My thanks to the Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review. I gave this a 4 stars or 8/10.

Some things are taboo and off limits, they should stay that way too in my opinion. Sadly, some families don't always conform to the norm and deviate in their own way. Dark and disturbing are words that can be used to describe this story that tells us about the Roanoke family and the girls within it.

It's not an easy read and will affect some readers greatly. I found myself drawn in slowly, told in alternate chapters of the here and now, with the past we are drip fed the lives of Lane, Allegra and their grandparents. Lane is drawn back into the Roanoke fold when she finds out that Allegra has gone missing and she needs to find out where she is or what has happened to her.  

This was a great debut novel by Amy Engel into the adult world of novel writing, be prepared to be a little uneasy at what you're reading when you grab yourself a copy of this. Looking forward to the next one with baited breath.

First book I've read by this author and it wasn't bad. I had heard a lot about it but didn't feel it lived up to the hype.

What a disturbingly good story. I was gripped from the very start as the story slowly revealed the tragic and dreadful goings on at Roanoke.

Beautifully written, it will take a while to get over this one!

When I started to read this book I wasn't sure what I would think of it. Now that I have read it all I can say is "Wow my mind is completely blown. I was no expecting that!"

This novel is split into two time periods 'Then and Now' This story is horrifying and mesmerizing, I was gripped from a few pages in. The secret of roanoke is revealed very early on in the story, which you may think will put you off reading to the end, but is doesnt't! The plot takes you on some strange twists and turns throughout the story which is very cleverly written by Amy Engel.

I would say that if you get a little bit saddened by delicate and personal matters that you should be careful about reading this novel, but still read it so that you can make your own mind up about it and not take someone else's word about the book. But if things like that don't bother you then maybe if you haven't already you should read this book.

'The Roanoke' by Amy Engel really effected me in places but I just had to carry on no matter how I felt as i wanted to know the ending.

What a fantastic book. I read it on holiday and couldn't put it down. Although you get what the mystery about the Roanoke house pretty early in the book, the twist at the end makes it quite chilling! A must read.

Great book! It's intense, dark, haunting and absolutely captivating. You can feel the Kansas heat, the oppressiveness of a small town and a past that has its tentacles in the present.

Fifteen year old Lane had a difficult and traumatic relationship with her mother who commits suicide. As she's not old enough to live by herself, she comes to live with her maternal grandparents and her eccentric cousin Allegra in Kansas. To Roanoke - the family estate her mother ran away from all those years ago and that never stopped haunting her. Allegra is beautiful and clearly troubled but the two cousins bond immediately and spend the whole summer together exploring Roanoke and the town of Osage Flats. Something is clearly not quite right in the Roanoke family and Lane remembers the warnings her mother gave her. After she finds out about the monstrous family secret, she runs away to California, without Allegra.

Eleven years later, Lane gets a call from her grandfather, informing her that Allegra is missing. So Lane returns to search for her. Did she run or has something bad happened to her? Being back in Roanoke is not doing Lane any good. Even being back in touch with her old friends Tommy and Cooper, who she met during her summer in Kansas, can't change that.

We delve deeper into what happened that summer eleven years ago and what Lane found out at the end of it - and it's truly absorbing. The author brings the scenery, atmosphere and characters beautifully to life.

I rooted for Lane and was frustrated with her at the same time. The development of Cooper came as real, and pleasant, surprise to me and I couldn't stop turning the pages. It's a very sensitive subject the book deals with and it never felt sensationalist. Read it!

When Lane Roanoke's Mother dies she is sent to live with her Grandparents. She only stays for the summer but runs and never looks back when she discovers the truth about the 'Roanoke Girls' . Ten years later she gets a call from her grandfather, telling her that her cousin, Allegra, is missing. Lane returns reluctantly and as the intertwining stories of then and now unfolds secrets are laid bare, that will affect ,not just Lane, but everybody. A dark and disturbing story, skillfully plotted that twists and turns and has a sting in its tale.

I loved this and will be recommending on my YouTube channel.

My Review for "The Roanoke Girls"

EVERYONE WANT'S TO BE A ROANOKE GIRL, BUT THEY WON'T WHEN THEY KNOW THE TRUTH!

After her mother's suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and her cousin, Allegra on,their vast estate in Kansas, Lane knew very little about her grandparents as her mother didn't want to talk about her past much or her mother's mysterious family, she quickly start's to love the life as one of the Rich beautiful Roanoke Girls, and fast becomes close to her cousin Allegra and two boys Tommy and Cooper, but after she finds out the shocking truth about her family and the secrets they hide lane packs up her things and runs as fast as she can & far away from the place she wanted to call home!

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

Eleven years later, Lane is in her home in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls her and tells her that Allegra has gone missing and that she needs to come home, but did Allegra run too? or did something much worse happen to her? with little choice lane returns to help with the search and help ease her guilt at leaving Allegra behind, on coming home lane will come face to face with the past she was running from also with her childhood boyfriend and her and Allegra's friend Tommy,

i was hooked from the moment i started reading this book, it is shocking it deals with taboo topic's that some author's would shy away from, the characters and events in this story is believable, it's dark it's twisted it has all you want in a good book. it has the " Daphne du Maurier" kind of effect in the way of the story telling and that's amazing, i also love how the book is told in the now and then and also with a little bit of story from the other Roanoke Girls " when you read the book you will know what i mean" i really enjoyed reading this book and its one that im sure i will read again and again! thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for my copy

The Roanoke Girls isn't a mystery novel because firstly it's very easy to guess whats going on and the big twist is revealed very early on. Going into the book I expected it to be something very different so i'm kind of disappointed however this book is still very twisted and dark but mostly it's sad. 

I liked the structure of the book with the alternating present vs past but it does lack the tension build up around why she left, as we already know why she left.  I really liked the writing style of the author and felt the style and pace were perfect for the novel. 

The MC was definitely flawed and wasn't perfect but that's to be expected with novels that are part of the mystery/thriller genre. I quite liked Lane and felt she was the right type of narrator for the book. The big theme in the book is disturbing especially how the people involved explain themselves. 

I did like the mini perspectives we got from the rest of the Roanoke girls and how it made us connect with them a little better. 

I did find the ending a bit cliche and predictable. 

2/5

Wow a book which really stayed with me for days after I put it down.

Hard to not give away any spoilers as the underlaying theme of incest and sexual abuse is apparant from the beginning. The plot focuses on telling the story of generations of Roanoke Girls through the story of the youngest girls... Lane and Allegra. Lane returns to her grandparents home after her cousin Allegra goes missing... but did she run away, kill herself or did someone hurt her?

The only reason why it loses a star is that the outcome is fairly obvious from the start.... however it retains 4 stars simply for the complexity of the journey to get there.

Unfortunately I felt the predicability of this book, and how things would end, from the start - the suspense wasn't there for me.
The subject matter could be sensitive to some, however I was more disappointed that we should believe the concept (trying not to give any spoilers) would be such a shock the the community, it just wasn't well concealed. Just didn't work for me.

I couldn't put this book down - start to finish, and read it in one sitting. 

The content of this book is dark, really really dark, but don't let it put you off, the story itself is beautifully written and sucks you in from the first page. The friendship between Lane and her cousin Allegra is my favourite part of the book, they are both fighting the battles that teenage girls fight, not just with the outside world, but with themselves, and they do it together. Their relationship is a fierce and loyal type of sisterhood that I loved. 

The friendship between Lane and her cousin Allegra is my favourite part of the book, they are both fighting the battles that teenage girls fight, not just with the outside world, but with themselves, and they do it together. Their relationship is a fierce and loyal type of sisterhood that I loved. 

The only thing that bugged me about this book was the lack of back story for the other Roanoke girls, I was fascinated by them, and although you get a little snippet of each of their stories (enough for them to fit into the plot) I would have loved to know more. 

Overall this book gave me the same sense of impending doom and morbid fascination that Emma Cline's The Girls (my favourite book of 2016) did.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

The Roanoke Girls is a sick and twisted small town thriller, about Lane who moves in with her grandparents and cousin Allegra. That's 'Then.' 'Now' Allegra's gone missing and Lane is putting together a case that puts her on the path to figuring out just what happened to all the Roanoke girls because they all share a dark secret.

The small town setting is atmospheric and the whole story is provocative and wrong in a way that means you can't stop reading. It's the most shocking and disturbing thriller I've read yet.

This book was gripping and impossible to put down. The author did a really good job of building the tension and making me feel compelled to read on. In many ways I really enjoyed this book. However, I've struggled with how to rate this book as I think it has a number of merits, but I find it difficult to overlook its numerous flaws. The main character is not well developed or likeable and this makes it difficult for the reader to emote with her and care about her story. She is given a lot of back story and the writer does try to make it so the reader can connect to her. It just fell quite flat for me and I felt the main character was quite one dimensional. I tend to prefer books that are heavily character driven, but this book seemed to rely heavily on the central 'mystery' to keep the story going. The central 'mystery' was the most obvious thing to have happened - I guessed almost from the beginning exactly what had happened to Allegra and I was so disappointed to find out that I was exactly right. I felt let down by the writer as she had been building tension and had me completely hooked and desperate to find out the truth. This made the big reveal unsatisfying and irritating. The most ludicrous part of the whole story though was the character of granddad. The power he had over the people in his life just seemed unrealistic and quite frankly necessary for the author to piece together this lazy plot. Surely ALL of these girls can't have been so naive and enchanted by him. It just doesn't seem plausible. Therefore not only was the central 'mystery' predictable, it was also implausible. I would not recommended this book as you never really get the pay off you're expecting.

Beautifully descriptive, but heartwrenchingly melancholy. I enjoyed this book, the characters fitted well into the small town setting. The true horror of what was really going on at Roanoke and the lengths that would be taken to win back love was truly grotesque.

You have no doubt heard of this book as it's probably one of the most talked about this year.

This is a brilliant book, which deals with some awful, disturbing issues. I think the story is brilliantly and sensitively written but understand it will be too much for some.

Often books, to shows and films dealing with these sorts of issues with go for the shock value, but Amy Engel has done a wonderful job of telling the Roanoke story without doing this. This adds to the story and the characters themselves as they don't want to say it out loud, and often pretend it isn't happening.

I would definitely recommend this book, however, beware if you find disturbing issues triggering.

A shocking,disturbing novel of rural American life. Brings to the fore the question of how can the wife let this happen, how can they turn a blind eye.? I liked the strong female character for all her flaws.

The Roanoke Girls is a very dark story but one I really enjoyed. The characters are so well thought out and the writing is done in such a way that even though it is a really dark subject it doesn't put you off reading the book. It's a bit hard to sort of say much more without giving the plot away, all I'll say is read it, you won't be disappointed.

A gradual unravelling of the truth behind the Roanoke family with their aberrant values and culture. An absolutely outrageous and unbelievable upbringing for these Roanoke girls! I was completely mesmerised with the storyline which has an underlining psychological shock to anyone who has strong family values and beliefs.
Lane, the last of the Roanoke girls finally found solace for the rest of the girls by investigating the disappearance of her cousin Allegra.
Can Lane relinquish herself and her memories from the family forever?