This is a truly amazing book that I don't know if I can describe it enough to give it the justice it deserves.
The writing is hauntingly beautiful and I felt like I was there in the mansion alone feeling all the emotions that Carol was feeling. It was all so dark and emotional but it was written so beautifully that I could feel the pain, the lonliness, isolation, the let down and disappointment of everyone in her life. I honestly wanted to cry.
This was a chilling read that I give 5 stars!
Thank you to netgalley, the author and the publisher for my ARC in exhange for my honest review.
Well done Elizabeth Hill!

Killing The Girl was an intriguing, enjoyable read. It has a lot of twists and turns to keep you reading.

This is Elizabeth Hill’s debut novel and it is outstanding. Pretty much a book in two halves: the depiction of our protagonist, Carol, as a teenager in the 1960/70s and then her life in 2016.

Written in the first-person in diary form, we learn that Carol at 16 is naïve and somewhat sheltered and pregnant. She marries Frankie and on one fateful day something horrendous happens and she turns to her neighbour, Perry for help.

In 2016 we find Carol living in the same home which is threatened by planning changes that will result in exposing the secret she has hidden for many years. Perry, very much in love with her, is there to help her.

This dark, psychological thriller is enthralling. Slowly events unfold and secrets are revealed and the reader is subjected to an examination of Carol, her choices in life, her mistakes and the sad realisation of a life not well-lived.

Throughout the book the landscape is lauded, oftentimes dark and brooding. It is beautifully written, thoughtful and measured. It slowly sucks the reader into Carol’s captivity and the inevitability of exposure of secrets real and manufactured.

I am sorry Ms Hill, my review goes nowhere near giving enough credit for a beautiful book: it is thoroughly absorbing.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

Carol Cage is a recluse. Surrounded by money, her house, her things. There is no one in her life. Her brothers have lives of their own. He mother has remained. The man she loved lies dead under the pear tree. So many years she has stayed away from everything and everyone.
This is a psychological thriller. It has everything you would want in a great book. It has drama, strong characters, fantastic storyline and a phenomenal twist at the end.
Excellent!

As a teenager, Carol dreamed of going to university. All that changes when she meets Frankie, a smooth talker who changes her life. Soon Carol is pregnant and Frankie abandons her. If only he had stayed away, she might have taken back control of her life, but alas, this is not a happily ever after story.
Carol uses her diary to show us what happened and the many lies and deceptions that have defined her come to light. Her world is about to explode, as her house is slated for demolition. When that happens, it is likely her secret will be revealed and she needs to be prepared.
I had such a hard time empathizing with Carol. Yes, first love can be brutal, but the decisions she made and the things she did had me shaking my head more than once. I never warmed up to this character, but somehow, I found myself getting pulled into the story. Suddenly, I wanted to know exactly what had happened and to me, this is a sign of an enjoyable read. Kudos to the author for writing characters I loathed and still creating a compelling tale.

Enjoyed this slow-burning thriller. The first paragraph hooked me and it held my interest. Some books grab you with the first sentence and then drag, not here! I wanted to know more sooner, but Ms. Hill timed everything perfectly, doling out information at an ideal pace.

A tense psychological thriller full of deceit and murder. I couldn't put it down until the end.
Did Carol kill the love of her life, Frankie?
Set in England it goes through different time periods of Carol's life. 16 and pregnant and Frankie, a much older, worldly Playboy has secrets of his own.
She becomes a recluse and 40 years later the truth comes out. People are not as they seem. You won't regret picking up this thriller.

Thank you to publisher and NetGalley for the eARC

This book was a good read although I found it a bit verbose. There was loads of unnecessary information and believe me, I love a good detailed read as much as the next guy! It was like the main character was in la la land a lot of the time but maybe that was done on purpose to show how messed up she was inside. I got through this book quickly because I was interested to see what happened, whodunit, etc. but I think it didn't need to be as long as it was.

The novel took me awhile to become interested in its contents and I do think the writing style of the novel was part of it. It didn’t entice me the way I expected it to.
I do however, enjoy the last half of the novel over the first half. The storyline definitely begins to pick up the pace and the flow of the novel seems more organic.
I would still recommend this novel for people interested in this sort of genre.

Killing The Girl by author Elizabeth Hill is a dark psychological thriller that does not disappoint! I love the way the events are explained to us greatly. I would recommend this book!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Killing the Girl by Elizabeth Hill is a cautionary tale about lies: how pervasive they can be and how much damage they can do. Carol is sixteen years old and pregnant when she kills Frankie. She calls her neighbor, Perry, to come and help her and he does. They bury Frankie under a tree, build a bench by the grave and live their lives. Carol is not able to live. She gives birth to her baby, Francine, in a stupor born of exhaustion she wakes up one night, believes her daughter dead, carries it outside and goes back in to be engulfed in flames started by a candle left in her bedroom. When Perry comes again, to rescue her, she is not able to tell him that the baby's body is outside and he is badly burnt trying to find her. Francine was alive, although very ill. Carol ends up giving the baby to the father's adoptive parents and spends some time in a mental hospital. Eventually she comes home and lives as a hermit for most of the rest of her life, riddled with the guilt of Frankie's death. There are so many more details that make this a devastating story. Spoilers abound.

Killing the Girl is a heartbreaking tale. Carol is a very complex character that loved with the whole heart of a sixteen-year-old girl, and because of lies is never able to mature. Perry, her neighbor, has loved her his whole life, but is never able to give himself over to love so it manifests itself in many unhealthy ways. Carol pushes away her family and the few friends she had, deepening her loneliness. It is frightening to see her 40 years later, after living with this burden all these years. She is pushed into mental illness and becomes drug ridden, not out of necessity, but to protect the lies of others. It is an intriguing tale, but one of a person so broken, that it brings on the deaths of people who might not have died, had they not lied. The truth nearly breaks Carol's heart, but frees her in a sense. Kind of a depressing book. Enter Carol's world carefully, it is dangerous there. Recommended with caution.

I received a free ARC of Killing the Girls from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #killingthegirl

With many thanks to Elizabeth Hill, BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for the ARC of Killing The Girl.

This is a very entertaining story, thrilling, highly captivating. The character of Carol, the protagonist is superbly developed, this is writing of skill and craft. Set in England across two periods in Carol’s life, her coming of age years when she meets Frankie who treats her badly, then later when her land is to be compulsorily acquired.

I am sleep deprived from not being able to put it down. With an excellent ending, I highly recommend. I look forward to Elizabeth’s future writing.

This was a hard book to get through! At first I thought it was a YA novel because the first half of the book was about Carol’s teenage years. The second half gets a little better in the adult years. It is a well written book but I just found it boring, long winded and wanted to just get to the end, which was a surprise. Maybe if it was a little shorter I would have enjoyed it more. Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the eARC.
Carol Cage has written a diary to explain why and what she did 40 years ago. Her home is to be demolished to make room for a new road and she's afraid her secret will be uncovered. The diary starts from the time she was 15 when she meets the love of her life, and life becomes a twisty, romantic and desperate muddle, culminating in her self-imposed exile to her inherited home.
I found her a difficult woman to empathize with, she has such a warped sense of reality and has turned from a feisty teen into a woman suffering from what I think is a mental breakdown, all in the name of love.
But despite this I loved the book, it was hard to put down and is definitely recommended!

This book is slow to start, but once it gets started, it is thoroughly gripping. In the beginning, there are lots and lots of descriptions which may seem overdone but after the halfway point in the story, this information becomes significant. The story that’s told is very emotional and mysterious because we learn throughout the story that Carol has a very twisted version of her own reality. She made plenty of bad decisions because of this and dealt with the fall out on her, leading her deeper into the center of her own delusional mind.

I loved this book! The author wrote a story where you think that you know what happened and then surprises you at the end! The secret eating away at Carol for over 40 years is finally going to come out when she has to leave her home and this book explores not only that, but the loss of innocence when a young girl falls in love with an older playboy. I enjoyed this one!