Book Review- Amy Engel's The Roanoke Girls

Thank You to Crown Publishing for providing me with an advanced copy of Amy Engel's novel, The Roanoke Girls, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Fifteen-year-old Lane Roanoke's life has just been turned upside down. Her mother, Camilla, has committed suicide, and Lane has been uprooted from her city life in New York to live with her maternal grandparents and younger cousin, Allegra, in rural Kansas. Lane has never known her grandparents; her mother ran away from their home as a pregnant teen and remained estranged. Lane soon learns that the Roanoke family harbors a dark secret and that the females of the family either runaway or die young from tragic causes. Will Lane become the next victim in the Roanoke curse?

LIKE- The Roanoke Girls is a compelling story; a page-turner. I ripped through it in less than a day. The great Roanoke secret is so utterly disturbing, that it's like a car crash: I knew I shouldn't want to look, but I did. I had to. It's taboo, salacious, and shocking. I can't remember the last time I read a novel with this much shock value. The Roanoke secret isn't necessarily a surprise, as the hints are clear early on, however the element of surprise isn't necessary, as being in on the secret, and watching how it all plays out, is the hook. 

Shock value aside, what makes The Roanoke Girls so readable, is Engel's writing. Her narrative is strong and she deftly handles that delicate balance of writing in a way that is plain and  flows, yet is filled with unusual descriptions and sensory imagery. In other words, her writing isn't flowery or bogged down with description, yet in many place, I paused to admire her descriptive phrases. She has a knack for constructing beautiful, powerful sentences. The pacing and intensity never drops either. The Roanoke Girls has all of the elements of a well-balanced, readable novel.

The Roanoke Girls is told both in flashbacks and in the present day, where we learn that Lane left the Roanoke household shortly after arriving, but Allegra, who stayed, is now the latest girl missing. Lane returns to Kansas to search for her cousin. The story is revealed in a third way; through short chapters dedicated to each Roanoke girl, giving us a closer look at these mysterious women, such as Allegra's mother or a female baby that died. I like how Engel used these chapters to slightly lift the veil of mystery and tease out the ultimate secret of the Roanoke household.

DISLIKE- I'm trying to write this, without giving spoilers, so it may be vague...but I'm not sure why all of the Roanoke girls fell under the same spell. Although I found the story fascinating, I'm not sure that I found it believable. Maybe adding another perspective would have given this clarity? I'm not sure. 

RECOMMEND- Yes, if you can handle stories that are shocking and uncomfortable. You will squirm. The Roanoke Girls is not going to be for everyone, but if it sounds up your alley, I can recommend it as an engaging read and Engel as a talented storyteller. The Roanoke Girls will certainly stick in my memory for a long time. 

Book Review- Paula Daly's The Trophy Child

Thank You to Grove Atlantic for providing me with an advanced copy of Paula Daly's novel, The Trophy Child, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Ten-year-old Bronte Bloom, is overworked and stressed-out. Her mother, Karen, keeps Bronte on a tight schedule, shuttling her between various lessons and tutors, accepting nothing less than excellence. She insists that her daughter is gifted and exceptional, but even if that isn't quite true, Karen believes that it's nothing that can't be fixed by pushing her daughter to work harder, or by hiring more qualified teachers.

Bronte isn't an only child. She has an older teenage brother named Ewan, who is a slacker, and rather than finding a job or attending college, he spends his days playing video games and smoking pot. He is Karen's son from a previous relationship, although the name of his father is a mystery. Bronte's older half-sister, Verity, has moved into their home. Verity's mother has multiple sclerosis  and was moved to a nearby live-in care facility. Verity and Karen do not get along. Verity is fiercely protective of Bronte, whom she feels is being pushed too hard. The family patriarch, Noel Bloom, stays on the periphery of the madness going on in his own home. He is unhappy in his marriage, yet afraid to take on the force that is Karen.

When Bronte goes missing for a day, the Bloom family is in a panic. Bronte has been so sheltered, that they fear she cannot survive on her own. When she returns the following day, happy, unharmed, and unwilling to talk about her disappearance, the Bloom's are left feeling perplexed. Karen faces a public backlash for her parenting style and is even accused of giving Bronte a reason to run away. The backlash is so intense, that Karen gets harassing phone calls and written death threats. Karen vanishes a month later, her car found abandoned with splattered blood. Could Bronte and Karen's disappearances be linked? Was Karen attacked for being too much of a "Tiger Mom?"

LIKE- The Trophy Child has two separate elements going on: It's a family drama, but it is also a murder mystery. I preferred the family drama to the suspense/mystery elements of the story. As a drama, we have a blended family struggling to make it work, and that dynamic is compelling.

At the start of the story, we don't know if Verity is an unreliable character. When we meet her, she is in trouble for choking her step-mother in a blind rage, and her private school is threatening to expel her, if she doesn't attend therapy sessions. However, we quickly learn that Verity is incredibly protective of Bronte and through Karen's rigorous demands of her younger daughter, she was physically hurting her. Yes, Verity was enraged, but Karen was also acting in an extreme manner. Verity is actually incredibly mature for her age and compassionate of others. Not only does she try to help her younger sister, but she is kind to her half-brother, Ewan and his mentally handicap friend, who is a frequent visitor to the house. Verity visits her mother, sneaking her in marijuana, which calms her mother's tremors. She is even patient with Karen's bullying parents, who accuse her of potentially harming Bronte and Karen, when each goes missing. Verity takes this all in stride, even though her life has been nothing but upheaval with factors out of her control. This makes her even more sympathetic than Bronte, and it's hard to beat the sympathy factor of a abused child!

I love the setting of the Lake District in England. Having visited there ( it's magical), I could easily picture the village and the houses. I could see Lake Windermere, which is the setting ofa pivotal scene in The Trophy Child. I have such good memories of my visit there, that I was delighted to revisit it in this story world, even if murder and shady characters were involved!

I'm intrigued by the helicopter parenting/tiger mom thing. I have step-children, but they do not live with us, so I don't really have parenting experience, and my mom, although she pushed me, definitely didn't fall under this category. I liked how Daly played with the backlash that Karen receives. Clearly, Karen thought that she was doing the best thing for Bronte, but she could not see or admit to the negative ways it was affecting her daughter. Certainly, Karen was extreme and doing Bronte harm, but Daly adds another layer of the community members being judgmental regarding her parenting, and the idea that you never quite know what is going on in someone else life. 

DISLIKE- I'm on the fence about the murder mystery and the character of detective Joanna Aspinall. I didn't find the budding romance between Joanna and Noel to be compelling or necessary. I kept expecting that this would have a large repercussion on Joanna investigating the disappearance of Karen, but other than a slight internal conflict, i.e.- she knew she should mention it to her boss, nothing came of it.

The very end of the story, in which the crime is finally resolved, felt like a very big coincidence. Too many pieces of the puzzle slid together neatly. Although the twist played out as far as me not realize the story would head to that conclusion, I didn't feel that the twist was satisfying.

I think part of the problem with the crime aspect of the story, is it lost momentum when Bronte returned home and the mystery of her disappearance was quickly eclipsed by the disappearance of Karen. We do learn what happened to Bronte, but it doesn't come until the end of the story, and it doesn't have much of a link to Karen's disappearance, other than it put Karen into the spotlight. 

RECOMMEND- No. The Trophy Child was a quick read. Daly has a knack for writing family dynamics and conflict. I would be inclined to seek out other books that she has written, but The Trophy Child was an uneven read.  

Book Review- Yoojin Grace Wuertz's Everything Belongs to Us

Thank You to Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an advanced copy of Yoojin Grace Wuertz's novel, Everything Belongs to Us, in exchange for an honest review. 

PLOT - Set in Seoul, South Korea during the late 70's, Everything Belongs to Us, is the story of two childhood friends from vastly different economic backgrounds. Jisun, the daughter of a successful business tycoon, is from a privileged family, and lives in a secluded mountainside mansion. Namin lives in a poor village, in a small house without running water, and her parents own a food truck, working sixteen hour days. The girls meet when Namin's impressive test scores admit her to an elite middle school. 

Fast forward to college, both women are attending South Korea's most prestigious university. Namin's goal is to become a doctor and her family puts all of their money and energy towards her success, seeing her as their ticket out of their hard life. Jisun's father would like to groom her to take over his company, but she would rather disavow her wealthy upbringing. Instead, Jisun becomes involved in an activist movement, risking not only embarrassment to her family, but jail. A series of circumstances sets a course that will show each woman, that their situations are tenuous and that desire isn't always enough.

LIKE- Wow. Just wow. Everything Belongs to Us is a dazzling debut novel that gripped me from the start and didn't let go. I absolutely could not put it down, and as a consequence, I stayed up far past my bedtime to finish reading it. Wuertz's strong voice, combined with sympathetic characters and a intriguing plot, kept me glued.

What surprised me the most, was how current the story felt. Admittedly, I know very little about Korea's history during the 1970's. However, with the exception of the factory protests (which for all I know could also be happening now), I kept forgetting that this story was set decades ago. I think it's because the idea of college students focusing on power, social climbing and ambition, transcends decades or cultures. The idea of a lower-class family putting all of their dreams towards their child who could raise their status, is something that still happens; same as a child from a wealthy family who might want to test out a different life from the one in which she was raised. These are themes that transcend.

Power is a key theme of Everything Belongs to Us. The most gut-wrenching use of this theme, comes from Namin, when she learns that her younger brother, who has cerebral-palsy, has been sent away from Seoul, to live with their grandparents in the county. The problem is, the family is ashamed, and does not speak of Namin's younger brother. She fears that he is dead, until as teenagers, Jisun suggests that Namin make a surprise trip to the countryside, to see if her brother is still alive. He is alive and knowing that her elderly grandparents will not be able to care for him much longer, Namin feels an even stronger pressure to finish school, and have a job where she will have the resources to help him. There is a beautiful scene where she takes him in his wheelchair to the river and as they cool their feet in the water, they dream of the fantasy home that they will one day have. Namin dreams of being wealthy, but not so much for herself, but for the power that it would give her to provide for her family. It's a desperate and non-negotiable need for her.

In college, the girls meet Sunam, a boy from a middle-class background, who like the girls, is trying to find his place in the world. Sunam becomes Namin's boyfriend, but their relationship declines when she becomes too busy with school and family obligations. Jisun, who is broken-hearted over an American missionary, turns her attentions to Sunam, beginning an affair with Namin's boyfriend. Unbeknownst to both girls, Sunam is harboring a secret that would destroy both of his relationships. Wuertz's plot is full of moral dilemmas and impossible situations. It's suspenseful and kept me guessing until the very end.

DISLIKE- Not a single thing. Everything Belongs to Us is a fabulous debut.

RECOMMEND- Yes! Everything Belongs to Us is set in the 1970's, but is fresh and modern. Wuertz is a masterful storyteller and I can't wait to read her follow-up to this magnificent debut. Also, be sure to check out her author website, where she shares pictures of her family, who were inspiration for the characters in Everything Belongs to Us.