Reviews with content warning for Incest - The Roanoke Girls

i hated this book. didn’t know it was about incest and i wish that was mentioned in the synopsis so i wouldn’t have read it. also the main character was so unlikable and multiple ways, it was beyond complex. she was a 2D unlikable person

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bdr77's review against another edition

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HOLY SHIT I can’t finish this I literally

can’t deal with the incest I genuinely couldn’t believe my eyes when I read that for the first time.

I was sold this as similar to Sharp Objects but it’s disturbing in a much worse and intolerable way.

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pocabf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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kennabanenna's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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hufflepuff_reads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

Overall, it's a great book, a little touchy with themes of the book. The main plot point i enjoyed was the myster of finding out what happened to allegra, and that was exciting to follow.
Although at first i was not expecting the outcome, which befell her. Cooper and Tommy definitely book boyfriend material as you would call it.
It's very easy to picture Nd watch it play out in my head as i read through which is always something i look for.

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ewitsemma's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

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alliereads_'s review against another edition

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dark tense

2.0

This book was just not for me. It was an easy enough read so I stuck with it, but there was nothing compelling me to finish - I wasn’t interested in finding out what happened, so much of it felt unnecessary and redundant, and moreover, I was uncomfortable with the portrayal of the young women.

It really disturbed me how much Engel portrayed the girls as willing participants in affairs with Yates as opposed to what they really were: victims. Sophia committing suicide because she was jealous that he loved someone else more and Penelope dressing to seduce him: both depictions give these children too much agency and will when in reality they had none and would likely have been devastated and full of hatred due to Yates’ abuse. Even Sharon paints the girls as the masterminds, rendering herself and Lillian as the victims of their affairs. Not to mention the constant harping on Allegra as an irrefutably broken person - a pretty harsh friction of someone struggling to overcome a lifetime of incest.

It infuriated me how dense Lane was, too, refusing to consider that Allegra might have left Roanoke knowing that she might have a baby - aka Yates’ next victim - on the way. Why wouldn’t she tell Tommy? Why is she protecting her grandparents? Why didn’t Tommy or the grandparents think to check the swimming hole before Lane stumbled upon it? Unfortunately, some of this is realistic, and some Engel remedied for me through Lane’s monologue towards the end. But it just wasn’t enough to change my opinion.

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