The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

Beautiful.
Rich.
Mysterious.

The Roanoke girls seem to have it all. But there’s a dark truth about them which is never spoken. Every girl either runs away, or dies.

Lane is one of the lucky ones. When she was fifteen, over one long, hot summer at her grandparents’ estate in rural Kansas, she found out what it really means to be a Roanoke girl. Lane ran, far and fast. Until eleven years later, when her cousin Allegra goes missing – and Lane has no choice but to go back.

She is a Roanoke girl.

Is she strong enough to escape a second time?

I finished reading The Roanoke Girls a few days ago and it’s taken me them few days to recover and make all my thoughts about the book into a decent review. I knew going into this book that the story would be dark and twisted, but in the end it was even more dark and twisted than I expected.

The Roanoke Girls tells the story of Lane when she was first introduced to the Roanoke House at the age of fifteen, and when she returns to the house eleven years later. When Lane was younger she always dreamt about the Roanoke House and imagined what it would be like to live there with her Grandparents. After her mothers death she finally had a chance to experience what it is actually like to be a Roanoke girl. However she finds that her dreams were actually nightmares and decided to escape the clutches of her grandparents. However eleven years later her grandfather tells her that her cousin Allegra is missing, so she decides to go back to Roanoke to try and find her.

I found the story to be gripping from the very start. It’s all very mysterious and creepy which makes you want to read more and more. I found myself reading past points I said I would stop at because I just couldn’t put the book down. I liked the way the story shifted from present to past, it made the horrors of Roanoke more twisted as the story progressed.

The writing I found easy to read and it did paint a vivid picture at times of the story, even when you didn’t want them sort of pictures in your mind. Some of the scenes were a little uncomfortable to read because of the vividness of the writing but I think that’s what makes this book hard to put down. It’s uncomfortable to read at times but still very gripping. I enjoyed reading the authors writing and I will be checking out other books by this author.

I have never read anything like this before and I know that’s it’s wrong to say that you enjoyed a book like this because of the events that happen in the story, but I did thoroughly enjoy reading this book. Yes it’s very dark and very twisted, and very uncomfortable at times, but none of this takes anything away from the story or the writing. The Roanoke Girls is captivating, sordid and a suspenseful read, and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

I rate this book 5/5 stars

***I was sent a copy of this book by the Publisher to review. Everything in this review is my own honest opinions.***