I was glued to the pages of The Roanoke Girls, much like the shirts on the backs of the residents of Osage Flats. The whole premise, hidden secrets, and Kansas backdrop, made for compelling, page-turning, reading. It's so easy to fall into Lane's story and watch the secrets unfold as the story progresses. If ever it could be said for a right way to deliver a story of sexual abuse, then this is pretty much it. As harrowing and uncomfortable as it gets, the wordsmithing is a joy to read. We learn about the Roanoke Girls and what was endured and that sexual abuse isn't just physical endurance, and often not endurance at all, the power people can have over us can lead to very awful, really tricky, situations.

Lane, Allegra, Tommy and Connor, who I class as the four main characters, unravel this story before your eyes as the truth becomes known. Interspersed with glimpses into the past and the rest of the Roanoke Girls (which I think was brilliantly done). Not forgetting Charlie and Sharon and other secondary characters who play important roles. All very decently brought to life, and from start to finish, immerse you into the Kansas unforgiving heat, and holding you there because the draw and fascination of what is unfolding before your very eyes is addictive. I rarely like books that swing from past to present, but there is not better way that this novel could have been done. And it was executed perfectly.

I wasn't sure what to expect with The Roanoke Girls, I didn't bargain for getting such a captivating read, brilliantly written and a great prose that will have this book staying with me for a very long time.

I received a copy of The Roanoke Girls from Netgalley, my reviews are my own and depict my enjoyment of a first class read.

When Lane's mother commits suicide, she is sent to live with her grandparents on a sprawling farm in a tiny community called Osage Flats, in the middle of Kansas. She knows nothing about her family, only that they are wealthy and own a farm. Her cousin Allegra, whose mother took off shortly after she was born, also lives with with them. Lane discovers more about the rest of her family, "The Roanoke girls", and that the only two remaining are her and Allegra - the others are either dead or simply ran off. The two girls spend a hot Kansas summer finding whatever fun they can in a small town; namely hanging around with two local boys, Tommy and Cooper, and Lane and Cooper begin a summer romance. After making a disturbing and shocking discovery about her family that shocks her to the core, Lane immediately leaves Kansas and heads to California.

Over a decade later, Lane is living in Los Angeles and receives a phone call late one night from her Grandfather, Yates. Allegra has gone missing and so Lane has to return to attempt to discover what has happened to her cousin. She doesn't want to, but her bond with Allegra forces her, and as soon as she arrives back she feels the pull of the place and knows she shouldn't stay long. Yet Lane know she can't leave without finding out what happened to Allegra - did she run or did something much more sordid happen to her? Back in Kansas she reconnects with Tommy, who is now married and a local police officer, and Cooper who now runs his fathers garage. They are both also desperate to know what happened to Allegra, or if she will be confined to the mystery books.

The book is told in the context of "then" and "now", with the stories of each of the Roanoke girls interspersed throughout. When the layers of the Roanoke's history peel back slowly, the true horror of the family's secrets crawls over your skin like ice. The "secret" is known relatively early on, but as the dark and shocking stories of the past and present spill across the pages, they expose more twisted and abnormal tales leaving you in a state of disbelief.

Amy Engels writing draws you in despite the grim subject matter, which is handled with just enough detail, yet not too much to be off putting. The atmosphere throughout the book feels suffocating with the stifling and oppressive heat of Kansas. This has the effect of making the reader feel cocooned and almost smothered or trapped, with how thick and close the air is.

Normally many gothic books achieve a menacing and oppressive atmosphere through the cold, dark, grey, foggy, misty, emptiness. This book achieves that feeling through the descriptions of the isolation that comes with living in a middle of nowhere small town, combined with the stifling heat and humidity. Unless you've lived through summers where anything over 40/ 104 is the norm, it's probably hard to imagine the intensity extreme heat and/or humidity can create. Amy Engel describes it to a t. It can be delibihating and suck the energy and life right out of you. Making the air feel thick and heavy like it's getting right into your lungs. The descriptions of a boiling Kansas summer creates an eerie ambience - one which is dark, gritty, uncomfortable and extremely unsettling. Yet the writing is still beautifully compelling and powerful.

The storyline of Lane and Cooper is a little relief to some of the other stomach churning tales, which won't be comfortable reading, particularly for some readers who may be affected by some of the books subjects. However, Amy Engel is a talented and clever writer who has taken on a dark and sickening subject. Yet somehow she manages to entice you in as a reader to uncover the Roanoke's most darkest, shocking and weird secrets. I devoured the book over two days, it is easy just to greedily gobble up the pages to see how far down the rabbit hole the tragic tale takes you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton, for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Sometimes you get a book that you really think you will love, it has mixed reviews, the title and synopsis do their job by providing enough to pull you in. Then you read the book. This one left me a little deflated, it was not because I didn’t enjoy it because on the whole I did enjoy it. But my confusion with this book is, the subject matter of the story is definitely aimed at adults, but the style of writing, I felt was more YA.

The plot of the story was very basic and disturbing, but due to the simplicity of the writing made it a quick read. The main characters were memorable and well written to a point, but the dialogue again had more of a YA feel, sweeping generalised statements rather than more in-depth that I expected. The descriptions for the Osage Flats did give a good general feel for the area, and I really liked the picture the author built up for me in my head.

The reason for feeling a little deflated were I think, due to the lack of detailed explanations for various questions that arose during and after reading the book, I feel more exploration of family Friends dynamics could have been expanded more, rather that generalised statements. The main idea or plot was given very early on and I did find myself working out the main culprit and reasons behind it quite quickly.

But all that being said, I did read the book very quickly, and did find it quite addictive. I think because of the simplicity of the writing it held my attention, as I did not have to think about what I was reading too much. If you take the adult theme out of the book, it would be ideal for YA readers. I am sure this will appeal to many readers who want a quick, shock read.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my copy of this book for my honest and unbiased review.

I had heard a great deal on social media about the Roanoke Girls so was interested to delve in to this novel.

Whilst it was exceptionally well written and compelling I actually found the story to be claustrophobic in its atmosphere and very disturbing. In its content. Did I enjoy it? Not sure but it is a story that will stay with me a long time.

Will be on the best sellers list I am sure.

This book is darkly disturbing and full of forbidden love and twisted secrets that you wouldn't want to share even to the last person on earth. It is the story of Lane, a Roanoke girl, who ends up back at her ancestral home for one summer when she is 16. There she meets her Gran and Grandad and her cousin Allegra and learns just how dysfunctional her family really is. She leaves after that one summer but ends up back there after her Grandad calls about an incident and we see if she can survive Roanoke for a second time.

Amy Engel sets the tone of this book from the beginning. It was extremely atmospheric and I was completely gripped throughout. The whole book is written in first person and this to me felt like I was more immersed in the story. I felt I was experiencing everything alongside Lane rather than looking in. Her vivid descriptions of place and people helped and I was able to watch the story play out in my head. I also liked that the narrative was told across two timelines and how they both came together in a super climax at the end. I liked being able to see how the 'then' influenced the 'now' as we went along.

Amy also dropped a reveal on us quite early on in the story but I didn't mind this in the slightest. Things continued to build throughout the book and I always found myself saying just one more page. I needed to know how things played out. We got another reveal near the end of the book and I can honestly say I did not see either of them coming and as a reader of many thriller novels this is something I usually can't say.

We are introduced to the Roanoke family quite early on and then gradually receive more information throughout the story. The whole idea of Roanoke is toxic and it really does feel like the family has a curse hanging over them. Every character in this novel is flawed, they both have good and bad in them but this doesn't stop me from liking every character in this novel. As the story progresses you can see why many of the Roanoke girls want to leave the family home behind.

Although Lane only spent one summer at Roanoke you can see how the family legacy has affected her her whole life, through her relationships with others. I loved her relationship with Allegra it was a completely honest depiction of a close family relationship in my opinion with fights, arguments and reconciliations but with added extra dysfunctionality. There relationship felt very authentic.

This book have definite triggers for a variety of difficult issues I won't share them here because of spoilers but feel free to message me if you want to know. However, I felt the author handled the issues extremely well. The feelings of each of the different parties felt very realistic and in my opinion, they were handled sensitively and they were not sensationalised in any way.

Overall I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a dark and gritty novel with a super gripping plot and unpredictable events.

4.5 stars.

When Lane's Mother dies she goes to live with her grand-parents in fairly isolated small town in Kansas. The family have a secret and everyone is damaged.

I have to start with a big positive about how well written this book is in terms of description. The vocabulary is great and the author really manages to conjure up pictures in the mind of the reader. I saw the run down, dusty town and the old rambling house, Roanoake) with no problems at all.

Unfortunately as thrillers go it was rather predictable and lacked suspense. There is a "big secret" which wasn't a secret to anyone reading the book. It all became very obvious quite early on meaning that there was no suspense leading up to a climax. The story panned out in a fairly logical manner to a reasonable conclusion.

I struggled with the characters in this book. Usually, even in the grimmest books, there is a character that you are rooting for. Someone whose corner you'd fight and who you'd like to see have a happy ending. I really struggled to find anyone with any redeeming features. Everyone is damaged - Lane had a loveless and difficult relationship with her mother leaving her not knowing what love is & how to appreciate people as opposed to hurting them. Her cousin Allegra who has lived with her grandparents since birth is attention seeking and more than a little damaged by "the big secret". There are workers in the house, young people in the town and Lane's grandparents who are all struggling with secrets and difficulties. I did feel slight compassion for Lane but not enough to really care about her. Plenty of people through the years have known about the wicked things taking place in Roakoake but no one lifted a finger to help them. Not even Lane when she left.

I have to say that I do wonder why there is quite so much hype about this book. I loved the description but the rest was mediocre and, to be perfectly honest, quite grim. There is nothing to smile about & no one I cared about.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley

I loved this book. It was quite different from my normal read and was quite dark and disturbing but thoroughly enjoyable. I certainly wasn't expecting it! I look forward to reading more by this author.

I seem to be reading a lot of books concerning manipulative relationships, incest and rape these days. Reading Roanoke Girls was a bit like dreaming - some moments were filled with clarity, others murky and watercolour pages of unclear meaning. The Roanoke Girls focuses on a dark family history filled with shadows - and a yearning for hope, escape and redemption. It was difficult to read at times, but overall I am glad I finished it. Was not too surprised at the ending and whodunit, but it was a bit disappointing in the sense that I felt it didn't give much closure. Definitely a book that one digests slowly long after the last page has been read.

Powerful, compelling and completely absorbing. I couldn't wait to turn each page and feel a bit lost now that the book is finished. I have tried a few times to describe the book but I cant do it justice and Id hate to give away too much. Just read it!
I loved the flawed characters, that still managed to be appealing. This is aided by the physiological insight into why the characters are the way they are, which is cleverly woven into the story, as opposed to the unsubtle bio many books resort to. The book should be disjointed as it constantly switches between now and then, but again it is handled deftly. And lastly, some beautiful poetic descriptions which complement the story so well that it doesn't seem pretentious. I have much respect for the skill and subtlety of this author.

I received this in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. Thank you to the author, Amy Engel, and the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton, for this opportunity.
Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.
After her mother's suicide, 15-year-old Lane Roanoke goes to live with her grandparents and cousin, Allegra, on their enormous estate in rural Kansas. She knows nothing of her family, but soon finds they seem to be steeped in tragedy – all the girls in the family have died tragically young. Over the summer she lives there she builds relationships with her family and makes friends but on learning the dark secrets at the heart of her family, she leaves for California.
11 years later, Lane is living in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind.
The plot weaves between the summer Lane spent at Roanoke and the present day and her search for Allegra. We also hear from previous Roanoke Girls briefly as we find out their stories too.
Without giving away the secret of the family, I can say I’ve never read a book that deals with this subject matter, and it is written so well that although what I was reading disgusted me, I also understood why it happened.
I really enjoyed the book – despite us finding out the shocking secret at the heart of the book quite early on, we still have the mystery of Allegra’s disappearance to solve so it keeps up the tense feeling of the story. This is one of those books you pick up and read, even though you’ve only 5 minutes to spare.

I don't know how to write this. I'm speechless and emotionally wrecked by this astonishing book. I'm in shock.

Stuck for words. Overwhelmed. I only remember maybe two other books making me feel like this after finishing. I might read this a thousand times - and I never re-read books.

Shocking. Taboo. Sublime. Powerful. Disturbing. Dark. Beautiful. Sorrowful. Broken. Infectious. Horrified. Disgusted. Warmed. Desperate. Choked. Teary. Urging. Painful. Love. Lies. Secrets. Cracked..

These are all words I associate with this incredible novel. This novel is already in my list of Top 17 Books of 2017, skipping the long list and the short list. Absolutely breathtaking. An emotional roller coaster that has left me split open wide with so much feeling I ache. I'm not kidding.

I can't even touch the plot. The characters are exceptionally, and brilliantly portrayed. The plot will devour you as you inhale each word. I dare you not to feel. Oh. Just oh! Lane. Allegra. I love you - Roanoke Girls. I felt what you felt. How is that possible?

I'm buying the paperback to keep forever. Please promise me you'll get this book, right now preferred. Spend the money, treat yourself. Beg, borrow. Just read it and come back and please tell me how it made you feel.

6 stars. More stars. All the stars.

Breathe. I'm trying to breathe...coming up for air. This book hit me right in the heart, messed with my brain and set my moral compass on spin. Just outstanding.

Trust me.

"Vowing to discover the fate of her missing cousin, a woman returns to her family's Kansas estate where she spent one haunting summer as a teen, and where she discovered the dark heart of the Roanoke clan that left her no choice but to run"

Both chilling and unsettling, Engel's writing will grab your attention from the first page. Had I had the time, I probably would have read this in one sitting. The themes such as abuse and suicide are handled sensitively and with empathy. The dark family story is told using multiple perspectives- the female-centred narrative felt refreshing to read. The flashbacks and jumping from different periods of time could get confusing at times- however it became clear that the family history was a really important aspect of the story for Engel. An engrossing and thrilling novel that will shock readers- perfect for fans of 'The Girls'.

I read this book so quickly, I could not put it down. I was so intrigued that I think I read most of it in one sitting. The story is fantastic, deals with taboo topics and is shocking right down to the last page! Amazing

Some books should come with a Government Health Warning.  This is one of them.  Very little in the blurb gives any indication of the depths of depravity that lurk at Roanoke. The "terrible secret" in the blurb is just not strong enough.  I wonder at the author's own sanity in writing such a tale, where incest and grooming, and their insidious preying on developing children's minds, are the key to the whole plot.
I'm sorry if that 'spoils' it for you, but the suspicion comes early, when grandfather puts his hand on the young girl's knee and lets his pinkie slip under the hem of her shorts. If, like an astounding percentage of women of a certain age, of all classes and colours, you have been subject to sexual predation, you will do well to avoid this book, and to put it out of your mind.  You do not need to relive any of your youth.  You do not need to re-examine the things that made you fight to remain the kind and balanced person that you are striving to be.
The terrifying thing is that Amy Engel has captured the psychology of everyone involved so well.  She writes mostly with a vivid certainty that you will experience the heat and desolation of rural Kansas on every page. Occasionally she puts so much craft into her writing that it stands out; too much, Amy, too much.  I only highlighted one overblown description early on, but when she gets into description she just goes on, and on, searching for the most perfect, the least clichéd, the most original turn of phrase ever - so much so it becomes painful. She could have cut a couple of pages of Lane's mental self-flagellation in the end sequence - or was it self-discovery, I couldn't work out which, since I had long distanced my emotions from the turmoil within the pages.
The Roanoke Girls will probably win prizes.  It will probably be hailed as an important book by right-wingers, especially those that welcome the final judgement on the grandfather.  It will probably, heaven help us, be read as a set book in high school five years down the road.
I suppose what incensed me most (if that is possible) was the cool 'questions for reading groups' at the end. Someone expects it to be a set text, obviously.  Personally I think it should carry that referral information you get after some tv programmes:
If you, or someone close to you, have been affected by the contents of this programme[book], you can get help and counselling at this number.....

WOW!

Gripped from the first page to the last.

A twisted tale of family and love, the missing, the lost and the found.

Still messing with with my head thinking of the clues I must have missed.

Brilliant.

JUst couldn't seem to get into this book, all seemed a bit far fetched. A grandfather who had sexual relations with his family and they seemingly 'loved' him,l. Maybe there was a twist I never got to, but it didn't hold my attention long enough to read that far.

A gripping tale of secrets and secrecy, of family silences and the harm they can do, The Roanoke Girls is an unputdownable novel which uses the reader's own moral code to build a creeping sense of horror until it reaches its climax in the very closing chapters.

This novel has no surprise ending. From the very beginning any intelligent and aware reader can see exactly where it's headed; this does not, however, for one moment lessen the growing chill of horror as one reads the story to its close. Indeed, knowing where it's going adds a thread of tension to every sentence, an underline of desperate resignation to every chapter.

Although we have our history of the Roanoke girls from each one of them, they are all telling the same story. It's a tale of grooming, of the power of love, of the desperate need for affection every child starts their life with and will take however it comes to them.

Our lead, Lane, comes to Roanoke at age 15, streetwise and aware, yet is still unprepared for the power, or the form that power takes, wielded at the family farm, from where every girl child has fled or died. It's a place of ecstasy and misery, of comfort and hopelessness, from which escape can never truly happen.

It's a morality tale for today, perhaps. An instruction for those of us on the outside to withhold judgement, to be aware of the myriad of currents within any relationship, even those we deem to be wrong, so very, very wrong.

It's not an easy book to read and certainly not one for lovers of love or romance. There is really no mystery to solve, so it's not one for crime fiction lovers. It is however a book that sits with you for a long time, teasing the mind and demanding consideration. I recommend it to anyone who admires great writing and great storytelling and for whom a happy ending isn't a requirement - although, at the risk of throwing out a spoiler - is appreciative of one when it happens.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me have an advanced copy of this book.

I have to say this was a pretty amazing piece of work and what a story. I've never read any of Amy's novels before but I will from now on.

The story centres around the "Roanoke girls"; mothers, daughters, sisters and the disturbing lives they lead in the family home. Starting off with Allegra's disappearance and with Lane coming home to find out what happened this is a twisted mystery that tugs at your heart strings and bashes you on the head with emotion.

A must read for this summer!!

A very dark, absorbing and disturbing story. Every character in the book is emotionally damaged in some way, and very hard to like. The only one I felt empathy with was Cooper, he at least acknowledged his problems and made great efforts to overcome them. Lane has been emotionally broken by her mother's inability to love her, which she doesn't understand. It makes her very hard and brittle, she fights against allowing anyone to get close to her.

The climax of the book was very powerful, but not unexpected. I was pleasantly surprised at the fairly happy ending, the alternative prospect would have been too awful to contemplate. It was good that Lane could finally break the family chain.

I can not say that I loved this book, it is far too dark for that. But I did enjoy reading it very much, the writing is excellent, all the characters become real. Powerful writing indeed!

So, this is a tricky one. I ummed and aahed over my rating, as it's a deeply disturbing book, but in the end I had to give it 5 stars. I talked about this one with my husband and when I gave him an overview of the book he said "But how could that be a good book?" But it was! I loved the relationship between Allegra and Lane. I loved how it stirred up how intense first teenage love is in the relationship between Allegra and Cooper and I really wanted to visit Roanoke to see it (but minus the questionable family members!) Really beautifully written but still very disturbing at times so occasionally difficult to read.