I really liked this book. The descriptions of the landscape were great and you really felt as if you were there. The mystery was interesting. I really liked the main character and how her anxiety was portrayed.

Great story - fast paced, unpredictable, and just the right amount of jargon thrown in. I am always a fan of crime related psychological thrillers and this one did not disappoint.

This book flits from past to present but not in a way that leaves you confused.

Its about a girl who gets lost and finds someones remains but noone can back this up.

Years later when she is in the grip of groef her brother who she doesnt get on with comes home with a girl who thinka the mysterious remains may be her sister.

This starts the unravelling of a decades old mystery.

Its a little slow in parts but worth the read.

An enjoyable read with a well written, easy to follow story. Interesting characters and a good pace. Recommended reading.

I really enjoyed reading this, it had me gripped till the end. I was not expecting the ending which was a great surprise.
This is the first book I have read by Rachel, but it won't be the last.

A cracking story that had me totally engrossed. It's original, intriguing and well written, with a great cast of characters.Great crime novel with lots of twists and turns! Honestly did not predict what would happen next, which is rare since I read so many mysteries

A really complex mystery, dealing with past traumas, heartbreaks, and family drama. I enjoyed this book, complex characters, interesting storyline, and lots of twists and turns. Satisfying read on a long summer night!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the book.
#netgalley

Rosie finds the bones of a skeleton in the curragh behind her family home, after an extensive search by the police the bones are undiscovered and the locals assume that Rosie was making it all up. Fast forward 20 years and Rosie is now living alone in her childhood home following the death of her wife and childhood friend Beth. Blinded by her grief she has isolated herself and cut herself off from everything outside her home with the exception of her mother who lives in a flat near by. Enter Dallin, Rosie's brother who has returned to the Isle Of Man for the first time in years, bringing with him Cora who is looking for her missing sister Simone who disappeared years before. Rosie finds herself being drawn into the search for Simone even though she begins to doubt that she had really seen a skeleton all those years ago.

The story moves at a glacial pace throughout and I found myself getting really frustrated with it and I had to struggle to stop myself skipping on several pages just to move the story on a bit. The last couple of chapters are super fast paced though and feel somehow disconnected from the rest of the story. It is a shame because there is a good story here it has just not been handled very well.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This gripping and cinematic novel is set on the Isle of Man and took me on a Covid pandemic staycation to a new part of the world. Granted many of the locals less than welcoming and had secrets they were trying hard to keep hidden, the local walking areas were dangerous at best and downright deadly if you didn't watch your step, and the tour guide had many issues she was trying to resolve....but other than that I think there's a lot the Isle of Man "may" have to offer, haha. In all seriousness, this novel is an excellent read and kept me guessing until the very end.

Little Girls Tell Tales is a mystery novel set in the Isle Of Man. As a child, Rosalie stumbles across a skeleton in the curragh (marsh) behind her home. After an extensive search by police and local residents the body isn't located and they believe Rosalie made it up. Years later Cora turns up looking for her sister who went missing many years ago. Could Rosalie have told the truth all those years ago and the skeleton in the curragh be her sister? Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.

Lots of twist and turns with some unexpected. Well described characters which moved the story along at a fast pace. Upbeat conclusion and a compelling read.

Very slow going, hard to get into. This made it hard to connect to the story, and I found myself annoyed.

Dark and delicious. Really enjoyed this book and it kept me hooked well into the night. Great characters and a addictive plot

The book started off great but then it really slowed down. The story revolves around Rosalie and her family and what she saw when she was a little girl. The plot was great and I did enjoy the book however I did feel that it dragged a bit in the middle. Loved the ending though.

Wow. Just wow. An amazing book that has you gripped. Could not quest what was going to happen next. Read it and read it now.

When Rosalie was a child she stumbled across a body in the marsh, but when police searched nothing was found. Years later and a woman - Cora - turns up on the island looking for her sister, and Rosalie is pulled into the search. A twisty but slower paced story with lots of intrigue and brilliant characters. 

Slow in parts and like nothing was happening. It felt like it was dragging but I was intrigued enough to keep reading. The cryptic letters at the end of some chapters were interesting, and I wanted to carry on to find out what they were all about. 

Colourful cast of characters. All believable and all had interesting stories to tell. Rosalie had her own skeletons in her closet and it was an interesting addition as a subplot finding out what happened with her wife. 

The ending was unexpected. I didn’t work out what had happened to Simone, so it was a shock. However, it also made sense and like the last piece of the puzzle had been put into place. I’d love to read more by this author!

I thoroughly enjoyed Little Girls Tell Tales, an engrossing tale of mystery, chills and suspense.

The book is narrated by Rosalie, who stumbled upon a dead body in the marshland behind her house as a 10-year old child. Lost and disorientated, Rosalie is found however, there's no sign of the skeleton and everyone concluded she made it up as she has an inclination to tell stories, as well having as an active imagination. Now, 15 years afterwards, Rosalie is living alone when her estranged brother, Dallin, turns up with Cora, a woman who is convinced that the body Rosalie found all those years ago is her sister. Cora has been searching for sister Simone for years and has tracked her to the area, so Rosalie tries to put her differences with Dallin behind her to help Cora in her search.

Rachel Bennett has a very appealing style of writing and the characters she created though not hugely likeable, were very believable. There was a great sense of apprehensiveness and foreboding and I liked the fluidity between past and present. I found Little Girls Tell Tales very readable, the various unfolding events and revelations making the book very gripping. The story-line was fantastic and the suspense was kept at optimum levels, though the pacing was a little slow here and there. In this atmospheric tale of uncertainty and tension the author wrapped everything up very neatly in a swift ending which was rather satisfying.

This was an absolute pleasure to read and even if the plot had been less stimulating I would have devoured these pages with equal gusto and enthusiasm. I’ll certainly be looking out for Rachel Bennett’s next book.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel at my request, from One More Chapter via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

Fifteen years ago, Rosalie was just ten years old when she got lost in the curraghs, a stretch of marshland close to her mother’s cottage in a remote part of the Isle of Man. And when Rosalie came stumbling out of the bogs, cold, frightened and babbling about finding a skeleton, nobody really took her seriously because little girls, after all, do tell tales.

Fast forward to today and Rosalie is living in her mother’s cottage as she tries somehow to recoup after the devastating loss of her wife Beth to cancer. She doesn’t want or need her ne’er do well brother Dallin turning up on her doorstep with a stranger in tow, but when she hears Cora’s story, she can’t turn her away. Because Cora believes Rosalie really did find human remains in the curraghs that day… and she thinks they might have been her sister Simone’s.

Simone was only fifteen when she became a teenage runaway. Slowly, throughout the book, via snippets of Cora’s point of view, we find out that Simone had in fact been having an affair with an older (married) man, and it becomes obvious that Cora feels immense guilt for Simone’s disappearance even though she was only nine at the time. And as Cora, Rosalie and Dallin search, it also becomes obvious that someone doesn’t want them in the curraghs, doesn’t want their secrets to be unearthed.

It’s an interesting choice to tell this story primarily from Rosalie’s point of view - the impartial witness, in a way - rather than Cora’s, the family member of the victim. Rosalie’s state of mind plays a big part because she’s deep in grief, but she’s a very compassionate person and she never, ever doubted that she really did find a body that day. Even in the depths of her own trauma, she wants to help Cora get closure.

The writing is beautifully descriptive, but the plot’s a little slow for the first two-thirds of the book. It doesn’t really pick up the pace until close to the end, when the three searchers realise Simone’s killer has been watching all along, misdirecting the investigation and determined to ensure her body is never found. Suddenly it’s suspenseful and there’s real danger; I couldn’t stop reading until I got to the end once things really kicked off. Stick with it after the slow start and you’ll be well rewarded. Five stars for a beautifully written story which had me riveted by the climactic action.

The blurb of Little Girls Tell Tales is intriguing and I expected it to be quite eerie with the bleak, desolate setting of the wetlands and a small child stumbling across a body. I was actually quite disappointed to find that the part based in 2004 was just a prologue and the rest of the book is set in 2019. Little Girls Tell Tales could possibly have benefited from throwback perspectives just to build the tense, eerie feeling of Rosalie being lost and finding the body and then told what happened afterwards. Instead we see Rosalie as an adult who is already struggling with things that have happened in her current life; nothing that seems to relate back to the discovery of a body when she was a child.

I felt like the characters were a bit flat and the plot dull. I just couldn't get into it and didn't really care what happened. Even at the climax and the big reveal in the book, I still felt it was flat and lacking in suspense. I honestly felt like I could skim read big chunks of this book and still not miss any major detail or plot line.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, Rachel Bennett and HarperCollins UK for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in the Isle of Man. When Rosalie was a child, she got lost and found a skeleton. But when the searchers entered the curraghs, there was no skeleton to be found.

It's now fifteen years later and Rosalie's estranged brother, Dallin returns with a woman named Cora, to see her. Cora has been looking for her sister who had disappeared 20 years ago. She now believes the skeleton Rosalie had found was her missing sister.

This is a it of a slow burner to begin with ut the pace does pick up. We get some backstory of all the characters. Rosalie, Dallin and Cora try to find out what had happened to Simone. We then learn the truths Rosalie has kept to herself. The story jumps from the past and present day. I liked Rosalie but I didn't like her brother, Dallin. Her neighbours were also a bit odd. Cora was a it hard to fathom out. Indid feel,the ending was a bit rushed and far fetched. I did enjoy this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and the author Rachel Bennett for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.