Thanks to NetGalley for my copy of this great debut novel! We journey with Althea who is desperately trying to outrun/uncover a multi-generational secret that will gravely affect her.
I loved the chapters from Jinn (great-grandmother.) I wanted to crawl inside that book and slap a few men upside the head. Grrrrr!
It is a wonderful story of our our family history can greatly affect our life and our future. ( )

Burying the Honeysuckle Girls is a great, although tragic tale about four generations of women that are said to always get schizophrenic by the age of 30. Althea Bell is turning 30 in a couple of days and she is worried that it's her turn to become ill. She and a childhood friend set out to find out the truth about her mother, her grandmother, and great-grandmother. Women that she doesn't know much about. But, there are those that want to stop her search no matter the cost.

I was instantly intrigued by the story. I found Althea a fascinating character and the mystery surrounding her family was tantalizing. It's a book that made me both sad and angry at the men that have in generations suppressed women, even in modern time as Althea's story will show. It's an engrossing tale, we both get to follow Althea as she learns about her family's past and her great grandmother Jinn whose independence, or wish for independence is thwarted constantly by her family.

I couldn't stop reading the last part of the book, despite how late it was and that I had to work the next day. It was so fascinating to read and part of me was sad when I turned the page because I really, really came to enjoy reading about Althea, Trix, Collie, and Jinn.

It's a fantastic book! I recommend it warmly!

4.5 stars!

I want to thank Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! ( )

BtHG, a fast-moving mystery set in the deep South, tells the story of 29-year-old Althea Bell who comes from a family lineage full of rumors of past murders and madnesses [sic]. A recovering drug addict, Althea is terrified of her upcoming 30th birthday because her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all disappeared on their own 30th birthdays never to be heard from again. Althea gives us a first-person account of her growing sense of ancestral doom as she graduates from drug rehab and finds her emerging clarity to be a mixed blessing. With lucidity comes the knowledge that she has enemies who want to destroy her. Can she find the will to fight against her fate, or will she become her own worst enemy and give in to the beckoning oblivion of "self-medication" and self-destruction?

I do not usually give a star rating to books in genres in which I am not generally well-read or in which I tend to meta-read rather than to read for plot alone. As such, I found the subtextual intersection of religion and Southern mysticism as depicted in the book fascinating, and for some reason found myself singing McLean's "American Pie." A linguistic root of Althea is theo (God), and Jay Cheramie brings to this mind the Southern hymn "What a [Dear] Friend We Have in Jesus." Also, the Holy Spirit is represented by a certain bird which I shall leave the reader to discover within the pages of this interesting book. This is not to say the book was in any way a religious book; I did not think it so. But, still, who is left standing together (or dying together) at the end? Does the mystery turn out to be a tragedy or a revival? Or both or neither?

I’m glad I read her follow up book before this one, otherwise I doubt I would have. Here again we have a fallible woman in the protagonist role, but unfortunately for this book, Althea is so unsympathetic that it’s hard to keep going with her. She’s a thoroughly screwed up, self-involved, violent person who brings on a lot of her own suffering. I mean, why go back to her childhood home at all? Oh yeah, if she didn’t there would be no book. A family history of psychosis and delusions sure added up to Althea and her brother, Wynn. The inevitable show-down between them, and Althea’s further victimization just made me skim. This is after the amazing good luck leap of finding Rowe and his connection to Aunt Val and Uncle Walter. That was really too much. Oy. I’m glad she improved a lot with her second novel. ( )

Burying the Honeysuckle Girls by Emily Carpenter is a 2016 Lake Union publication.

Wow, I got more than I bargained for with this novel!

The southern backdrop is perfect for this atmospheric tale of family secrets and retribution.

Althea has no idea what is in store for her when she returns home after a stint in rehab. Her brother is running or office and her power -hungry sister-in-law will stop at nothing to see Althea does nothing to mess that up. But the most disturbing thing for Althea is seeing her Alzheimer’s ridden father in such a bad place and his horrible reaction to seeing her again.

But, she really gets a shock when she discovers that her upcoming thirtieth birthday is a milestone in more ways than one and she could be about to inherit a terrible legacy that has been passed down from generation to generation on her mother’s side.

In order to break that chain and discover the truth about what really happened to her mother and grandmother, Althea must stay one step ahead of her own family.

This is an incredible debut novel that held my attention from start to finish. The story flips back and forth between the present and the past, telling the troubling story of Althea’s grandmother back in the 1930’s alongside Althea’s present day struggles.

There is a definite race against time in both threads and a real heart pounding sense of dread, mingled with the mystery and drama.

The story is both sad and utterly horrifying. The author does a terrific job of defining the characters, of creating a dark, emotionally taut force, and adding just a tiny pinch of Southern Gothic to top it off.

Overall, this book was a major surprise for me. I’m so glad I took a took a chance on this one in the Kindle store!!

4 stars ( )