difficulty reading this book, the story became convoluted and boring, seemed too made up and unreal. not enough substance and story line was not that interesting to me, struggled to continue the read ( )

Dove Jarrod has a gift, enabling her to heal people. Or so the story is - and that her family has perpetuated to keep donations to the foundation flowing. But, her granddaughter, Eve, doesn’t believe it, or believe that she also has a gift. When someone attacks Eve, and threatens to expose a terrible secret about her grandmother unless Eve gives him a valuable coin, Eve struggles to protect her grandmother’s legacy.
Told in alternating timelines, from the 1930s to present day, this is an interesting story with a mystery and the sinister dealings of false evangelists using religion for personal gain. ( )

Moving Southern gothic tale that takes your to the edge of your seat and keeps you turning page after page. We are pulled into the mystery, lies and drama as we move from 1934 to the present with Dove Jarrod, a renowned evangelist and faith healer and her granddaughter Eve.
Only Eve, knows that Dove was a con artist. Since Dove's death, Eve has maintained Dove’s charitable foundation—and her lies. But just as a documentary team wraps up a shoot about the miracle worker, Eve is assaulted by a vengeful stranger intent on exposing what could be Dove’s darkest secret: murder…
Tuscaloosa, 1934: a wily young orphan escapes the psychiatric hospital where she was born. When she joins the itinerant inspirational duo the Hawthorn Sisters, the road ahead is one of stirring new possibilities. And with an obsessive predator on her trail, one of untold dangers. For a young girl to survive, desperate choices must be made.
As Eve, searches for answers to her Grandmother's past, she must deal with the realization that sometimes the truth does not set you fee. ( )

Another great story by Emily Carpenter. I requested this book because of the write-up and I’ve enjoyed other books by this author. The cover was also beautiful..I love a great cover! I Seem to have a tendency for picking books that are a follow-up and I haven’t read the first book. Oy! But, this book is so well written that I had no clue what I might have missed. Ms. Carpenter did a great job of making sure nothing was missed. I can’t wait to read Burying the Honeysuckle Girls.

This Southern Gothic book flows seamlessly from the 1930s to present day setting forth a mystery of a faith healing Grandmother and her estranged Granddaughter who is helping to run the family foundation, her grandmother’s legacy. Poignant storyline that builds throughout. Characters are well written, so nice to see them grow throughout the book.

Thanks to Ms. Carpenter, Lake Union Publishing (one of my favorites) and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone! ( )

Much thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the dARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An Alabama insane asylum is the ultimate Southern gothic setting, and Emily Campbell fulfills its promise artfully in “Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters.” Twisted villains and odd religion make this novel highly Flannery O’Connoresque, with hints of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Dove Jerrod is dead, and her family is returning to her place of birth, the monstrous Pritchard Psychiatric Hospital, which is the HQ of the Jerrod Foundation. Dove and her husband Charles were celebrity faith healers. Her granddaughter, Eve Candler, runs the foundation but would like very much to do something else. Eve’s grandmother was a fraud by her own admission, and her legacy is a burden.

The novel gets off to a bit of a slow start but grabbed my interest when Dove’s storyline appeared, and after that, I was hooked. The novel is written in seamless parallel timelines, equally enthralling, that recount the story of Eve in the present and Dove (whose real name was Ruth) in the past. Both are stalked by evil men. Eve’s stalker is threatening to pin a murder on Dove, torpedo the family name, and discredit the Foundation, unless Eve gives him a treasure that Dove is rumored to have stolen. Eve enlists the help of Griffin, a very foxy director who is making a documentary about the Jerrod Foundation, but Griffin may be more of a hindrance than a help in finding the allegedly stolen goods.

Eve thought she knew Dove’s history, but it turns out that her grandmother has significant gaps in her past. Dove’s real name, for example, was Ruth. Was Ruth a member of that dynamic tent revival duo, the Hawthorn Sisters, who took the South by storm? Dove left out that interesting detail and many others. Eve's discoveries and Dove's backstory act like a "call and response" revival song style, one following the other in a rhythm that keeps the reader's interest.

The ending is spot on, as Eve discovers that she has more to do to fulfill her grandmother's legacy than to loyally work at a job she hates while keeping a tight lid on family secrets. Recommended for anyone who loves a good dose of creepy with their fictional deep South. ( )