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quiteliterary's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
I don’t even know how to rate this. I feel like I was chewed and spat out repeatedly. This was a creepy and heartbreaking read.
jbridges99's review against another edition
3.0
A quick, easy read. Reminded me of VC Andrews with it's dark, twisted subject matter. The book grabbed my attention from the first chapter and kept it until the end.
bookph1le's review against another edition
4.0
This is one deeply effed up book. I don't regret having read it, even though I felt like I needed a shower the whole time I was reading it. It's well done and well written, but the subject matter could definitely be triggering.
hufflepuffs_read_too's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
redvelvetpenguins's review against another edition
5.0
WOW! this instantly gets you. I wouldn't say the climax is this "big twist" it's definitely something you see coming but getting there was a masterpiece. And the ease to which all these horrible things are talked about like it's nothing and it never gets a big "AHA!" moment I think really adds to the layers of creepiness. Which is just what it is. The way the author has gotten into the mind of the characters that make up this family is astonishing! It's scary! I truly loved every minute of this book.
Oh yeah big ass TW for some very uncomfortable things
Oh yeah big ass TW for some very uncomfortable things
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.