Book Review: The Roanoke Girls

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

Goodreads Synopsis: Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.

After her mother’s suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother’s mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran fast and far away.

Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.

As it weaves between Lane’s first Roanoke summer and her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart. My Review: I have to say I was really excited to read this book. The only details I knew about it going it were how dark and disturbing the book was. I was sure it was going to be right up my alley. I have to say I didn’t hate this book but I didn’t love it either. I was engaged in the story in the beginning. It was depressing and I was interested to learn more but the more I got into the book I was ready to finish it to move on to something else.

I did enjoy how it was told from different perspectives. Lane was the main perspective over the majority of the book. I didn’t love Lane as a main character but I enjoyed how honest she was. She would always say what was on her mind and wasn’t afraid. You did get a look inside the heads of the other Roanoke girls which was enjoyable. Getting a different perspective was a nice change of pace.

I also enjoyed how the book took place in the past and then in the present. I feel this is always something you have to be careful doing because things can end up getting confusing going back and forth like that but it ended up working out fine for the story. It was easy to tell the difference between the different time periods. I was never lost or confused about what was going on.

However, I really didn’t enjoy that the dark secret of the Roanoke girls was discovered so quickly. I wish we had some suspense and build up to that. I feel that might have made me enjoy the story more. I wish we found out when Lane found it out in the past. There were a couple of times Allegra would bring it up to Lane about there being this big secret and she is dying to know and I would just be like oh it’s this okay. I understand it took Lane to discover what was actually going on in Roanoke. I just wish us readers were put in the dark for a while longer too. The only shocking scene was when you finally found out what actually happened to Allegra and at the same time I wasn’t really shocked. The story basically hints at the outcome.

In the end, I think this was an interesting story. It is dark and disturbing so I do warn you if you decide to read this book. I do wish the dark secret could have been told to us at the end. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I didn’t know what was really going on with the family. I love having different perspectives in books so that was enjoyable and something I wasn’t expecting. I would say if the synopsis interests you go for this book you may end up really liking it.

Overall: 3/5 stars

I just want to thank Blogging For Books for giving me a free copy of this book for my honest opinion. Thank you!

Advertisement