Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

5 reviews

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

Finished reading: January 15th 2025

"That was what the books did—they turned off your thinking for you, put their thoughts in your head so you wouldn't have your own."

I'm a fan of Simone St. James' writing and I love a good historical gothic thriller, so I'm honestly still not sure why it took me this long to actually pick up my copy of The Broken Girls. I'm definitely kicking myself now though, because while not my absolute favorite story written by her, I still ended up having an excellent time reading it. This book uses a dual timeline structure, switching between 1950 with four different POVs and 2014 with one POV. I personally did feel we didn't need the POVs of all four girls in the 1950s timeline; it made it harder to connect to them and I would have much preferred a focus on just one or two of the girls instead. That said, I did enjoy the 1950 timeline with the school setting and the paranormal/gothic/ghost element is well incorporated. I confess that ghost stories don't always work well for me, but I really like what this element added in The Broken Girls. The 2014 timeline focuses on Fiona, who is a journalist with a complicated past. It did take me some time to warm up to her and she could get frustrating at times, but I liked the investigation into Idlewild and the way certain facts were slowly revealed. The two timelines are initially only connected by location rather than the characters, but everything comes together in the end. I did see some of the twists coming, but there were also a couple surprises and as a whole I really enjoyed my time with this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lindzboots's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

That was exquisite. So intriguing, so unsettling and disturbing, so excellent. The characters were all detailed and wonderful (or infuriating, depending, or both), the plot and the mystery so well-crafted, and the atmosphere incredibly creepy. The writing was absolutely wonderful - perfectly descriptive and constantly evoking just the right images and emotions. Really, really well done. The perfect read for spooky season or the early part of winter! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Xenophobia

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Classism

emileejacks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Stalking

One main content warning which is also a spoiler is

antisemitism

because the historical death mystery line is that

Sonja survived a concentration camp, moved to the boarding school, and ended up living in the same town as a former prison guard of the camp. Even though Sonja was not Jewish, the school dismissed her disappearance because antisemitism and BIG SPOILER: prison guard murdered her.

imfixintoread's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

I could not put this book down! There is a lot in this book -- mystery, paranormal activity, historical references to the Holocaust and Ravensbrück, murder, attempted murder, dual timelines, multiple narrators. And yet, Simone St. James absolutely nails this. It was incredibly well written and one of those books that I'll think about for a long time. There were a few times where the hair stood up on the back of my neck. Truly a great read.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Murder

Moderate: Genocide, Sexual assault, and Stalking

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The Broken Girls is a historical fiction that goes back and forth between a boarding school for troubled girls in Vermont 1950 and the same town in Vermont 2014, following a journalist whose sister was murdered and dumped at the school. It's a murder mystery, it's a paranormal story, but above all, it's a story about sisterhood both biological and found.

There is so much to like about this book. First and foremost, the students at the boarding school were excellent, by far my favorite characters, Katie and Sonia especially. There were moments between them that were just so genuine and beautiful that it broke my heart. I thought the paranormal element of the story was very spooky and I loved the historical details that were there throughout. The 1950 chapters were my favorite because I loved the gothic boarding school setting and the haunting that came with it.

On to some negatives: The first 50 or so pages were a little slow and it made it hard for me to concentrate. I feel like this book would have benefitted greatly from some first person narration. I didn't like how detached the third person made me feel at times. I think that seeing at least one of the girl's from the first person perspective would have made a difference. I also thought the relationship part of the plot with Fiona and her boyfriend was annoying and took me out of the experience whenever it was being focused on. Additionally, during Fiona's investigations, a lot of things seemed to come to her very quickly and conveniently, which more than once made me, out loud, go "really?" It just seemed like she should've had to work a little harder for information that seemingly fell into her lap.

Overall, because of how much the characters overall meant to me, I gave this a 3.5. It was a perfect spooky wintry book for December!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and War

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Drug use, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Excrement