The Burning Girls

Incredibly slow and didn't like what they did with the one character i.t.o a neurological disorder. Plus what was that ending ugh

Mystery thriller with elements of horror, this novel follows a widowed vicar and her daughter as they settle into a new village known for its martyred burnings several centuries before. 
So I quite liked this book, it's less supernatural horror then I first expected but it's a real page turner with a fast paced story and plenty of twists, some I kind of guessed early on and others I didn't. Even so, I did love the twists and the ending.  All the characters were compelling and I did like the different POVs and timelines.  The writing were engaging and sharp, the atmosphere was perfectly set up and really felt creepy and ominous. 
A very solid mystery and I'm looking forward to read more books by this author. 

Okay, so the beginning of this books gets like 4 or a 5, but the end just kind dropped it, the finally reveal didn't really feel like it made sense with the character we follow. In the end I was confused about the main characters thoughts throughout the book once I got there. The writing is fine and the characters were enjoyable just seems like the main character is aware she is in a mystery and can't let the reader know stuff. Rounding down to a 3 but closer to a 3.5

Did it bother anyone else that the author KEPT MISQUOTING the Usual Suspects line! It's not “pretending” the CORRECT line is:
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.”

While this book wove together a lot of mysteries into a satisfying end, it was... not good. The storytelling felt redundant, the characters flat, and I felt the teenagers were written especially poorly (which it seems is hard to get right for most stories).

I think it would make a good movie or show, though. Read it if you want cursed church in the English countryside vibes and aren't looking for anything deep or flowery.

Well, I did not see that coming. I thought that was brilliant and that wasn't a twist, it was an Olga Korbut triple axled back flip with knobs on. I didn't want it to end, I wanted more, more Joan, more Rushten and more Harpers. CJ Tudor's best yet and if there isn't a sequel, I will be very cross.

3.5/5 - Decent mystery with creepy folklore atmosphere throughout. Ending fell a little flat for me, but apart from that enjoyed the majority of this book. Would read more of Tudor's work.

A bucolic English pastoral setting makes an intriguing setup for what is pretty clever thriller. CJ Tudor has proven adapt at creating atmosphere in small village settings and this is no exception. Here we see a vicar moving to a country church after a scandal at her inner city one. It doesn't take long before secrets from the village begin to become apparent, and the plot cleverly weaves in a way that does keep you guessing till the end. Just the right amount of ambiguity is left to make things interesting too! I have thoroughly enjoyed all the CJ Tudor I have read and this is no exception.

Solid 3 star book that finishes on a high. It's a shame the level of intrigue wasn't the same throughout instead of just the last quarter or it could have been a higher rating.

i enjoyed the book so much until the plot twist reveal being something i predicted and thought is very obvious from the start ??? the whole book i was waiting for something i already know and it made me annoyed but cant give it less stars coz i did enjoy the book up until then i guess.

+ also i did not like the use of racism and ableism as a plot twist, that was a weird and unnecessary choice so im lowering it to 2 stars upon thinking more abt this

Just when I thought I should give up on thrillers completely this comes around. I had some problems around the climax reveals but ultimately it was one of my favorite thrillers I've ever read so I don't think I can give it a lower score than this.

3.7

Promising plot, weak execution

Oh dear, where do I begin? The premise was good, it really had potential but sadly fizzled at the end. My major gripes with this book was the execution. A lot of time was wasted on two central characters who didnt need and quite frankly didn't have a whole lot to flesh out. If attention was given to the plot, particularly given that there are two (maybe three? It's all so confusing honestly) parallel stories, the ending would not have felt so rushed. There were some unanswered story points which begs the question ‘why introduce it?' The twist was rather predictable. Again, just marred by the execution.

Character building: 3
Plot: 3
Writing: 3
Execution: 2

Overall: 2.7

This book just didn't do it for me. Right from the start I wasn't into the short, choppy sentences, nor was I into the very bland and uninteresting “character building” (literally in the first real chapter, after like 4 paragraphs, the main character just blatantly thinks "I made a mistake and I need to make amends" -- and that is the way that we discover that she has made a mistake and needs to make amends. How riveting!), nor did I enjoy the choice to flip-flop between first person and third person throughout the entire book.

Probably for a good portion of this book though I was feeling it was a solid 3 stars. It wasn't blowing my mind, and as I said some things immediately didn't click with me, but the creepy, ghostly atmosphere was definitely there, and I was curious and entertained enough by the plot to want to keep reading. But then it all fell apart for me as the creepy, ghostly atmosphere turned into more of a cheap Halloween costume atmosphere.

1. This ominous figure, who we are randomly following for intermittent chapters, turns out to be Jack's brother. And it turns out that he killed Jack's (kind of estranged) husband. And then even later we find out that this brother also killed their mother and the pedophile. Maybe this all would have been meaningful if his story wasn't so weirdly tangential.
2. And then we figure out Jack is Merry. This reveal didn't bother me so much until the end, when I realized that she actually remembered her childhood. I had this whole idea that she was so confused and didn't know anyone or anything about the town, or the murders, because she had blocked it all out, or because there was some satanic ritual done on her to make her forget. But no, nothing like that, she just knew the whole time, so...why does no one know her? Why is she constantly confused about the various roles and personalities of everyone in the town, when she used to live here? Maybe I'm just stupid, but I really don't get it, and it felt clunky and underdeveloped.
3. The thing that really made my enjoyment drop down was that nothing was nearly as ghostly or witchy as I wanted, and expected from the title, and the cover, and the blurb. The recent murders weren't anything spooky or witchy, just some over-the-top psychopathic (and annoying) teenagers. Really? The older disappearance of two girls, mirroring the original burning girls, also just normal murder and a runaway, as was the priest from 30 years ago found in the cellar of the church. That friend of Poppy's that died? I think just a murder, though I'm not sure if that is ever explicitly confirmed. Creepy cellar with mysterious coffins? Just a family trying to keep up appearances. And apparently the absolutely horrifying actual ghosts of the original burned girls? Just some friendly, neighborhood ghosts, trying to help out. How appearing in a graveyard, naked with no head or arms and on fire is "helpful" I don't know, but okay. Basically, the further along this book went, the more mundane it became, and even the actual extremely scary ghosts were just trying to be nice.

In the end my complaints piled up, and this one just flopped.

what a twisted tale this was

even though i gave this 3 stars, i'll still continue to read books by the author. i'm just waiting for one to wow me, and this one could have been a 4 star but i found myself confused at times.

I'm glad I enjoyed this book more than the last C.J. Tudor book I read but it still wasn't one of my favorites. I'm going to start off with what I liked:

If there is a religious theme in a thriller or horror book and that plays into the creepy or horrific elements, I'm almost always bound to enjoy it at least somewhat. I think this book handled that really well and it definitely added to the creepy atmosphere.

I also really enjoyed the mother-daughter relationship that was woven into the story. I think it added a lot to the story and was quite meaningful considering the mother was also a single mom. I'm not super big on relationships being explored within books unless they're romantic, but I really enjoyed the dynamic between the two characters.

Lastly the twist at the end shocked me a bit (most twists do because I never see anything coming lol) in a really good way. I really liked the end direction this book took and it bumped my rating uop half a star.

So moving onto the things I didn't enjoy, they're mostly the same types of problems I had with The Other People. C.J. Tudor loves to use multiple perspectives to add “suspense” and “intrigue” but I think it's mostly just confusing. Throughout this, i was really confused because there were so many storylines going on and the author tried to weave them into one story but ended up having a lot of loose ends. And I don't mind loose ends if they're purposefully left for the reader to contemplate or come up with their own conclusions but I can tell that wasn't what was done here. There were some left intentionally at the end but the other ones were just things brought up in the middle of the book, and just never touched on again. I think the main issue is that there is always too much going on and it's hard to keep track of and then all those storylines didn't even merge together into a conclusion.

That being said, I somehow ended up still being bored throughout a lot of this book and the same went for The Other People. I don't understand how a book can have so many storylines going on and still manage to do nothing, say nothing, and be boring for 50% or more of the book. I wish we focused on some of the other storylines more and just did 2-3 instead of the 7+ that was in here. The main ones that were focused on also weren't my favorite and not what I expected going into this book.

I did enjoy aspects of this book and I definitely don't look back on this book with negative feelings, but it was mostly just lackluster with a few things that saved it.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, C.J. Tudor, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Reverend Jack Brooks has been relocated to Chapel Croft in a small remote village on the English countryside. The previous vicar position suddenly opened and Reverend Brooks' name was recommended. Life in the small village is a hard adjustment for Jack and daughter Flo.

The town is surrounded by a dark history that slowly begins to eek it's way into Jack's life. As secrets are uncovered and lies revealed Reverend Brooks' realizes evil comes in many forms ... ones not easily seen..

I really liked The Chalk Man so I couldn't wait to read this one and I ended up enjoying it more. The mysteries uncovered, even through to the last chapter, were interesting and enjoyable. The twists and turns definitely kept my attention and made this a fun one.

It's a quick read and definitely brings the chills and spooky factor. Great for those Spooktober lists.

“I'm dreaming about girls. Always girls. Mutilated. Abused. Tortured. Killed. I see their faces; their sad, broken bodies. Why do we hate our girls so much that history echoes with their screams and the earth is pitted with their unmarked graves?”

Wowwww this was good. I have only read the chalk man by this author prior to this one and I have to say the author has really grown. I also felt like the authors voice was strong in this one. I had a problem with the chalk man, with how “Stephen king” it was written and I had concerns this book would be similar but it was very different.

The author blends mystery with some horror elements. Truly a good mix for me. Everything about this book works. Beginning, middle, and end.

I loved this book so much! Reading the description of it, I honestly wasn't sure if I'd be into it or not, but it definitely exceeded all my expectations. It was an easy start to the book and kind of even featured a twist right at the beginning!

The new vicar moves to a village called Chapel Croft that has a history. But so does the vicar. The vicar's daughter, Flo, was also an interesting character, and I ended up liking both of them as the centerpiece of this book. Multiple stories, viewpoints, and characters were in the mix, but the book made it easy to follow along and keep track of them.

I felt like this story was so original and interesting. The main characters were likable, the book kept a steady pace, and there were plenty of twists that I definitely didn't see coming. This was my first book by C.J. Tudor, but it won't be my last! Looking forward to digging into more of her stories.

I love CJ Tudor's books. This had plenty of thrills. Murder, mystery, a botched exorcism and a female vicar with a troubled past all combine to make a great read.

This book!!! I loved every minute of it. C.J. Tudor has a knack of drawing you in with her opening sentence and once she has you hooked, you cannot escape! Enthralling and heart thumping this novel makes for one hell of a read.

Reverend Jack Brooks is transferred to a new parish after a traumatic event that leaves the local community angry and the press crawling all over the church. Having no choice in the matter, Jack and daughter Flo arrive in a small Sussex village to find a rundown chapel and a lot of hidden secrets. What was really interesting was the tradition of the Burning Girls that featured throughout the novel; twig dolls to represent the villagers who were burnt to death during Queen Mary's purge of the Protestants, the Sussex Martyrs. This historic event along with the supernatural sightings of two girls who seemingly are haunting the chapel give this novel such a thrilling Gothic feel.

Jack isn't your typical ‘Reverend' and I loved this about Jack; not afraid to stir up the past, ballsy and foul mouthed. I immediately connected with Jack and Flo and were routing for them from the outset.

The complexity of the plot with the different story lines was well written and made The Burning Girls quite the page-turner. The hauntings of the two girls, the mystery surrounding the two teenagers who went missing thirty years ago, as well as Jack's own past and the situation Flo finds herself in makes this a standout book that just kept giving. Just when you think you know where the novel is heading it completely turns on its head, leaving you with more questions than answers. Tudor beautifully balances the amount of action, mystery, crime and gruesomeness into this novel and leaves you with a WOW ending, one that I didn't anticipate.

An atmospheric, spooky, chilling mystery which I couldn't read fast enough.

This book is so good! It is dark, suspenseful, anxiety inducing, must keep reading and turning the pages kind of fantastic. This is my first time reading any of C J Tudor's books and I am mightily impressed. This is a genre bending type of novel that is part thriller, part horror with some historical fiction, superstition and supernatural elements. Set in the unique location of Chapel Croft, a small village in Sussex, this story follows Reverend Jack Brooks and her daughter Flo who are relocated to the Sussex parish after some scandal has occurred in her old Nottingham parish and she is asked to lie low and relocate temporarily until things settle down.

The novel then goes back and forth in time and follows Reverend Brooks experiences in Nottingham as well as in the present and it also has segments of other characters past and present that leave clues to the wider narrative. I found the tradition of The Burning Girls in Chapel Croft very interesting and I loved how the author weaved in this local history and superstition into the novel. She also explained the significance of The Burning girls well and stitched them into the narrative brilliantly.

I found the plot was constructed and executed incredibly well. There were so many layers and levels to the plot that could have made the reader confused and left the author writing themselves into a corner. But after the expertise the author used in taking you through this story as a reader. I trust this authors storytelling skills. And I will be reading her back listed titles. A very impressive thriller.

Thanks to the author C J Tudor, Penguin UK and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.