Review: The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! What a book! This is very dark and twisty sort of novel with very difficult themes. It’s not for everyone – trigger warnings all over the place. If you can get past the darkness, it really is an intriguing and interesting story. The entire novel revolves around a very dark family secret (don’t read reviews or they’ll spoil it for you) that is the heart of the novel. The characters and the storytelling are stellar here! There is an authenticity to the story that surprised me. And I think the exploration of family secrets and how they play out for various members of a family made this one a really great read for me. I didn’t find myself too focused on the secret but rather the family dynamics that contribute to the secret. And I think they were well done. I really appreciated how well the author handled a very uncomfortable and taboo subject while also creating a wonderful story full of complex and interesting characters. As I said, this is NOT for everyone but if you can get past the darkness, I think it’s so worth the read. I really appreciated with the author did here and, despite its darkness, I think it was a very good story!

NOTE: Thank you to the publisher for proving me with an Advanced Reader Copy for an honest review.