Gripping enough to tempt me to want to read the whole book.

Three stars as difficult to judge a sample. I will review properly when I've read the rest..

Thank you to NegGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this sample in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for this early sampler read
Although I don't normally like books about child abuse this sampler had me gripped from the beginning & I look forward to reading the full book to see how Lex & Ethan get on.

The story follows siblings who were abused by their parents and are now adults. Unlike other books where individual chapters swap between time periods you have both time periods in one chapter in this book. I personally found this hard to follow at times but the story still captured me. I would buy the book to continue reading the story.

This was a special book
It had all things inside
We had our photograph on the Moor Woods road
I arrived to the prison to see that my Mother died
I am Alexandra
I was glad my mum had died
I got an ARC

Thankyou to Netgalley and the publisher for a sample of this book.
Basically, I am hooked. From the few chapters I was given I am so invested in the story and will definitely be buying it on publication day.

I have only read the sampler, but so far, so good! I have been desperate to get my hands on this book as the initial premise really intrigued me. Children escaping their parents house of horrors and how they each go on to shape their lives and handle the trauma in their own way. The narrative tells the story of before and immediately after the escape, and when the children are adults, once their mother has died in prison, leaving them the house where the abuse happened.
The plot is really intriguing as it has several similarities to real life cases. I can't wait to read the full book!

I only read the sampler so I can't comment on the whole book but I found the initial set up intriguing, six siblings who have survived their parents house of horrors are being forced to confront their past due to their mother's death and her will. I was fascinated by how differently all the siblings had tried to cope with their experiences and the psychological impact it had had on all of them and I would love to finish reading to see how the author explores this further.

Now this is just a sampler; I would never read a couple of chapters to judge if a book is worth reading. Books can run out of pace or pick up half way through being insight and relief you’d persevered.
But books with lots of spin and ticker tape interest me. Usually, they disappoint and I sometimes feel the wide appeal means they lose something I look for in a good read.
NetGalley sometimes allows these tasters, just a snippet but mostly leaving you demanding more.

Girl A was brilliant in the first chapter. I thought the character of Lex was believable as an adult and as a child. Ethan clearly has more issues or perhaps more obvious ones. This second part of this sample, Chapter 2 seemed more disjointed and unclear regarding where the narrative was heading.

The truth is the hype is just that. A book is a moment in time that often resonates with a reader in the process of being read. It can be a very lonely experience and is usually confined to just one person. A review again is just one person’s take on a book.

Without doubt Girl A will be a huge success. It approaches child abuse in a fresh and revealing way. You cannot survive such an upbringing unscathed and it will be interesting to see how each sibling manages the trauma and lives with the scares.

The reason I would recommend this book on the brief passages read is that I believe the author has something fresh to say and through this story inform. At times it may be a difficult read but I sense it will engage the reader in both emotion and thought.

This sampler is intriguing and I would like to read more. It is undoubtedly a dark story and has echoes of the real-life Fred and Rosemary West and their horrific abuse of the children in their care.

Girl A is Lexie Gracie who managed to escape from the house of horrors only to return after her mother's death in prison. She and her siblings have still to overcome their childhood trauma. It will be interesting to see if and how they achieve it.

This is a little tease, gripping from the start.

Gripping from the start Lex Gracie does not want to go back to the family home the house of horrors.
Her mother has now passed away and they are left the family home.

Can they ever forget the past?

I really enjoyed this sampler and cannot wait to read the full book when published in January

3 stars as just a sample

Enjoyed the sample but would love to read the full book so I can give a full review and therefore be able to recommend it for the library and the book clubs we run.

I’d be very keen in reading this story further, the premise really interests me and I would love to read the book fully since I was disappointed the sample came to an end. Addictive reading and I imagine will be emotional, hard to read at times but wholly worth it!

I enjoyed the sample. A literary story in the vein of My Dark Vanessa or The Keeper, with strong parallels to real-life captivity cases. I would like to read on.

This was a difficult read in terms of content, but the structure and writing also didn't suit me.

I appreciated the horrors of the childhood against the successes of adulthood. The differences between the siblings lives was also an area that interested me. As a psychology graduate that was much to think about in terms of child development, an when outside intervention occurred and what result this had on later life. I also enjoyed the relationship between the siblings, and thought it was realistic that it wasn't all roses.

The flashbacks though seemed to just appear, and were difficult for me to follow. Perhaps it was the proof I read, but the lack of a new chapter or subchapter made it really hard to decipher what was past and what was present. I ultimately therefore just ended up confused, despite finding the content interesting.

Intensely gripping from the start!

I reviewed an early sample through Netgalley.

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Lex Gracie doesn’t want to think about her family. She doesn’t want to think about growing up in her parents’ House of Horrors. And she doesn’t want to think about her identity as Girl A: the girl who escaped. When her mother dies in prison and leaves Lex and her siblings the family home, she can’t run from her past any longer.

Lex (girl A) has received news that her mother has passed away in prison which causes her to revisit the horrific trauma she and her siblings suffered at the hands of their parents when they were children. It is clear that they have not overcome the atrocities that they endured and are limping through adult life carrying this albatross with them.

The story is highly emotive and quite dark. I found this a difficult read, I was not entirely gripped and some parts of the story that were eluded to could have been made a bit more obvious in my opinion.

Girl A is the story of Lex Gracie, one of the Gracie children who is having to relive her childhood as Girl A: the girl who escaped following the death of her mother in prison.

I really enjoyed the sampler of this book on NetGalley and can't wait to get my hands on the whole thing.

The prose is taut and the storytelling clear and compelling. Just in this first section of the book I have been introduced to some complex and well-drawn characters and I'm so keen to read-on to see how the plot and the history of the Gracie family unfolds.

Well, this was a great sampler! I really didn’t want to stop reading but when I got to the end I was disappointed there wasn’t more.

Once this is in NetGalley I’d love to read the full version,

I found this an intriguing taster of this book and would definitely like to read more. It seems to have echoes of the Fred and Rosemary West family situation, and examines it from the children's point of view. I have never read anything like it before and found it a fascinating read, I look forward to the full novel in due course.

Absolutely intrigued by the sample and want to know more!
I definitely want to read the rest of the book as I truly enjoyed the gripping plot in the first pages and I am very curious to see how it will develop.