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b_lownds127's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really enjoyed parts of this story, the ghost story for one, the 1950 storyline for another. The 2014 storyline felt forced and unrealistic to me, I did not feel the "romance" of the characters to be convincing and the Big Bad felt incredibly over the top.
<<<<<Spoiler:
I felt the resolution of the ghost story was too vague, I really enjoyed the resolution of the 1950 murder, and was irritated beyond tolerance by the end of the 2014 mystery. I felt the author was making a great point about the "good ole boy" cops and small town quid pro quo system with victim silencing accompanied by shoddy police work and then she completely went off the rails and gave us a cop willing to literally hide bodies, cover up murders, kill a journalist, and then shoot at his own son. All the believability ebbed away at that point and I feel the MC's conversation with the irritated chief of police at the end of the book made a better point than the rest of the "corrupt cop" storyline. >>>>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Violence, War, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
skywags's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
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? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide, Rape, and Child abuse
savvyrosereads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Rating: 4/5 stars
Told in dual timelines, The Broken Girls is the story of four best friends at a remote boarding school for troubled teens, and a journalist trying to learn buried details of her sister’s murder.
I love a good ghost story, and Simone St. James writes some of the best. The Sun Down Motel remains one of my all time favorites thrillers, and I really enjoyed The Book of Cold Cases earlier this year, so I was super excited to get my hands on The Broken Girls this spooky season. Overall I really enjoyed it—the themes of female friendship and empowerment were really meaningful to me, and I particularly loved the underlying message about the importance of telling stories and not erasing women’s trauma.
I will say that I ultimately wanted a little more from the plot, which sometimes felt a bit disconnected to me, and I wish there had been a bigger twist or two. Still, the creepy boarding school vibes and hauntingly (pun very intended) beautiful writing definitely make this a top notch recommendation for this time of year!
Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: ghost stories; stories about uncovering and healing from trauma; dual timeline thrillers
CW: Death/murder/attempted murder (including of a child); grief; sexual assault/rape; traumatic brain injury; mentions of anti-semitism/Nazism/concentration camps; mentions of PTSD/suicide/suicide attempt; miscarriage/stillbirth.
Told in dual timelines, The Broken Girls is the story of four best friends at a remote boarding school for troubled teens, and a journalist trying to learn buried details of her sister’s murder.
I love a good ghost story, and Simone St. James writes some of the best. The Sun Down Motel remains one of my all time favorites thrillers, and I really enjoyed The Book of Cold Cases earlier this year, so I was super excited to get my hands on The Broken Girls this spooky season. Overall I really enjoyed it—the themes of female friendship and empowerment were really meaningful to me, and I particularly loved the underlying message about the importance of telling stories and not erasing women’s trauma.
I will say that I ultimately wanted a little more from the plot, which sometimes felt a bit disconnected to me, and I wish there had been a bigger twist or two. Still, the creepy boarding school vibes and hauntingly (pun very intended) beautiful writing definitely make this a top notch recommendation for this time of year!
Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: ghost stories; stories about uncovering and healing from trauma; dual timeline thrillers
CW: Death/murder/attempted murder (including of a child); grief; sexual assault/rape; traumatic brain injury; mentions of anti-semitism/Nazism/concentration camps; mentions of PTSD/suicide/suicide attempt; miscarriage/stillbirth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Violence, Murder, Death, and Genocide
Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Confinement, Sexism, Antisemitism, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, and Misogyny
Minor: Drug abuse, Addiction, and Drug use
annabelle42688's review
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Simone St. James sure knows how to write a mystery/thriller ghost story. I have read two of her books now. Both are five star reads and St. James might be my new favorite author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
shannananahey's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Death, Misogyny, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Sexual violence, Bullying, Drug use, Drug abuse, Antisemitism, Blood, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, and Sexual assault
Minor: Cancer, Body shaming, and Child death
sbcrra's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The Broken Girls by Simon St. James is about the search for truth even long after everyone else has moved on. It's about found family and the resilience of girls and women who have faced soul-crushing situations but rather than give in, they have fought to stay alive, both figuratively and literally. While a solid read, there were moments where I felt that the main character did not have to work very hard to learn information that was important in advancing the story. There was also the appearance of a character who Fiona meets in the alleyway of a church that I thought was really random. All in all, a good read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Ableism, Antisemitism, Grief, Rape, and Sexual assault
thexwalrus's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
simone st. james is an absolutely incredible writer, and all of the things i adored from the sun down motel are just as present here in the broken girls.
the characters in this story are just as loveable and lovely as i expected, and the big cornerstone in this is friendship - sonia, roberta, katie, and cece are brought together by circumstance and end up loving each other as much as one human can love another person. they become a family, and the love between them runs so deep and makes each revelation ache in the best way. while it is a genuinely tense and spooky horror/thriller, it also feels like a love story about enduring friendship.
fiona and her father, malcom, are fiery, passionate characters - while malcom is only tertiary, he brings so much life to every part of the story he touches. fiona's perspective makes each of the people she meets more vibrant than they are to begin with - which is pretty damn vibrant, because st. james is a master at writing great characters. even characters i initially mistrusted end up being ones i opened my heart to - except for that one particular character i won't name because of spoilers. but if you read it, you'll know who i mean.
despite being, in essence, a story about five main characters, this ends up feeling like a visit to a small town where everyone knows everyone and everyone's pleased to see you; it captures the small town new england feel beautifully, and the way it's written feels like a raw, wet day in late autumn in vermont. basically, what i'm saying is it's perfect, and i loved every bit of it. absolutely read this.
the characters in this story are just as loveable and lovely as i expected, and the big cornerstone in this is friendship - sonia, roberta, katie, and cece are brought together by circumstance and end up loving each other as much as one human can love another person. they become a family, and the love between them runs so deep and makes each revelation ache in the best way. while it is a genuinely tense and spooky horror/thriller, it also feels like a love story about enduring friendship.
fiona and her father, malcom, are fiery, passionate characters - while malcom is only tertiary, he brings so much life to every part of the story he touches. fiona's perspective makes each of the people she meets more vibrant than they are to begin with - which is pretty damn vibrant, because st. james is a master at writing great characters. even characters i initially mistrusted end up being ones i opened my heart to - except for that one particular character i won't name because of spoilers. but if you read it, you'll know who i mean.
despite being, in essence, a story about five main characters, this ends up feeling like a visit to a small town where everyone knows everyone and everyone's pleased to see you; it captures the small town new england feel beautifully, and the way it's written feels like a raw, wet day in late autumn in vermont. basically, what i'm saying is it's perfect, and i loved every bit of it. absolutely read this.
Content Warnings
Minor: War, Child abuse, Antisemitism, Rape, and Suicide attempt
there are descriptions of a Ravensbrück, a concentration camp, and mentions of the torture women went through there, though none are so detailed i would consider them graphic.vanessa1982's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Kidnapping
Minor: Rape
kimbekaw's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
On the supernatural element of the book:
Very little point to the ghost, "Mary Hand". She only served as a "spook factor". The book could have easily been written without the supernatural element and have been just as impactful. It had nearly no bearing on the story at all, other than to create the spooky atmosphere of a haunted boarding school.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Murder, Violence, and Confinement
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Rape, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Antisemitism, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Classism, and Sexual content
bringmybooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Okay, so that was amazing! I started this book on a whim, having previously only read one book by Simone St. James (The Haunting of Maddy Clare, which still has the ability to give me nightmares if I let it) - and then I didn't stop reading it until I finished (Dinner? What's dinner?).
✨ 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 ✨ B̷O̷R̷R̷O̷W̷ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷
I was immersed in this story immediately, and I loved the dual timeline plot device that was used - it kept you totally hooked from the first chapter. The idea of a haunted girls boarding school is so fascinating, because let's face it - if anything was going to be haunted, it would be boarding schools from the 1950s. And the story behind this one was done SO. WELL.
I loved the four girls from the 1950s, and in a weird way I was getting major Now & Then vibes which made me like it all the more (Cece was Chrissy, Katie was Roberta, Roberta was Samantha, and Sonia was Teeny, right???). The bond the girls had was evident in every chapter and even as you knew what was coming (that prologue was no joke) you couldn't help but hope that you were wrong.
That being said, the 2014 timeline was just as intriguing - I loved Fiona as a character and was so invested in the various mysteries she was trying to unravel. And. THE. TWIST.
YUP.
Solid spooky ghost story by an author with an impressive backlist that I will definitely be acquiring!
✨ 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 ✨ B̷O̷R̷R̷O̷W̷ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷
I was immersed in this story immediately, and I loved the dual timeline plot device that was used - it kept you totally hooked from the first chapter. The idea of a haunted girls boarding school is so fascinating, because let's face it - if anything was going to be haunted, it would be boarding schools from the 1950s. And the story behind this one was done SO. WELL.
I loved the four girls from the 1950s, and in a weird way I was getting major Now & Then vibes which made me like it all the more (Cece was Chrissy, Katie was Roberta, Roberta was Samantha, and Sonia was Teeny, right???). The bond the girls had was evident in every chapter and even as you knew what was coming (that prologue was no joke) you couldn't help but hope that you were wrong.
That being said, the 2014 timeline was just as intriguing - I loved Fiona as a character and was so invested in the various mysteries she was trying to unravel. And. THE. TWIST.
YUP.
Solid spooky ghost story by an author with an impressive backlist that I will definitely be acquiring!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Rape