I’m a huge fan of anyone, fictional or real, who is an example of what faith can be. Jack is a female vicar, so already pushing the gender boundaries of her chosen profession. But she’s also messy, and realistic, and loving and real. And she’s a reverend. And she loves God, and she wants to help people. I love a character that shows what religion can and should be.

And that really has little to do with the actual plot of this book (well, maybe a bit), but Jack is a refreshing character. So when we can see what has been going on in the little town of Chapel Croft through her eyes, it makes it all that much more interesting.

There’s a legend in the town of the two burning girls, girls who were burnt at the stake for being witches back when the town was being founded a really long time ago. And sometimes, people see them. And when they appear, it’s legend that it is some type of warning. So there’s that. Then there are the two girls who disappeared 30 years ago, without a trace. And that’s not the least of it.

The Burning Girls has a certain Salem witch hunt feel. There’s the history, there are modern day mysteries, there are people living in the town who aren’t quite right, and there are the exorcisms, all in the middle of a quaint village. It’s a terrific read for anyone who loves a good thriller with a touch of ghosts and horror.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out February 9!

The thing I love about C. J. Tudor’s writing is that without a doubt, you will be confused for about 80% of the story. The story will suck you in enough to keep you reading, but there are pieces of the puzzle that make absolutely zero sense, until you get to the end and suddenly every tiny piece comes together in a nice “holy shit” wrap up.

This story centers around Jack and her daughter Flo. After some bad press back home, Jack is the new reverend of Chapel Croft, where things are not quite right. Between the last Reverend committing suicide, ghostly apparitions in the cemetery, and the mysterious disappearance of Merry and Joy years ago, there’s a lot of weirdness happening in Chapel Croft.

So lets break down the mysterious:

We have Jack’s mysterious past, whose stalking her, and what happened with the little girl back home.
The ghosts that Flo is seeing in the graveyard
The disappearance of Merry and Joy 30 or so years prior.
The mysterious suicide of the former Reverend and the secrets hidden within the church.
Strange behaviors and mysterious within the residents of Chapel Croft and the secrets they’re hiding.
So we have FIVE major mysteries in this small town tale, and the way they all come to together is absolutely brilliant. Our main mystery is what is currently happening in Chapel Croft, and how both Flo and Jack are sucked into it all. One thing I really liked about this was the paranormal aspect of this story. There’s a few elements that seem to be supernatural, but you’re not quite sure if it really is, or if there’s more going on. (you know, like everything else in the book).

There’s a lot of small clues to the secret of these mysteries, but its not always easy to pick up on them. One of the main mysteries I *sort of* pieced together early on, but I wasn’t 100% sure if I was right and kept having “wait this doesn’t fit into my theory” moments, but when everything finally came together it fit perfectly!

One thing I absolutely loved about this book was how hard it was to separate the “good guys” vs the “bad guys”. The majority of them are more like “morally grey bad-leaning guys” or “I seem like a bad-guy but apparently I am secretly not”. Some characters that I hated in the beginning, I grew to love at the end. And some that I loved, were my least favorites by the time I was done.

My absolute favorite character in this book was Jack. Now I don’t know anything about vicars and reverends, but I can’t imagine everyone that wears that little white collar acts quite like Jack. She is truly her own person and lives (mostly) by her own rules. She is the type to fight to bring church standards into modern times, lets her daughter decide her own faith, and bends the rules a little bit. We slowly learn more about Jack as the story goes on, her past, the story of what happened to Ruby, and her husband.

Okay this review is getting VERY rambled. It’s so hard to talk about mystery/thriller novels without accidentally revealing details or plot twists.

So I’ll finish with this, The Burning Girls, will keep you sucked in until the very last page. If you pay close enough attention, you’ll discover the secrets to a few of the mysteries as the story goes on, but everything will come together. This is now the third book of Tudor’s that I’ve read, and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next. Her writing is compelling, and keeps you intrigued and wrapped up in the mystery.

Another great read by C.J. Tudor! After being involved in a scandal, Reverend Jack along with her teenage daughter is sent to Chapel Croft to take over after their Reverend commits suicide. Instead of finding a fresh start and some peace they find that the townspeople here are very troubled and determined to keep their secrets a secret. I really enjoyed this book as it was very well written and intensely creepy and suspenseful.

I loved this book even though it scared me! Vicar Jack Brooks and her daughter Flo, are sent to a parish in the country from a busy parish in the city. Chapel Croft has a long interesting history. From 8 Protestant martyrs being burned at the stake to missing girls never to be seen or heard from again. When strange things start happening at the chapel, can Jack and Flo figure things out before they become one of the strange happenings in the town? This was a fantastic thriller that I just couldn't put down. I loved Jack and Flo and their relationship. The descriptions have you right there in the middle of everything. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Tudor is able to create a story full of creepy moments, plot twists, interesting characters, and strong endings. Another great book by her! I didn’t want to put it down!

<b>Shocking, creepy and disturbing are just a few words that describe this imaginative read!

Tudor hasn’t failed to WOW me yet! Her books keep getting better and better. I love her offbeat and incredible writing style and the way she manages to perfectly mingle humor, horror and supernatural into her thrillers. She’s definitely in my top 10 favorite authors!!</b>

<b><i>“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is pretending he didn’t exist.”</i></b>

A Vicar who commits suicide; the unsolved disappearance of two teenage girls; an old chapel alleged to be haunted; villagers burnt to death; and two young girls killed outside the chapel. These are just a few of the skeletons in Chapel Croft’s long, dark past. This is one spooky place, with some seriously interesting history, and authentic characters!

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books and CJ Tudor for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!

<b>My Rating: </b> 5 ⭐️’s
<b>Published:</b> February 9th 2021 by Ballantine Books
<b>Pages:</b> 352
<b>Recommend:</b> Yes!

@cjtudor #NetGalley #TheBurningGirls #InExchangeForReview #NoRulesJustThrills #JustFinished #MustRead

When Jack (along with her daughter Flo) is sent to the village of Chapel Cross to become the interim vicar, they aren’t prepared for the reaction of the villagers. A multi layered story with a local mystery and plenty of folklore surrounding the seven martyrs burned at the stake in the sixteenth century, not to mention the ghosts of the two burning girls. Are they real or just more local folklore? Completely creepy and filled with plenty of twists, this story leaves us not knowing just who to trust until the very end, but with its satanic overtures, it was a story that I wasn’t very comfortable with.

C.J. Tudor is an auto-read author for me and I think The Burning Girls is my new favorite book from her! The book starts strong and I was instantly pulled into the story (and also a tiny bit freaked out).

The creepy town legends, dysfunctional families, and a dark mystery made this book hard to put down.

Once again C J Tudor has us on the edge of our seats in this twisting thriller. Sorry, setting, and plot all vie with one another and mesh to produce a roller coaster of a read. I never saw the twists at the end coming and I'm usually pretty good at sussing these things out. I agree with other readers that the panoply of vicars goes confusing from time to time. But for the reader that just lets the story happen, that confusion is of little consequence. Hang on and enjoy the ride.

Wowza! It's been a bit since I've read an awesome, twisty book, like this!!!!

I previously read The Chalk Man and would say that this is leaps and bounds above!

A vicar is sent to a village with a history. A history of martyrs. creepy twig dolls, and missing girls. The story jumps from the prospective of the vicar, to the vicar's daughter, and back in time.

I loved how the story was unfolded and the writing was amazing!

I can't wait to pick up the rest of CJ Tudor's books!!!

A special thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine, and CJ Tudor for providing me with an ARC.

Fantastic! I really enjoy CJ Tudor's books, but at first this one was good, though felt average to me. I wasn't as enthralled as with her previous stories, but than as I got closer to end things began to change and I can't put the book down.
The ending totally surprised me!!

YESSS this is everything I wanted it to be. What a riveting story. I loved how there was some historical context, loved the setting, and I loved the overall concept. I appreciated how the author didn't include any overused tropes. Perfect originality.

CJ Tudors books always feel like thrillers mixed with some very cheesy and unbelievable horror. This book is not for me. It felt like it was trying too hard to be the Netflix show American Horror story.

The Title/Cover Draw:
I did enjoy The Other People quite a bit so i was interested in this one, especially because of the historical aspect.
What I liked:
There is a MAJOR twist at the end of this book that totally came by surprise and then another I sort of saw coming. This book was a speedy read.
What I didn’t like:
The story itself was overly complicated and half the time it was hard to understand who was speaking due to the POV not being stated. This was for dramatic reasons and the shock of the twists, so I understand why, but it made it kind of tedious.
The Characters:
In the present, we have Jack and Flo, a mother/daughter duo experiencing some scary things in a new town. They are sympathetic characters and kind of more human than other thriller characters I have read. Merry and Joy are some girls who disappeared 30 years before.
The Ending:
Again, major twists. And questions are answered in this, but I had to do some major thinking to see if there were any loose ends.
Consider if you like:
Complicated thrillers with a paranormal aspect.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor. I love this author’s work and couldn’t wait to read her latest thriller.

Reverend Jack Brooks and her fourteen-year-old daughter, Flo, arrive in Chapel Croft looking to escape the rumors in her hometown. Upon arriving in this village, they learn about its dark history and must unpack the truth from the conspiracy theories. What really happened to the Protestant Martyrs? Did the previous reverend really commit suicide? When Jack receives an exorcism kit along with sinister notes, she is compelled to figure out what is actually going on in this small town and what it has to do with a five hundred year old story about The Burning Girls.

This thriller is an addictive, fast read that lays breadcrumbs for the reader all the way until the final page. It is what I have come to recognize as a typical C.J. Tudor book, intriguing and suspenseful right from the first page and never disappointing! For those of you who are worried that this book is horror, rest assured that is most definitely a thriller with a little bit of supernatural thrown in. I loved Jack, as she is not your typical vicar. Rather, she is has a funny sense of humor about herself that really makes her shine as the story’s leading character. As always, the story-telling is excellent and leads to a satisfying conclusion. However, I did figure out some of the twists, so that is why I have rated it is a four star read. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

4/5 stars

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me an e-arc in exchange for a honest review!

A priest, Jack, and her 15 year old daughter, Flo, are forced to move from a city to a remote town called Chapel Croft when an event causes negative publicity to the city church. As Jack and Flo reluctantly begin their countryside life, their church is riddled with histories of burnt girls, girls who disappeared and a priest who recently committed suicide. As Jack navigates through Chapel Croft’s past, her own past follows her in the shadows as her husband’s murderer is on a mission to find her. If all that wasn’t enough, Flo gets into heaps of trouble with teenagers who are all up to no good.

This book is a burning fire!!! Holy smokes!!! What a mind-bending, nail-biting, heart-pounding start to 2021! I devoured this book as fast as I could!!! This is not your regular domestic thriller! This one’s a genre-bender and crosses over to horror! There is some paranormal, themes of violent and sexual teenage bullying, themes of religion both traditional and modern, and quite a bit of gore. Multiple characters are involved in the story but I had no issues knowing who is who. I thought the author did a phenomenal job with character development as well as plot even though she threw the “whole kitchen sink” into the story. The final twist - I DID NOT SEE COMING! Just auto sign me up for any CJ Tudor novel, please! This book releases February 9! Thriller and horror fans, don’t miss it!!!

A new vicar and her daughter relocate from the big city to the small Chapel Croft hamlet ‘in the middle of nowhere' and it is soon clear that there is weird stuff going on and whispers of a tragic past. Ominous undertones, burning twig dolls, dead crows, creepy apparitions add to this dark, twisty and delicious story.

This is a story of an oddball priest and her daughter who get transferred to a new church on the other side of England to a town with a really creepy history surrounding the local church. This is a complex and entertaining thriller/horror with elements of the supernatural. I really liked that there were a few things left undiscovered in the past and hints of possible things to come. Creepy on many levels with twists and turns along the way.

Vicar Jack Brooks got a little to close to a child in her parish in Nottingham. Now, the bishop sends her to Chapel Croft, a struggling parish in an isolated village. 500 years ago, the Marian Purges burned several village members and the locals remember them as "Burning Girls." Jack and her daughter, Flo, are welcomed by some of the villagers, but not all. There is something strange going on at the local squire's house; the older daughter is a bully and the younger daughter is traumatized ever since a friend was drowned while staying with them. There is also the mystery of two girls who disappeared years ago and a haunted house looms over the area. Uncovering the truth can be dangerous and Jack and Flo are almost killed when the chapel is torched, except a homeless man rescues them. He has deeper ties to the village than anyone knows. A satisfying mystery with lots of twists and turns; good plotting and nice character development makes Tudor's books worth reading.

Chapel Croft, in rural England, is not her first choice for places to lay low but orders from the bishop send Reverend Jack Brooks and her daughter, Flo, from Nottingham to the hinterlands in C.J. Tudor’s chilling novel, The Burning Girls. This lightning-paced mystery sees Jack dealing with more-than-usually-suspicious rural people, a history of witch-burning, and a lot of buried secrets—while Flo meets a strange boy and has to contend with some nasty bullies. Readers who like their rural settings with a strong dollop of the sinister will like this one.

The Burning Girls races through its several plots mostly in scenes of dialogue. Reverend Jack knows that something is not right in Chapel Croft almost from the first moment, when she finds creepy twig dolls known locally as burning girls near the church soon after moving into the vicarage. Sure, the local traveling vicar and other upright members of the community tell Jack that this a venerable and harmless local tradition, but these dolls are just harbingers of what’s to come. Flo starts to roam the country with a new friend named Wrigley (though no one seems to trust this kid) only to find her own hints of evil. The interstitial chapters start to reveal the story of what happened to two girls who mysteriously vanished thirty years prior in a case that was never fully investigated. Oh, and there’s an extremely violent man on Jack’s trail, who is eventually revealed to be a big reason Jack is in hiding.

The Burning Girls definitely fits my criteria for overstuffed. (The ending is definitely a wild, crowded ride.) There are so many plots in this book! Chapters skip from one to another, each adding a little bit more to what we readers know about what’s really going on. What made this book more tolerable for me (I really don’t like it when books try to do too much and half-ass everything) was the wonderful character of Jack—I love a vicar who is more interested in actually taking care of a flock than in rigidly adhering to dogma—and that Tudor’s villains are just disturbed enough that they didn’t really need a lot of backstory to explain their behavior without tipping the balance into outrageous. Readers who want a lot of psychological depth should look elsewhere. Instead, I’d hand this to readers who want a fast, scary read with an original protagonist.