The Broken Girls, by Simone St. James

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I used this one for the 2018 #44 Ghost Story prompt.

I enjoyed this book WAY MORE than I thought I would. (I am terrible at judging books by their cover...)

I thought the plot was surprising, and I loved how Jamie's family played a role throughout the story. I also really loved the Idlewood girls, and the teacher in me wants to go give all of them a hug.

Gave this one a (rounded down) 4.5 stars for being just the read I needed right now.

[Rachelnyc]

So glad to hear you liked it. I've been looking forward to this one and am eagerly awaiting the ebook being available from my library.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

I also read this for week 44. I wish I had had a good block of time to really immerse myself in it but I did sit down and read about 3/4 of it yesterday afternoon. I think the ghost story elements and atmosphere of the school really call for you to immerse yourself in the story.

It had a few creepy parts but it could have drawn out the tension a little more. All in all, a solid 4-star read.

[Milena]

I also read this book for the ghost story prompt. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. 4 stars

[Katie]

I'm reading it right now!

[Rachelnyc]

It ended up being a solid 4 star read from me as well. I remember being worried things were falling apart with the story towards the end but was ultimately satisfied with how things tied together.

[Katie]

Just finished. There were so many storylines at play in this novel. It didn't bother me, and honestly I didn't notice did much until things started to come together toward the end; it kind of made my head spin. The only issue with the number of plots was that when there was some random part of the story that didn't serve an immediate part of the story, like (view spoiler)[Cici's brother's visit and the discovery of the guard from Ravensbrook (hide spoiler)], I automatically knew that those things would come back up end up being important later.

[Rachelnyc]

Katie wrote: "Just finished. There were so many storylines at play in this novel. It didn't bother me, and honestly I didn't notice did much until things started to come together toward the end; it kind of made ..."

Good point Katie. I do recall that and a couple of other passages that felt out of place at the time. It didn't ruin my enjoyment but it did cause me to start thinking ahead to how everything will come together rather than just reading in the moment.

[Katie]

Same, Rachelnyc. I enjoyed read it. I especially liked the way the ghost story element was done. I liked that the book wasn't solely about the ghost, but that people accepted it as part of their reality.

[Celia]

Read for Week 6: Dual Timeline

Genre: Thriller/ Suspense

Lots of hard to believe events are occurring in this book, especially the addition of Mary Hand, a ghost. But St. James loves to write ghost stories, so she is keeping the tradition alive!!