i read the reviews for this book and wasn't sure i'd like it. i was wrong it gripped me from the start and whilst it's a dark subject matter and doesn't sit easily with me i had to finish it.

the story alternates between the past and the present but does it seamlessly without confusion. the characters are complex but are well written.

I would recommend this book to
anyone. many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of the most unique books I've ever read. I'm not sure how long this review will be, purely because it was a very unique story that I don't really know how to review!

The story itself left me with extremely mixed feelings. It was written with such skill and talent to allow you to immerse yourself completely in the story, and to make you have the feelings you do throughout. However the plot was particularly strange. 

Yates creeped me out in the way I know he was meant to and I credit Amy for that, she created him perfectly, and set up the story in the best possible way to get the most accurate response. I also loved the individual chapters that focused on each past Roanoke girl and revealed their history. It was such a great addition to add to the mystery and helped me to gain knowledge of the world piece by piece. It was brilliant.

It was definitely a unique story, and there were many parts I was creeped out by, but I can't say too much without giving away spoilers! But sometimes I was very weirded out by the narrative, as well written as it was!

Overall it was a very well written book that created perfect amounts of suspense in the best way. However at some parts the story was slightly hard to 'like' as such, but I'd definitely recommend the read!

II enjoy reading this book even though, as others have pointed out, the outcome is fairly clear early on. It tells the story of three generations of the Roanoke family who live in a rambling and eccentrically extended house in a small town in Kansas. All the family members are female apart from Yates Roanoke, the patriarch grandfather, heading up the current living members of the family. The book is mainly told in a couple of timeframes: ‘Then’ in 2004 and ‘Now’ in 2015. In 2004 Lane, aged 16 and newly orphaned as her single mother dies, moves from New York City to the Roanoke household as they are her only known family members. There she finds Allegra, a cousin who is almost the same age and bears a striking resemblance to her.

I enjoyed soaking up the arid, hot, remote and rural location that the book was set in but was slightly disappointed about the ending. One of the core tenets of the book is based on the line "Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die". I was hoping to find the outcome of all who ran so was disappointed in the absence of a complete story to tie up a couple of loose ends I still have my head.

It is well-written and kept me turning the pages quickly.

Wow. Just wow. The Roanoke Girls is just so up my alley. I think the last book I read with such a hunger was Karin Slaughter’s The Good Daughter. I didn’t want to work or anything. I just wanted to curl up and read and ignore the world. I was drawn in from the off, and fascinated with the entire book.

I enjoyed the way that the book was written, with the “then” section and then the “now” section, as well as the little snippets of the other Roanoke girls sprinkled throughout. It really created tension, and this dark atmosphere you get sucked into and wrapped up in. Yes, the big ick is revealed pretty early, but that in no way affects the book negatively. In fact, it makes you even more observant on the dysfunctional behaviour you were wondering about before. The Roanoke Girls is really well written and flows, with the reveals slowly but surely painting the complexity of the story.

I really liked the way that Engel created the characters. Each had their own story, and each little flashback revealed some more, and every little section of the present peeled away yet another layer. Allegra is totally different from Lane, yet you can see how the girls are bonded. Allegra has a terrible secret, and is jealous because she knows how things will be, yet she loves Lane. It is very complicated. Add to the mix how the author created their grandfather, Yates, and you are in for an disquieting ride. The man does come across as charismatic and charming and loving, which leaves you with a perverted, sickening, uncomfortable feeling, which is amazing to establish the family ties at Roanoke.

Then there are the side characters, most notably Tommy and Cooper, and that is a whole other kettle of fish. Cooper pretty much immediately swept me off my feet, so I totally got why Lane was bowled over. Not everyone’s cup of tea,  to be sure, but total book crush for me. Their relationship was amazing, and then it was crazy, and I could see the shift of it, even while I didn’t like it. They were both damaged creatures inexorably drawn to each other, and just clicked. Tommy is also the all American boy, the safe kid, the nice guy, but he also has multiple layers to him. These characters having so many layers makes for interesting dynamics, and you are so hooked.

As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed The Roanoke Girls. I just gobbled this book up, it was thrilling, sick and rough and yet there was hope tinging the edges. It had that same dark, twisted vibe as Averil Dean’s The Undoing, a book I liked a lot more than most people did, it seems. I highly recommend this read if you like something a little warped and unsettling, something that peeks into some messed up places.

This is one of the most riveting, disturbing and memorable books that I've read for a long time. The subject matter could be triggering, especially regarding suicide and abuse.

The writing is brilliant, as it evokes the setting vividly and has a strong voice. The plot was thrilling, unsettling and hard to predict, which made for a tense reading experience! There weren't many happy moments to offset the darkness, so I had to be in the right mood to read it.

The characters of the book were very believable, sometimes worryingly so, and the book's structure cleverly peeled back their layers and sometimes changed my opinions as the story progressed.

I'd definitely recommend this book to fans of dark mysteries, though I hope that people keep the trigger warnings in mind.

A really interesting read. It's chapers were based around "now" and "then". The secret was revealed early in the book but this made for a much more interesting and tense read. When one of the girls goes missing more details come to light and I was surprised but very satified with the conclusion.
I would recommend this book as a great holiday read. It did keep me intrigued and it was hard to put down. very well researched. Well done Amy I look forward to more of your work.

The Roanoke girls is a sad , shocking page turner! I enjoyed it but found it to be a dark and unsettling book. Its set in rural Kansas about a farm called Roanoke and the girls who live/have lived there and the dysfunctional family life. It's difficult to explain too much without spoilers. It's dark and twisted and at times made me really sad but there are a few twists and turns that will keep you wanting to know what happens to these girls.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book.

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.

3.5 stars for me. Perhaps 3. I’m not sure how I feel about this book, really. Mostly disappointed, I think.

After Lane’s mother kills herself, she’s sent to live in Kansas with her grandparents and her cousin Allegra, with whom she builds a special bond. It seems like she’s finally found a proper home. That is until she discovers the family secret and runs away as fast and as far as she can. 20 years later, she receives a call from her grandfather asking her to come back because her cousin is missing. She drops her mess of a life to go back to Kansas and try to find her and that digs up all kinds of things that she, naturally, would’ve liked to keep hidden and forgotten.

There’s a great story hidden somewhere in this book it, but the execution is not what it could’ve been. It felt like the skeleton of a better book at times. Still, it was quite good and I kept thinking about it days after finishing it. The story is super dark and messed up, it truly is, but the author barely manages to scratch the surface several times throughout the book.

The secret of the story is revealed quite early on. Getting that out of the way and not making a big deal about the big reveal, allowed the author to develop the story in a different direction and it made a more interesting read than I imagine would’ve been otherwise. I don’t know if the author would’ve been able to develop the story without giving it away and making it predictable, so it was a wise move. That bit was unpredictable and it worked out quite well.

At times it was an interesting story, but it felt anticlimactic at others. And at several points, it seemed like something out of a book from the “Sweet Dreams” collection (those 80s and 90s teen romance books). Some characters are complex in a good way, but others are quite one-dimensional, basic and predictable, but not all the time and that’s what made this book frustrating.

What I did love about the book is how the author seems to grasp the effect certain things have on people’s lives, even many years after the fact and the struggles they go through to try to survive trauma and heal (when they are able to manage it).

There were a few things that annoyed me and lowered my opinion of the book. #1: I get it, it’s warm and humid and it makes you sweaty and sticky, but there’s no need to mention it twice in every chapter. #2 Breasts. They have big knockers, you’ve established that, now move on. Don’t bring it up ALL THE TIME! #3: Roanoke girls are beautiful, but I think that the obvious ‘bimbo” beauty portrayed in this book was unnecessary and irrelevant. It’s not the only kind of beauty and, more importantly, things would’ve happened anyway, big knockers or not, Barbie doll looks or not; because at the end of the day, that is not what determined the things that happen in the book. It banalised an otherwise well portrayed psychological sickness and took away from what could’ve been a 5 star book.

All in all, I don’t think it’s a groundbreaking book. It was OK to kill time for a couple of days, but it’s not one I’ll recommend to my friends. As usual, my issue with books like this one is the unfulfilled potential. The author, with the guidance of a good editor, could’ve created something special but, as it was, she wasn’t up to the task of tackling such dark and difficult subjects.

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.