I did not read the Honeysuckle Girls before reading this book, but I don’t feel like I missed anything, there was enough of the back story that this one can be read on its own. I did like this book but I didn’t love it. I have come to love Emily Carpenter’s thrillers and I think I went into this one with that mindset. I think any lovers of historical fiction will really enjoy this one!

I'm pretty terrible about reading outside of my comfort zone so when asked if I'd be interested in reading the latest Southern Gothic thriller by Emily Carpenter, I knew I had to give it a shot!

Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters turned out to be a great read! Eve Candler works for her grandmother's charitable foundation. Her grandmother, Dove Jarrod, a renowned evangelist and faith healer, passed away almost a decade earlier. While Eve is planning a documentary in her grandmother's honor, a stranger violently appears in her life, threatening to tarnish the family reputation and everything Eve and Dove had worked towards.

The story is split into a dual timeline with alternating chapters from Eve and Dove's perspectives. They lead up to a tense ending where everything fits together while discovering family secrets, old clues, and lost loves along the way.

Being more of a fan of contemporary reads vs. historical ones, I enjoyed Eve's chapters more than Dove's. I still think the author did an excellent job intertwining the stories and overall, I enjoyed this read! I'll have to check out more from Emily Carpenter in the future!

This intriguing mystery has a Gothic setting and the story is told in dual timelines dating back to 1934 and present day. The movement back and forth is smoothly done and easy to follow. Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is all about secrets and relationships, family and romance. Enchanting and poignant, Emily Carpenter's characters are beautifully and realistically brought to life.

The book grabbed my interest from the very start. I don’t know much about faith healing so I found it fascinating, and every aspect of the story was thoroughly engrossing. I devoured this tenderly written novel in a day and it left me feeling content, comforted and satisfied even though it contained themes of pain and loss. Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is a sequel of sorts to Emily Carpenter’s earlier book, Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, though I don’t think I missed out, not having read it prior to this one. I’ll certainly be checking out that one too, as well as some of the author's other works. An endearing, very worthwhile read.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Family drama, secrets,: this story grabbed me and would not let go. There were a few quirky characters which made things more interesting. It was a well written mystery which I found to be very good.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Dark, unsettling and compelling, Emily Carpenter’s Reviving the Hawthorn Girls is a spine-tingling Southern Gothic that will get under your skin.

Dove Jarrod was a renowned faith healer and televangelist who had a devoted following – and her fair share of twisted secrets. Her many followers hung onto her every word and believed that she was a gift sent by God. But Dove was not the saint everybody thought she was. She was a con artist and a woman with her eye on the main chance. A woman who could not and should not have been trusted. But only one person knew the real Dove Jarrod. Only one person knew about the darkness that consumed her and overwhelmed her: her granddaughter, Eve, who is still running the charitable foundation Dove had set up. In the last eight years since Dove’s death. Eve has maintained her secrets and protected her legacy at all costs. But when she is viciously assaulted by a stranger intent on shattering the illusion that Dove and Eve had maintained for so long, the dark secrets of this renowned miracle worker are about to come into the light. Secrets that stretch all the way to almost a century ago…

In 1934, a young orphan has finally managed to escape the only home she has ever known – the psychiatric hospital that has held her captive for her entire life. Using her skills and her instincts, the young orphan joins an inspirational duo called the Hawthorn Sisters and begins her journey with them. However, the path to success might be paved with good intentions, but in order for a young girl to survive in a world full of lecherous predators and dangerous liars, she must remain alert and not let herself be distracted by anyone because one false move and she could lose everything…

With everything to lose, the stakes have never been higher for Eve. Joining forces with an investigative filmmaker and one of Dove’s friends, Eve sets out to uncover the truth about her grandmother’s secrets. But is she ready for what she is about to discover? Or should some secrets remain dead and buried? Will the truth finally set Eve free? Or will it end up causing her even more heartache and anguish?

Emily Carpenter blends family secrets, divided loyalties and heart-pounding suspense in a dual narrative tale full of chilling twists and turns and shocking revelations. Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is a gripping tale about the lengths we go to protect the ones we love and the secrets they hide from us that is unnerving, disturbing and that is sure to linger in the mind long after the last page is turned.

My only qualm was that the start was rather slow for my liking, but once it got going, I was completely hooked.

Suspense and women’s fiction fans alike are not going to want to miss Emily Carpenter’s twisted tale, Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters.

Thank you NetGalley, Lake Union Authors and Emily Carpenter for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Dove Jarrod was a renowned evangelist and faith healer. Only her granddaughter, Eve Candler, knows that Dove was a con artist. In the eight years since Dove’s death, Eve has maintained Dove’s charitable foundation—and her lies. But just as a documentary team wraps up a shoot about the miracle worker, Eve is assaulted by a vengeful stranger intent on exposing what could be Dove’s darkest secret: murder…
Tuscaloosa, 1934: a wily young orphan escapes the psychiatric hospital where she was born. When she joins the itinerant inspirational duo the Hawthorn Sisters, the road ahead is one of stirring new possibilities. And with an obsessive predator on her trail, one of untold dangers. For a young girl to survive, desperate choices must be made.
Now, to protect her family, Eve will join forces with the investigative filmmaker and one of Dove’s friends, risking everything to unravel the truth behind the accusations against her grandmother. But will the truth set her free or set her world on fire?

Captivating, atmospheric and unputdownable, Reviving The Hawthorn Sisters was an amazing read.
With some gothic vibes and full of suspense is the kind of story that pulls you in, I loved it!
This is my first book from this author and I can’t wait to read more of her work.

http://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeepleasemx

Before she was one half of the Hawthorne sisters and known as Dove a well known evangelist she was known as Ruth Lurie born in an insane asylum whose mother hung herself and she was left to fend for herself. Young Ruth runs away at 13 when she is approached for marriage, she changes her last name and runs with a gang and takes a job taking care of lions for Dr. Asloos Wild Menagerie, one night locked in a lion cage was enough for her to get out! She then became caretaker to Mr. Steadfast Coe, a rich eccentric, elderly gentleman, she meets his niece Bruno, the other half and f the Hawthorne Sisters. This story is told in the past in Doves time in the 1930’s and in the present, Doves’ granddaughter runs her grandmothers foundation with her mother and brother but Eve knows Dove is a fake and someone is threatening her life with a deep dark secret that threatens to collapse the foundation, while trying to solve the mystery surrounding Dove, Eve learns the truth about her grandmother and discovers some hard truths about herself too!

I had a tough time connecting with this one. Right from the start, I just didn't connect with the grandma's story, as they jumped back and forth. I could understand the emotion and frustration from the now storyline and thought it was interesting as her story continued but I just didn't feel pulled in or interested. This one just wasn't for me.

Set in two time frames 1934 and now the story is a rough and hard one. Dove Jarrod was an evangelist and well loved and revered. Her grand daughter Eve also knows that she was a fraud.

History of Dove was a turbulent one, filled with secrets and stories that went back decades. She also collected a lot of enemies over the time, and one of them waited a long time for his revenge, and he did get it when he murdered her. The fact that she was in her 90s covered up for him entirely, and it was passed as a death from natural causes. Eve her grand daughter today has to go through blackmail to protect her memory, and more than that protect her mother who is mentally far too fragile to face any kind of inquisition about her mother.

Set in Tuscaloosa the story of a family with a dark past was heavy. The characters seemed vengeful (most of them) but this added to the gothic kind of story.

It depicts a part of America which is somewhat different to what one reads of the rest of America (this from an outsiders point of view though). Rather insular, restrictive and protective of its own.

Dove confessed to Eve that she was a fraud and couldn't give her a miracle, but her greatest miracle was yet to come...

Eve Candler is the granddaughter of renowned faith healer and evangelist, Dove Jarrod, previously known as Ruth Davidson. For many years, Eve has harboured a great deal of resentment for her long-dead grandmother, as she is the only one who knows Dove darkest secret... or so she thinks. When Dove's legacy is threatened, Eve must race against time to protect her grandmother's reputation and bury her secrets once and for all. What Eve doesn't realize is that not everything is as it seems, and Dove isn't the only one with secrets...
I fully expected to love this novel, as I have recently read three of Emily Carpenter's books and I am officially a die hard fan! I love how Emily's carefully detailed descriptions allow me to see the full mental picture of each character and scene in her writing. As I read Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters, I quickly began to piece together connections between past and present characters and was fascinated to see how everything would come together in the end. I definitely was not disappointed, as every piece of the puzzle came together in a chilling climax and absolutely beautiful ending.

📚 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 / 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝗪 📚⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Title: #RevivingTheHawthornSisters⁣
Author: #EmilyCarpenter⁣
Publisher: #LakeUnionPublishing⁣
Pub Date: 10/20/2020⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
Type: #Paperback #AdvancedReadingCopy #ARC⁣
Total Pages: 332⁣
Genre: #Mystery #Thriller⁣⁣
Must Read Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⁣⁣
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𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘚𝘺𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘪𝘴:⁣
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𝘋𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘑𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳. 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘌𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘳, 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘋𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘷𝘦’𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘌𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘋𝘰𝘷𝘦’𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳, 𝘌𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘷𝘦’𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵: 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳…⁣
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My thoughts:⁣
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I was so invested in this book when I started it, but unfortunately this one just didn't do it for me in the end. I was hoping/searching for a creepy gothic thriller that takes place in a haunted insane asylum (which is where the beginning of the book takes place), but this novel focuses more on a young woman who escaped that fate and the evolution of her life as a faith healer. I really tried my best to dive into the story line, but I felt a little confused on the switch between past and present and the sheer number of characters in the novel. I will say this ... the writing was beautiful and certainly atmospheric. If you love heavy family drama and buried secrets (oh, and coin collections!), this one may be great for you. One suggestion, and while the books can be read independently, I think you should read the first in this series (Burying The Honeysuckle Girls) to get more educated on the family and background history. Thank you Sabrina Dax and Lake Union for my {gifted} copy in exchange for an honest review. This one publishes on 10/20/20!

Having previously read books by Emily Carpenter, I was very excited for her newest. However this one just didn't work for me. I had a hard time caring about any of the characters and the story felt very jumpy and disjointed. It held promise, but didn't deliver.

Could the well-known, beloved faith healer Dove Jarrod be capable of murder? She spent her whole life healing and helping others, would she really have it in her to hurt someone so badly? Maybe so, Dove isn’t who she claims to be, she is a fraud. Eve says so herself, Dove’s own flesh and blood. That doesn’t stop Eve, Dove’s granddaughter, from keeping their family’s foundation from thriving. Eve keeps the secrets she knows about her grandmother to herself, pressed deep down within, until she is attacked by someone threatening to let Dove’s secret out. If these secrets got out it could not only crumble the foundation they have worked so hard to keep alive, but also destroy their family.

As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t get into this story. The description sounded intriguing to me and I have heard wonderful things about Emily Carpenter’s other books, so I thought I’d give this one a try. It was slow-going to start and didn’t really seem to “pick up” until 15% of the way through. I found this story a little hard to follow at times as it jumped from present day, to random events that happened in the deceased grandmother’s past. I also didn’t feel a strong connection towards any of the characters or their storylines. I am not giving up on stories written by Emily just yet. I will still be giving her stories, Every Little Secret and The Weight of Lies, a try as I have heard wonderful things about them.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book.
First of all I am sorry for being late in my review Emily Carpenter is really talented and I usually enjoy her books but I just couldn't get into this book , maybe if it was told by just Dove's POV. I found myself drifting in Eve's part.
It might be I have been in a reading funk maybe I will read it again later.

Moving Southern gothic tale that takes your to the edge of your seat and keeps you turning page after page. We are pulled into the mystery, lies and drama as we move from 1934 to the present with Dove Jarrod, a renowned evangelist and faith healer and to the present with her granddaughter Eve.
Only Eve, knows that Dove was a con artist. Since Dove's death, Eve has maintained Dove’s charitable foundation—and her lies. But just as a documentary team wraps up a shoot about the miracle worker, Eve is assaulted by a vengeful stranger intent on exposing what could be Dove’s darkest secret: murder…
Tuscaloosa, 1934: a wily young orphan escapes the psychiatric hospital where she was born. When she joins the itinerant inspirational duo the Hawthorn Sisters, the road ahead is one of stirring new possibilities. And with an obsessive predator on her trail, one of untold dangers. For a young girl to survive, desperate choices must be made.
As Eve, searches for answers to her Grandmother's past, she must deal with the realization that sometimes the truth does not set you fee.

A southern gothic novel that weaves the past and the present - drawing you in to both stories. Dove, who was an evangelist during the 1930's, dies leaving only her granddaughter Eve with her best kept secret. Eve, trying to hold together the family and it's legacy has spent most of her life keeping that secret. When attacked during the dedication of a facility in her grandmother's honor; she is threatened with far worse accusations against her grandmother. Eve is a strong and likeable character; and the story drew me in until the very end.

Emily Carpenter’s book THE WEIGHT OF LIES made it onto my all-time-favourite list with its Gothic undertones and its book-within-a-book concept, so since then I have devoured everything she has written – and continue to really enjoy her writing.

REVIVING THE HAWTHORN SISTERS was a very different style from Carpenter’s mysteries, but she still managed to infuse the story with the Southern elements that hallmark all her books. I always enjoy mysteries that centre around family secrets, so I was very excited to join Eve on her quest to find out about her grandmother Dove’s life before she became the famous evangelist she was later known for. America in the 1930’s holds a certain mystery that few eras can match, and I eagerly immersed myself in the atmosphere of life in the Great Depression.

I admit that I was much more invested in Dove’s life than in Eve’s, and would happily have had more chapters dedicated to her. Some elements of Eve were hard to comprehend and bond with, even though she grew on me a bit as the book progressed. I did enjoy the slight air of the supernatural, an element of the mystery that hung there, untouchable, always putting some doubt in my mind.

If you enjoy mysteries with a Gothic element, or those involving family secrets (with a family heirloom tying it all together), then REVIVING THE HAWTHORN SISTERS should definitely be on your list. Told from two separate POVs and spanning two timelines, the 1930s and today, the book will also appeal to lovers of historical fiction who are intrigued by stories that our older generation takes to the grave with them. I love all of those elements, and really enjoyed my reading journey – I can’t wait to see what Emily Carpenter comes up with next!

“But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord....”
Jer 30:17a

A historical crime novel full of mystery that held me captive until the last pages. The book has duel timelines that span three generation. It’s kind of a “who dun it” mystery that I thought was written well.
Well developed characters to love and hate. Written with precision, revealing the essentials of the human soul. A lot of flawed characters who are looking for answers. Will they find it in God? In uncovering a family secret? Or just running toward something else?
I highly recommend this for mystery lovers. It was good. You should read it.

Thank you NETGALLEY and the publisher for this ARC, in exchange for my honest review. ♥️

Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters was just the book I needed: southern gothic with a tiny element of magical realism. A follow up to Burying the Honeysuckle Girls (which I loved and did not know was connected to the book at the time of reading), Sisters takes us on two rides. Both are intense and suspense filled, following Ruth in 30’s Alabama and her granddaughter Eve in present day.

Eve has known since she was a teen that her grandmother was not what she claimed to be. And though this cut her to the core, she kept this secret to herself. After Ruth’s death, Eve is back in Alabama for the unveiling of the renovated hospital where Ruth was born and lived until she escaped as a teen. Known to millions as “Dove”, Ruth became known to fans and followers as an evangelist faith healer, famous and yet known as a fraud by her only granddaughter.

When Eve is assaulted on the night of the unveiling, she is launched into a decades old murder mystery, the history of these so-called Hawthorn Sisters, and what the hell this all has to do with her grandmother.

Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is a mystery that keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. You’ll think you’ll have everything figured out, but Carpenter will just prove you wrong. Where does the truth lie?

Not where you think.

I received an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

4.5/⭐️ a great Southern Gothic Thriller!
Thank you Lake Union Publishing for this amazing copy!

Dove, a well known faith healer of a well known group of Hawthorn Sisters, that died 8 years ago. Her granddaughter Eve, making a documentary about her well known granny and while getting to know Dove more and more, she discovered stories that will surprise her and one of it was a case of murder.

Its a gripping and a thrilling story. I love how the world building of the story, from present then going back to 1934. That is so fitting while the story goes by. Its not a only a story of mystery and crime, its also story about love and sisterhood. I just love this book! Its a story that’ll hook you from the very first chapter then you’ll have to get to the next chapter at once, thats how i felt while reading.This is my first Emily Carpenter book, and i think i need to read her past amazing books as well and her upcoming books!