The Roanoke Girls

Reminiscent of Gillian Flynn, Amy Engels crafts a world where family secrets live in each of the rooms at Roanoke, and haunt the reader from page one.

This book is not an easy read. While it did envelope me with every page, the subject matter is very mature, and rather twisted. It would make one hell of an SVU episode. There is a lot of mature content, and I would not recommend this to anyone who is uncomfortable with sex, drugs, or violence.
With my warnings out of the way, I'd like to talk about what I loved about this book.

I'm not sure what it is, but I love a good family drama. None of this Aunt Sally thinks she's better than Aunt Susan. No, I'm talking real, raw, dirty family secrets. The kinds of things people think, but never talk about. This book brings that in spades.
The story revolves around Lane Roanoke, and is told alternating between "Then," and "Now." Lane is called home after her cousin Allegra disappears and takes us on a hunt through the summer she spent at Roanoke with her grandparents and Allegra. We learn about her childhood (more like teenage) romance, and her wild summer with her newfound family. We learn about her mother who had terrible nightmares, and ended up taking her own life.
Allegra leads us on in the beginning by saying:

Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.

HOW DO YOU RESIST THAT?

This book turned corner after corner, piecing together the traumatic, and tangled lives of the Roanoke girls. It was everything I expected it to be, and the ending was satisfying and believable. (There is nothing worse than an ending that comes out of no where.)

Another thing I loved about this book is it's realistic story line. I was sucked into the story, only to come up for air when Kyle called for dinner, or my phone rang at work (sorry not sorry.) The characters where reliable, and the mystery engaging. As disturbing as it was, the story was excellent.

I would highly recommend this book if you are 1.) okay with a lot of language and some explicit sex scenes, and 2.) love a good mystery.
I would not recommend this book if you are a sensitive reader, or prefer books to be light-hearted and easy.