Name: Taous Merakchi's review of The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel
Item: The Roanoke Girls
Rating: 5
Author: Taous Merakchi

Amy Engel

A gripping, provocative thriller about the twisted secrets families keep, perfect for fans of Good Me Bad Me and The Girls. 'Deeply, darkly twisted. I loved it.' Sarah Hilary, SOMEONE ELSE'S SKIN 'Utterly addictive.' Lisa Hall, BETWEEN YOU AND ME 'Hauntingly beautiful... not for the faint-hearted.' THE BOOK BAG Beautiful. Rich. Mysterious. The Roanoke girls seem to have it all. But there's a dark truth about them which is never spoken. Every girl either runs away, or dies. Lane is one of the lucky ones. When she was fifteen, over one long, hot summer at her grandparents' estate in rural Kansas, she found out what it really means to be a Roanoke girl. Lane ran, far and fast. Until eleven years later, when her cousin Allegra goes missing - and Lane has no choice but to go back. She is a Roanoke girl. Is she strong enough to escape a second time?

A Novel

The Roanoke Girls

Georgia Carr

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "With more twists than a bag of pretzels, this compelling family saga may make you question what you think you know about your own relatives." - Cosmopolitan "Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die." After her mother's suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother's mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran...fast and far away. Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again. As it weaves between Lane's first Roanoke summer and her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart.

Taous Merakchi

Sam 🌙

This was my first book on NetGalley and also my first by Amy Engel. I saw the book all over the Twittersphere and it sounded right up my street. Whilst Engel did a great job with the novel structurally; going between the past and present was well done, clear and keep things as interesting as it could, I found the book to be as predictable as it was disturbing. There was far too much emphasis on the girls bodies and constant reminders of their beauty that it felt like that was all they were reduced to. What could have been a great book about the girls relationship and how they overcome the family "secret" was instead one that portrayed them merely as victims, and extremely immature ones at that.

Unfortunately there just wasn't enough here to recommend the book and if it wasn't for wanting to post an honest review here I wouldn't have finished it. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

Jamie Trenholm

Lauren Attaway

This was a hot mess of a book. It was very much in the tradition of Southern Gothic to me and I think it's fair to say I devoured it. I almost wish I had seen more content warnings about the book, but then I'm glad I didn't, because I definitely wouldn't have read this one if I had known the direction this novel was going. After her mother's suicide, Lane Roanoke spends a summer with her grandparents and her cousin Allegra. After an abrupt departure and estrangement from them, years later she gets a call that Allegra has gone missing. Lane returns to her grandparent's house and all of the reasons she left so abruptly as a teenager are still haunting her. I was racing against the library due date for this book and I'm glad I was able to get through it. The story/characters of this novel pulled me in from the beginning because I knew something was not quite right. Lane is appropriately damaged and I think her actions and reasoning made it easy for me to stay with this book to the end. Definitely recommend this one for Lifetime Movie fans, not sure if I recommend for everyone else. That's not an insult, but some elements may end up being a nonstarter for some readers.

Underneath the Roanoke girls' perfect exterior lies a chilling secret... 'Utterly addictive' LISA HALL 'Not for the faint-hearted' THE BOOK BAG 'Provocative' TELEGRAPH 'A must-have' SUNDAY EXPRESS Beautiful. Rich. Mysterious. The Roanoke girls seem to have it all. But there's a dark truth about them which is never spoken. Every girl either runs away, or dies. Lane is one of the lucky ones. When she was fifteen, over one long, hot summer at her grandparents' estate in rural Kansas, she found out what it really means to be a Roanoke girl. Lane ran, far and fast. Until eleven years later, when her cousin Allegra goes missing - and Lane has no choice but to go back. She is a Roanoke girl. Is she strong enough to escape a second time? An explosive, boundary-pushing novel perfect for fans of Good Me Bad Me, Gillian Flynn and The Girls. ***** 'Daring, alluring and beautifully atmospheric *****' Culturefly 'Fans of The Girls will love this' Red 'Twisted, controversial...SO compelling' Claire Douglas, bestselling author of Local Girl Missing 'Utterly captivating' Katerina Diamond, bestselling author of The Teacher 'Dark, disturbing, and deliciously written... pulls you relentlessly into its twisted heart' Ava Marsh, author of Unforgettable 'Beautifully controlled horror' Lucy Mangan

petit-chocobo

liz mcclaran

Wow.
This book was amazing in the most dark, twisted, unsettling & disgusting way. I read it in just over a day, I was hooked. A few things didn’t necessarily take me by surprise, but it was more the substantiation of my awful suspicion that was shocking and horrifying. 
* Personally, I wish the “Roanoke Family Tree” would have appeared in the back of the book, rather than the front... that was a huge spoiler for me right off the bat. *
The Roanoke Girls made my stomach churn and my skin crawl. It was an unnervingly good time.

celeste

This book is messed up. Like extremely fucked up, and yet I couldn't stop reading it. I was so engrossed in the story that I didn't care how messed up it was. It was hard to read, it was hard not to feel disgusted at what was going on, on certain occasions I had to put the book down because I just couldn't handle how wrong I felt, but the story was SO GOOD. I can't even write down the trigger warnings because it would be spoiling the entire twist of the story, so if you have a problem with very dark and twisted plots, then I wouldn't recommend reading this one. But if you don't care about that, then please pick this one up. It's been a long time since a thriller grasped my attention like this. I may write a proper review on my blog once I can process what I just read, because I'm just astounded right now.

What a messed up, disturbing yet beautifully written book.

Bad Girl Bex

Was alright. Read it in a day on a rainy autumnal afternoon & evening. The plot is pretty obvious, you know how it's going to pan out and there aren't really any surprises, but it was decently written; I found myself liking the way the author wrote about the complicated feelings that arise in relationships. I could tell that the author had cut her teeth writing YA, but that didn't take away from her ability to write a story suitable for older readers. If it's on offer on Amazon and you want a quick bit of escapism, give it a go.

Leelynn Brady

Find this review and more on my blog: Sometimes Leelynn Reads

“One summer is enough. Hell, sometimes one day is all it takes to change your life.” 


I should start off by saying that this is not a book that I would normally read, nor pick up from the library. Really the only reason I started reading this book was because it was my book club's monthly pick, a brand new book club that I joined here in Norfolk, Virginia. Usually for books that I wouldn't normally pick, I wouldn't even pick it up. But here I go, trying something new in a place I'm not used to, so yay me! Oh, and I don't regret finishing this book at all, but trust me when I say it was not a happy book whatsoever.

I don't know if this counts as "cheating" but I got through this book by listening to the audiobook. Honestly, I feel like if I read it the normal way, I probably wouldn't have felt the same emotions that I did while listening to it every time I went for a drive. I'm not sure if it was necessarily a good thing listening to this book before and after work, or even heading off to job interviews, since the subject of this book is anything but inspiring or positive, but it worked. I couldn't get enough of it, and all I wanted to do was figure out what the heck was going to happen next.

This book was dirty. It was grimy. It was terrible in the sense that nothing good came out of this book. Nothing good happened to the characters, and the characters themselves weren't people you really wanted to root for.

There is something extremely special about all of the Roanoke Girls, but being special in that way is not a good thing. Not by a long shot. Amy Engel hints at it throughout the entire book, with Lane's story weaving between the past and the present almost seamlessly. Her past story is about her first time at Roanoke, that summer she was sent there after she lost her mother, back when she was 15 years old and thought she was completely alone. Her present, when she finally returns back to Roanoke after eleven years, to find out what happened to her cousin Allegra. It's interesting to see how the events of the past end up tying into the present.

Is Lane a good person? Is Allegra a good person? Are any of the Roanoke girls "good"? Is anyone considered completely "good"?

I believe the answer is "no" for all of those questions, but the answer can also be "it depends". Sure, they all have elements of good in them, but they are also cursed with something terrible, something that makes them both irresistible and hauntingly doomed. Dramatic, right? Well that's how this book was, in such a raw and unapologetic type of way that made me say, "Well, damn."

Not only do you get to hear from Lane, but there are some moments in between her story that you catch a glimpse into the minds of the other Roanoke girls. It's so brief, and you may not get a full picture out of their little moments, but it may help explain what happened to them, whether they died or they just disappeared.

If it really was just a disappearance.

This is a book that you have to read to appreciate it. It's not the kind of book that you want spoiled to you, because it will lose its desired effect. It's a mystery after all, but I will say that if you are triggered by sexual abuse, suicide, or even drug abuse, I wouldn't recommend reading it.

Tejumola Niquel

This was sickening. The writing was fine, but the plot was sickening and overwhelmingly anticlimactic. Would have DNF’ed if I didn’t think it’d give me nightmares if I didn’t know the ending.

Melea Mullican

I'm honestly not sure what I thought about this book. It was fast paced and intriguing. I like the writing style. However, I couldn't connect with any of the characters. While Lane had a horrid past, that didn't justify how truly nasty she was until the last chapter. The content is interesting but disgusting, and I highly recommend everyone check out trigger warnings for this book. They will spoil the story.

b.andherbooks

Roanoke girls all have beautiful brunette hair, big boobs, haunting eyes, and tend to die young or disappear. Lane finds out she is Roanoke girl after her mother's suicide. Sixteen years old, she finds out she has family in Kansas, a family her mother fled from for dark and horrible reasons. These reasons come to light during the one fateful summer Lane spends on the Roanoke farm with her cousin Allegra, her Grandad, her Gran, and two obedient servants before she too flees. 

Years later, her cousin Allegra is missing, and she is drawn back into a spider web of lies and secrets so horrible she herself has kept them all these long years. Will Lane become the next Roanoke girl, or will she finally break the cycle?

A darkly atmospheric story with lush prose and dirty secrets VC Andrews would be proud of. The audiobook narrator was superb, bringing you right into the story with her throaty, Southern accents. Listening to this made me feel dirty, yet thrilled.

Taylor Sedona

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

Went into this one a little hesitant but actually really enjoyed it. Roanoke Girls gave me some Gillian Flynn vibes which is exactly what I want out of a murder mystery thriller. Not overly predictable, handled transitions between past/present and narrators smoothly. I was happy with the resolutions at the end of the book which doesn’t always happen. 4 stars - a couple more plot twists would have pushed it to 5.

Laura

No, this book is not about Roanoke colony. Which is kind of like the literary equivalent of click bait because when I saw the cover I thought it would be about that, and maybe something to do with Virginia, the first baby born in America and her descendants being discovered or something like that. Which is actually a good idea for story and one I now need to write before anyone else does. Still, Engel or her publishers probably figured that putting Roanoke in the title would get all the American Horror Story fans flocking, just like how some many historical fiction writers are writing books about Hamilton.

But anyway, this book is more along the same lines, albeit a tamer, more domestic version, as possibly the most infamous episode of the X Files of all time. In fact, if this book was nonfiction and as a result had to have a long ass subtitle, I like to think that it would be called The Roanoke Girls: Come On, Granddad, Let's Make Some More!

Also, the Nabokov quote was good to start off with, because it reminded me of that one part in Lolita when Humbert Humbert fantastizes about starting a whole line of Lolitas. That part managed to creep me out more than this entire book did.

Let's start with my least favorite part of the book- the writing. Now, usually when I hate a book, I hate the plot, characters, etc, but not the writing. Lately though, I've been lucky enough to read some badly written books. While the writing isn't as offensive to my eyes as the writing in The Rattled Bones, it still is pretty bad. YA cash grab bad. You can tell the writer is used to writing books that don't take much effort to be considered good. And when I looked up Engel's other book series, really a duology, I wasn't surprised at all to find out it was YA dystopian. Look okay, one of my favorite book series of all time is YA dystopian, but just by looking at the synopsis on Goodreads I can tell that it was published in 2014, thus it was part of the dystopian craze during which publishers put out anything that could even remotely be considered dystopian, rushing all of it just so they could strike while the iron's hot. That kind of shit is all over her writing, with her main character being the kind of impossibly gorgeous men drool over, with her "long, coltish legs" "willowy frame" and, of course, big boobies. This is despite the fact that big boobies and willowy frame are two descriptions that do not usually go together. She also has naturally highlighted dark hair and eyes that are a color rarely seen outside of fantasy novels "ice blue... with starbursts of green around the pupil". Wow, so special. Wow, so unique. 

But of course, to balance out this beauty, she needs a tragic past. She has to be tough, no nonsense, the kind of girl with street smarts, who makes bad decision and treats people like shit because she has to hurt people, you see, she can't let anyone into her heart. But she'll make an exception for the beautiful bad boy love interest with the shitty daddy. It's almost painful how much Engel is trying to channel Gillian Flynn's typical unlikable female protagonists. The whole "beautiful but broken" thing comes across as trying too hard and something that can only be gotten away with in YA cash grabs.

Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...

tatiana ✧˖°

Becca West

Returning to her family's Kansas estate in the hopes of discovering the fate of her missing cousin, Lane reconnects with a young man from her past and is confronted by dark family secrets that prompted her to flee years earlier.

Cara

tori 👻

Melissa Railey

Moxie Minion

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “With more twists than a bag of pretzels, this compelling family saga may make you question what you think you know about your own relatives.”—Cosmopolitan “Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.” After her mother's suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother's mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran…fast and far away. Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again. As it weaves between Lane’s first Roanoke summer and her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart.

Georgia Carr &
The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

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