This book started out a bit confusing to me and it took me several chapters to really get into the story. I did feel like it dragged at times and maybe was a bit wordy. I did enjoy the mystery and thought the book got better as it went on.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy

Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters
A Novel
by Emily Carpenter
Lake Union Publishing
General Fiction (Adult) | Women's Fiction
Pub Date 20 Oct 2020 | Archive Date 03 Nov 2020

Thanks to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for the chance to read this book. I haven't read any other books by this author, so I thought I would give it a chance. It could be just me.... but I couldn't get into the book. The faith healer/evangelist is a topic that is covered in this book.
Like I said, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. But try it!! You might experience a different feeling.

This is certainly a worthy follow up to BURYING THE HONEYSUCKLE GIRLS. Carpenter excels at suspense and this new novel is no exception. Her characters are well- drawn and her stories are expertly plotted. I loved both timelines -- contemporary Alabama and going back to a psychiatric hospital in the 1930s. I was very curious about Dove's background and how she came to be a faith healer. The setting is very finely drafted. I will also mention that you do not need to have read BURYING THE HONEYSUCKLE GIRLS to enjoy this sequel (but what are you waiting for? :))
The way Carpenter wraps up the mystery is extremely satisfying. Recommended for fans of domestic suspense and Southern Gothic stories.

For a change from the murder and mayhem I usually read I chose this book on the wonderful cover and description.. it turned out to be full of murder and mayhem!
When some unknown assailant threatens to expose Eves grandmother Dove, as a fraud and a murderer, unless a long lost valuable coin is given to him, Eve sets out to uncover more of her grandmothers past and to see if there was a coin and if she can find it. Although her grandmother is no longer alive she has left a remarkable legacy to help those in need and if her reputation is tarnished the foundation would lose valuable donations from generous benefactors.
Told in present day and from the past, we hear two very different versions of Dove. A renown evangelist and faith healer from the 30s whose almost gothic life did in fact heal people. Before she died Dove had told Eve that she was a fake, but the more we uncover of the story the more it seems she did heal a lot of people. As for the coin, it did indeed exist but where it is is at the crux of the story.
This was a well written, fully engaging book. It follows on from Burying the Honeysuckle Girls which I will endeavour to read.
#netgalley #buryingthehawthornsisters

With a dual time line, one of the main themes to the story is about finding out Dove’s life back in the 1930’s and Eve must uncover a mystery in Dove’s past to protect her family. Not everything is what it seems and the more she uncovers, the more the story unfolds and Eve questions if she can trust the people around her.

There is a good flow to the story and the dual time-line worked for me. I was also interested in the theme of uncovering your family’s past. Throughout history and to this day people in all cultures have been interested in where they came from and so forth.

For me, the mystery would have had more depth to it if the Dove’s and Steadfast Coe scenes were fleshed out a bit more than they were. I feel like there was more focus on the revivals more than anything.

I think that Althea, Griff and Eve make a great team and would love to read more stories based around them.

I have to say when reading a story, I wanted to make a connection to the characters or at least one of them and that didn’t happen for me in this story. Overall it is a good story but I wasn’t really invested in the characters.

I thought it was really neat how the author added the old hymns throughout the book. That was a nice touch and has brought back a lot of fond memories for me.

I have rated this story three stars and I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review.

Stephanie Hopkins

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for the chance to read and review this book!

This is the first book I have read by this author, but it won't be my last.. The writing and the story were incredible! At first I wasn't sure if this was my kind of book, but it didn't take long before I was wrapped up in this story and couldn't wait to see what happened next. I really liked the setting (the South) as well as a little Gothic Suspense thrown in. I also liked the theme of evangelism and how all the people believed Dove could perform miracles. I really enjoyed this book-a little supernatural, a little mystery and lots of suspense thrown in!

This book kept me up late at night. It was very suspenseful, and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. I loved that the story was set in the South where I live.

The perfect mix of southern drama in the 30’s mixed with evangelical wonderment and a modern day mystery. Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is a great novel, unlike anything I’ve read. It kept me engaged and turning the pages.

I was a little disappointed in this book. I don’t know what I was expecting but I felt it was did not fill that void. I realize that the subject of evangelicals and faith healers is both difficult and borderline eerie to write about, I just did not feel the characters were relatable. The book was written in the first person by the granddaughter of Dove, the evangelist and faith healer dove told the early parts of the story and Eve, her granddaughter told the rest. To me, the different stories were very disjointed. I feel like I missed the middle, the “meat” of the book. I just couldn’t get into the book. Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review.

What a great continuation of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls! Part sequel, part prequel, it alternates between the 1930s narrative of Dove Jarrod and the present narrative of Dove's granddaughter, Eve. Eve is working on a documentary about Dove who was a traveling evangelist with her husband, Charles. She was known as a great faith healer, revered by many, and still much loved even years past her death. But even though she's family and runs the Dove and Charles Jarrod foundation, Eve has long known that it was all a sham. It's a dark secret she keeps while maintaining a fierce loyalty to her family in the public eye. But the truth she thought she knew is more than she could have imagined.

Through Dove's narrative, we learn about her youth, born and raised in Pritchard, the infamous local asylum which she escapes as a teenager. After living rough and barely surviving for a few years, she finds work watching over a wealthy elderly man. She befriends his granddaughter, Bruna, who she later joins with to become the Hawthorne Sisters, a traveling faith healing duo, and precursor to her later days with Charles. But Eve? She and her family knew about none of this. They always believed she went straight from Pritchard to California where she joined up with Charles. How and why did Dove keep this part of her life hidden for so long? And why is a man threatening to expose the truth about Dove - claiming she's not just a fraud, but a murderer? Will Eve be able to protect her family's legacy by discovering what really happened back in the 1930s or will the truth destroy them all?

An incredible story that spans generations, Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is a beautiful southern tale of family and faith. The author vividly transports you to every destination, fully capturing the sights and scents of this southern region with the sweet honeysuckle and the blooming white hawthorn trees. I've never been to the area described in this story, but it sure felt like I spent time there upon finishing this book. It's an engrossing mystery that comes to a satisfying and bittersweet conclusion. I hope this author has many more stories to tell and I cannot wait to read every one of them.

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.

While this isn’t my normal genre i found this book well written and enjoyed it. It definitely kept me interested and that’s the main thing I look for in the books I read. Thank you #NetGalley for this arc!

This is the first title from Emily Carpenter I have read.

When I first started reading Reviving The Hawthorn Sisters I didn't know what to think to be honest. After the first chapter I was a tiny bit confused to where the characters fit in especially Dove as I thought her timeline moved quite quickly, but! I am glad I stuck with it. It took me a very short time to read as I couldn't put it down, the story sucked me right in!

I enjoyed every character in the book. I thought Ruth was a fantastic little fighter, well done to her for getting over the struggles of life and coming out on top.

The story itself had everything I like in a story. Lost treasure, a little love, a little loss, murder, dysfunctional families. I am most definitely going to look up the author and see what else I can read!

This is the first book I have read of this author. This book got my interest from the first page and kept my interest to the last. I really enjoyed this book and Im looking forward to reading more.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49541764-reviving-the-hawthorn-sisters

I loved this Southern Gothic story. I had read the previous book to this and I love the author. This is a great story about families and what you believe in. I love the descriptions of towns in rural Alabama. The author’s description helps me visualize them in my mind clearly. It is a very good read about religion and revivals in the Deep South during desperate times.

I loved this book and Emily Carpenters writing. I loved the setting in Alabama and love the multilayered story and characters especially Ruth.
Very good new novel by this author

Thanks to Net Galley for a free ARC of this book, publication date October 20, 2020.

Set in present day and in 1930’s Alabama, this is a part historical and part modern day mystery. I loved the back and forth of the chapters and the different points of view in each. What I enjoyed the most was Carpenter’s portrayal of the south in all of its glory and ugliness.

The mystery had me guessing throughout the entirety of the novel but I what I really fell in love with was the main character Ruth and her reluctance to ask for help all the while helping most everyone she came into contact with. Ruth’s relationship with her best friend Bruna, not to mention the beautiful descriptions of the south, were so reminiscent of the beloved Fried Green Tomatoes.

Emily Carpenter is a must read author for me and I was so excited at the opportunity to read and review her newest southern gothic tale. I’ve adored everyone of her books but I believe this one is my favorite. Do yourself a solid and preorder it. You will fall in love with Ruth, her friends and her foes. You will get lost in a beautiful Southern gothic story.

I absolutely loved this novel! I found many writing passages to be incredibly thought provoking and the characters are layered with complex personalities. This is my first time reading Emily Carpenter and I am intrigued to read some of her other works.

This novel is going to be a star once it comes out in the Fall.

Thanks to NetGalley for this free ARC (publication date: October 20, 2020) of this southern gothic thriller.

This honest book review is my own. 

This was a really cool, really different, really unique book. The book description does a great job setting the stage: "Dove Jarrod was a renowned evangelist and faith healer. Only her granddaughter, Eve Candler, knows that Dove was a con artist." But was Dove a murderer?

This book takes us on a twisted path from Dove escaping the psychiatric hospital where she was born, to forming the Hawthorn Sisters (her first steps into the faith healing world), and her marriage to Charles Jarrod - leader in the evangelist world, to her modern-day family and all of the many connections that still exist.

Flipping back and forth between Tuscaloosa 1934 and present-day world where Eve is helping make a documentary about Dove (while trying to uncover Dove's web of lies and possible murderous past) - this is such an amazing ride into this family legacy - with a little bit of supernatural tossed in. 

I loved this book, and I highly recommend it! 

[5 out of 5 stars] 

#RevivingtheHawthornSisters #NetGalley

What in intriguing story! Set between present day and the past, the story alternates narrators to compliment each other as the story unfolds. I loved the character, Dove, as her strength was tremendous and helped her succeed in her life. Eve sure did learn a lot in her examination of Dove’s life. I would highly recommend this book. Thank you to the publisher for granting my read request through Net Galley.

Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters by Emily Carpenter is a full length, stand-alone novel that had me in suspense from start til the last page.
Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is a complex read, poetic.
The storyline jumps between past and present, it took me a minute to get into the story, but then o girl, I simply couldn't put the book down anymore.
I loved the excellent writing, the beautiful words and the exquisite characters.
I fell in insta-love with Evie, Dove and the others.
Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is a touching story that's staying with me. I recommend Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters , 5 Stars.