Little Girls Tell Tales is Rachel Bennett’s second thriller and although it was an okay read it was painfully slow which made it difficult to become immersed in the story. However, books are so subjective so if this tickles your fancy give it a go as you could thoroughly enjoy it. It is by no means a bad book but it needs a bit of a rework and I'm sure it would then be well received by fans of the genre. Many thanks to One More Chapter for an ARC.

This book started off strong. I was really interested in the mystery of it and the descriptions of the Isle of Man. And then it started lagging. Another mystery that seemed to just become a soap opera. The description of the bog became redundant and a lot of the conversations were boring. The conversations that would prove important seemed really obvious. A lot of promise. By the end I didn't care much who did it. I finished it yesterday and I'm having trouble remembering more than the basic plot.

Fifteen years ago Rosalie swears she found a skeleton whilst lost in remote wetlands on The Isle of Man. Despite a search, nothing was found and nobody really believed her.
Now her estranged brother Dallin has returned home with a young woman named Cora who seems to believe that the skeleton Rosalie found was that of her missing sister. Cora starts a systematic search but it becomes clear that someone does not want her to be there. Rosalie is not sure whether Cora is genuine but feels a rapport with her and wants to help.
This is an engaging mystery which keeps you hooked until the end.

I don’t do synopsis/recap reviews, as I figure you can read the blurb. I’d rate this book 2.5 Stars, rounded up to 3.
The good stuff: Fine character writing, along with nice descriptive passages about the island kept my attention, along with the family relationships and tensions.
The not as good: I thought at 400 pages it was too long, and the same story could have been 150-175 pages shorter. And I grew numb reading about the MC’s grieving process. Too slow for a “slow burn.”
But the good did outweigh the bad, so all is ok.

This was a very addictive easy read! I wish it had been longer. This was a great read.... there were many moments where I thought the story was going in one direction only for it to go somewhere else!

This was an easy to read thriller that kept my attention all the way through! Lots of twists and surprises I didn't see coming. Very good, would recommend! Loved this. Great storyline :)

WOW! What a quick read! Full of twists and turns, and moments where you go “ohhh is that going to be what happened?”, and then no, it goes somewhere else! My only complaint is that the book wrapped up way too quickly. It seemed almost abrupt. All in all, an entertaining quick read for summer!

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

Rosalie gets lost as a little girl and finds a skeleton. Once she is home she tells about the skeleton but nothing is found after a search of the area.

Now Rosalie is an adult and has become a loner. She doesn’t want anyone in her life after losing the love of her life. But enter Dallin, her estranged brother, and his girlfriend who believes Rosalie's story of the skeleton and wonder if it may be Cora’s sister. And who put the skeleton there all those years ago and what will they do to keep the skeleton hidden?

This was an easy read. Didn’t keep the pages turning for me but was interesting. I never really connected to the characters, especially Rosalie. But a story that is interesting.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The descriptions of the curraghs on the Isle of Man (which I later found out is a real place) are beautifully descriptive. The author makes it easy for the reader to visualize both the wetlands as well as Roslie's home and garden. The characters were all well-fleshed out (for the most part, although I don't know why it was necessary to make Dallin such an unlikeable character).

The story was interesting in theory. Rosalie as a child stumbling across a skeleton while lost in the curraghs, a skeleton that no one else was able to find despite extensive searching ends up leading a woman there twenty years later in search of her missing sister. Where this story lost it for me was in the execution of the story itself. At times, things just seemed to drag on - even when it was obvious someone didn't want Cora poking around, it didn't make me feel like I was on the edge of my seat. I couldn't even say it really made me worry about the character's safety. There were also a lot of other little things thrown in here and there that just either didn't make sense or were unnecessary to the plot. And the ending seemed to be a bit... off (plus we never learn if they do end up finding Simone's body or not although we are told the police are going to re-open their search of the curraghs for it).

I'm sure this story will appeal to those who enjoy slow-burn novels over ones that are more fast-paced. I would give this author another shot simply based on how well they described the surroundings.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

As a young girl, Rosalie was known for the adventures she had near her home on the Isla of Man, some real, some not. When she is found after disappearing for a few hours, Rosalie tells a story of finding a woman's remains and her story is instantly dismissed. This is the back story for the larger mystery/ thriller. 15 years in the future, Rosalie's brother introduces her to a young woman who is trying to find her sister. The sister disappeared 15 years ago in the wetlands that surround the area. As the two women investigate, they find more than one mystery and must decide if what they seek is worth the price they will have to pay for the truth. A good, solid mystery with an interesting background.

I received an e Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for this opportunity to read and review the book.

Little Girls Tell Tales is an unique book to start in that it takes place on the Isle of Man, which is a location I don't often see much in books. This can be a chance to explore a new area but can also be confusing as you may need to acquaint yourself with new plants and animals, as well as a new dialect. In just the first few pages, we learn that there are feral wallabies that make their home in the curraghs (which I had to look up - I just need a bit of a mental picture sometimes.) The book is told in two different time periods, 2004 and 15 years later.

The book starts with a discovery of a skeleton when Rosalie is playing in the curraghs with her brother and their friend, so I expected a fast paced thriller. But then the story slows down a bit in some areas. But maybe the pace seemed slow due to distractions while reading. I found it easy to read, but maybe not really memorable characters. This was my first book by the author, though, and I think I'll look for her other book whenever the library re-opens. The new setting did intrigue me.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good International thriller.

I enjoyed this book. The setting was very interesting - on the Isle of Man, a place I have never read about before. It sounds an interesting place.
The storyline held my interest, a woman pining for the dead wife, suddenly gets a visit from her brother and a girl who is searching for her sister, who has been lost for 20 years.
The search is an interesting one and the conclusion is satisfying. Altogether a good read.

The blurb for this book immediately drew me in! It’s described as “a pacy and atmospheric crime novel…” I found the novel to be more of a slow burn. The beginning of this novel is beautifully written and quite atmospheric as the author describes the curraghs (wetlands) and Rosalie as she gets separated from her brother and subsequently is lost for hours. When Rosalie finds a skeleton in the curraghs she is sad, and i felt so bad for her. Rosalie is found after hours alone but no one believes her when she tells them about the skeleton she found. Subsequent searches never found any trace of the skeleton.

The story jumps from the past to present day and this is when the writing style seemed to change and the plot slowed down. I’d say that until the 80% mark the book was slow. I didn’t feel that anxiety or real concern for the characters I usually do with a suspense. In my opinion this is more a mystery, less on on thriller side. The last 20% of the book things do pick up.

I found Rosalie to be quite likable, despite her struggles. The other characters didn’t really connect for me. Dalin, Rosalie’s brother was quite an unlikeable character and I felt the need to shake him quite a bit.

Overall, this was an easy read, but not the thriller I expected. I rated this one 3 stars. The atmosphere and setting were used quite well to develop the storyline.

Thank you One More Chapter Books, Harper Collins, and Netgalley for an advanced copy of the book for my review.

I enjoyed this book but not as much as I thought I was going to. I didnt particularly like any of the main characters. Dallin was like a big baby, Rosalie I found really annoying but Cora was alright. I didnt feel like we got answers as to why Beth's parents were sending the letters or the things going on in Dallins life. Even why Simone ran away felt like an afterthought. Overall it was an easy read but not one of my favourites.

Little Girls Tell Tales caught my eye on Netgalley. I was drawn to the setting of the curraghs on the Isle of Man.

When Rosalie was a girl, she got lost in the curraghs and stumbled across a human skeleton. Although she found her way out, she was never able to find her way back to the skeleton. Most people thought she made up the story. But jump ahead fifteen years, and Rosalie's estranged brother shows up with a woman claiming that the skeleton might belong to her lost sister. But someone doesn't want them looking for answers.

I liked the overall story. The mystery of it was good. And although the story took a while to gain moment, the pace was mostly good. It kept me engaged and guessing what the outcome would be.

My biggest problem with Little Girls Tell Tales was that I didn't care for any of the characters. Rosalie is mourning the loss of her wife and has cut herself off from the world both emotionally and literally. While I empathized with the general sense of loss, it never led to any deeper emotion. I've had similar disconnects with other stories where the reader is plunked down in front of a grieving character and expected to be weepy about it. But that doesn't happen when I have no history with the characters. Am I supposed to engage weepy mode just because you told me to be sad? Nope. And it is even harder to gain emotional attachment to that character when their grief is their one and only defining characteristic. By the end, I didn't feel any empathy or sympathy for Rosalie because she was so self-centered and narcissistic. People do grieve at different rates, but Rosalie was too determined to wallow in self-pity. So she didn't need any more pity from me.

Of the entire cast of characters, none of them were likeable. Rosalie's mother was literally the only character that didn't annoy me. Everyone else was selfish, over-dramatic, and carrying some sort of dark secret. It bordered on nihilistic which I'm never a fan of. You can only have so many manipulative people with random dark secrets before it all starts getting tedious. And to make it worse, the narrative does that gimmick where it makes repeated mentions of The Secret but drags on forever before reveling it. That just is not a tactic that I enjoy.

That being said, I liked the overall story. I just couldn't get into it more without having some sort of connection to the characters. It's hard to root for unsympathetic characters.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the characters and the setting and the build up to the truth. I read this in one sitting. I had to know what happened to Simone.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Good bits:
1. The setting. Rare to read a book set on the Isle of Man, and I thought the descriptions of the curraghs were particularly well written.
2. I did like the fact that there were quite a few mysteries littered throughout the book, as this worked well as a way to keep you interested.

Not so good bits:
1. Rosalie was written as though she was a much older woman, and so I found it hard to connect with her. I'm actually the same age as she is (mid-twenties) although you'd be forgiven for assuming she's a lot older. As such, I didn't really relate to her and so my interest wasn't really piqued.
2. The pacing was a bit all over the place. Some bits were glossed over that should've been expanded on, other bits were given way too much attention. As such, the suspense that should've been there was absent for much of the book.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me. It was very well written, but unfortunately I felt it didn't live up to the potential displayed in its synopsis. Too slow, not enough surprises, and took too long to get to where it was going.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of Little Girls Tell Tales in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first book I’ve read by Rachel Bennet, and enjoyed how well written this was.

I felt this started off very slow, but picked up and was a good read and was satisfied with the ending. Based on the description of the book I had high expectations. It wasn't my favorite of the year but worth 3.5 stars!

I had such high hopes for this one but it was such a disappointment in the end.

I was VERY pleasantly surprised that the main woman in this book is a lesbian. I didn’t know that this was a queer book based of the summary and it’s not classified as LGBTQ+ on Goodreads. That’s okay though, it was a nice surprise.

This book opens with 10 year old Rosalie getting lost in the wetlands of the Isle of Man and happening upon a skeleton. After being found by her mom and a small search party, the wetlands are searched but no skeleton is found.

15 years later Rosalie is trying to move on from the death of her wife, but is struggling. Her brother who she has been out of touch with for years shows up on her doorstep with a woman who believes the skeleton she found all those years ago may be her sister who went missing 20 years prior.

I really really wanted to love this, but so many things felt so out of place.

I didn’t like her brother, Dallin, at all. And the closure that usually comes with this type of relationship didn’t feel that well rounded. He seemed kind of like an asshole who didn’t really have much of a reason to be one.
The ending was WAY too abrupt. I would have liked a follow up to everything.

I also felt like the hints towards Cora and Rosalie having feelings for each other was kind of misplaced. Rosalie is grieving so hard in the novel and just doesn’t feel anywhere near okay enough to develop feelings for someone else.

One of my other complaints is that Rosalie felt much older than she was. She’s only supposed to be 24, and I know she’s been through a lot, but I don’t think that would be cause to write her like she’s a woman in her 40s.
Overall I was really disappointed with this one. It had all the ingredients to be amazing, but just fell flat.

Rosalie found a dead body when she was a child. When searchers entered the curraghs, they don’t find a thing. Fifteen years later, her brother Dallin returns with a woman named Cora, who is looking for her sister that disappeared twenty years ago. Was the dead body that of the sister? If so, how did she get there? This book was a little slow in places, but an ok mystery.
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this.