An usual, almost surreal book, The Roanoke Girls is told through the point of view of mainly one character who has escaped a morbid mother and returned home to a nightmarish family. At first all seems pretty and pleasant, but soon enough she finds that there is a hidden decay under the sparkling façade. Chapters change from "then" and "now" and while I usually don't enjoy time shifts, this one is mild and doesn't hurt the pacing of the story. In fact, I was more curious about the before than the later. The author does the technique of revealing semi-early what the big secret is through dialogue when Lane comes back home to find out what happened to her sister, but when back in the past the build-up takes its time to reveal when she first discovered the surprising secret.

I will say I haven't read a book like this one before - either in the technique or the plotline. I won't give spoilers here, but let's just say it's not a traditional way of looking at abuse and shows a different side. Not full vulnerability but a strange draw. It was interesting to read this type of view and how molds of victims aren't all equally created.

I can't say I felt much bonding with the main character. She had a rough life but before and after just doesn't come across as that likeable. The same, in a way, for Allegra - although she intrigued me more with her buoyancy and dysfunction. I wasn't keyed into the romance with Cooper that much but he's an okay character.

Almost gothic in tone, it's an easy read that will keep the pages turning. Unusual and demented, it digs briefly into some tragic lives alongside Lane's twisted existence. At the end is that ray of hope, recovery and healing. I'm not surprised to find out who the ending villain was, but the point of the book isn't so much the mystery of who, but why. It doesn't come across as a surprise, so mainly read this one for the upside down family ambience. I will say the beginning with the mother and the way it was written was particularly stunning and effective.

Hoo boy but I do love me a good 'family secrets' mystery. Even when the 'secrets' in most of them are pretty much alway the same (incest, murder or both), I still enjoy the drama and 'hunt for the truth' so to speak if the writing is good.

In The Roanoke Girls, the big over-arching secret of the Roanokes is revealed relatively early on, but there were still enough missing pieces to keep a decent mystery going. Then of course there is the exploration of the long-term damage the secret has on each of the Roanoke girls themselves, which was handled quite well using alternating perspectives and switching between past and present. The final revelation is only semi-satisfying, but the wrenching emotional journey of Lane and the other Roanoke girls more than made up for it.

The characters are flawed and real, and even the most distasteful concepts are handled with unique and realistic dissection. Sometimes the way people feel or act is not explainable or rational, even to themselves, and Engel portrays this fantastically.

The Roanoke Girls is very similar to other 'dark family secret' novels (Bittersweet comes to mind), but this didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying it. Highly recommended.

Amy Engel's The Roanoke Girls, unfolds in the present and the past. The narrator is Lane Roanoke who is returning to Kansas after a frantic call from her grandfather informing her that her cousin Allegra has gone missing. So Lane drives back to the family house she swore she'd never return to. She thought she could run from her past and it didn't work. But she also finds that she's not quite ready to confront it either. A twisted story about love and the secrets we keep.

I enjoyed the writing but ultimately, this book was too predictable. I think people who liked The Girl on the Train, Gillian Flynn, or Mary Kubica would like this book.

"The Roanoke Girls" is an interesting story in the similar spirit of "Girls" and other coming-of-age stories. Lane Roanoke is called back to the Kansas family home after a 10 year absence. She ran away under mysterious circumstances and is now returning because her beloved cousin, Allegra, has gone missing. Both Lane and Allegra's mothers died tragically and the girls live in a large farmhouse with their grandmother and grandfather. Deep dark family secrets are revealed and by the end of the book there is a crescendo of reveals and emotions.

The author, Amy Engel, is a Young Adult author and materials say this is her first adult novel. It is about teenagers - Allegra and Lane spend a wild hot summer together in Kansas as 16 year olds and Engel seems to have the teenage voice down. She goes back and forth in time -- the adult Lane acting as the narrator for the entire timeline.

I enjoyed this book -- I read it in 2 days. If you're looking for something completely new and deep, this isn't it. While the subject matter has upsetting elements, to me, a grown woman, it still felt like a YA novel. Parts of the book were just filled with teenage humping, teenage drinking, teenage fights, etc -- not really things that moved the tragedy of the Roanoke family along too much. But so what? The book was very well written, kept my interest and was a fast read. If you spot this at the airport - buy it! It'll keep you reading throughout a long flight!

What I can say is that I've never read another book like this. It was the curiosity of what happens to Allegra and the mystery that was the Roanoke family that kept me hooked. Thing is over time reading the book I can see where this book was going and I'd get these icky feeling towards the book (Yes I know a childish word to explain how I feel) It was pretty dark and twisted and this book is not going to be for everyone. It was pretty obvious where things were going when it came to the family and their secrets and I needed to know what would happen in the end. I loved that there was the back and fourth of past an present and seeing why Lane was the way she was. I loved that there was also the the brief POV of the other Roanoke girls and seeing what they were like before thing went sound. It really was hard to see how things were for the Roanoke girls and after it all I liked this book. Overall this book was really good, well written, had me hooked till this end.

* * I recieved this from Blogging for Books for this review * *

This was a really hard book to read at times because abuse is such a hard thing to read about, but I did enjoy it overall! I didn't know much about Roanoke Girls going into the book, but I had been reading a lot of mysteries lately and I was in the mood for another one. This one isn't quite a mystery in the traditional sense; yes, there's a missing woman and no one knows what's happened to her, but it's more about the strange events that have haunted all the Roanoke Girls over multiple generations.

I liked how this book was very character-driven. It is narrated by a bunch of dysfunctional women, but it doesn't play too much into the "hysterical woman" stereotype that a lot of psychological thrillers use. Instead, we see all the women as complicated people who deal with a disturbing family secret in different ways. Mental health and mental illness are at the forefront of this book, and I think the author did a great job of showing how toxic environments exacerbate mental illness without defining characters as "crazy". All the women in the book are given a voice to tell their own side of the story, which I thought was very important.

My favorite part about this book is how things aren't tied up neatly at the end. There is a solid ending, don't get me wrong, but considering how dark the family secret is, I'm glad that Lane is still working towards finding her happiness at the end of the novel. Things don't just fall in her lap, she has to face her own demons and work at forming healthy relationships.

This book was a really quick and interesting read. I wouldn't call it fun, because there is some pretty icky/disturbing stuff, but I did enjoy reading about Lane's journey.

A free eARC was provided by Crown Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Two cousins, united in their grandparents' estate following the death of their mothers, discover that their past, and that of their family, is marred by deeply hidden secrets; as answers begin to unfold, the tale becomes much darker and the suspense more intriguing.

Author Amy Engel's talents in the world of young adult literature shine in this captivating story; the writing is gorgeous and I found myself highlighting many passages.

"Guilt, I’m discovering, is an emotion that’s almost impossible to kill. It’s like a poisonous weed that keeps on growing, burrowing into every vulnerable spot. Always reminding you of all the ways you’ve failed."

The level of family dysfunction and difficult subject matter in The Roanoke Girls has been compared, in several comments I've read, to a modern-day V.C. Andrews (remember Flowers in the Attic?) production; it will be a complete turn-off, for some readers. It should probably come with a warning label, but I dare you to try putting it down. I finished this one very quickly and will be recommending it (with a heads up on the cringe-worthy family dynamics), to many in my Best Books to Read on Spring Break list.

https://lovintoread.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-haunting-tale-of-roanoke-girls-by-amy.html

Lane’s family has a secret. A secret that she ran away from at the age of 16. A secret that led to her mom’s suicide when Lane was just 15. A secret that eventually leads to the death or disappearance of all Roanoke girls, at least those that stay at the family estate. And now Lane’s cousin Allegra has gone missing, and their grandfather is calling her back home to help find her.

It’s hard to talk about this book without giving anything away. The family secret is alluded to early in the book, so it isn’t much of a surprise when it’s revealed. And it is a bit VC Andrews without as much drama, not as extreme or entangled, but equally taboo. It’s also a little scary because you can understand the hold a charismatic loved one can have over you, and how the illness that convinces them that everything they are doing is out of love, also helps a child to be convinced that something that feels wrong isn’t. In the long run, that confusion blurs the lines of love, making it difficult to understand what real loves feels like, to accept it from others who offer it without expectations, without manipulation. And when that child grows older and realizes what has happened, they struggle to understand how they could have “let” it happen, how they couldn’t have known. How maybe they did know, but it was easier to pretend. As an adult Lane searches for her cousin Allegra, these are some of the demons she wrestles with, demons she’s been living with since that summer she went to live with her grandparents, a summer that she’d rather forget.

The perspective of this book was quite interesting. In using multiple generations of women, all suffering the same thing at the same hands, we are able to see the many different ways that people react to such abuses. I thought the relationship between Cooper and Lane was a little cliché. Perhaps I’ve read too many books where broken people get together and patch each other up, or perhaps support each other while they patch themselves up. Despite that, I liked them together.

Overall, a good read. It was a lot more introspection than mystery, and I can’t say that I was surprised about who did it. But the psychology of it all was intriguing.

Note: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I’ve been struggling with this review, this book has left me feeling really conflicted and I have a feeling that I won’t be the only person who winds up feeling like this once they finish this book. There were as many strong aspects to it as there were weaker ones for me, and this is also a difficult one to review anyway based on the subject matter alone, but I’ll do my very best.

This is told from Then and Now, then being the one summer Lane spent with her mothers family and now being when Allegra goes missing and she heads back to help find her. There are also several chapters, one for each Roanoke girl there ever was. I actually probably enjoyed those the most, there was something chilling about their accounts of what was happening behind closed doors. The Roanoke family is seriously messed up, I don’t even think the word dysfunctional begins to describe the family secret they’re all hiding. While the secret is revealed pretty early on, I’m still not comfortable discussing it here, but as much as the what shocked me, the actual manner in which it was revealed was lackluster and left me wanting a bit more drama. I wouldn’t even really label this a thriller, I would call it a mystery at the most. There wasn’t that sense of urgency that thrillers always have, I think in part because the huge secret was outed so quickly. There was another twist in the end but it was obvious to me and I had worked it out easily. Perhaps if I hadn’t I would’ve been more satisfied.

I have to give credit to the addictive writing of Engel, there was something mesmerizing about this story that urged me to keep reading even though the subject matter was taboo and forbidden. Nothing was over the top and graphic though, she handled the situation as pleasantly as possible. I found myself wondering what the hell was wrong with me for being so enraptured by this twisted family. This will definitely be one with strong fans and those on the opposite side who can’t stomach the unsettling story or even buy into the plausibility of it actually happening. I’m honestly right in the middle, I can see both sides. If you’ve read it I would love to know how you feel!

After Lane Roanoke's mother commits suicide (not a spoiler), Lane goes to live with her wealthy Roanoke grandparents and her spirited Roanoke cousin, Allegra.

The Roanoke Girls tells the story from multiple points of view (Then and Now for Lane and then from the point of view of other Roanoke Girls as well), which I like. The point of view didn't switch so quickly or often that you'd lose track or get lost... but I did have to refer back to the "family tree" at the beginning of the book a few times to remember how each girl was related.

I removed one star because the ending was a little predictable for me - however, despite that, the book kept me engaged the entire time - and even though I thought I knew "whodunit" - I did second guess myself a few times.

On the other hand, I went into this book a little blind... some may already know the overarching (and disturbing) theme of this book before reading it... I didn't - so when I realized what was going on, I was blown away.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more by this author.

Thank you netgalley for providing a copy of this book for me to review.

See link to goodreads review

The first time Lane saw Roanoke was in a dream. The second time was a month after her mother committed suicide. Lane’s grandparents- Yates and Lilian Roanoke were rich and agreed to take Lane as they were already raising her cousin Allegra since she had been born.Lane had lived her whole life in NYC but now she was moving to Kansas. Roanoke looked like a giant house randomly added on to. It was equally horrifying and memorizing. Lane would be sixteen in three weeks and her cousin Allegra looked a lot like Lane. Allegra said she was so glad Lane was there. Allegra’s almost crazed energy reminded Lane of her mother. Allegra told Lane Roanoke girls didn’t seem to last long around Roanoke and her and Lane were Roanoke girls. Then in the present Lane got a call from her grandfather to come home that Allegra was missing. Since Lane had left Roanoke she had not spoken to her grandparents. Lane barely kept in contact with Allegra but every now and then Allegra would email Lane and Lane would answer. She checked and she had an email from Allegra eight days ago but Lane had never answered Allegra. Of the Roanoke that had left Roanoke Lane was the first one to go back. Lane knew Roanoke was no good for her but her heart says home. Lane had only stayed at Roanoke one long summer. Lane had been married to Jeff and divorced since she had left. Then a local cop shows up and it turns out to be Tommy a guy lane never thought would become a cop. Tommy had been crazy in love with Allegra but she would never marry him Lane had known this. Lane decided to search Allegra’s room to see if she could find any clues. Then Lane fund written on the top on Allegra’s vanity under some makeup it said “ Run Lane” . Lane had been away for almost eleven years. As Lane went to look for more clues about Allegra she learned more of her family’s secrets but also starts sleeping with Cooper again as she had that long summer.
I absolutely loved this story- definitely a new favorite. It grabbed you right from the beginning and kept you into the story right until the last page. I didn’t like so much reading about the incest but was a large part of the story and it was done tastefully if there is a tasteful way when this is part of a story. I sure don’t understand how Lilian could be happy to live that life but I guess there are people out there that call obsession love. There is intrigue, secrets, manipulation, lies, pregnancies, and so much more in this story. The plot was great as was the writing. I liked how Lane had the courage to live at sixteen. Also she had the courage to go to the police about her grandparents and tell them everything. Tommy was a butt when he seemed relieved it wouldn’t come out about him and Allegra and he could live in his Tommy world. I did love the characters and the ins and outs of this story and I highly recommend.

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel (adult debut)
Publisher: Crown
Release Date: March 7, 2107
Length: 290

Single Sentence Summary: For three generations if you’re born a Roanoke girl, you either leave or you die.

Primary Characters: Lane Roanoke – the only Roanoke girl not born at the family estate. Lane arrives at Roanoke following her mother’s suicide. Allegra Roanoke – Lane’s cousin, only six months younger. Allegra has always lived at Roanoke. Yates Roanoke – the family patriarch, a man single-minded in getting what he wants.

Synopsis: Fifteen-year old Lane has had a rough life. There was always something deeply sad about her mother and Lane never understood why. Following her mother’s suicide, Lane comes to Roanoke to be with the only family she has: grandparents and a cousin she’s never met and knows nothing about. Lane fits in smoothly to life on the estate/farm and finds a friend in Allegra, but something is not quite right. After only a few months, Lane flees her family only to be called back ten years later when Allegra has gone missing. The last thing Lane wants to do is return to Roanoke, but she feels a responsibility to Allegra, who she left behind.

Review: The Roanoke Girls is a difficult book to review without giving too much away, but I’m going to try! Amy Engel’s debut novel for adults has a very serious theme, yet the book was still delightfully fun and a fast read. She wove her story together with Lane as the narrator, alternating between the first summer she spent at Roanoke and the summer ten years later when she’s returned in search of Allegra. The events of that first summer had long haunted Lane and coming back was something she never wanted to do.

“But in the end, none of it mattered, because here I am again and it’s like I never left. This place never let go of me. I’ve carried it all these years. Like a disease. Like a tumor.” My voice breaks and I drop my gaze. “It’s killing me.”

Though I was able to predict much of what happened, I enjoyed how the resolution came at the juncture of the two time frames. Engels’ writing was clean and the uneasy tone of her narrator perfect.

I would most definitely recommend The Roanoke Girls to others, but I did have a small problem with it. Overall, I thought the storyline was a little too “Flowers in the Attic.” There’s certainly nothing wrong with that and it might reflect Engel’s young adult background. But, to really enjoy The Roanoke Girls I had to suspend my doubts about the central premise of the book. If I thought about it too much, I always ended up at, “Why?” It didn’t seem like Engel presented a strong enough case for the reasons why the Roanoke girls were all drawn to the same flame. For me to love this book, that part of the story would have needed to be a little stronger. Never-the-less, The Roanoke Girls is a story I’ll long remember and one I think many readers will eagerly devour! Grade: B

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel was a book that I had been highly anticipating since late 2016. I didn’t even know much about it, I just knew that it had Roanoke in the title and I had just completed that season of American Horror Story. I didn’t necessarily feel they were related, but my interest was certainly piqued.

I picked up The Roanoke Girls last night so I could read a chapter before bed, the entire book later, I was sitting there with my mouth open and thinking to myself “what did I just read?”

Dark, disturbing and electrifying, this one moved under my skin and settled there. I felt uneasy. I felt anxious. I couldn’t put it down. From the troubling family “birthright” to the incredibly messed up characters, I was sucked in.

The novel opens with Lane Roanoke, after time spent away from her family home, returning to help out after the disappearance of her cousin. Gran and Grandad welcome her back with open arms and she must confront bits of her past she had fled from years earlier. The Roanoke’s have a secret; a secret that is known but not spoke of; a secret that Lane has worked hard to avoid. Now, all of those secrets are coming back to haunt her.

Narrated in alternating sections between then and now. Then being when Lane first arrived at the farm for her grandparent’s care and now being the return to help find her cousin. Although the novel is narrated mostly through the eyes of Lane, we get a chapter thrown in every so often that gives a perspective from a dead or lost Roanoke girl. It was such an incredibly unique narrative style and I was completely gripped.

I know that people have been giving this one some mixed reviews and I could potentially understand why. The subject matter is dark. It will not be for everyone. It is not a “thriller” per say, more of a contemporary mystery surrounding one family’s dysfunction. However, for entertainment value? This one cannot be beaten.

And we also give a shoutout to Engel for her ability to throw on a new hat? From a YA novel to this. Wow.

I gave this one a 5/5 stars. It is absolutely worth the read.

I was clueless about this book's subject, so my eyes just about popped out of my head when Lane blurts out a scandalous family secret during an awkward family dinner! The Roanoke Girls is exactly the type of twisted tale that I’d sneak into my library book stack when I was a teenager, so it triggered a nostalgic feeling in me. I was completely riveted by the story, but the entertaining quality made me feel voyeuristic. One big secret is revealed at 12% and the course of the story felt fairly certain from that point, but I'm spoiler-tagging the important lessons. If you're sensitive to any type of family secret storyline, you'll probably want to read this first spoiler: [incest.]

Fifteen-year-old Lane was sent to live with her grandparents after her mother committed suicide. It had always been just her and her depressed mother, but now she is surrounded by family. She's welcomed to the Roanoke estate by her charismatic grandfather, cold grandmother, and “mouthy, willful" cousin Allegra. Allegra and Lane hit it off immediately, becoming as close as sisters. The living arrangement only lasts for one summer, because Lane uncovers a terrible secret. She runs away and never looks back. Eleven years later, Lane's grandfather asks her to return home. Allegra is missing. Lane becomes the first Roanoke girl to go back to Roanoke and she doesn't intend to leave until she does right by her cousin. Where is Allegra? Why has so much tragedy befallen the Roanoke girls?

I was totally sucked into the story from the beginning. The prologue is deliciously creepy! The chapters alternate between Lane's first summer at Roanoke and her return as an adult, with occasional interludes from the other Roanoke women. The story takes place in rural Kansas, with "wheat fields that melt into the horizon" and the ever-present sounds of cicadas and train whistles. The sticky, oppressive heat is unrelenting. Lane always imagined Roanoke as a majestic estate, but it's actually a farmhouse augmented by a mishmash of disparate renovations. The entire town of Osage Flats feels like a return to a simpler era, but Roanoke is uniquely stuck in time. Lane's short time there feels like a lifetime. When she returns to Kansas, she reconnects with friends from her first summer at Roanoke: loyal Tommy and ex-summer-fling Cooper. I actually liked the romantic subplot in this one! Cooper and Lane had an interesting history and I'm a sucker for a "bad boy trying to do better" storyline.

One of the secrets is revealed early on, allowing me to focus on how everything happened rather than what happened. Every subtle behavior takes on an ominous tint when we discover why Lane fled Roanoke so quickly. We see how a manipulator can muddle issues to the point that a person doesn't trust their own instincts. [The Roanoke Girls addresses the confusing feelings a survivor of sexual abuse may have, the type of feelings that aren't easy for outsiders to hear. Oprah Winfrey addresses these feelings in her interview with Matthew Sandusky (Washington Post, Ordinary Evil blog):

Allegra was given the illusion of choice, but she'd been carefully groomed from a young age. Roanoke is so isolated from the rest of the community that it's not hard to see how she came to be so dependent on her abuser for love and affection. I liked that Allegra is not judged for her situation. Lane even admits that different circumstances could've led her down the same path. While secrets are a normal part of life inside Roanoke, the horrors are amplified when the victims are exposed to the outside world. The devastating effects of abuse endure long after the abuse has ended. Lane's mother Camilla could barely function. One of the most heartbreaking moments is when Lane finally understands her mother's overwhelming despair. Camilla couldn't love a child they way they should be loved, but she did the best she could.

There were so many opportunities for the secrets of Roanoke to be exposed. How do scandalous secrets stay hidden for so long? Shame or family bonds are common reasons people stay silent. Sometimes the concerns are more selfish. With time, someone else's secrets can easily become your own. Maybe by the time they're ready to talk, they feel implicated in the crime. One of the most shocking things about these situations are the wives and mothers who turn a blind eye to what's happening, or even resent those being abused while loving the abuser. This story shows the thought process of a woman who has to choose between doing the right thing and her husband, as well as how an abuser pits their victims against each other.

What kept the whole story from being too much for me, was that it isn't overly explicit. We are introduced to the Roanoke girls when they are alone with their thoughts. Their chapters are about how they were feeling, rather than lurid descriptions of what they were subjected to. However, there were still several moments made me sick to my stomach, including a kiss and Lane's description of her grandfather's love at the end. The beauty of the Roanoke girls is repeatedly mentioned, but I was especially annoyed at the focus of the handsomeness of a patriarch. It almost felt like it was trying to make his magnetism more palatable, even though attractiveness doesn't seem to be a key feature in these situations. ]

At Roanoke, secrets fester in the darkness. It was sad to see how even "good" people fell prey to their baser instincts. My heart broke even more for one of the girls when her trust was betrayed by the one person she thought she could count on. The author also explores secrets outside of the cultish, twisted environment of Roanoke. The Roanokes are not the only ones who have dark secrets. More than one character wonders if the cycle of pain is destined to repeat itself through the generations."Sometimes you have to pass the pain around in order to survive it."

"Sometimes people who love us can still hurt us.” The Roanoke Girls features an extreme situation, but we've all seen shades of it in the news. Crimes committed by respected members of the community, their terrible secrets guarded by those who should be the protectors. Sometimes segments of the community rally around these people, while passing judgment on the victims. This story covers some difficult issues that can be hard for people who've had loving families to comprehend. It's a compelling story, but also very disturbing. The contemporary mystery vibe made me feel like I was gawking at the situation, which is why I'm so conflicted about my feelings for this one.

I read this book in 24 hours which hasn't happened since I was in high school. I found this book intriguing, mysterious, and dark. Did it make me uncomfortable? Yes. It's suppose to! And it's nearly impossible to do to a horror and mystery fanatic. Every character was beautifully flawed and realistic. The suspicion was everywhere and I was constantly wondering "whodunit". When I found out who it was i was satisfied, and I was even more satisfied with the ending. Everything ties up nicely.

I love the love story in this book because it is not fluffy and mushy. It isn't portrayed as easy and simple, Lane and Cooper have to work in their relationship, and that's what sold me on this. Their carnal in desire but realistic in the politics of the relationship. Also Cooper is just a hunk and so sweet.

I really liked this book. I only say I don't love it because of the simple fact that there is incest in this book. And while it isn't the main plot, it runs through and parallel to the main plot. I understand it's purpose but I don't have to like it.


4/5 stars for me


Thank you NetGalley and Crown Publishing for sharing this book with me.

I had heard very mixed reviews about The Roanoke Girls, but I really liked it! The tagline alone was enough to draw me in, "Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.”

The different timelines, going from each of the Roanoke Girls and their lives/perspectives throughout the years. The mystery behind the deaths and disappearances were really fascinating. Why these girls in particular?

We follow Lane, and when her mother dies she is sent to live with her grandparents in Kansas. Where she meets her cousin Allegra and learns of the history of her aunts and cousins. All the woman have either run away under mysterious circumstances, or they died in what appeared be freak accidents. Years later, after Lane moved out to California, she is called back to her grandparents' home when her cousin Allegra goes missing. Why did she run away? Will they find her?

I enjoyed how Amy Engel weaved the stories together and how the story went back and forth from "Then" and "Now" - but each one was from the eyes of the different Roanoke women. While it's not a "sitting on the edge of your seat" kind of mystery/thriller, it was still fast enough to where you didn't lose interest. It was a quick read for me.

Thank you to Crown Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Roanoke Girls was sad and disturbing, but it draws you in and refuses to let go. I was almost disturbed I was that engrossed in it, but the writing is just fantastic. If you don't mind messed up subjects, pick this one up.

Right away, I'm going to start with a trigger warning: this novel deals with some graphic sexual content so keep than in mind before reading it. That being said, I really liked this novel. It was disturbing, yes, but it was intelligent and thought-provoking. The author created characters that were well-formed and had believable reactions based on what was happening. Quite often, I find authors creating characters that behave in ways that just don't make sense with the experiences that the character is going through, but that wasn't the case in this novel. The story was gripping; I couldn't put the book down no matter how uncomfortable it got. This is one of those books that you know will stay with you long after you read it. Everything is explained well, and there was never a time when I didn't sympathize with the Roanoke girls - and that is a difficult thing to achieve. Overall, a really well-written and disturbing novel that gripped me from beginning to end!

I received this novel as an ARC from NetGalley and Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.