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karlyo83's review against another edition
5.0
My Rating Style: 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ticked all the boxes LOVED IT - ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR!!!
TRIGGER WARNING: Incest, suicide, alcoholism, underage drinking/sex
Lane Roanoke is fifteen when her mother commits suicide and she comes to rural Kansas to live with her Grandparents and wild cousin Allegra. Over the sweltering summer Lane experiences a completely different life than the one she is used to. No need to worry about money and the beauty of the Roanoke girls brings all the attention a young woman could ever want.
What Lane doesn’t know is that being a Roanoke girl carries a terrible legacy - The Roanoke girls either run or they die. Lane must make a choice, can she bare to share the legacy or will she be another Roanoke casualty??
EXERPT: My gaze lands on Allegra’s bedside table, and from this angle a double-panned picture frame peeks back at me. I reach out and lift it closer. The photo on the left is of my mother and Allegra’s mother, Eleanor. I slide the photo out of the frame, looking for a date or indication when it was taken, but there’s nothing written on the back. I would guess they are about fifteen and sixteen in the shot, both of them in bikinis.
They stand hip to hip with their arms slung around each other’s shoulders. Their dark hair blows in the breeze, Cheshire Cat grins stretching across their faces. There is something faintly seductive in both their smiles, in the come-hither tilt of their slim hips. Which means it was probably my grandad behind the camera. Another day of wholesome family fun at Roanoke.
So… when I picked this one up I was looking for a good short read. This book comes in under 300 pages, exactly what I was looking for… WRONG!!! I got so much more than I was looking for. I have never heard of [a:Amy Engel|7795802|Amy Engel|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1411916658p2/7795802.jpg] but I will be reading more of her work. Apparently a YA author prior to this book, this is her debut into adult novels and my god what an amazing debut.
Firstly, I loved the style of this novel the chapters and sentences were short and punchy. The writing was solid af, I really liked the style. We got to know each Roanoke girl and what happened to them… did they run or did they die? There is a chapter dedicated to each girl starting at the beginning all the way up to Allegra.
Lane is our narrator throughout the book but her POV switches between the THEN (her time at the Roanoke home) to the NOW (current timeline). This worked really well for me I loved finding out piece by piece what was unfolding.
As the book starts out there is an undertone that settles into your gut, you know that something weird is going on. Blink… and you will miss it. I had to run it back in the first couple of chapters to make sure I had read what I thought I read because I was shocked!!! It sets the tone of the entire book and I was disgusted but intrigued as to what was going to happen.
For me this book was devastating and heartbreaking… The Roanoke Girls are damaged long before they get a chance to discover themselves and with good reason. It goes to the heart of their long standing issues of suicide, alcoholism, trauma and erratic behaviour. I could really feel the pain in their hearts as I was reading this and my heart broke each time it was unveiled what was happening.
Amy Engel has a really amazing way of unfolding a story without explaining every tiny detail, there are a lot of implied events and it is written so beautifully with such poignant emotion that you just know what is going on but it is almost never explicitly stated. I felt all the feelings in this one, and you know what… for all my wanting of a short book, I didn’t want this one to end.
While the main traumatic subject matter is in no way familiar to me it hit me right in the heart with the side effects of that subject matter. The effect that family can have on a child in their formative years is crucial. Lane’s home life before Roanoke is a familiar one to me with her abusive, alcoholic, sad mother. Who by her own admission never really liked her… it is an all too close to home if only for a different reason and it was so well told. Your family dynamic, upbringing and nature vs nurture (or lack thereof) can bleed into every facet of your life. The behaviour you engage in as a child and the life you lead as an adult.
For Lane choices had to be made and she always seemed to make the choices that hurt herself or those around her the most because they were most comforting to her even though they hurt but especially because they hurt, and that in itself was so telling and so devastating.
If you are going into this one expecting a thriller - it isn’t that. There is a mystery to be solved in the disappearance of one of the main characters but there is no thriller element nor should there have been in my opinion. This is a well developed story of hurt and heartbreak and learning to stand on your own two feet - if that is in fact at all possible.
It probably wont be for everyone (I mean no book is really) but this is not uplifting but it has been one of my favourite reads of the year by far!!! It was an unexpected gem and I don’t often re-read books but this is one of the ones I will absolutely go back to!!
I will leave it here because I think this is quite long enough, in short, I loved it and would recommend.
TRIGGER WARNING: Incest, suicide, alcoholism, underage drinking/sex
Lane Roanoke is fifteen when her mother commits suicide and she comes to rural Kansas to live with her Grandparents and wild cousin Allegra. Over the sweltering summer Lane experiences a completely different life than the one she is used to. No need to worry about money and the beauty of the Roanoke girls brings all the attention a young woman could ever want.
What Lane doesn’t know is that being a Roanoke girl carries a terrible legacy - The Roanoke girls either run or they die. Lane must make a choice, can she bare to share the legacy or will she be another Roanoke casualty??
EXERPT: My gaze lands on Allegra’s bedside table, and from this angle a double-panned picture frame peeks back at me. I reach out and lift it closer. The photo on the left is of my mother and Allegra’s mother, Eleanor. I slide the photo out of the frame, looking for a date or indication when it was taken, but there’s nothing written on the back. I would guess they are about fifteen and sixteen in the shot, both of them in bikinis.
They stand hip to hip with their arms slung around each other’s shoulders. Their dark hair blows in the breeze, Cheshire Cat grins stretching across their faces. There is something faintly seductive in both their smiles, in the come-hither tilt of their slim hips. Which means it was probably my grandad behind the camera. Another day of wholesome family fun at Roanoke.
So… when I picked this one up I was looking for a good short read. This book comes in under 300 pages, exactly what I was looking for… WRONG!!! I got so much more than I was looking for. I have never heard of [a:Amy Engel|7795802|Amy Engel|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1411916658p2/7795802.jpg] but I will be reading more of her work. Apparently a YA author prior to this book, this is her debut into adult novels and my god what an amazing debut.
Firstly, I loved the style of this novel the chapters and sentences were short and punchy. The writing was solid af, I really liked the style. We got to know each Roanoke girl and what happened to them… did they run or did they die? There is a chapter dedicated to each girl starting at the beginning all the way up to Allegra.
Lane is our narrator throughout the book but her POV switches between the THEN (her time at the Roanoke home) to the NOW (current timeline). This worked really well for me I loved finding out piece by piece what was unfolding.
As the book starts out there is an undertone that settles into your gut, you know that something weird is going on. Blink… and you will miss it. I had to run it back in the first couple of chapters to make sure I had read what I thought I read because I was shocked!!! It sets the tone of the entire book and I was disgusted but intrigued as to what was going to happen.
For me this book was devastating and heartbreaking… The Roanoke Girls are damaged long before they get a chance to discover themselves and with good reason. It goes to the heart of their long standing issues of suicide, alcoholism, trauma and erratic behaviour. I could really feel the pain in their hearts as I was reading this and my heart broke each time it was unveiled what was happening.
Amy Engel has a really amazing way of unfolding a story without explaining every tiny detail, there are a lot of implied events and it is written so beautifully with such poignant emotion that you just know what is going on but it is almost never explicitly stated. I felt all the feelings in this one, and you know what… for all my wanting of a short book, I didn’t want this one to end.
While the main traumatic subject matter is in no way familiar to me it hit me right in the heart with the side effects of that subject matter. The effect that family can have on a child in their formative years is crucial. Lane’s home life before Roanoke is a familiar one to me with her abusive, alcoholic, sad mother. Who by her own admission never really liked her… it is an all too close to home if only for a different reason and it was so well told. Your family dynamic, upbringing and nature vs nurture (or lack thereof) can bleed into every facet of your life. The behaviour you engage in as a child and the life you lead as an adult.
For Lane choices had to be made and she always seemed to make the choices that hurt herself or those around her the most because they were most comforting to her even though they hurt but especially because they hurt, and that in itself was so telling and so devastating.
If you are going into this one expecting a thriller - it isn’t that. There is a mystery to be solved in the disappearance of one of the main characters but there is no thriller element nor should there have been in my opinion. This is a well developed story of hurt and heartbreak and learning to stand on your own two feet - if that is in fact at all possible.
It probably wont be for everyone (I mean no book is really) but this is not uplifting but it has been one of my favourite reads of the year by far!!! It was an unexpected gem and I don’t often re-read books but this is one of the ones I will absolutely go back to!!
I will leave it here because I think this is quite long enough, in short, I loved it and would recommend.
j_tracksbooks's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bookgraphy's review against another edition
4.0
The disturbing story of a messed up family written beautifully. I Kind of wish I had never read this but I also couldn't stop reading it.
jenhurst's review against another edition
4.0
Do you wish flowers in the attic had a mystery twist? Than this book is for you. Basically all the women are in love with the grandpa, so there’s a lot of incest. The person who killed the Roanoke girls was not surprising at all, but the author wrote a really fucked up book that I couldn’t put down.
seymone's review against another edition
4.0
First and foremost, this novel can trigger emotions if you are a victim of sexual abuse. With that said, the author deals with said sexual abuse in a tasteful way.
Why did I pick it up?
I picked up this book due to recommendation from a booktuber that I follow. I am starting to realize that I do not like to know about a book before reading. I like going in blindly.
Describe the book in 5 words
Perverse, Incestuous, Sick, Compelling and Fast Paced
Who would like The Roanoke Girls
Hmmm. Let me ponder that.
Anyone that likes a good psychological thriller.
Are there illustrations?
None.
Overall thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Its a good psychological thriller. Its really difficult for me to review this book without spoilers because I want to go in depth about the characters and their experiences. * I don't believe in spoilers. *
My one caveat about this novel is, I wanted to get a better look into the minds of the grandmother and grandfather. A lot of the storyline had to do with them, but you really only get a sense of them through the eyes of others.
I would recommend.
Why did I pick it up?
I picked up this book due to recommendation from a booktuber that I follow. I am starting to realize that I do not like to know about a book before reading. I like going in blindly.
Describe the book in 5 words
Perverse, Incestuous, Sick, Compelling and Fast Paced
Who would like The Roanoke Girls
Hmmm. Let me ponder that.
Anyone that likes a good psychological thriller.
Are there illustrations?
None.
Overall thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Its a good psychological thriller. Its really difficult for me to review this book without spoilers because I want to go in depth about the characters and their experiences. * I don't believe in spoilers. *
My one caveat about this novel is, I wanted to get a better look into the minds of the grandmother and grandfather. A lot of the storyline had to do with them, but you really only get a sense of them through the eyes of others.
I would recommend.
kyrajanson's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jenzhg's review against another edition
1.0
1.2/5 ⭐
Honestly, this book is the epitome of that one very slim chance of reading a bad book due to spontaneity.
Firstly, I want to discuss the writing. I think the writing could be dreadfully mundane at times yet gorgeous at times. Here are the quotes that left me with a burning desire to carve into my own desk:
"I wondered if a boy bred and raised by a man with hungry fists and an appetite for pain could ver escape the violence in his blood."
"I feel like we're all balancing on a house of cards, no one quite brave enough to say fuck it, and topple the whole thing to the ground."
"Made a meal of the crumbs of time Yates spent with her-- never enough, always leaving her hungry for more."
"All of it masquerading as innocent, but really just a gateway drug for girls starved for affection, desperate for someone to love them. He doesn't force us with a heavy hand. He manipulates with a gentle touch, guides us exactly where he wants us to go. So in the end, we blame only ourselves."
I've said it before and I'll say it again, what a talent it is to spin complicated emotions into beautiful phrases.
Anyways, onto the aspects I didn't like.
1. Marketed as a mystery
I don't think it should be marketed as a mystery at all since it is clear what the author had prioritized-- the tragedy behind the Roanoke girls. A good mystery has suspense, it has thriller elements, it keeps the readers on the edge of their seats--It's a good page-turner. But this book wasn't that.
More than half of the book was just us following Lane fighting against the effects of her mother's abuse and living under this blanket of fear, running around saying, "For Allegra!" and crying on Cooper's shoulders (An Aside: I love Cooper). Furthermore, throughout the story Lane goes and checks these places in Kansas that she KNOWS Allegra wouldn't have visited and yet she still goes? Like shouldn't the first instinct be to check places she HAD been to? That logic was really flawed.
Secondly, she keeps saying, "It's what Allegra would have wanted" but didn't Allegra want Lane to run away from the Roanoke house? Like...??? I get that at the end we find out that it wasn't just Allegra's mysterious death that caused her to stay but also the weird attraction she feels towards her father, Yates Roanoke (who's also considered her Grandpa...fucked up, I know). See, I just think that we were robbed of those scenes-- where she's combatting against this forbidden desire to be with Yates (typing this is making me convulse with disgust). That's why I felt like the forbidden attraction to Yates couldn't be considered one of the reasons. Hell, I think paying tribute to her mother would've made so much more sense.
1.5 What I think It should've been
I seriously loved the aspects that discussed the effects of abuse within this book (if you couldn't tell from the quotes above). Amy Engel has so much potential to turn this book into something similar to 'The Silence of the GIrls' by Pat Barker had she not added the "mystery" to it.
The characters' decisions and way of thinking were so wretched and fucked up and so in tune with the abuse they faced. For example, Lane. Lane is definitely not my favourite character but I can understand where she comes from, she seeks pain because that's what she's familiar with. It's what she thinks she deserves.
Furthermore, I like how the ending wasn't idealistic by any means. Connor doesn't swoop Lane up like some cheap fairy-tale romance but instead provides her with a wall to lean against when she slips back into an episode. I also liked how they don't just forget about their traumatic pasts or dilute the situation down but rather acknowledge it and work around it.
In conclusion, I wished Amy Engel could've just scraped the whole mystery aspect and focused solely on the Roanoke girls' tragedies instead. That would've definitely been a 4-stars-book.
Honestly, this book is the epitome of that one very slim chance of reading a bad book due to spontaneity.
Firstly, I want to discuss the writing. I think the writing could be dreadfully mundane at times yet gorgeous at times. Here are the quotes that left me with a burning desire to carve into my own desk:
"I wondered if a boy bred and raised by a man with hungry fists and an appetite for pain could ver escape the violence in his blood."
"I feel like we're all balancing on a house of cards, no one quite brave enough to say fuck it, and topple the whole thing to the ground."
"Made a meal of the crumbs of time Yates spent with her-- never enough, always leaving her hungry for more."
"All of it masquerading as innocent, but really just a gateway drug for girls starved for affection, desperate for someone to love them. He doesn't force us with a heavy hand. He manipulates with a gentle touch, guides us exactly where he wants us to go. So in the end, we blame only ourselves."
I've said it before and I'll say it again, what a talent it is to spin complicated emotions into beautiful phrases.
Anyways, onto the aspects I didn't like.
1. Marketed as a mystery
I don't think it should be marketed as a mystery at all since it is clear what the author had prioritized-- the tragedy behind the Roanoke girls. A good mystery has suspense, it has thriller elements, it keeps the readers on the edge of their seats--It's a good page-turner. But this book wasn't that.
More than half of the book was just us following Lane fighting against the effects of her mother's abuse and living under this blanket of fear, running around saying, "For Allegra!" and crying on Cooper's shoulders (An Aside: I love Cooper). Furthermore, throughout the story Lane goes and checks these places in Kansas that she KNOWS Allegra wouldn't have visited and yet she still goes? Like shouldn't the first instinct be to check places she HAD been to? That logic was really flawed.
Secondly, she keeps saying, "It's what Allegra would have wanted" but didn't Allegra want Lane to run away from the Roanoke house? Like...??? I get that at the end we find out that it wasn't just Allegra's mysterious death that caused her to stay but also the weird attraction she feels towards her father, Yates Roanoke (who's also considered her Grandpa...fucked up, I know). See, I just think that we were robbed of those scenes-- where she's combatting against this forbidden desire to be with Yates (typing this is making me convulse with disgust). That's why I felt like the forbidden attraction to Yates couldn't be considered one of the reasons. Hell, I think paying tribute to her mother would've made so much more sense.
1.5 What I think It should've been
I seriously loved the aspects that discussed the effects of abuse within this book (if you couldn't tell from the quotes above). Amy Engel has so much potential to turn this book into something similar to 'The Silence of the GIrls' by Pat Barker had she not added the "mystery" to it.
The characters' decisions and way of thinking were so wretched and fucked up and so in tune with the abuse they faced. For example, Lane. Lane is definitely not my favourite character but I can understand where she comes from, she seeks pain because that's what she's familiar with. It's what she thinks she deserves.
Furthermore, I like how the ending wasn't idealistic by any means. Connor doesn't swoop Lane up like some cheap fairy-tale romance but instead provides her with a wall to lean against when she slips back into an episode. I also liked how they don't just forget about their traumatic pasts or dilute the situation down but rather acknowledge it and work around it.
In conclusion, I wished Amy Engel could've just scraped the whole mystery aspect and focused solely on the Roanoke girls' tragedies instead. That would've definitely been a 4-stars-book.