Cover Image: The Girl on the Roof

The Girl on the Roof

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Member Reviews

In the French Alps the people of Annecy endure the Gestapo’s brutality and one officer in particular is rather nasty. Herr Hans Schmid uses his position to target young girls and he’s a sinister killer.

Aurelie is one of his victims, over winter her family have no choice but to store her body in the roof of the house and bury her with her mother when the soil defrosts. It takes a while for Aurelie to understand why no one can see her or hear her and that’s because she’s a spirit.

Caught between two worlds, Aurelie worries about her father, sister Claire, brother Alain and best friend Ginny. Claire, her boyfriend Jean-Michel and Alain are involved in the resistance and Aurelie is concerned they will be joining her if the German's catch them!

I received a copy of The Girl on the Roof by Debra Moffitt from NetGalley and BooksGoSocial in exchange for an honest review. I found the information about the Second World War to be accurate, it gave you a sense of what it was like to live in France at the time, I'm not a fan of the supernatural elements of the story and three stars from me.

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This is a great book for any fan of historical fiction, as there are a lot of historical facts. The storyline is unique with Young Aurelie struggling to understand the reasoning of her father putting a body on their roof to bury once the ground thaws. Who is this person and why is her father keeping them on the roof? Set during WWII, this is a great story about relationships and the choices that need to be made.The focus of the book then shifts as to how Aurelie is going to protect and warn Ginny of the danger she is in from the Nazi officer who has befriended her and whom Ginny is infatuated with. The dangers of espionage in Nazi occupied France are also highlighted in the story and this also forms the backdrop to the suspenseful tale.

Unusual storyline, the background of occupied France and rural Annecey all add to a very good story.

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The women are full of sorrow. Aurelie is sixteen far from a baby but they won't say what happened. A small figure is prepared for a later funeral. I may have liked the book without the added paranormal touch .

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This was an interesting story with rich historical detail. I like Aurelie’s character and was captivated by her story.
Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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This was a really interesting read, the characters were well written and the premise gets you hooked from the start. I really enjoyed reading this book. This book highlights many historical events. I liked the first person point of view and my heart ached for Aurelie as she continued to search for answers to all the questions she had. This is a great book for younger readers who are interested in historical fiction.

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Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in return for my honest review.

I was drawn to the beautiful cover of the book.

Loved the setting, - WWII occupied France - , but was a bit disappointed once the point of view from which the story was told, was out in the open.
Heart warming war time story at times, which for me were the best parts, but since I am not a very spiritual person, I found that part of the novel - although certainly unconventional, a bit awkward at times.
Overall a satisfying read, but not something I would have picked up had I known about the plot.

2.5/ 3 stars.

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Thank you to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the ebook ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

To be honest, I’m not sure how I ultimately feel about this book, as there is quite a bit to unpack. This can be tricky when writing a review as I don’t want to give away spoilers to potential readers. I also greatly admire and appreciate the work and vulnerability that an author puts out there when releasing a novel and I try to be sensitive to that when sharing my personal perspective and reading experience.

This was quite a different take on a WWII historical fiction novel than I’ve previously read, with the author’s addition of a paranormal element - I would classify it as “historical fantasy.” It actually reminded me a lot of The Lovely Bones at times, which is one of the most memorable books I’ve ever read. Unfortunately, the execution of The Girl on the Roof wasn’t as consistent or impactful as that brilliant novel.

While there were many riveting chapters and moments that captured and held my attention, in the end, I felt that the novel was too drawn out and there were quite a few problematic elements that disrupted my enjoyment.

I was incredibly bothered by the idolization that every single one of the female characters appeared to show to the abuser in this novel. In this day and age I think it’s irresponsible to “legitimize” and excuse sexual assault even in a work of fiction, and believe that while likely unintended, this was a failed opportunity on Debra Moffitt’s part and that this miss just perpetuates the abuse narrative. While in many ways, some of the female characters of this novel were portrayed as strong and resilient, their sympathetic comments and actions towards the abuser ultimately undermined the message of female empowerment, which was incredibly disappointing.

Although this was understandably an ARC, the poor editing made things confusing and took away from the flow of the storyline. Many of the quotes were unattributed to any character, contemporary phrases were used which didn’t match the time period and there were many extraneous details included that were forgotten about as the story developed. In my opinion, it read like an early draft.

The author’s statement at the end that she was inspired to write this novel by her psychic beliefs and abilities wrecked her credibility for me. This one was just not my cup of tea, despite initially sounding promising.

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The book is a good book for someone who is into historical fiction as it is set in WWII

It is well written, while it is not something I would normally pick up I am glad that I did choose this book to read.

I found it a little confusing at first with the main character but as I dove deeper into the novel it became quite clear what was going on (no I am not going to say as there is spoilers) The book does go over the horrors of the war which had once plagued the world.

I think that Debra did a great job writing this book and I would be happy to read more of her writing.

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this was a really interesting read, the characters were well written and the premise gets you hooked from the start. I really enjoyed reading this book.

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This was a WWII fictional novel,but quite a different take,from any I have read before.
A young girl died and since it is winter and there's no way to bury her,she
put on the roof of her home.
Her family is severely agrieved,but the young girl,can not believe she is dead.She thinks it is her grandfather.
She sees thinks happening with her sister and friends and trys to get them to hear and see her,but mostly they do not.
The horrible German who is doing these things,is the same one,who killed her.
Her sister is his cook and housekeeper and finds him intolerable,but in his own way,he cares deeply for her.
The whole story comes to an end,when he thinks that the girl on the roof is still alive,but in actuality it is her friend,who looks enough like her to be her twin.
He is told to kill her and the girls sister by a higher up,but instead,she gets him to kill himself and they escape to Switzerland.
Interesting,but not my cup of tea,when it gets into things beyond my imagination,about what's beyond this life and inbetween.
Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read,but would not recommend.

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This paranormal historical fiction story opens with young Aurelie attending her own funeral. Set in Nazi-occupied France during WWII, Aurelie wonders why everyone she knows is ignoring her. It took me a little bit to figure out what was going on, but I quickly figured out before Aurelie did that she was among the dead.

While I enjoyed the story overall, I wish it had started out a little bit clearer and let the reader in on Aurelie's death. I think it would have made the first part of the book more enjoyable. Aurelie had a romantic relationship with an older man which weirded me out in the way it was portrayed. Hans was a creep, and I think that took away from the intention of the story.

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This book starts off very confusingly. The first few chapters dragged for me and I pondered giving the book up, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

Set in France on the Swiss/French border in World War Two, this book moves between the physical world and the spiritual world. Trapped in the world between life and death, Aurelie, has to finish some task she left undone on Earth before being allowed to continue. Through her eyes we see how and why she died, but we are also exposed to the horrors of the war - both physical and spiritual forces.

A dark, thought-provoking read. It'll stay with me for a while.

A warning though: more sensitive readers may be disturbed by some of the spiritual scenes as they are very intense.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the chance to read this book.

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I really enjoyed this book. There were some powerful moments in these pages and it was meaningful without feeling heavy. It was dark without crossing the line into sadistic. It left a mark on me and I’ll be sitting with it for a long time. I definitely recommend!

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The Girl on the Roof is not your typical WWII story. The narrator is a deceased teenage girl who has to accept her fate and complete a mission before she can move on. The story is a bit predictable and moves slow in some areas. However, I enjoyed reading about the resistance and life in France during the war. It is an area that is often overlooked by historical fiction authors.

Thank you Debra Moffitt, NetGalley, and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to review this book.

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This paranormal World War II novel is different from any novel I’ve read. It took me a while to realize that Aurelia was not a living person, but then she didn’t figure out that she wasn’t living until way into the book. I realize that at her age, her obsession with Hans was realistic (if a spirit can be realistic) but placing so much focus on his sexual perversions detracted from what should have been the focus, that of the French Resistance. The book left me depressed instead of celebrating the French Resistance.

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Interesting tale set in France near the border during WWII.

The idea of departed souls lingering and seeing what happens in our lives is not new. Having mention of the darkness in the souls of Nazi officers is unsurprising. But, the merging of this with the idea of souls being reincarnated and consistently seeking out the same souls is something that is less common.

Overall an interesting read.

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This was an okay read for me I didn’t like the paranormal aspect but overall a good historical fiction read

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The Girl on the roof is a story about a teen aged girl, Aurelie! The story starts off strong.. keeps you interested.. but the story flow was kinda bumpy and I could hardly relate to characters other than Aurelie.. which made the interest fade.. its took me longer than I expected to finish this one.. may be appealing if you’re looking for deep, heavy storyline!
Thank you NetGalley, Debra Moffitt and BooksGoSocial for the ARC. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way!

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This story was very unexpected. I was constantly guessing what would happen next but couldn't predict it. It's historical fiction but with religious and mythological elements weaved in, which makes for an unpredictable story.

Some of the religious elements of the story were very clever in the way they were put into the story but others I liked less. There were certain small moments that I would have taken out of the book or worded another way, purely based on how I interpreted them to be problematic. I also am not too keen on how often violence against women was depicted in the story and how the mythological and religious elements sometimes clashed with Herr Schmid's character and were sometimes used to explain his actions.

However, I really liked Naehelle, Silvie, and Claire; I didn't expect to like Naehelle and Silvie when I first met them, so those characters surprised me.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and was impressed by the how the story unfolded. However, certain elements in the story didn't mix very well and I would have toned down some of the religious aspects.

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Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read this book.

It started out strongly, with the heroine's gradual realisation of what had happened to her, but then it just faded a bit.

I'm sorry, I just found too many little jarring things to really go with the flow of this book. There was a little too much hot chocolate available in the local cafe and I don't think the SS needed supernatural intervention to be evil.

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