This was not the normal type of book I read, as I don't read paranormal or ghost books. What drew me to this one was that it was advertised to be a thriller. Yes, there was a ghost aspect but it was not the focal point of the plot, though was a focal point of the story. I enjoyed this one and would never have figured out the mysterious death of Sonia or its connection to the death of Deb. Fiona as the main narrator was a likeable character who has walls around her emotions since her sister was found murdered 20 years ago. She obsesses over it and has a feeling that there is more to the death than ever was revealed. What she uncovers is pretty surprising and sad to think it all could have been avoided. This one will keep you turning the pages to find out what in the world happened and how the alternating chapters intersect.

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James is one of those rare spooky ghost stories that caused me to take reading breaks because of the tension.

A story told in two time frames; a boarding school story; a ghost story; a murder mystery--The Broken Girls truly gave me chills.

In 1950 Vermont, a boarding school for recalcitrant girls (dumped there because they are unwanted or hard to manage) has been haunted since its inception. The legends, true and/or exaggerated, have been passed down through the decades both orally and through messages in the school's textbooks. Mary Hand knows--and the generations of girls who have attended Idlewild Hall are all affected by the truths she reveals.

In 2014, a journalist haunted by the murder of her sister is shocked and disturbed that someone wants to restore Idlewild Hall. She decides to write a story about the school, and that story leads to more mystery and danger.

Although I am often drawn to ghost stories, most books fail to satisfy or frighten me. While reading The Broken Girls, I was able to completely suspend disbelief.

Read in August; blog review scheduled for

NetGalley/Berkley Publishing Group

Mystery/Suspense/Supernatural. March 20, 2018. Print length: 336 pages.

Superb Gothic Suspense - Highly Recommended

Simone St. James’ latest novel is indeed about the broken. The abandoned Vermont girls school where the book is set is a crumbling echo chamber, an ominous place rumored to be haunted. Fiona Sheridan, the freelance journalist writing a story about Idlewild’s renovation, is in no better shape. After police discover her sister’s body on school grounds in the 1990s, Fiona spends the next 20 years grieving. Then there are the four girls who attended Idlewild in the fifties, one of whom vanishes and leaves only her suitcase behind. A beautiful 15-year-old whose parents send her away after a boy tries to rape her. An illegitimate daughter no one wants. An athlete whose uncle’s PTSD causes her to stop speaking. A Holocaust survivor who has no one besides her friends. Last but by no means least, there is the original “broken girl,” a ghost clad all in black who shows people what they least want to see.

As the novel unfolds Fiona’s research leads her to discover secrets not only about the girl who was murdered in 1950, but about her sister’s death as well. Told from alternating viewpoints that shift between 1950 and 2014, "The Broken Girls" is a gothic page-turner that I could not put down (there is even a scene reminiscent of one in "Wuthering Heights," my all-time favorite book). The plot is extremely well done and the Idlewild girls were compellingly believable. After their roommate disappears, the remaining three friends learn the most important “lesson” of all: nobody really cares what happens to a broken girl. Or at least no one but another damaged girl haunted by death. Not surprisingly, Fiona’s efforts to solve both cases put in her danger—with both earthly and supernatural forces. What does it take to fix the broken--or is that even possible? Those are two secrets I'm not going to reveal.

"The Broken Girls" is the first Simone St. James novel I’ve read so I don’t know if all her books are this good. What I do know is that if you’re looking for a riveting ghost story that will keep you up until you finish it, this is the book for you.

Much thanks to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book was sooooo good! I loved it. There was a little bit of everything: mystery, intrigue, romance, historical fiction, ghosts, suspense and plot twists. ALL of that in one book! I have never read a book by this author but I will definitely read more. Fiona was a great character, smart, pretty, realistic and determined to find her sister's killer. She did an awesome job uncovering the mystery surrounding her sister's death that happened 20 years prior. I loved her boyfriend Jessie, a cop, who wanted to believe in her so much and was totally conflicted between the police force and his retired police chief father. The is a GREAT story intertwining the past and present so closely--I could not put it down and had to finish it! Highly recommend this one!! Fabulous plot, characters and writing.

No one writes a ghost story like Simone St. James.

I have loved each of her previous four books, which were set in the post World War I era. The Broken Girls finds itself alternating between various time periods--the common thread being a terrifying ghost who has haunted a girls boarding school since its inception. The strands are brought together in the present by a journalist whose life has been overshadowed by the murder of her sister in the 1990s. Abandoned Idlewild Hall is about to be renovated and reopened, prompting Fiona to investigate the death of her sister Deb whose body was dumped on the campus. Her research not only brings her in contact with the restless spirit who has haunted generations of girls at Idlewild but also with the living whose secrets are even more frightening. St. James expertly weaves characters and events from the past and present into a riveting tapestry, reminding the reader that everyone, the living and the dead, is broken in some way.

Full Disclosure--Net Gallery and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest revie

Simone St. James has mastered the art of ghostly suspense. Chills run up and down and you can't wait to turn the next page. But The Lost Girls is so much more than a ghost story. Set in Vermont in the 50's and 2014 the story starts at Idlewild, a school for girls sent by parents who want to forget them. It's a terribly uncaring place where four girls become close friends watching out for each other, until one of them is killed. A nasty spirit remains on the grounds who haunts the school grounds in the 50s and in present day as well. Fiona's sister was murdered on the grounds in the 70s, and in 2014 Fiona is still haunted by what happened. Someone new has just bought the decrepit grounds and plans to restore and reopen the school. Past, present and future combine to solve three murders and finally bring the truth to light I highly recommend.

Following two different timelines, 1950 and 2014, this book explores the lives that have been affected by Idlewild Hall, a massive creepy old girl's boarding school that housed "troubled " girls from the early twentieth century until its closure in 1979. In 1950, four roommates at the school try to cope with both the coldness of the institution they've been imprisoned in and the schools ghost, Mary Hand, who appears to all of them. In 2014, Fiona Sheridan is still mourning her sister, murdered and dumped on the grounds of the abandoned school twenty years earlier. Now the abandoned school has been purchased with plans for it to reopen as a girl's boarding school. But during the construction work, a body is found. The body of one of the girls from 1950. As Fiona investigates she must unravel the threads that link her sister's death to that of both Sonia and the ghost of Mary Hand. This is a fantastic, impossible to put down ghost story. Hands down my favorite read of the summer