Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader's Reviews > The Broken Girls

4 eerie, ghostly stars to The Broken Girls! 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

The Broken Girls started off with a bang and with a dynamically engaging prologue! Was there a ghost right from the start?

If you think you do not enjoy ghost stories, I have to say, this one is executed well. Spooky is done with a light hand, not overdone, even feasible if that’s possible for a ghost story?! The atmosphere is perfectly staged with an old school building featuring “tooth-shaped windows.”

In Vermont in the 1950s, there’s a home for wayward “throw-away” girls at Idlewild Hall. The local town has rumors that Idlewild is haunted. Four girls are sharing a room, and they forge a deep bond that continues to grow until one friend disappears.

Also in Vermont, but in 2014, Fiona Sheridan is a journalist obsessed with events around her sister’s mysterious death. Twenty years prior, she is fond in the fields of Idlewild Hall.

It turns out that Idlewild is being restored by someone who does not want to be named, and Fiona decides to write a story about it. Fiona discovers something that links her sisters death to other secrets...and something you’d never expect.

Told in dual story lines, past and present, that later converge, I found the past timeline slightly more interesting, which featured a boarding school in Vermont for “wayward” girls in the 1950s. I enjoyed the present storyline with Fiona, too, but the former held me captive. The girls in the school were each so interesting and likable.

Overall, this was a well-written, atmospheric, spooky ghost story, and one I enjoyed immensely. It’s the perfect read for this time of year, to cozy up with a blanket and fall into a story.

Thanks to Berkley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions are my own.

My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com