Tudor is able to create a story full of creepy moments, plot twists, interesting characters, and strong endings. Another great book by her! I didn’t want to put it down!

<b>Shocking, creepy and disturbing are just a few words that describe this imaginative read!

Tudor hasn’t failed to WOW me yet! Her books keep getting better and better. I love her offbeat and incredible writing style and the way she manages to perfectly mingle humor, horror and supernatural into her thrillers. She’s definitely in my top 10 favorite authors!!</b>

<b><i>“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is pretending he didn’t exist.”</i></b>

A Vicar who commits suicide; the unsolved disappearance of two teenage girls; an old chapel alleged to be haunted; villagers burnt to death; and two young girls killed outside the chapel. These are just a few of the skeletons in Chapel Croft’s long, dark past. This is one spooky place, with some seriously interesting history, and authentic characters!

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books and CJ Tudor for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!

<b>My Rating: </b> 5 ⭐️’s
<b>Published:</b> February 9th 2021 by Ballantine Books
<b>Pages:</b> 352
<b>Recommend:</b> Yes!

@cjtudor #NetGalley #TheBurningGirls #InExchangeForReview #NoRulesJustThrills #JustFinished #MustRead

When Jack (along with her daughter Flo) is sent to the village of Chapel Cross to become the interim vicar, they aren’t prepared for the reaction of the villagers. A multi layered story with a local mystery and plenty of folklore surrounding the seven martyrs burned at the stake in the sixteenth century, not to mention the ghosts of the two burning girls. Are they real or just more local folklore? Completely creepy and filled with plenty of twists, this story leaves us not knowing just who to trust until the very end, but with its satanic overtures, it was a story that I wasn’t very comfortable with.

C.J. Tudor is an auto-read author for me and I think The Burning Girls is my new favorite book from her! The book starts strong and I was instantly pulled into the story (and also a tiny bit freaked out).

The creepy town legends, dysfunctional families, and a dark mystery made this book hard to put down.

Once again C J Tudor has us on the edge of our seats in this twisting thriller. Sorry, setting, and plot all vie with one another and mesh to produce a roller coaster of a read. I never saw the twists at the end coming and I'm usually pretty good at sussing these things out. I agree with other readers that the panoply of vicars goes confusing from time to time. But for the reader that just lets the story happen, that confusion is of little consequence. Hang on and enjoy the ride.

Wowza! It's been a bit since I've read an awesome, twisty book, like this!!!!

I previously read The Chalk Man and would say that this is leaps and bounds above!

A vicar is sent to a village with a history. A history of martyrs. creepy twig dolls, and missing girls. The story jumps from the prospective of the vicar, to the vicar's daughter, and back in time.

I loved how the story was unfolded and the writing was amazing!

I can't wait to pick up the rest of CJ Tudor's books!!!

A special thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine, and CJ Tudor for providing me with an ARC.

Fantastic! I really enjoy CJ Tudor's books, but at first this one was good, though felt average to me. I wasn't as enthralled as with her previous stories, but than as I got closer to end things began to change and I can't put the book down.
The ending totally surprised me!!

YESSS this is everything I wanted it to be. What a riveting story. I loved how there was some historical context, loved the setting, and I loved the overall concept. I appreciated how the author didn't include any overused tropes. Perfect originality.

CJ Tudors books always feel like thrillers mixed with some very cheesy and unbelievable horror. This book is not for me. It felt like it was trying too hard to be the Netflix show American Horror story.

The Title/Cover Draw:
I did enjoy The Other People quite a bit so i was interested in this one, especially because of the historical aspect.
What I liked:
There is a MAJOR twist at the end of this book that totally came by surprise and then another I sort of saw coming. This book was a speedy read.
What I didn’t like:
The story itself was overly complicated and half the time it was hard to understand who was speaking due to the POV not being stated. This was for dramatic reasons and the shock of the twists, so I understand why, but it made it kind of tedious.
The Characters:
In the present, we have Jack and Flo, a mother/daughter duo experiencing some scary things in a new town. They are sympathetic characters and kind of more human than other thriller characters I have read. Merry and Joy are some girls who disappeared 30 years before.
The Ending:
Again, major twists. And questions are answered in this, but I had to do some major thinking to see if there were any loose ends.
Consider if you like:
Complicated thrillers with a paranormal aspect.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor. I love this author’s work and couldn’t wait to read her latest thriller.

Reverend Jack Brooks and her fourteen-year-old daughter, Flo, arrive in Chapel Croft looking to escape the rumors in her hometown. Upon arriving in this village, they learn about its dark history and must unpack the truth from the conspiracy theories. What really happened to the Protestant Martyrs? Did the previous reverend really commit suicide? When Jack receives an exorcism kit along with sinister notes, she is compelled to figure out what is actually going on in this small town and what it has to do with a five hundred year old story about The Burning Girls.

This thriller is an addictive, fast read that lays breadcrumbs for the reader all the way until the final page. It is what I have come to recognize as a typical C.J. Tudor book, intriguing and suspenseful right from the first page and never disappointing! For those of you who are worried that this book is horror, rest assured that is most definitely a thriller with a little bit of supernatural thrown in. I loved Jack, as she is not your typical vicar. Rather, she is has a funny sense of humor about herself that really makes her shine as the story’s leading character. As always, the story-telling is excellent and leads to a satisfying conclusion. However, I did figure out some of the twists, so that is why I have rated it is a four star read. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

4/5 stars

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me an e-arc in exchange for a honest review!

A priest, Jack, and her 15 year old daughter, Flo, are forced to move from a city to a remote town called Chapel Croft when an event causes negative publicity to the city church. As Jack and Flo reluctantly begin their countryside life, their church is riddled with histories of burnt girls, girls who disappeared and a priest who recently committed suicide. As Jack navigates through Chapel Croft’s past, her own past follows her in the shadows as her husband’s murderer is on a mission to find her. If all that wasn’t enough, Flo gets into heaps of trouble with teenagers who are all up to no good.

This book is a burning fire!!! Holy smokes!!! What a mind-bending, nail-biting, heart-pounding start to 2021! I devoured this book as fast as I could!!! This is not your regular domestic thriller! This one’s a genre-bender and crosses over to horror! There is some paranormal, themes of violent and sexual teenage bullying, themes of religion both traditional and modern, and quite a bit of gore. Multiple characters are involved in the story but I had no issues knowing who is who. I thought the author did a phenomenal job with character development as well as plot even though she threw the “whole kitchen sink” into the story. The final twist - I DID NOT SEE COMING! Just auto sign me up for any CJ Tudor novel, please! This book releases February 9! Thriller and horror fans, don’t miss it!!!

A new vicar and her daughter relocate from the big city to the small Chapel Croft hamlet ‘in the middle of nowhere' and it is soon clear that there is weird stuff going on and whispers of a tragic past. Ominous undertones, burning twig dolls, dead crows, creepy apparitions add to this dark, twisty and delicious story.

This is a story of an oddball priest and her daughter who get transferred to a new church on the other side of England to a town with a really creepy history surrounding the local church. This is a complex and entertaining thriller/horror with elements of the supernatural. I really liked that there were a few things left undiscovered in the past and hints of possible things to come. Creepy on many levels with twists and turns along the way.

Vicar Jack Brooks got a little to close to a child in her parish in Nottingham. Now, the bishop sends her to Chapel Croft, a struggling parish in an isolated village. 500 years ago, the Marian Purges burned several village members and the locals remember them as "Burning Girls." Jack and her daughter, Flo, are welcomed by some of the villagers, but not all. There is something strange going on at the local squire's house; the older daughter is a bully and the younger daughter is traumatized ever since a friend was drowned while staying with them. There is also the mystery of two girls who disappeared years ago and a haunted house looms over the area. Uncovering the truth can be dangerous and Jack and Flo are almost killed when the chapel is torched, except a homeless man rescues them. He has deeper ties to the village than anyone knows. A satisfying mystery with lots of twists and turns; good plotting and nice character development makes Tudor's books worth reading.

Chapel Croft, in rural England, is not her first choice for places to lay low but orders from the bishop send Reverend Jack Brooks and her daughter, Flo, from Nottingham to the hinterlands in C.J. Tudor’s chilling novel, The Burning Girls. This lightning-paced mystery sees Jack dealing with more-than-usually-suspicious rural people, a history of witch-burning, and a lot of buried secrets—while Flo meets a strange boy and has to contend with some nasty bullies. Readers who like their rural settings with a strong dollop of the sinister will like this one.

The Burning Girls races through its several plots mostly in scenes of dialogue. Reverend Jack knows that something is not right in Chapel Croft almost from the first moment, when she finds creepy twig dolls known locally as burning girls near the church soon after moving into the vicarage. Sure, the local traveling vicar and other upright members of the community tell Jack that this a venerable and harmless local tradition, but these dolls are just harbingers of what’s to come. Flo starts to roam the country with a new friend named Wrigley (though no one seems to trust this kid) only to find her own hints of evil. The interstitial chapters start to reveal the story of what happened to two girls who mysteriously vanished thirty years prior in a case that was never fully investigated. Oh, and there’s an extremely violent man on Jack’s trail, who is eventually revealed to be a big reason Jack is in hiding.

The Burning Girls definitely fits my criteria for overstuffed. (The ending is definitely a wild, crowded ride.) There are so many plots in this book! Chapters skip from one to another, each adding a little bit more to what we readers know about what’s really going on. What made this book more tolerable for me (I really don’t like it when books try to do too much and half-ass everything) was the wonderful character of Jack—I love a vicar who is more interested in actually taking care of a flock than in rigidly adhering to dogma—and that Tudor’s villains are just disturbed enough that they didn’t really need a lot of backstory to explain their behavior without tipping the balance into outrageous. Readers who want a lot of psychological depth should look elsewhere. Instead, I’d hand this to readers who want a fast, scary read with an original protagonist.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was pretending he didn't exist.

C.J. Tudor is a clever, intelligent writer. I always enjoy her books...and they all feel very different to me, which is a talent in and of itself. Many authors tend to fall into a rut after they've written several books, and use the same tired tropes over and over. Not C.J. Tudor.

Right from the start, The Burning Girls grabbed my attention, despite the heavy religious themes, which is most assuredly not my thing. Thankfully, the main character, Jack, despite being a vicar, is mellow, open-minded, and thinks the Old Testament of the Bible is "trash." :) Though religion is a huge part of this book, it never felt preachy, and it never went too deep.

Having said that, this novel didn't seem to know what it was...a thriller or a supernatural horror. I guess you can say it's a thriller with supernatural elements, which is fine. Unfortunately, I didn't think it worked particularly well here, especially when the twists began revealing themselves near the end.

Speaking of the conclusion, did anyone else see the big twist coming a mile away? The clues throughout were numerous and I picked up on every one. Honestly, I wish I hadn't. I imagine that ending is going to shock many readers.

Overall, the story felt like it stayed fairly superficial to me. While everything was ultimately tied up, there were several storylines mentioned frequently throughout, which were brushed off at the end. (view spoiler)

I honestly had a hard time keeping track of all the vicars too...I kept confusing them--Brooks, Marsh, Fletcher, Rushton, Durkin, etc. It was a lot.

This is still a fun, quick read. I recommend it to those who love a good thriller, tons of twists, and a hint of horror.

3.5 stars rounded up
Available February 9, 2021

So many thanks to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for my review copy.

Oh my goodness but this was a wild read! I love CJ Tudor's style - the books always grab you by the throat and refuse to let go until the very bitter end, which I love. The mysteries, secrets, red herrings, lies, and deception are sprinkled generously throughout and the teasers leading you toward the ultimate resolution are always subtle while they are happening but identifiable as foreshadowing once you get there. It's a delicate touch to write in this fashion - and to do so while producing genuine surprise at the way things turn out time and again - and Tudor should be lauded for it.

The mother-daughter relationship in this one was particularly interesting to me, and I thought played out in a way that felt entirely plausible - which isn't a thing I say very often. Particularly when the daughter is a teenage girl... Familial relationships play a very large role in the teased out backstory as well as the historical and contemporary plot, so establishing a strong pattern of resonant relationships was an essential part of making this story work. Tutor nailed it.

The creepy factor was significant in this one. There was a lot of "did they really see that?" and "is it imagination gone wild or are Supernatural Things going on here?" It really kept me guessing as to where the book was going and whether things were firmly grounded in the real or not. It definitely spent a lot of time in the surreal - and in ways that let the reader's imagination take off running in the best possible way. I didn't see a lot of the twists and turns coming as a result, and really enjoyed the way this one played out!

Huge Thank You to @randomhouse and @netgalley for allowing me to read this one for review.
Out February 9th!

Let me tell you, I will say it again and again. There is just something about CJ Tudor’s writing and storytelling that really works for me.
‘The Burning Girls’ was no exception.

We follow a Priest who is sent to a small town with a dark past, and a lot of secrets in the present.
Something about the setting of a Church, a place that should be so comforting, is extra creepy.
Everyone in this town really gave me the creeps, which really leaves you questioning who you can trust from the very beginning.

Also can I just say how much I loved our main character?
CJ always writes such fantastically complicated and real protagonists for her books and Jack is probably my favorite.

The story is good, it follows your typical whodunnit mystery story line.
So as far as plot I can’t say there is anything in it super groundbreaking but it’s definitely engrossing and a solid Mystery/Thriller

I absolutely love anything from CJ Tudor and this book was no different. SUCH a thriller, so many unexpected events, I could not put this down. One of the best books I read this year!