The Roanoke Girls: Breathing Life into an uncomfortable theme
The Roanoke Girls: Breathing Life into an uncomfortable theme
Lane Roanoke only spent a year at her family home, but the events there still haunt her. While she’s living in California, she receives a call from her Grandfather, beckoning her to return to the family home in rural Kansas. It’s been years since she’s been to Roanoke (the family home), but she knows it is serious when her cousin, Allegra, is missing. Lane drives back to the homesetead, and tries to piece together the events leading up to her cousin’s disappearance and possible whereabouts. However, being at Roanoke has a nasty habit of bringing up past events that threaten her sanity and her health. Will Lane find the key to the mystery and solve it before she is drawn forever back into the home that she fled so many years ago, or is she destined to live out the rest of her days in the madness of Roanoke?
Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.
I was so excited to read this book. And when the publisher gave me a copy of the electronic book in exchange for my honest review, I jumped at the chance. However, reading this was a pretty disturbing experience. I loved the language, but the subject matter, or rather relationship manner between a few of the characters was incestuous. While it felt like an adult, literary version of a VC Andrews novel, there were parts of the relationships that made me feel really badly. I know it is an unsettling subject, but I was having a huge sinus migraine for most of reading this. I feel like it was something that I needed to read, as that is one of the best parts of reading–we can read and encounter experiences that in the real world might hard us irreparably, but we can close the book or finish it and walk away. However, I think The Roanoke Girls might stay with me for a long time, if only because of the tremendously rich language and character development. Lane is an amazingly strong woman, despite what she thinks of herself.
Information about author, Amy Engel can be found at her website. While The Roanoke Girls is her first adult novel, she’s written a YA dystopian series that looks pretty cool, too!
If you want to support this blog, at no additional cost to you, please consider purchasing the hardcover or the ebook. While the release date is March 7, 2017, Amazon offers a preorder price guarantee, which allows you to pay the lowest price for the product.
Who would read this: Adults who grew up reading VC Andrews, mystery fans, crime fans.
Time to Read: Â 6 hours (with a sinus migraine)
Rating: 4.5/5
Funny Story: I kept thinking this was a grown up vc andrews novel.
Final thoughts: While the subject matter is dARK, IT IS WORTH THE READ FOR THE LANGUAGE AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.
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