I read this book in one sitting, and couldn't wait to finish it! There was twists and turns galore, and I will read more of this author in future.

A fascinating book that’s chilling but very thought provoking. This is quite an uncomfortable book to read and very much brings to mind what happened to James Bulger. A disturbing uneasy read that will stay with you,

The author creates an amazing opening chapter. It is shocking how devious and cunning the sisters were and the storytelling really manages to bring out genuine feelings within its readership, which leads to a shocking but brilliant conclusion.

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Crikey this book is very good. It follows two sisters who were involved in a murder of a young girl. They are both thought to be guilty but because of the younger one only being 6 she is unable to be tried, and when they meet up another child goes missing. This book follows a release, a new relationship and a new child missing.

Thank you for the advance copy

I love a crime book that is set over two timelines and especially when it's a crime that has already been committed and you are working backwards, like in The Flower Girls. This was an interesting social commentary on the rehabilitation of young offenders, the nature Vs nurture debate and how responsible a very young child can be for their actions. I found this to be an addictive book to read, once I got started I couldn't stop. However, there were a few elements that didn't gel with me, one of them being the journalist, Max. His character was very one dimensional and I found myself rolling my eyes every time he appeared in the story. It took too long for us to meet Laurel, so we were getting a lot of Hazel's side of the story without the opposing side from Laurel. The end needed finessing, it was incredible rushed and could have been way more explosive than it was. Overall I liked it though and would read more from this author.

Please don't judge, but I do enjoy this type of book. What is it about the dark side of people that we find so fascinating?

But this book lived up to my hopes and kept me hooked throughout!

recommended

A fantastic and well plotted story with such a hooky premise. I was immediately drawn in and it kept me guessing until the very end

If settling down to a post-Christmas tale of child abduction and murder is your bag, you’ve come to the right place! Well, that is not entirely fair – it is what I was expecting from the way ‘The Flower Girls’ starts, but it is not quite what I got. This isn’t quite the usual run of the mill crime thriller, ‘The Flower Girls’ is a clever, unsettling and sadly, relatively believable story, with characters and a plot that make you think and rethink your impressions and preconceptions on a number of areas, not least the issue of the age of criminal responsibility and how we as a society perceive and treat children guilty of serious criminal acts. So, no, not your bog-standard crime novel.
Also, the novel is written by an author with a genuine talent for language and writing. It is the combination of these attributes that makes the difference, setting ‘The Flower Girls’ apart from the horde of similar, contemporary novels.

I did enjoy this novel but one thing that grates and doesn’t ring true is the constant use of the title of the book when referring to a (fictional) historical case. In the true, sad cases similar to that presented in ‘The Flower Girls’, it is rightly the victim whose name is remembered, the killer is really only given a ‘nickname’ when there hasn’t been a perpetrator identified. But that is a minor quibble.
It does feel, however, that this novel was written with the movie in mind, not least in the selection of the title. Much of the plotting, pacing and twists are delivered in precisely the way one expects to experience this in the medium of film. It will make a good movie.

Also, maybe I just read too many crime thrillers but I spotted all of the red herrings and plot twits from quite a distance, other than the very final twist which was to my mind a twist too far, coming completely out of the blue and pushing the bounds of believability a little beyond breaking point for me. But although that was a bit of a disappointing end, I could not let it take away from the enjoyability of the story and the quality of the writing throughout.

While I thought the premise of this book was very intriguing, and the short chapters make it a quick read, it ultimately wasn’t for me unfortunately.

One of the first things that drew me to this book was I review I read that mentioned unreliable narrators (a favourite trope of mine!), and while this book has more than one, the dialogue was unconvincing and because of that, none of the characters felt particularly real to me.

I found the plot predictable, the less-than-subtle metaphors made the “surprises” easy to anticipate and overall the conclusion left me feeling very unsatisfied.

The formatting of this was really jarring, there were words in odd places and no capital letters for a while and random capital letters where there didn't need to be any. This really took me out of the story and stopped me being fully immersed. I saw the merits of the novel however, so I may purchase a copy and re read it properly to allow myself to enjoy it as I'm sure I would have if not for the formatting errors I came across.

I had been looking forward to reading this as the blurb appealed to me, but I sadly couldn't get on with it.

This one really didn't work for me. I wasn't enjoying it much for the majority but then the ending turned me off it completely.

I found the writing clunky - it just did not seem to flow comfortably at all, lots of awkward phrasing and stilted dialogue. The structure also impeded the flow of the narrative - I found it too disjointed.

I also found the similarity to the James Bulger case to be a little too much for me to be comfortable with. Some things are just ... I don't know, I still get upset thinking about Jamie, I don't want to be reminded of that for entertainment purposes.

The plot is a little stretched, the characters seem inconsistent and, for me, the ending made the whole thing pointless. The resolutions give no satisfaction and the only happy ending is for the murderer and her child abducting boyfriend! I did not appreciate the darkness of the ending at all.

This book sadly left me very disappointed. While I was engaged throughout the majority of it and I felt the characters were well fleshed out, the twist felt very rushed at the end and was given no real explanation or time to breathe.

The task of repopulating the senior library has been an exciting and daunting task aS in a boarding school our aim is to encourage all members of the community to read. Because of this, I have been searching down a wide and diverse range of books to read that will entice a wide cross-section of the school to come in, browse and find books that they love.
Books like this will ensure that the senior students in the school see the library as a diverse, modern and exciting place with books that speak to them and they want to recommend to their friends, classmates, teachers and tutors.
It is an engrossing and exciting read with fully-formed characters and a plot that ensures that it's hard to look away. It is as far from formulaic as it is possible to be and kept me up far too late in order to finish it. I immediately wanted to read all of this writer's other books as I loved their voice and found that it really drew me into the story and made me think about it even when I'd stepped away from this tale.
This is a thought-provoking read which I'm sure will be a popular and well-read addition to our new library; I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to read it and I know that the students are going to absolutely love it too!

Laurel and Rosie were well known for being the sisterss that murdered another young child. Larel, the eldest sister was sent to prison and has remained there fo rmany years whilst Rosie was only 6 years old at the time escaped prison but has lived her life with a new identity and all the problems that go with it.
Rosie is now Hazel and while staying at a hotel with her partner when another child goes missing. Will the police and ther work out who Hazel (Rosie)really is? And will mean the end for her new life.
The reading of this book can be rather difficult at times with there being so many similarities to the James Bulger case but I still couldn't put it down. There are loads of twists and turns to keep the reader turning the pages. You will remember this book and keep thinking about it long after you have turned the last page.

I enjoyed this very much. Dealing with the tricky subject of child murderers, it was very well written, and made you think about the issues involved. A very good read.

Disturbing, based-on-reality psychological mystery thriller. Intriguing premise. Highly uncomfortable reading.

Cleverly written, for the most part, but an uncomfortable read. I did feel that the supposed twist at the end was pretty obvious, which reduced the enjoyment a little, but for most of it the story was fairly well thought out and written. I guess I just find this such a sad subject to write or read about, that it rather affected my enjoyment. I didn't realise from the blurb exactly how sad a subject this book was going to be about, perhaps.

I loved this book. I liked the different type of thriller it was. I liked how you have characters that you don’t want to feel sorry for or pitty but yet you do. I also liked how the author kept you on your toes and you didn’t get that closure as to how the events prior to the book transpired until right near the end.

Never thought I would feel bad for a killer.

I also liked how I was creeped out by the hook as a crime/murder mystery I feel needs to have that darkness! Would want to read other things this author writes.

The Flower Girls is compelling and keeps you gripped nearly the whole time reading, especially considering it's not often you read about child murderers. (Not a pretty topic, that's for sure!)
Whilst i had an inkling and kind of guessed the ending, it still kept me engaged and i burned through this novel quite quick.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.