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.
“One summer is enough. Hell, sometimes one day is all it takes to change your life.”
I should start off by saying that this is not a book that I would normally read, nor pick up from the library. Really the only reason I started reading this book was because it was my book club's monthly pick, a brand new book club that I joined here in Norfolk, Virginia. Usually for books that I wouldn't normally pick, I wouldn't even pick it up. But here I go, trying something new in a place I'm not used to, so yay me! Oh, and I don't regret finishing this book at all, but trust me when I say it was not a happy book whatsoever.
I don't know if this counts as "cheating" but I got through this book by listening to the audiobook. Honestly, I feel like if I read it the normal way, I probably wouldn't have felt the same emotions that I did while listening to it every time I went for a drive. I'm not sure if it was necessarily a good thing listening to this book before and after work, or even heading off to job interviews, since the subject of this book is anything but inspiring or positive, but it worked. I couldn't get enough of it, and all I wanted to do was figure out what the heck was going to happen next.
This book was dirty. It was grimy. It was terrible in the sense that nothing good came out of this book. Nothing good happened to the characters, and the characters themselves weren't people you really wanted to root for.
There is something extremely special about all of the Roanoke Girls, but being special in that way is not a good thing. Not by a long shot. Amy Engel hints at it throughout the entire book, with Lane's story weaving between the past and the present almost seamlessly. Her past story is about her first time at Roanoke, that summer she was sent there after she lost her mother, back when she was 15 years old and thought she was completely alone. Her present, when she finally returns back to Roanoke after eleven years, to find out what happened to her cousin Allegra. It's interesting to see how the events of the past end up tying into the present.
Is Lane a good person? Is Allegra a good person? Are any of the Roanoke girls "good"? Is anyone considered completely "good"?
I believe the answer is "no" for all of those questions, but the answer can also be "it depends". Sure, they all have elements of good in them, but they are also cursed with something terrible, something that makes them both irresistible and hauntingly doomed. Dramatic, right? Well that's how this book was, in such a raw and unapologetic type of way that made me say, "Well, damn."
Not only do you get to hear from Lane, but there are some moments in between her story that you catch a glimpse into the minds of the other Roanoke girls. It's so brief, and you may not get a full picture out of their little moments, but it may help explain what happened to them, whether they died or they just disappeared.
If it really was just a disappearance.
This is a book that you have to read to appreciate it. It's not the kind of book that you want spoiled to you, because it will lose its desired effect. It's a mystery after all, but I will say that if you are triggered by sexual abuse, suicide, or even drug abuse, I wouldn't recommend reading it.
Rated: 4/5 ★
Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...
Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.
“There are those who seek me a lifetime but never we meet,
And those I kiss but who trample me beneath ungrateful feet.
At times I seem to favor the clever and the fair,
But I bless all those who are brave enough to dare.
By large, my ministrations are soft-handed and sweet,
But scorned, I become a difficult beast to defeat.
For though each of my strikes lands a powerful blow,
When I kill, I do it slow...
From everything that I've heard with this book, I had very high expectations. This was one of the books that was talked about in every single book group that I'm in on Facebook, with everyone completely in awe of this series and recommending it everywhere they go. I don't think I've ever seen a book get this much hype before, and I also think that this was the reason why I put off reading it for so long. I guess it's just something about me but whenever a book gets too much hype, then I won't read it until the hype is brought down or whatever the case be. Then eventually I forgot about it and it took years until I finally remembered this series for a book club. So thanks to the book club, I ended up buying the entire series and began my journey into Prythian.
One of the elements that seemed to be interesting after reading Hunted was that this also had some sort of Beauty and the Beast retelling. It seemed to be a story that a lot of people wanted to emulate in their books, and this was no different. I did like the fact that Feyre was a hunter as well, even if she only became one out of necessity and not enjoyment. It was also interesting to see that even though Feyre's family did come from money before the events of this book, she wasn't as educated and well-read as her fellow Belle counterparts.
In keeping with tradition, Feyre (spelled Fayre in English) means "Beautiful", so there's that as well.
I know that I'm in for such a wild ride here, and for the most part of me reading through this book I was at the edge of my seat. Especially towards the ending when Feyre had to go through her three trials, I was completely rooting for her and hoping that she would be able to break the curse that ravaged Prythian and all the Fae that lived there. Also her time within the Spring Court, her exploring the area and spending time with both Lucien and Tamlin was enjoyable to read as well. I personally like Lucien more than Tamlin, but that could also be because of all the comments people will say about Tamlin in the next two books. But without that outside influence, I thought that Tamlin was doing his best to figure out how to love again, or even how to like someone that wasn't a Fae again. He started to become more "human" in an aspect, and I liked that he was able to open up to Feyre in a way that didn't seem possible at the time.
I also loved seeing such a bad ass woman - even if she was an evil bitch - and no, I am definitely not talking about Feyre. Yes, she was pretty bad ass at some parts, especially with how she learned how to protect her family and feed them when her sisters and her father wouldn't do anything to help out. She was basically the core of her family, and the only reason that they survived for as long as they did. I feel like they treated her like shit because she was the only one that would get her hands dirty and hunt for them. Her sisters were not always kind to her, and her father was pretty much useless. She deserved better, and I feel like her leaving her home to live out her days in Prythian was a complete blessing for her.
I can't wait to read the rest, and my brain is so damn tired from everything else that I've been doing lately, but just know that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and now I understand the hype. If you haven't read it yet, I recommend doing it before the year is over.
Rated: 5/5 ★
Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.
Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.
Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.
“Rnesh karr slithis," I hissed back, which was Draconic for eat your own tail, the dragon version of go screw yourself. No extra translation needed.”
First of all, this book is about dragons. My favorite mythical creature in the entire world. So of course I was going to immediately want to jump on this book.
This book had an interesting premise, although it may seem a little cliche. Dragons have been hunted down by this sect of human hunters called the Order of St. George for centuries, pretty much to the point of extinction. It makes sense since we haven't seen or heard of dragons outside of fairy tales. There's no way that dragons are actually real, actually out there in the world, or else we would have seen them already right? According to this book, it is because dragons have the ability to shift into humans and blend in without us even realizing it.
In this story, we meet an anomaly in the dragon world, a hatchling that is actually a twin, something that is completely unheard of. According to everything that Ember and Dante Hill know, they are the only two twin dragons in existence, and they have never been apart. They have spent their entire lives being trained by Talon, the dragon organization that is dedicated to making sure that their dragons are able to survive, and whatever else they are supposed to in the world. Right now, it didn't seem like the real objective of Talon is obvious, and this is something that Ember will have to learn throughout her journey. After their summer is over, where they have a chance to learn how to assimilate with humans, the real training will begin.
One of the main ideals that Ember and Dante were taught is that while they need to learn how to blend in, they will always be better than the human species. They were not supposed to show any real human emotions because it got messy, and would get into the way of Talon's objectives for them. But as we can see with Ember, she has a lot more human tendencies than she anticipated to have. She wants to enjoy this sliver of freedom that Talon has allowed her to have in Crescent Beach, making human friends and learning how to surf among other things. So everything that she was taught seems to contradict what she's been experiencing.
Not only do we follow the summer of Ember Hill, but we also hear from one of the soldiers of the Order of St. George, dubbed The Perfect Soldier by his teammates, named Garret Xavier Sebastian. He grew up having his family killed by dragons, and indoctrinated into the mindset that all dragons were monsters that needed to be destroyed no matter what. They even knew that dragons could shift into humans, and that they were good at mimicking human behavior. For some reason, they even knew when a dragon was in the area and would be able to set up house at least a month in advance before they were even placed into human society. How were they getting their intel on where the dragons would be, and how would they know who the dragon would be?
From the moment that Ember and Garret met, their entire world will change, and everything that they thought they knew will be tested. There's moments of love and fear, heartache and betrayal, and all the human emotions that both Ember and Garret were forced to hide from themselves and others. All it really took was for them to bring it out of one another in a way that made them learn more about who they are as people, whether they are a human or a dragon.
I really rooted for Ember and Garret to be free to feel something other than what they were told to feel. I wanted both of them to have that teenage experience of enjoying themselves in the summer, having friends and learning how to love. I wanted them to be teenagers again, something that they haven't allowed themselves to be. It made me cheer for them when things were going well, and broke my heart when they were having issues being real with themselves. But throughout the entire book, all I could do was enjoy the ride and hope that things would get better all around. The ending absolutely killed me, and I need to get my hands on the entire saga as soon as possible.
Rated: 5/5 ★
