Saturday, April 15, 2017

"The Roanoke Girls"


“The Roanoke Girls” by Amy Engel
Review written by Diana Iozzia
The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

            My goodness. I don’t even know where to begin with this book. I just finished it about ten minutes, and I’m trying to gather my thoughts. I engulfed this book in about a span of 7 hours, four hours last night and three today. “The Roanoke Girls” is the best book I have read in about a year or so, and I truly think it’s worth every second you spend on it.

This book is about a woman named Lane who returns to her grandparents’ house eleven years after she spent a summer there, to help look for her missing cousin. Lane and her cousin, Allegra, were almost fused together, in dramatic, happy, and terrifying sync that summer long ago. This book is told through Lane’s young perspective at 15-16 years old, then her perspective at 27 years old.

This book is full with unexpected suspense, thrills, chills, and more. Many have said this is a modern day “Flowers in the Attic”.  It is very similar with eerie grandparents and (LOTS of) uncomfortable incest. Be warned. There are very strong and possibly triggering scenes and moments. However, this book is not just about incest and a missing woman, this is about how Lane grew up and is reflected by the summer she spent. She revisits all of the haunts she once knew. I also found some similarities to the book “Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn, which I enjoyed as well.

I do warn about the incest and other sexual moments. Other than that, there isn’t too much violence or profanity. However, this is an adult book, so I don’t know if it’s wise to think that a thriller/suspense/drama for adults would be PG. It’s sickeningly sweet and intriguing.

There isn’t much I can say about this book that I didn’t like. It’s interesting to see Lane, Allegra, and their friends and how they’ve changed as adults, in comparison to their childhood personalities. I think this would be a fantastic film or mini-series. There isn’t room for a sequel, which works fine by me. This book is very complete, concrete, and very well-written. I thoroughly enjoyed this.


//I received an advance reader’s copy through BloggingForBooks.com//

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