Review: The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

The Roanoke Girls

by Amy Engel

Publisher: Crown

Pages: 276

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  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.

Kritters Thoughts:  After reading the synopsis when pitched this book, I was all in for a generational family drama, but after a few chapters the family secret is revealed and I just couldn't enjoy it from there.   I will not spoil the family secret because I don't believe in spoiling, but just let me say that its real icky and I am mostly sure that there is just a nitsch amount of folks who would enjoy it.

It pains me to rate the book so low and I just had a hard time because I actually enjoyed the way Amy Engel wrote and the generational part of it was entertaining, but I couldn't get past the family secret and I just wished it had been something else.  

There isn't much to say in this review.  I wanted more from the plot of this story and I just wish it had been different.  


Rating: not such a good read

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.