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Tuesday, December 12, 2017

The Roanoke Girls




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


Sooooo....

I don't know if I loved or hated this book. I do know that I couldn't put it down and that it gave me the same feelings towards the "bad guy" that Lolita did.

Trigger Warnings for suicide and incest.

My biggest issue was that not only had I figured out the "twist" within the first few pages but then you are slammed with it in the face in before the 5th chapter. I may have liked this more had there been more suspense, had the reader been expected to figure it out on their own.

The MC has almost no redeemable qualities aside from the love for her cousin- and I liked that. All too often we are forced as readers to like a main character when in life that's just not how it works.

I can't say too much without major spoilers but I would say the worst person in this book is the grandmother. I was appalled by her behavior more so than anyone else.

The story telling was solid, the characters deep and interesting and the writing electric.

I can say this book stayed with me for days, but even so...I don't know if I can honestly say I liked it.