The Broken Girls - Simone St. James - 4 stars

[[deleted user]]

The Broken Girls is a story that builds slowly, allowing the reader to fully immerse themselves into the Idlewild Hall Boarding School. In this wonderful mystery intertwined with the supernatural, author Simone St. James expertly moves her narrative back and forth between the years 1950 and 2014, allowing the reader to slowly collect and analyze the information and clues woven throughout the story.

The setting of the boarding school is gloomy. With decaying buildings, and grounds that may be haunted, it is natural for the reader to instinctively pay closer attention to the details of the scene and the individual characters. As the character development builds bit by bit, the reader gets to know every single character well enough to truly care enough for them to also fear for them.

The Broken Girls is a good book on several levels. The supernatural aspect was effective, lending itself to its own level of fear. The historical fiction element reminds the reader of a time in history when some of the greatest tragedies were a result of a societal mindset which made it allowable to hide young women in a debilitated boarding school under the cover of helping these unwanted girls. And finally, there is Fiona's story as she comes to terms with both her past and her future. Blended all together, this novel was a captivating mystery with continual surprises littering the narrative path.

[Joi]

This sounds really interesting- I love the idea of the old boarding school, creepiness mystery thriller, whatnot. I'm not a paranormal or supernatural fn however. To add to the TBR or not...

[[deleted user]]

I'm not either, but this one didn't bother me so much and really tied into the story I think.