Reviving The Hawthorn Sisters by Emily Carpenter is a tie-in to The Honeysuckle Girls.

Southern Gothic, describing the South perfectly, beautiful and ugly, atmospheric and colorful characters.

Emily Carpenter writes books the uou can't stop reading. You can never go wrong with her books!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

So, a while back, we had the pleasure of interviewing Emily Carpenter for our podcast and we said to her, “we really want a story about Dove.” She replied, “oh, I’m working on it!” AND NOW ITS HERE! This story is exactly what we needed and we are so happy she wrote it! The southern gothic queen has returned with an astounding follow up to Burying the Honeysuckle Girls. Carpenter mixes a blend of historical fiction with a sense of magical realism that seems to be effortless and entrancing. The way she writes is phenomenal and we are SO GLAD we had the honor of reading this book early!

This is my first Emily Carpenter novel and I'm hooked. I plan to read all the rest of her stuff immediately. The back and forth between the 1930's (Dove's story) and her granddaughter in the present kept the pace going wonderfully. The present story just covers the span of one weekend really, not including the occasional flashback, as Eve works to uncover the mystery of a missing rare coin that someone is accusing her late grandmother of stealing after committing a murder. Eve may not be crazy about her dead grandmother, but she is fiercely protective of her reputation, if only to keep the family business going--a charitable foundation--and to preserve the sanity of her frail mother and brother. There's a hint of a future romance blooming, lots of family dynamics, great southern character, and genuine friendships.

Honestly, I started out feeling like the author's writing lacked a certain crispness and finesse, needing a bit of fine-tuning and maturing. But the plot was intriguing enough that I continued and was rewarded with an entertaining story that held my attention. Part-way through, the author seemed to hit her stride, and the writing was no longer a distraction to the storytelling. I had a little bit of trouble keeping the characters and their family trees straight, but I enjoyed the pacing and the point of view changes between past and present. Overall, an enjoyable read.

If you like Southern Gothic, you will love this! History, Romance and a dose of creepy combine to make this book hard to put down, I love the writing style.

Unfortunately, I really struggled to get through this one. I was really really intrigued by the premise at first but then didn’t find it very plausible. Knowing that her grandmother was a con artist, Eve races to find a missing coin and clear her grandmother’s name of murder. I just couldn’t get behind the motivation being to protect her mother and brother from this scandal, just with how much Eve despised her grandmother. The point of view also alternated to Dove in the 30’s. While I was expecting this to be the most interesting part of the book, after Dove escaped from the psychiatric hospital I was bored out of my mind. The author did a fantastic job in creating an old southern setting though. The descriptions and the dialect definitely made me feel like I was transported back to Alabama in the 30s. Also, the cover art is stunning!

Absolutely love the way Emily Carpenter captivates the reader with her descriptive and meaningful writing style. The storyline moves effortlessly between two time periods and blends a rich history of past and present. The novel is written as a stand alone but incorporates tenets from Burying The Honey Suckle Girls. Carpenter combines the perfect amount of mystery with a cast of intriguing characters that produces a highly addictive and compulsory read. Highly recommended.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #RevivingtheHawthornSisters, which was read and reviewed voluntarily by @wayward_readers

This is my first book by Emily Carpenter and while I liked it, I didn't love it. I enjoyed the story line with Ruth in the past much more so than I did with Eve in the present. Eve made some choices that I just couldn't wrap my head around. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but she makes a huge decision early on in the book that I just can't see anyone making in light of the circumstances. That kind of hung over me throughout the book. The pacing was good and I enjoyed the mystery being revealed in little pieces instead of all at once. The Great Depression era church tent revival setting was unique as well.

So, full disclosure....I gave this book 5 chapters before I threw in the towel. Life is too short to read bad books. I found it very wordy and the characters were hard to relate to. It dragged on...and that was only the little bit I made it through.

Emily Carpenter has written a tight taut edge of my seat thriller.A story that goes back& forth in time.za book that kept me reading late into the night .Highly recommend#netgalley #lakeunionpublishing,

Again, Emily Carpenter delivers. She has yet to write a book that I want to put down once I start it. I don’t believe in adding plot info in my reviews. I believe in keeping things short and sweet..... As usual, this book is perfection. One of the most descriptive books yet. She paints beautiful sceneries and torrid tales. Every thing she writes is gorgeous. This will not disappoint. I’d read Burying the Honeysuckle girls first. Thanks for another great read Emily! Looking forward to the next.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

So here it goes: I did not enjoy this book and had a difficult time finishing it.
The longer version is I wanted to like this book. It's about a granddaughter connecting to her grandmother by exploring her story, it's women overcoming terrible odds and building a life for themselves. However, there's hardly any character you can honestly root for and a complete lack of a moral compass borderline in cynicism.

The story of the book, told in two time lines can be separated between Ruth, the grandmother, who became a healing evangelist pastor during the Great Depression in Alabama, later becoming Dove, having a huge following and leaving a Foundation behind that is run by Eve, the granddaughter. In the present time line Eve is absolutely sure, because her grandmother told her so, that Dove was a con artist and never healed anybody. She has kept up the lie and never told neither her mother not her brother because she is concern about how the truth would affect their extremely fragile mental health. While back in Alabama to commemorate Dove and video a documentary about her life, Eve is attacked by somebody that says they know the truth about Dove lies and that she stole a precious coin the attacker wants Eve to find and give to him or he will tell the world about Dove.

This is where the book unravels. To begin with, it has way too many characters. Althea serves no function other than present a link to a previous book, but does basically nothing. Jason (described as gay in what I can only describe as an afterthought) seems to be there basically to not be Ember, and the only reason I can think of not making him Ember is that otherwise how could Ember a downtrodden woman if she had inherited the house where Dove lived, that instead Jason inherited on the basis of the male line? And this is the other thing, except for Althea, who was downtrodden in the previous book, all the women are victimised. Abused, forgotten, stolen from, lied to. I understand the point, but there's no depth to it when it happens to every female character.

Then there is the protecting of Dove's reputation so the Foundation does not lose donors. At no point is it explained what the Foundation does after the healing Dove did is over with her passing, other than providing financial means for Eve's family.
Also, not a single character raises the issue that maybe protecting the reputation of a con artist doesn't put you on the side of the angels? I mean, the book goes out of its way to plant the seed that the powers might be real but over and over Eve is shown as skeptical, so her motivations are either protecting her mother and brother, which also exist in the book for this exclusive purpose, or money.
None of them, at any point, raise the issue of the victims of the con. Even when mentioned that during the Great Depression they were likely going without food to give Dove money for her prayers. Whenever true believers are mentioned, they are described as zealots by Eve referring to a donor, lacking dignity and pride in the way the ask for miracles by Dove while she is praying for them. Dove's reputation is discussed along with other preachers and priest scandals, such as Boston's catholic paedophilia scandal. Is this the people we are meant to relate to? When somebody asks Eve how bad it would be for the truth to come out, by saying that times are not the same as when Jimmy Swaggart was discovered in a hotel with prostitutes (sic) Eve's reply is that "These scandals might be passe, but people still like to see their idols fall". I'm sorry, but hiring sex workers while preaching against adultery and fornication is not like coming out of the closet, and the victims of this rampant hypocrisy have a right to be upset, it's not on them and their wanting to "see their idols fall". Even the villain of the story, who first calls Dove a liar, is later shown as a crazy believer.
The book, and the characters in it, seem to feel disregard if not outright disdain for the people that have kept Eve's family with a roof over her head for 80 years.

Then there is the time jumping, I don't mind it at all, but many times it leaves one timeline in a cliffhanger, to go to the other one, which fine, but when it returns to the previous timeline, time has moved on, and we are left to pick up the pieces of what happened after the cliffhanger, which makes the book very disjointed.

Finally, and I will only do a mention of this, because it's not my place to talk about it, the book is set in Alabama, for what I could tell there isn't a single Black character, and the only reference to Black culture at all is when Dove sings a Spiritual, described as a song for the Black churches. The song is Steal Away (Steal Away to Jesus). Dove does this when a man is dragging his wife away, after he brought her to be prayed upon to fix her evil ways, and Dove realises she is being abused by her husband. So, to recap: Dove does nothing to actually help the abused woman (not here and not when she reappears for some plot-less reason), embarrasses her husband in front of everybody potentially making it worse for the wife and compares domestic abuse to chattel slavery.

I appreciate the ARC, but all in all I cannot with any sincerity get behind this book.

Following the current hot trend of setting a current day mystery with a flashback story, this thriller jumps back and forth in time. A tightly drawn mystery with a satisfying ending.

Not only is Emily Carpenter talented but she is humble and nice. I loved the first story that introduced me to these characters and am so happy for the follow up. I had to catapult this to the top of my TBR. Loved every page

So, I am going against the grain here to say I did not love this book. I have read Emily Carpenter before, and was excited to received an ARC of her new one. I appreciated the history point of view and the murder mystery, but it was quite disjointed for me. I am used to reading POV novels, so that wasn't the issue, I felt there were either too many jumbled characters that didn't distinguish themselves from each other, or just as I got used to hearing from one, we'd jump back in time then return to hear from someone else - just felt all over the place.
Definitely historical, with an evangelical twist, and interesting adult/teen relations in present time, just couldn't embrace it all.

Where is the coin?! Is it all really just an act? Is it all a lie? I LOVE this book. The story, the setting and the tone are so refreshing and unique. The chapter changes from past to present and back again are flawless. The unfolding of the mysteries of the past and the present is so elegantly done within a dark sinister setting, I LOVED every word. Thank you NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Emily Carpenter for.the ARC in return for an honest review.

I grew up in Florence, Alabama and was drawn into this story immediately. Then, I got really into the story because it was great - not just because I recognized all the streets and places that Emily Carpenter mentioned. I think that readers will love the characters in Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters and will, like me, want to read more of Ms. Carpenter's work.

Told in alternating timelines; from the early 1930"s to present day, this is a mystery and suspense story that will keep you reading!
It is a well written, detailed novel.
I truly had no idea how this would turn out, but I flew through the pages to learn of the outcome.
Could it actually be a Grandmother trying to connect with her Granddaughter to solve a long standing mystery?
Present day- Eve returns to an old psychiatric facility with her family, where her Grandmother, Dove, aka Ruth was born in 1934..
Dove had bequeathed her monies upon her death to her birth place and the foundation is honoring this woman so many people loved.
While Eve is there,things take a drastic turn and a long ago mystery begins to unfold.
Eve is quite certain she knows the truth about Dove and her life, but does she really?
"I'm not the one who can give you your miracle. All I can do is tell you the truth...."
This is definitely a quick read that will hold your interest as you get involved with this mystery!

This was an easy to read thriller that kept my attention all the way through! Lots of twists and surprises I didn't see coming. Very good, would recommend

I did enjoy this book, although not crazy about the jumping around between post and present. Took awhile to figure out who was who for characters. Could have used stronger character development in order to feel more involved in story. Glad I read it though. Thank you Netgalley for chance to read for honest review.