YOU'LL NEVER FORGET THE FLOWER GIRLS
The Flower Girls. Laurel and Primrose.
One convicted of murder, the other given a new identity.
Now, nineteen years later, another child has gone missing.
And The Flower Girls are about to hit the headlines all over again...
Hazel and her partner have gone away for the weekend to a hotel, when the alarm is raisd as a little girl has gone missing, she immediately begins to panic, as she was Primrose, one of the Flower Girls. What will happen when the police find out? Hazel is terrified that everyone will find out about her secret.
Following Hazel's story had me gripped the whole way through, the story was interwoven with flashbacks to the summer it all happened, just teasers whilst giving you just enough to keep you going. There were some great twists in the story, which I absolutely did not see coming, I love it when a thriller takes me by surprise.

I hate to say this but the book has really disappointed me. It took me a while to get into it as I felt the beginning a bit messy but once I got into it I liked it.
What was the ending all about? I feel let down with such an abrupt ending. It feels unfinished somehow.

I wanted to love this book - as a lot of people have - but truthfully, it just didn't work for me. I think if you really like completely plot based novels, you will love this novel. I can already imagine how great the adaptation could be. But, for me, there wasn't enough of the psychological aspect of the 'thriller' for it to be a real mystery - both of the big reveals I thought were the case at the beginning. When you are unlucky enough to guess the ending of a thriller, it really hampers your enjoyment of it. I also felt like the characterisation hinged too much on references to other famous British murderers - this seemed like a way of not building up characterisation within the novel itself and asking readers to fill in the gaps. Perhaps this will work for some, it will lend an atmosphere of terror to it, but for me it just fell a bit flat. This was a quick read and I read it mainly in one sitting, I just wish I'd been surprised by the ending.

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Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Laurel and Primrose rise to fame when they abducted and killed a toddler in the 1990s. The story follows Laurel as she attempts parole and Primrose as

I'll start by saying this was an uncomfortable kind of read, with echoes of the Bulger murder. The story itself raises lots of interesting moral questions about the nature of evil and how crime and punishment should work.

This book was fast paced, interesting and you won't want to put it down.

My only criticism is that i wasn't keen on the ending which left me feeling chilled and uneasy.

Good and Evil – two sides of a single coin

When little Georgie Greenstreet goes missing from a hotel in Devon on New Year’s Eve, Hazel Archer is plunged back to a time when she was only six herself, and the world as she knew it disappeared.

Now spending New Year with her fiancé Jonny, she is dressing to celebrate her twenty-fifth birthday when the hotel is thrown into an uproar by Georgie's disappearance. The last time she was seen was around three o’clock when she visited the hotel kitchen to play with some abandoned kittens which had been dumped on the beach. It is now dark, and a storm is beginning to rage making it impossible for the police and coastguard to continue searching. Hopes of the child being found alive begin to fade.

Next morning the storm has done its worst, and the hotel is virtually snowed in. Even though Hazel is determined to leave as she fears her past will be exposed and that she will be blamed for hurting Georgie. She is too late; a fellow guest has identified her, and he persuades her to speak to the police.

So, opens Pandora’s box and Hazel is caught like a rabbit in the headlights. Once the guests can leave Hazel returns to her flat in London, but the media are now involved, and her life spirals out of control.

This is a fast-paced crime thriller with just enough psychological tension to make it interesting. As Hazel is forced to confront her past and to re-establish contact with her older sister, Laurel, the suspense builds. This and the determination of Detective Constable Lorna Hillier to discover the truth makes for a gripping read.

I wish I had found the ending more of a surprise, but overall an intriguing and unusual read.


Pashtpaws


Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

A great thriller following two sisters who committed a horrific murder when they were small children.
Told from multiple POV and focusing equally on the past murder, the current mystery and the relationship between the two sisters.
This book was full of surprises. The storyline took me to unexpected places, with constant twists and turns.
The writing flowed brilliantly and it was easy to fly through.

A chilling and disturbing read about 2 young sisters who abduct and murder a toddler in 1997, dubbed the flower girls, the older sister Lauren is charged with the murder but the younger one Primrose is too young to be charged and is given a new life with a new identity.

19 yrs later a young girl goes missing at a hotel where the younger sister is staying, when the police discover that Primrose is at the hotel she becomes the main suspect and the sisters hit the headlines again.

This psychological thriller will stay with you long after you’ve finished it, some parts are uncomfortable reading but overall it’s a compelling and thought provoking story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Just wow! I loved this book - at first I didn't know what to expect.

This book flicks between present time and past (1997 when the tragedy occurred) with different view points.
You'll be rooting for certain people but as events progress you'll be questioning yourself.

I would recommend this book if you love a good psychological thriller!

4 stars from me

Great stuff - a dark and intriguing premise, well drawn, credible characters, a gripping plot, atmospheric scenery, twist and turns along the way and a very poignant theme - what do you want more from a thriller? Above all it was an easy, fast-paced read that sucked me in from the start and kept me entertained all the way through. Shame it is riddled with typos, I hope this can be rectified in the next version.
This was my first by this author, but it surely won’t be my last!

An interesting story line, very relevant to past crimes an insight into the minds of children that become murderers. The story takes you over a period of many years, at the end of which has a surprising outcome, which I felt left some questions unanswered, room for a follow up story maybe?

Alice Clark-Platt's chilling psychological thriller instantly brings back memories of the notoriously unforgettable 1993 murder of toddler, Jamie Bulger, by two boys. We being in 1997 when two little girls aged 10 and 6 abduct and kill a two-year old toddler. The Flower Girls was the term that the media instantly adopted as Laurel was sentenced to prison and Rosie was given a new identity as she was under the criminal age of responsibility. Fast forward to the present day and we meet Rosie again - but now she's Hazel - living a new life with her partner and his daughter, and trying very hard to put the past behind her.

However Hazel is unable to hide who she was for long because another child goes missing from the hotel that she is staying in and quite quickly her identity is revealed as she is catapulted to position of prime suspect.

The book follows Hazel's life in the present day alongside Laurel's life in prison and brings the Flower Girls together when Laurel is applying for parole. It's an extremely well written book, and despite the echoes of previous similar crimes it's unique in its own right. A human rights lawyer herself, Clark-Platts is able to maintain a non-sensationalist approach throughout the book as she cleverly debates nature and nurture in a sensitive manner.

Oh man... this book! I haven't been able to put it down since the moment I started reading it. It is fantastic.

In this chilling, character driven psychological thriller, 2 young sisters, Primrose (Rosie) age 6 and Laurel age 10 lure a toddler away from the playground, torture and kill her. Reminiscent of the case of young Jamie Bulger in the UK in the early 90's, the public are horrified, beyond angry and collectively grief stricken over the murder and want retribution for the evil and deplorable crime that has taken place in their society. Laurel is tried and convicted for the murder of little Kirstie Swann, and imprisoned. Rosie, at age 6, denies all responsibility and is deemed too young to be culpable for her actions and not tried in the law courts with her sister. However, the court of public opinion is a different story. Rosie and her family are given new identities and moved to a new town to start new lives. Laurel's family cut all ties with her, never visiting her in prison, with the exception of her solicitor and uncle, Toby who does all he can over the years for her, through numerous parole applications which have so far all been denied.

Fast forward to present day, and Hazel (Rosie), her boyfriend Jonny and Jonny's daughter, Evie are staying in a hotel for New Year's Eve. 5 year old Georgie Greenstreet goes missing and Rosie's new identity as Hazel is discovered during the course of the search for Georgie. People are convinced she had something to do with the disappearance of yet another child. A journalist, Max is also staying at the hotel. He senses and grabs an opportunity to get an exclusive with Hazel on her life before, during and after the trial of the century and to put her side of the story forward.

The topic of this book is very relevant in today's society as it explores the ripples caused by the murder of a child by another child. Public opinion is very much against the Flower Girls - they are deemed to be evil beyond redemption and many people, especially the family of the murdered child, campaign against Laurel every time she applies for parole. This book is quite raw in parts and raises many topical issues, such as the argument of rehabilitation of prisoners, culpability in very young offenders, nature versus nurture, morals in society, the sensationalism of the "story" by press involvement, forgiveness, justice and adequate punishment levels. Alice Clark-Platts has written a book that is not only an engrossing, spine-tingling psychological thriller in its own right, but is also empathetic, heart-rending and thoroughly thought provoking. The writing itself is mesmerizing and absorbing. The storyline maintains gripping tension and suspense throughout and the characters are all really well developed, each one evoking a sensory reaction in the reader, be it empathy, sympathy, loathing, contempt, scorn, or disbelief. A brilliant read. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone.

wow, this was HAUNTING! (in a good way) gripped me from the start and I couldn't put it down, This is one that lingers in your mind long after you've finished it. Loved it!

I read this book in two sitting with mixed feeling at the end. The plot did kept me gripped however I just couldn't warm to the characters. Hazel/rosie came across as very needy and non believable from the very start which put a damper on my enjoyment of the book. Two sisters one 10 one 6 murder a child, one went to prison one didn't, years later rosie is away with her partner and his teen daughter and a child goes missing, Rosie instantly starts to worry people will think she has kidnapped the child. she has a new identity however this does not help her from being recognised.
I believe this could of been a really good book as the plot had potential to be emotional and brilliant however it feel short for me and felt a little rush, the characters needed a little more development to be a little more realistic. I would read again from this author because you can see her being a great story teller, this one just wasn't for me .

Laurel and Rosie, two young sisters who tortured and killed 2 year old Kirstie Swann have become infamous as The Flower Girls. One was sentenced to prison, one was deemed too young and given a new life, now Laurel is up for parole but has she really changed?

I was really looking forward to reading The Flower Girls, it’s gotten some really good reviews and it is very much focused on a topic that interests me – true crime. It pulls parallels from the real life Jamie Bulger case, where 10 year olds Jon Venables and Robert Thompson killed 2 year old Jamie in 1993. The Flower Girls is a brilliant concept and I really enjoyed how it flipped perspective between Rosie - who was too young to be sentenced and now trying to live a new identity, Joanna - the aunt of the deceased girl and Max - a writer who discovers Rosie’s true identity. The story really narrows in on themes of grief, recidivism and forgiveness in a very real way.

I did find that I struggled to truly get into the book for a while, it’s an odd writing style, very chopped sentences and felt a bit repetitive at times. I’m not sure if the fact I was reading the ARC didn’t help in that it was quite a badly formatted copy of the book. Usually you expect to get odd paragraph breaks and unlabelled chapters as the book is quickly converted to a Kindle format, however this had odd capitalisation, sometimes missing altogether and full stops peppered around in very odd places. As the writer writes in short, chopped sentences a lot it made it quite hard to fully get into the story straight away but I’m sure this will be ironed out in the final copy.

I would have liked to have gotten more into the mindset of the girls and truly find out what happened and what caused them to act as they did. I feel like the options presented where either that they watched violent movies or played videogames or they were straight evil with no in-the-middle. As an avid player of videogames (and never having murdered anyone!) this opinion always really annoys me but I guess it is true to public opinion and the press. There were a few twists and shocks towards the end that I actually found very unrealistic, just written for shock value which I didn’t enjoy as well (no spoilers).

Overall The Flower Girls is a fantastic premise although I was slightly less enamoured by the writing style and shock twists towards the end. Thank you to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing and Raven for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book. It kept me reading right to the end. Couldn't put it down. Love the twists and turns in it. Loved the way the characters worked throughout to build up the story and move through the book.
Kept me gripped right to the end x

This was an interesting novel, particularly the parts relating to how Laurel and Rosie and their family coped with one of them going to prison for the torture and murder of a toddler. However, I found the rest of the story less convincing and without wanting to give any spoilers I found it difficult to find any motive or explanation for, what I found to be, the very abrupt ending.

I don’t know how to review this fabulous book without giving away spoilers, so suffice it to say I enjoyed it hugely, and it kept me guessing and thinking right till the end....and beyond!
Laurel and Rosie...the flower girls....good little girls or evil ones....?

I had really high hopes for this book. It's such an interesting premise - two girls, aged 10 and 6, murder a 2 year old. With echoes of the Bulger murder, the impact of what happened has a ripple effect that impacts on everyone involved for the rest of their lives.

It was clear that there was more to what happened with the toddler than initially thought, but I found that the gradual unwinding didn't really contain any big surprises. When the second child went missing, it made no sense to me that everyone would assume it was Rosie/Hazel without a single person defending her. Having been 6 at the time of the murder, she was well below the age of legal liability, and had a completely clean record since then, so there was no real reason why she'd suddenly kidnap a toddler after 20 years,

I didn't really understand the behaviour of the older sister either. Without wishing to spoil anything, when the big reveal came at the end, it was even harder to figure out why she would have done what she did.

So overall, good premise let down by a weak plot and characterisation.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

This is a story which is bound to bring up some emotions when reading. I’m sure everyone will be familiar with other similar notorious child killers and there is always a strong argument that emerges when they come to their release date and whether or not they have been rehabilitated sufficiently to be let out to live a normal life.

The author deals with these conflicting emotions very tactfully and describes through her characters the point of view from the person who has served time in prison, their family members and the family members and people associated with the victim also. Theres always two sides to every story and the author explores these variations in this book.

I love a story that I can relate to real things that happen in real life, and although thankfully, the circumstances of this story is not something we read about often, it does still happen. It got me talking about the topics and issues that are bought up in this book with my friends and family and I love a good discussion!

I thought I had the ending figured out about half way through but this didn’t stop me reading on and wanting to know the hows and whys. However, when I got to the end I realised there was a further twist yet to come and I can honestly say I did not see that one coming!

I really enjoyed this book and if you like a read that plays with your emotions and keeps you turning pages with a brilliant twist to look forward to at the end then I throughly recommend you have a read of this book as you will not be disappointed.