personal burden. The way Kate ties these characters together will create for an emotional level. One part of the kaleidoscopic storyline that will have you angry, sympathise and fall in love with the characters, while keeping your focus on the mystery that echoes throughout the storyline. Two brothers, one missing girl and a tale of friendship that also feels like it borderlines obsessive love will utterly intoxicate you until before you know it, it's over and you're left in a catatonic emotional state.

One thing that grips me as a reader is a dual storyline, whether that's a narrator or timeline. Well Kate has created both! We have Rob's story after he's released from prison, Wren's POV as she digs deeper into her parolee while juggling her personal life - with these POVs we also get a trip to the past through the eyes of Luke prior to Paige's disappearance. Each viewpoint adds further layers to the already deep storyline, creating a more disturbing revelations and adding to the book's getting under your skin factor. Each piece of the puzzle allows us, the readers, to submerge ourselves into the lives of the characters, allows us to be drawn into the setting and feel the every changing atmosphere of A Ruined Girl.

What I admire about Katie's writing, is her attention to details which is apparent throughout the pages of A Ruined Girl. Kate has taken extra care to research the themes throughout the novel, from probation to children's homes, while also drawing from her own investigative history into profiteering at the expense to vunrable children. This, I think, gives a whole other dimension to the storyline, one that creates a new level of horror. Together, A Ruined Girl is a stunningly crafted thriller, knitted together with threads of real life to create a fictional tale of love, heartbreak, lies and scandal. Bravo Kate!

Oooooo this is dark!!! Complex relationships, complex storyline, and conflicting emotions made for one dark and disturbing read. Well, that and the fact that someone died but let’s not split hairs, shall we?

‘A Ruined Girl’ is definitely a case of ‘whodunnit’, as well as being the case of whether anyone is going to own up to their misdemeanours. That would be too easy though, so thankfully Wren Reynolds was on hand to try and slot all of the puzzle pieces together. Naturally a case as complex as Paige’s, ends up having a detrimental effect on Wren’s well being and her mental state becomes compromised as her obsession with finding out the truth explodes.

Like I said; dark! There is a lot of ooomph to ‘A Ruined Girl’ and I really appreciated the fact that Simants makes her readers work hard for the truth. She doesn’t hand it to us on a plate by making things obvious early on. Some things are definitely worth waiting for, and this was one of them!

A carefully constructed, complex, devious novel which made me catch my breath more than once. Uber impressed!

If your favoured reading material is a novel with a good sprinkling of suspense, hope, unpredictability, adversity, and a sense of foreboding, then feel at liberty to read this psychological crime thriller by Kate Simants - A Ruined Girl.

Teenagers Rob Ashworth, and Paige Garrett committed a robbery at school counsellor, James Yardley’s house, two years ago, resulting in Rob being sent to prison. That night, Paige disappeared from the care home where she was living, the same place that Rob’s brother, Luke also resided. Rob is due to be released early on a Community Atonement Programme overseen by probation professional, Wren Reynolds. Wren is meant to take Rob to visit those affected by his crime and apologise for the repercussions but, for her own reasons, she decides to delve into the past especially regarding Paige’s disappearance...

The story is told in the past, around the time of the robbery by Luke, and in the present by Wren. Kate Simants gave the reader some excellent characters, most of whom had appeal despite their flaws and I cared about them from the very beginning though of course, there was the odd less palatable one. I appreciated that Wren told part of the story as this enabled me to have more of an understanding of her and the reasons for her probing and blurring the lines professionally, risking her job. I also liked Paige, despite her problems and it was lovely that Luke cared about her and wanted to protect her.

The author released her information in such a way that I did not want to put down my kindle and wait for the next chapter. The writing really flowed and there were wonderfully crafted descriptions of the people and events. A Ruined Girl was a taut read and the author’s great talent made this a wonderful story that I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated for the entertainment it was. The eye-popping ending was something of a surprise.

Overall, I'd say that A Ruined Girl is a little gem and it is a book that I'm so pleased to have read!

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my own request from Serpent's Tail / Profile Books/ Viper via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.