I remember coming to this full of skepticism and finding myself completely pulled into the story. Going back and trying to catch up has made me want to reread this one, which is about as positive a statement as I can make. The story, the characters, the writing, all came together for me.

I am catching up on books because of an illness so am going off of what I remember and a few notes I made at the time. My apologies for the brevity.

I love books with family secrets and this one did not disappoint. The plot was very well written and kept me captivated. I am from the South and found the writing to be very atmospheric.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

EXCERPT: I drew the box to me and lifted the lid. Closed my eyes, then opened them again, hoping nothing else had been taken. It hadn't. Everything was the same as the first time I'd opened the box all those years ago.

I pulled each item out, one by one: the prayer Dr Duncan had held, the pill bottles (six total, all of them empty), an old wine bottle label (Jinn's Juice - The Most Refreshing!) with a name and address scratched on the back in pencil: Tom Stocker, Old Cemetery Road. An old brass and ivory hair barrette with a tiny bird, wings outstretched, in the middle of it. A postcard sized amateur watercolour painting, the paper folded into fourths, showing two women sitting under an arbor, deep in conversation. A few odds and ends like arrowheads, papery locust skins, and bottle caps.

I arranged the items in a row on the counter, the way I used to line them up across my comforter every night before I went to sleep. I touched one now with reverent fingers, like they were holy relics.

And now that thing was happening, the way it had always happened when I opened the box. The memories were taking over, expanding inside me, suffocating me. Blotting out everything reasonable and sane.

ABOUT BURYING THE HONEYSUCKLE GIRLS: Althea Bell is still heartbroken by her mother’s tragic, premature death—and tormented by the last, frantic words she whispered into young Althea’s ear: Wait for her. For the honeysuckle girl. She’ll find you, I think, but if she doesn’t, you find her.

Adrift ever since, Althea is now fresh out of rehab and returning to her family home in Mobile, Alabama, determined to reconnect with her estranged, ailing father. While Althea doesn’t expect him, or her politically ambitious brother, to welcome her with open arms, she’s not prepared for the chilling revelation of a grim, long-buried family secret. Fragile and desperate, Althea escapes with an old flame to uncover the truth about her lineage. Drawn deeper into her ancestors’ lives, Althea begins to unearth their disturbing history…and the part she’s meant to play in it.

MY THOUGHTS: What a wonderful debut novel. I am kicking myself that I waited so long to read this.

The characters are wonderfully developed. With the family history of madness, Althea seems bent on self destruction, maybe as an antidote to the fate that no doubt awaits her on her thirtieth birthday. Her character is at once fragile and surprisingly strong as she determines to break the cycle and solve the mystery of the fates of the previous three generations of women. I was rooting for her from beginning to end, even when she did stupid things, counterproductive to her goal. And Jinny, my heart just broke for her.

The story is told seamlessly over two timelines: Jinn, Altheas great-grandmother in the 1930's, a time when people were broken by the war, devastated by the depression; and 2012 by Althea, the only one left who could discover what had happened to the women in her family.

The plot is superbly crafted, it doesn't stall at all and kept my attention throughout. I just had to know if there actually was a strain of insanity running through the female line of this family, or if there was something more sinister afoot. There's an old abandoned psychiatric hospital that features prominently in the family history, starting from the times when a man could have his wife committed if she wouldn't do as she was told. And even more frighteningly, a newer but no less austere hospital has been built in the grounds of the old one, and it is the threat of this that Althea's family hold over her head.

The writing is beautiful. The prose encompassed me, I could hear the strong Alabama accents as I read. I could smell the honeysuckle, almost taste the wine.

I loved this book. I loved the characters, and if I didn't love them, I loved to hate them. ⭐⭐⭐⭐.6

THE AUTHOR: Emily Carpenter, a former actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Auburn University. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Georgia with her family. (Amazon)

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls by Emily Carpenter for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Althea Bell comes from a long line of mountain girls. Superstition has led people to believe that these girls all carry a madness inside. The last three generations of women, including her mother, supposedly have gone crazy on or before their thirtieth birthdays and been committed to Pritchard, the local asylum. All Althea knows about her mother is what her father told her, that her mother died from seizures on her her way to the asylum. Althea has just returned home from drug rehab, and is about to turn thirty. Her father is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, and her brother tells her that she will inherit nothing if she does not check herself in to Pritchard by her birthday. Wynn and his wife have moved in with daddy to care for him. Wynn is also running for governor and he does not want his crazy sister derailing his campaign. Althea knows this is her last chance to find out what really happened, not only to her mother, but her grandmother and great-grandmother. What is her family's dark secret? With just a cigar box full of clues her mother left her, Althea sets out to solve the mystery.

The story alternates between Althea in the present, and her great-grandmother Jinn back in the 1930s. I was hooked by both of their stories and could not stop listening. I had to know what happened to Jinn and how would this affect Althea. The author did a wonderful job building a suspenseful feeling. The secrets that Althea uncovers with the help of her childhood friend are tragic. I would label this book a Southern Gothic Mystery as it takes place in Alabama and it is dark. This was an amazing debut novel. There were some inconsistencies in the book, some slower sections, a bit of extraneous information, but not enough to cause a problem with the story. Overall, this was a great story, it was suspenseful, tense, dramatic with racial and prejudicial overtones. I definitely recommend this one.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the dual time line. Lots of twists and turns, a book you don't want to put down.

This was a good debut novel. I'm giving it 3 stars. It's set Alabama in dual time periods; 1937, tells Jinn's story and in 2012 we learn Althea's story. It touches on recovery from drug abuse, family mental health legacies, and the power of friendship to help uncover mysteries and lay demons to rest.

The suspense kept me turning the pages, but there seemed to be a bit too much running around for my taste. I think the story could have been pared down to be a bit more spare without losing the suspense or drama.

Thank-you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and the author, Emily Carpenter, for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very different story, well written and kept me wondering just what was going on most of the time but i still enjoyed it.

Good, important topic. Nice suspense. Okay execution. Almost unbearable characters. I guess it was alright?
This book has been lying around on my Kindle for at least a year. It's one of the first NetGalley eARCs I've downloaded, and to be honest, the premise sounded fab:
Althea, fresh out of rehab, returns to her rich Southern home and finds herself absolutely unwanted there. Suffering trauma of losing her mother, torn between wondering if she's actually mentally ill, or if the worrying omens she's seeing are actually there, she tries to start (or rather – finish) solving the mystery of her Mother's death when she was but a child. Althea begins to unravel the dark secrets of her family and finds her own part in this story.

Southern mansions, old money with dark, dangerous secrets? Ooh! Yeah? Yeah, I thought so too.
But, in reality... A big letdown.
Well, alright. Southern dark secrets? Yes, they're there. In the book's defense, the ending was really good, the story well thought out, but... It's in how it reached that ending. And that fell flat.
First of all, the characters. Gosh... I know that Althea was supposed to be a walking problem, just out of rehab, unable to cope with her own urges or really even really believe in herself. But... That doesn't sanction her being a total ditz, succumbing to a childhood sweetheart like a total puddle of patheticness. It didn't even seem realistic. Get a grip, woman.
Let's also discuss this particular childhood sweetheart. Nowhere in any blurb I have seen was he ever mentioned. Had I known of any swoon-worthy sweet beefcakes, I would have never hit the request button. Knowing my tastes, I would have plainly ran off and off into the sunset from a book like that. Policeman (or fireman?) that saves the day? Please. Please please please. Ditzy chick needs to be saved, I guess?
So, all of that unsanctioned romance was not to my liking, nor were any, and I mean, any whatsoever of the characters, but I must agree that the story it told did have meaning and was strong. Some of the parts really did work as a thriller, although of course I didn't agree to parts of the execution. The ending might jolt you, it's... Really got some important things to say, and to make you think about. Unnecessary women... "Inconvenient women". The rule and tyranny of those in power. All very important topics to talk about, and I'm glad this book did, even if it didn't do it in the best way possible.
Summing it up, the best I can come up with is 2.5 stars. I wouldn't read the book again, and this book won't work in the favor of thrillers in my eyes, which I already don't really jump up and down to read. But if you go for thrillers and don't mind the occasional romance, it's okay. I would have liked the "paranormal-or-not" question to have been resolved, but it wasn't, at least not to my satisfaction. I would also have to warn you about the possible triggers, which are animal abuse, violence, rape, sexual abuse, substance abuse, pretty much any kind of abuse – you name it. It's not an easy book to read (that's particularly why the ditzy chick and the savior cowboy didn't seem to work for me at all.)

This is an incredible debut novel that held my attention from start to finish. The story flips back and forth between the present and the past, telling the troubling story of Althea’s grandmother back in the 1930’s alongside Althea’s present day struggles.

There is a definite race against time element in both threads and a real heart pounding sense of dread, mingled with the mystery and drama.

The story is both sad and utterly horrifying. The author does a terrific job of defining the characters, of creating a dark, emotionally taut force, and adding just a tiny pinch of Southern Gothic to top it off.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this free readers edition. In exchange I am providing an honest review.

Althea hears her mother's words echoing in her life, "Wait for her. For the honeysuckle girl. She’ll find you, I think, but if she doesn’t, you find her." For twenty-five years Althea has been hearing those words, wondering what they mean and dreading her 30th birthday, coming up in a couple of weeks. She doesn't dread getting older, she dreads 30. All the women in her family have a history of disappearing on their 30th birthday. Althea would like to break that cycle but first she has to find out why they disappeared and how to stop it. Problem is, the men in her family aren't keen on her finding out the family secrets - they would rather lock her up in the local mental institution and keep their reputations intact. Althea decides to not follow their plan and instead pave a new path for herself and future women in her family.
Carpenter weaves a story of old southern misogyny, mental illness, and the strength required to fight for a new life. This story was disturbing to me - it was the asshole men that kept the women in the story oppressed. They made me angry and it made me angry that the women in the story kept picking such creeps. I read the story and I kept reading it because I wanted to find out the truth Althea was searching for but I'm not sure I was very connected to the story. I was glad to find out the beginning, middle, and end of the women in Althea's family but it was also an easy book to finish and put down. This tells me I wasn't totally bought in to the characters and the storyline itself. I really can't even say what seemed to be the missing ingredient in order for me to buy in 100% but being able to walk away from it so easily tells me there was something missing. It was well written and I would give other titles Carpenter's pens a chance.

Althea Bell has come home to Alabama, she is fresh off a stint in re-hab for a drug addiction she has battled her entire life. Once home she is not greeted with open arms. Her dying father is yelling about how she is evil and something about her turning 30. Her snobby sister-in-law and political brother Wynn both loathe seeing that she is home. They inform her that her father's will specifies that she must go into a mental institute when she turns 30 or she will inherit nothing.

What is it about turning thirty with the women in her family? Several generations of her female relatives have all turned up at the local mental institute called Pritchford once the clock tolls on that birthday..and Althea's thirtieth birthday is just days away.
She must battle with her addiction and her family's determination that she needs locked away to find out the secrets her family shelters. (I totally wrote that fancy didn't I?)

Althea's battle with trying to prove she is not mentally unstable reads so well that I felt that trapped feeling along with her. She doubts herself at times and the people around her completely think she is borderline of finally crossing the line. What happened to parading our crazy on the front porch in the south is one thing I wondered about. (Not that it really happens-even in my state there is an old mental institute that has been long closed down because of some of the terrors that took place there.)
Anyways...that sinking feeling...
Then there is a cigar box full of 'clues' that her mother left to her the night that she disappeared and later died. Along with the words "Find the honeysuckle girl."
(That honeysuckle girl part drove me nuts turning pages to find out how it was going to wrap up.)
The women in Althea's family all had stories and they didn't really turn out like they all hoped. The history of how women were treated in the time period made me pretty ragey on their asshole male relatives.
Overall, this was a decent story that kept me reading. The only faults were that sometimes I felt like it went over the top and the ending wrap up seemed like a carbon copy of too many stories.