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."

Thank you to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review! All opinions are my own.

So, I'll go ahead and admit it. I requested this book solely based on the title. I'm fascinated with Roanoke so when I saw a book with the title The Roanoke Girls, I jumped at the chance to read it. Then I started seeing reviews that this was a "dark and twisted read" and I knew it was something I would be all about. But then I read it.

I have a lot of feelings about this book. Some good, some probably not so good. But I do have to say that my overall reading experience with The Roanoke Girls was certainly interesting and unforgettable.

Plot:
Just a forewarning, this book is not about the lost colony of Roanoke. I'd know that if I actually read the synopsis in full before just diving right into the book. What it is about is a girl named Lane who returns to her family's estate in rural Kansas after her cousin disappears. This book jumps back and forth between Lane's first arrival at Roanoke (which is both the name of the house as well as the family last name) and her return over a decade later. You get to see both fifteen year old Lane discover the dark, twisted family secret that destroyed her mother and adult Lane returning to the house to help solve the sudden disappearance of her cousin. Unfortunately, Roanoke girls don't last long and either run away or die.

To say this book is dark is probably an understatement. The "secret" comes out fairly early in the story, and it's quite shocking to say the least. But as the book continues and you follow Lane's time there in both the past and present, you learn just how deep the secret goes. I was honestly thrown off by a lot of the subject matter and found myself having to put my Kindle down several times to really think about whether or not I wanted to continue. But it was because of that feeling that I kept going and finished this book. I've never had a book push me like this one did. It calmly grabbed me by the hand and pulled me in and then took me on a twisted ride that I will never forget. This book is dark, the content almost disturbing, but give it enough time and it will show you a different side of itself.

I loved the back and forth with teenage Lane and adult Lane. I think that having that aspect of past and present really allowed the reader to experience the story in a way that almost makes you understand Lane as a character better than if it had been just the past or just the present. You see how Lane handles the secret as a teenager and how she acts once she comes back as an adult knowing what she knows. She's probably the most normal Roanoke girl of them all, but she's definitely not perfect.

I will continue to say it throughout this review but this book is incredibly dark. I know, I should find an adjective or something to replace that, but it just feels like the right word to use. Thankfully, despite the secret being very obvious and present throughout almost the entire book, it's never actually described in a graphic way. You just know it's there, and it is mentioned quite a bit, but you never get gory details. While you may find the content upsetting or disturbing, I urge you to take a chance and step into the world of The Roanoke Girls. The surface may be ugly, but underneath is a story about family, love and acceptance that is sure to leave its mark long after you've closed the book.

Characters:
Lane absolutely made this book for me. She's grown up with a mother who was never really a mother but more a distant figure in her life, never really understanding why she cries all the time and eventually kills herself. Then she moves to the only family she has left, almost instantly connecting with her hellion of a cousin, Allegra. Her grandmother is distant, but more of a mother than her own mother was, and her grandfather is everything she could have wanted. Lane feels love for the first time and has a family, what more could she want? Then she meets Cooper, and goes on the roller coaster ride that is experiencing first love. Unfortunately, she finally learns just why her mother was so sad all the time, why her grandmother is so distant, and why Allegra gets so jealous when Lane gets all of the attention. At fifteen, she's not equipped to deal with something like that, so she runs. Living on her own is rough and she definitely makes mistakes, but she's alive and away from Roanoke, until Allegra disappears. What I loved most about her was how loyal she was to Allegra. Even after ignoring messages from her and being apart for over ten years, she still instantly packed up and went back to Roanoke to help find her. She's strong, smart, sassy, funny, and just everything I love in a character.

The relationship between Lane and Allegra was beautiful. They were alike in looks but almost polar opposites in personality, and I just adored them. Lane only spent the summer with Allegra, but in that time, they bonded for life, so it's no surprise that she returns all those years later to help find her. The two of them were so well-written and I just couldn't get enough of their relationship. I laughed with them, I cried with them, and there were times when I just wanted to drag them both away and keep them safe. They were definitely a highlight of my reading experience and despite them being pretty messed up, they were still fantastic. I also really enjoyed the relationship between Lane and Cooper. They were quite dysfunctional and their relationship probably wasn't the most healthy, but it worked for them.

In general, the numerous characters that were in this book were all so incredible. I was afraid I'd start to get confused once I started to learn about the previous Roanoke girls, but each one of them (despite their parts being so short) was so unique and easily distinguishable. Lane was certainly my favorite, but I also really liked Cooper and Charlie. There are a lot of characters, but there's never a time where you get confused because the author gave them each their own voices to tell the story with. It's so easy to write a large cast of characters and have them all get lost, but Amy Engel did a fantastic job making each and every one of these characters different and able to stand out on their own.

Writing:
It's so hard to talk up this book without seeming crazy. The subject matter is one that will definitely make you pause momentarily and possibly even go back and re-read it to make sure that yes, that is what you just read and yes, that is the direction that the story is going. But bear with me here because that is only one very small aspect of this book. What kept me turning the pages was Amy Engel's writing. It's so beautiful and feels like it could just draw you in to rural Kansas to experience the things that Lane is going through in both the past and the present. It's so descriptive and haunting and honestly, unlike any other book I've read. I found myself struggling on whether or not to continue several times, but I just couldn't get enough of the writing that I had to continue. It leaves its mark on you, without a doubt, but in the best way possible. This is a book that takes you through every emotion you could imagine, makes you question why you'd ever read a book like this, and will absolutely make you fall in love with how incredible the words on the pages are. I'm serious, this book is intense and dark but the writing flows like a small creek and will be your candle in the darkness. I've never read anything like this before, and I will probably be recommending it to anyone looking for a new book to devour.

I had so many conflicting emotions regarding this book. I liked it, but I couldn't understand why I'd like a book that had such dark subject matter, and it seriously made me question myself. But if you're willing to just accept the darkness, you'll find an incredibly beautiful book underneath it all. This is perfect for readers looking for a dark and twisted story that will take you on a roller coaster from start to finish and leave you breathless by the end.

Thank you to Crown Publishing for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for review!

Blake Crouch has crafted a book like no other with Dark Matter. As a blurb by Joseph Finder on the back of the book states, this is the kind of book the word thriller was coined for. When I first began the journey of reading Dark Matter, I had no idea what rabbit hole I was going down. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was over 100 pages in on my first sitting with this book, and I wasn't ready to stop. Once you sit down and read this book, you won't want to put it down. This book has everything you could ask for in a science fiction/thriller novel and then some.

It's hard to know where to begin with this book, as there are an infinite number of starting points that I could choose.

"We all live day to day completely oblivious to the fact that we're a part of a much larger and stranger reality than we can possibly imagine."

We begin our journey with Jason Dessen, a college professor who married an artist named Daniela and had a son named Charlie. Jason is seemingly happy in his life, but he's questioned "what if" now and again. What if he had taken a different path in life? Where would he have ended up? When he gets kidnapped on the way home one night, his masked abductor asks him a simple question before drugging him and knocking him out: "Are you happy with your life?" Once Jason comes to, he is surrounded by people he doesn't know and a man who says, "Welcome back, my friend." He realizes that he has woken up in a world that is not his own, with no wife and no son, where he is a scientific genius who has created the impossible. The question is: Is this life real, or a dream? The paths to his discovery are infinite, and the journey to answer the question is unforgettable.

This entire book is basically a science lovers dream come true. As a science nerd myself, I was absolutely dying over all of the intricate scientific details wound throughout this book. It's difficult to say more without spoiling anything, but just trust when I say that if you love books with science woven in to the plot line, then Dark Matter is the book for you. The theories presented actually had me thinking and wondering if any of this was actually possible in the world we live in today. Could we make a scientific breakthrough as monumental as the one Jason made? If so, it would change the course of human history as we know it. Again, spoilers, but it's really amazing the amount of detail that this book goes into in regards to the scientific aspect.

Let's get to something non-spoilery, shall we? Jason Dessen, our main character. We follow his journey to the truth through all 352 pages and boy, does he take us on a ride. All Jason wants is to get back home, to his home, and his absolute dedication to returning to his loved ones was incredible. No matter how deadly, brutal, painful, or terrifying the obstacle was, Jason overcame each one in the hopes that he would be able to learn the truth and see his wife and child again. Because he's a scientist, he approached each situation he was presented with as if it was a scientific problem he had to solve. He broke it all down in stages, from most detailed to most simplified, and started at the most simplified problem he could deduce. Jason was incredibly smart, and so incredibly passionate about not being deterred from his end goal. Throughout the book, he is present with some pretty intense situations, and while he's not made of stone and does break down once or twice, he's able to learn from each experience and brings himself one step closer to his goal each time. He was such an interesting character to follow and without a doubt one of my favourite characters in any book I've read.

Not only was the main character amazing, but so was the writing. Blake Crouch has a way of painting a masterpiece with his words. His descriptive, beautiful writing allows you to almost insert yourself in the story alongside Jason and follow him as he tries to find his home. The only word I can think to use to describe his writing is magical. I found myself able to fully immerse myself into the world of Dark Matter and emotionally attach myself to Jason as well as the settings. With each page, I could paint a clear picture in my mind of where the characters were, what things looked like, and even how things felt at the time. In times of intensity, I was on the edge of my seat flipping pages like a crazy person. In times of distress, I found myself wanting to help console Jason and was so upset for him at some points that I felt like crying for him. By the end of the book, I really felt like I had gone on the journey with Jason, and felt a sense of relief as I read the final page. My feelings for this book are so intense and I cannot wait to go back and read it again.

Dark Matter is an adventure that everyone should go on at least once in their life. It has action, suspense, a bit of romance here and there, and some pretty awesome science mixed in to make one beautiful piece of work. It will suck you in from the very first page, and won't let go until you've read the very last word. If any of this interests you, then be sure to pick up Dark Matter on July 26th, 2016!