I wasn’t sure how this book was going to turn out but although you knew what happened there were still many twists and turns. Very good

Lane is drifting through life in LA when she receives a call from her Grandfather, her cousin Allegra is missing. Lane hasn't seen Allegra for ten years, not since the summer she spent at the family estate in Kansas after the death of her mother. Looking for messages Allegra may have sent her Lane tries to piece together Allegra's last days and find out whether she has run away or is dead. This forces her to confront family secrets and her own past from that long hot summer.

I can understand why this book is popular with book clubs, it has that scandalous American-gothic vibe which worked so well in books such as 'The Girls' by Emma Cline. The problem is that there is no twist. The nature of what goes on in the family is flagged up from the start and the revelation of what happens to Allegra and why is no surprise. It is quite a fast read and moderately entertaining but nowhere near as good as the hype will have it.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. What a brilliant story but very dark and disturbing.

Following her mother's death Lane Roanoke moves to her maternal grandparents' home in Kansas. She only stays there for one summer and after a shocking discovery leaves and vows never to go ack. Then her grandfather phones to say her cousin Allegra is missing and her grandparents need her back. Lane reluctantly returns. A disturbing tale of family secrets and lies and how they can affect different generations of a family until one is strong enough to force a change. A fantastic read.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and Amy Engel for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was so excited when I got an email from NetGalley saying that The Roanoke Girls is READ NOW for a limited number of members and then with the speed of ten cheetahs I ran and clicked the button. I’ve read many reviews of this book and what intrigued me from the start was the darkness and strangeness of it. The Roanoke Girls is very interesting and very shocking.

After her mother’s suicide fifteen year old Lane Roanoke is taken in by her grandparents on their family estate somewhere in Kansas where things are not what they seem. Lane knows very little about her mother’s time on the estate but what she knows is that her mother ran away without ever speaking to her parents again. It is in this place that Lane meets Allegra, her wild cousin, who is being raised by Gran and Grandpa. Both Roanoke girls become close and go on many adventures in town but underneath Allegra’s presence lies something dark and twisted which soon Lane uncovers but the discovery becomes so shocking that it makes her flee the estate keeping very little contact with her cousin. She is called back to the estate many years later by her grandfather because of Allegra’s mysterious disappearance. Lane knows the dark secret this place holds and she isn’t quite sure that Allegra left willingly. Her appearance in town lights a fire on an old romance but also makes her have to deal with the darkness she tried so hard to avoid. Will Lane be able to find the truth behind her cousin’s disappearance and will she be able to escape the darkness that has followed a generation of the Roanoke girls?

“Sometimes it’s a revelation, even to me, how much more comfortable I am with cruelty than with kindness.”

I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll keep my thoughts spoiler-free. The Roanoke Girls isn’t a book you’ll usually stumble upon as well as the themes in it. This book won’t be for everyone and I have seen a few DNFs of it because of the major theme in it. Having read Gather the Daughters and pretty much loving it I was very excited to start this one because I love reading stories that are twisted and unusual and that show us humans and our darkest sides. I think that we all love finding out more about how cruel and deviant people can be and these kinds of stories intrigue us but at the same time repulse us. This is the first time I’ve read a book that deals with this subject matter so openly and because it’s the main theme in the story I felt very uncomfortable reading it at times but couldn’t stop looking away because I wanted to find out more. I think it’s best if you go into this book blind but reading a few reviews would be OK as well as knowing that it deals with many themes that some people will find triggering. The Roanoke Girls is definitely not for everyone because if you don’t like dark tales you won’t be able to get past first fifty pages. I have had some discomfort reading this book but that’s solely because of the main theme and this book isn’t a five star material for me. The story could’ve been better fleshed out and the scenes ended abruptly at times. I like that it had an adequate resolution to it and we got the see Lane’s ‘somewhat’ character development towards the end.

“…sometimes you have to hurt people just to prove you’re alive.”

If you’re not squeamish and like reading books that show the worst in people then this is the one for you.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher (Hodder & Stoughton) for allowing me to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of Lane, who goes to live with her grandparents and her cousin Allegra after her mother commits suicide. A decade later she is living in Los Angeles when she gets a call from her grandfather saying that Allegra has gone missing. Did she run or did something more awful happen?

This is such a hard review to write without spoilers. this book is dark and disturbing, and is a book that you really need to go into blind, knowing as little as possible. It is so captivating.

“Roanoke Girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.”

Dark, sultry, sexy, awful, evocative - you feel the prairie heat coming off these pages!

This is the story of a twisted family legacy, told by rebellious Lane, who's desperately trying to escape it. I loved the boldness of Engel revealing the Roanoke 'secret' so early on in the book - it made the tale so much less predictable and elevated it beyond just a mystery, into an atmospheric exploration of the many faces of abuse and the complex emotional conflicts it causes, both within people and between them. The small town claustrophobia is vividly drawn, and although I was sad the author didn't unveil the fates of all the Roanoke girls, this is just because I was hungry for more! The ambiguity serves the book much better, and overall is a truly gripping, twisted thriller.

Well.. this was a heartbreaker. I literally read this in a day. I couldn't put it down I had to find out what happened to Allegra and the rest of the Roanoke Girls. Some of the twists and turns in this story can be easily guessed at but that doesn't make them any less horrifying.

And I mean it. This book is horrendous but, if you can believe it, in a damn good way. This book gets its claws in you from the start. All of the characters are absolutely brilliant from the grandparents, to Tommy, Cooper, Allegra and Lane. Especially Lane.

Lane is fucked up and twisted but that's not entirely her fault and you know what? I kind of love her for it because if it wasn't for that the ending might not have happened the way it did.

Overall this was an amazing story. I'm glad I finally picked it up!

This review may be a bit spoilery concerning the theme of this novel, this couldn't be helped but I've tried to be as vague as possible.

"Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die."



These were the words that captivated me originally, pulling me in and compelling me to pick up The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel.
This was quite a read, an unusual one, reminiscent of bygone authors, setting a stage of intrigue, mystery and dysfunctional family dynamics.
The secrets surrounding Roanoke are subtlely revealed early on leaving the reader highly aware of what flows beneath the seemingly normal surface.
This is a definite page-turner despite the exploration of (view spoiler)
This tale is told in two parts "Now and Then" and the storyline seamlessly hops between these two timelines.
We also get to jump briefly into the heads of each Roanoke girl that came before, which I found very enlightening, I really loved this touch and it greatly added to the storyline giving the reader an insight into what each girl was feeling deep inside her own skin.
Jane, Sophia, Penelope, Eleanor, Camilla, Allegra, Lane there is also little Emmaline but she died of a crib death as a baby.
All Roanoke girls, all carrying the same secrets down through the years, messed up heads and lives affected tragically.
The echoes of this rebounding out through each new generation.
This story is told through Lane Roanoke's point of view after her mother commits suicide and Lane comes to live with her Rich grandparents and cousin Allegra on the family estate.
This is the "THEN" portrayed in the narrative.
The "NOW" is Eleven years later when Lane returns to the family home after a frantic call from her granddad informing her that her cousin Allegra is missing.
After vowing never to return, Lane reluctantly returns home confronting secrets shes buried deep down inside.

I loved Lane as a character, she was a bit of a messed up headcase, but who can blame her.
It's obvious Lane Loved Allegra so deeply and this was the only thing, I think, her disappearing, that could have dragged her back to the bowels of Roanoke.
It was also very thought-provoking to observe Lane's former teenage toxic relationship with cooper rekindled as adults and I really did like him he had his own past baggage but really seemed to have evolved from this, unlike Lane.
I was so rooting for these two and I thought they made a great match, neither party having had it easy in life, they both deserved a bit of stability in the now.
Now Lanes connection with her grandad this was a strange one, confusing even I think to lane herself she really seemed to feel equal measures hate and love towards him.
Struggling with her mixed up emotions, greatly wanting to loathe him but feeling a strange pull, maybe because Lane feels he was the first person to actually seem to want and love her after enduring a lifetime of apathy with her mother.
As for the gran, What a cold selfish bitch she was.
I felt she herself held a huge role in what had been allowed to transpire, isn't it a mothers job to protect her daughters.
In this Lillian Roanoke has failed epically actually blaming her daughters instead of shielding them, she was such a cold fish only seeming to feel any affection towards her twisted husband.
Turning a blind eye and looking the other way is her game.
Surprisingly she was my least favourite character even over Myles Roanoke himself.
I think it was the whole lack of maternal anything that contributed to my dislike of her immensely.
The Roanoke Girls has so many diverse flawed individuals that all do their part in making this an enthralling page-turner.
This is a portrayal of a family that is so not right and has not been for a very long time.
It is Love expressed so wrongly and out of context that it has become a sickness consuming from the inside out devouring till nothing remains standing.
A Dysfunctional family with dark concealed secrets at his core.

So I felt the author Amy Engel did an amazing job of dealing with such an explosive subject matter. she has handled it beautifully with finesse and a great understanding of such a delicate topic. Not everyone could have done this so sensitively and without sensationalising it so Really well done.

So that's it from me folk's, I could waffle on all day about this fascinating story, but I'm going to leave it here, but before I go a trigger warning The Roanoke Girls deals with themes of incest, but bar the one small kiss it is only referred to in words not actions and it is really not graphic in its content at all, but if this is a trigger for you please do avoid.
So all that's left is for me to say Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author Amy Engel herself for providing me with an arc of The Roanoke Girls this is my own honest unbiased opinion.

4.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. 

The Roanoke Girls is about Lane. Lane lives in New York City with her mum. Until her mum commits suicide. Her mum has spent Lane's entire life trying to keep Lane away from her childhood home. So after her suicide, Lane's grandparents offer her a home at Roanoke with her cousin, Allegra. 
The chapters go between the summer Lane spent at Roanoke with Allegra when they were 16, and 10 years later after Allegra goes missing and Lane is living in California. Lane goes back to Roanoke to try to figure out what happened to Allegra.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked how it went between the past and the present to build the tension of what happened to Allegra and what went on in the Roanoke family home. I'd guessed what had happened pretty early on but that didn't deduct from actually learning all the little details.

A well written and thought-provoking read with some carefully constructed characters.

Overall I would classify this as a good read albeit a bit formulaic and cliched.
Lane is summoned back the farm where she spent one memorable summer during her childhood. Her cousin is missing and a mystery surrounds the circumstances.
Lane does not want to go back to that place but is drawn by unfinished business. As the search for Allegra ensues the tale is told in flashbacks and even further flashbacks and as we find out the secret of the Roanoke Girls and its devastating effects.
To be honest I had guessed the secret fairly early on and the flashbacks were illuminating if a tad redundant. The true criminal was a surprise as I had assumed it was someone else but it made sense.
I wouldn't class it as a gripping read but fairly enjoyable way to spend an evening.

Wow wow wow
Right from the first page I knew this book was going to pull me in and have me hooked. A dark, uncomfortable yet utterly absorbing story of a young girl who returns to her mum's daily home after her death. A home she can't stand to be in yet for some strange reason is unable to make herself leave. A huge stars from me and i cant waot to see what the author has to offer next

Took me a while to get comfortable with this book but once I stared reading it I didn't want to stop
Atmospheric and disturbing but undeniably a great read

I was so excited to read this book after hearing so much about it and I wasn't disappointed. The story alternates between the past and present and due to the subject of sexual abuse at times made for very uncomfortable reading. However I read it in one sitting, it's gripping and very well written. People may struggle with the subject matter however Amy Engel is definitely one to look out for in the future.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy in return for an honest review.

I liked this, even though it was really disturbing and claustrophobic. I liked Lane as a character and Allegra, even though she was quite annoying. The setting is really good for a novel like this. Good, but terrifying.

This book kept me gripped and I couldn't put it down!
The story is bout 16 year old Lane who moves to Kansas to live with her grandparents after the death of her mother, There she meets her cousin Allegra and discovers the secrets of the girls of their Roanoke family.
Though the book is about a taboo subject it s been written in a beautiful way. I easily invested into the characters of Lane and Allegra and although having worked out quite early on what the family secrets were I was still gripped by the book to the very end. Very well written - I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was excited to read this book after a lot of hype ..... Although a good read which I enjoyed I guessed early in the big plot twist! Set in rural small town America we see the story of The Roanoke Girls who captivate the locals.... Tragedy and family secrets unfold. I was a little disappointed but still a good read

Urgh, this book, When I started reading I was going to stop after the first few chapters it was such an uncomfortable read and I really didn't like it, but Engel captivates with her atmospheric writing and I continued to the end!

After Lane's mother dies she is sent to Roanoke, the place her mother escaped and warned her to never to go, while there Lane meets her "cousin" Allegra and becomes best friends, and Lane seemingly becomes another of the "Roanoke girls"

Despite all of the creepy stuff there is an actual "normal" love story with Lane and I really enjoyed that part,

An atmospheric, dark, twisted, intense, shocking, disgusting yet utterly compelling to read story.

This was a very interesting book, well written and thought provoking.
I wasn't sure what was going on in this book until the very end, which is always good in a book. I liked the way that it added bits from the past as the story went along, which added to the feel of the story.
I would definitely recommend this book.