a generous 4.

I would not call this "A Good Book" but I did have a good time with it. a friend called it "great value vc Andrews" which really nails the whole vibe of this book. I can't say I would recommend this to anyone to read but it did satisfy a junk-food type of book craving.
it read fast and I did actually like the romantic pairing/plotline in this book which is rare for me lmao

The Roanoke Girls will go down as THE book that convinced me novels need content warnings and ratings like movies and TV shows.

I haven't come across dark, family F---ked up s#!t drama like this since [b:Flowers in the Attic|43448|Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger, #1)|V.C. Andrews|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327880853s/43448.jpg|3311885] (which I've never actually read; I was too young when it first came out, but know the summary...)

I'm bothered by how grossly inaccurate the description of the book is--I can understand not wanting to put rape/molestation/incest/depravity/[other disturbing things] on the cover, especially if it's a "spoiler" but it could say "dark, twisted, family secrets" or "very disturbing family secrets" so you at least know SOMETHING twisted is coming. I was not prepared for this and thought of friends who would be harmed by this book w/o getting a trigger warning first.

My summary has spoilers...

The book begins when 26yo Lane returns to 'Roanoke' Kansas because her cousin (Allegra) has gone missing.

When Lane was 16, her mother committed suicide (not a surprise to Lane, her mother had always been depressed) and social services sends Lane to live with her grandparents in Kansas.

Lane didn't know she had grandparents and to her surprise, they were very rich, "the" family in town, wanted to know Lane all along, AND they (the grandparents) had also been raising Lane's cousin, Allergra, since birth. Allegra is just a few months younger than Lane so the girls grow close quickly and do teen girl things like drink, go to the swimming pool, hook up with local boys, etc.

Right away Allegra dishes up how weird the family is---that her mom and Lane's mom got pregnant at 15/16 and then ran away. Also mysterious is that all of their aunts and great aunts have died or disappeared too. What's with these Roanoke girls who are so beautiful, rich, and have it all? Why do they run away and off themselves?

Because 'Grandpa' is a swell guy. First, he had sex with his sister (until she died/disappeared), ultimately fathering a girl, who he raised with his wife as his own, and also had sex with, until she died/disappeared like her mama. Then 'Grandpa' went on to having sex with ALL of his daughters, starting at age 14. He says it's okay because it's their choice and he looooves them.

In case you missed it: YUP he was the grandfather AND father of both Lane and Allegra.

Lane ran away (after just a few months there, still 16) when she caught Allergra and Gpa knocking boots.

As or Allegra? Grandma killed Allegra because she was pregnant and she wasn't willing to raise any more of other people's children. In case you missed that: Grandma was totally cool (and 100% aware) her husband was banging all his relatives, including their very daughters and granddaughters, but more diapers at 55-60 was just too much for her.

I will say that the book closed with Lane having some rather insightful things to say about moving on, moving through drama/PTSD, dealing with terrible and horrible feelings, and surviving depravity, which made the whole book somewhat redeeming.

Even if I set aside the horrid subject matter (and I do like dark and disturbing books sometimes), the story itself was entirely too predictable with the foreshadowing that was painfully obvious. I did finish the book, mostly because I was on a plane w/o anything else and because it was the spoiled milk phenomenon...you have to sniff it a few times because you can't / don't want to believe it's spoiled.

Bottom line: 8 hours of f####d up DISTURBING S###. But if you like dark and twisty (particularly Flowers in the Attic or The Girls) this is a good choice for you.

This was sickening. The writing was fine, but the plot was sickening and overwhelmingly anticlimactic. Would have DNF’ed if I didn’t think it’d give me nightmares if I didn’t know the ending.

Very disturbing. The beginning was a little hard to get into but wow.

Such an uncomfortable, disturbing read. Should definitely come with a trigger warning as it’s heavily themed with various abuse. But despite all this it was an absolute page turner for me! Only gave it four because of just how uncomfortable it made me feel at times!

When 15-year-old Lane Roanoke’s mother commits suicide, she is sent to stay with her maternal grandparents in Osage, Kansas. Lane has never met this family and her mother refused to talk about them aside from admitting she ran away from home at a young age. Upon arriving, Lane learns that her spit fire cousin Allegra lives there and is also being raised by the grandparents. The girls share an unforgettable summer and Allegra doesn’t shy away from filling Lane in on the history of the Roanoke Girls. When Lane finds out the haunting secret of the Roanoke family she unsuccessfully begs Allegra to run away with her.

15 years later, Lane’s grandfather summons her back to Roanoke when Allegra goes missing. Did she finally run like so many of the Roanoke girls before her? Or did something worse happen? Returning to Roanoke brings forth all those uneasy feelings Lane has been working hard trying to bury (in a bottle more often than not) but, she needs to find out what happened to Allegra.

Amy Engel brings us on a dark, twisted and disturbing ride that alternates between Lane’s summer at Roanoke and the present. We mostly experience the story through Lane’s point of view but there are short chapters from all the other Roanoke Girls as well. While the subject matter is difficult, and may be too disturbing for some, Amy Engel does a fantastic job at keeping it tasteful and weaving it into an intriguing and captivating story about family dysfunction.

This is a story that will stay with me for a long time, if you like reading about family dysfunction and dynamics then this one is definitely for you!

Thanks to Net Galley, Crown & Amy Engel for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Audio book. Well, this book was definitely different than what I was expecting. I saw a lot of tags for mystery and thriller, but I honestly don't feel like this book fits into either of those categories, at least not for me. I guess it's more of a general fiction or contemporary. That being said, it was great! I never lost interest and that takes quite a bit when I am listening while I work as I can tune an audio book out quite easily if I'm busy doing other things.

Lane returns to Osage Flats after leaving years ago when she was a teenager after spending only one summer there with her cousin, grandfather, and grandmother. He cousin, Allegra, has gone missing and now Lane is dead set on finding out what happened to her. Did Allegra simply run away like so many other Roanoke girls before her? Or has something happened to her.

The timeline goes back and forth between present time and that summer and we slowly (although it doesn't really take long to catch on before they outright say it) figure out the dark secrets her family hides, which are truly disturbing. It's deep, haunting, and sad.

I guess I can see the mystery part of the story, but I'm not shelving it as that.

This book dragged on and on with no real substance. The storyline could've been condensed and perhaps more facets of each character could be added in. It seemed as if the majority of characters were paper-cut moulds that fit certain bad-boy or bad-girl characteristics. Also, it seemed as if Lane's personality totally changed in the last chapter. All in all, I would file this under "beach reads".

Rating: 3.5/5

This was good but I feel like it was relatively predictable. Nothing was really much of a shock as it went along which was just disappointing and somewhat infuriating. A good plot, a really good story, but just. Lacking. Engel had a good idea going but it just didn't fully do it for me