Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists!!Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books, has a permanent home now at Mailbox Monday. Here’s a shout out to the administrators: Emma @ Words And peaceSerena @ Savvy Verse And Wit Martha @ Reviews By Martha’s Bookshelf
THANKS to everyone for keeping Mailbox Monday alive.
1: THE QUIET TENANT by Clemence Michallon Courtesy of the Publisher via NetGalley
ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED NOVELS OF 2023 • “A bravura feat of storytelling…daring and completely satisfying.” —James Patterson, #1 best-selling author
A PULSE-POUNDING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER ABOUT A SERIAL KILLER NARRATED BY THOSE CLOSEST TO HIM: HIS 13-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, HIS GIRLFRIEND—AND THE ONE VICTIM HE HAS SPARED
2: BETWEEN TWO STRANGERS by Kate White Courtesy of the Publisher via NetGalley
A woman receives a bewildering inheritance that may have something to do with her past in this twisty and addictive psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author Entertainment Weekly calls “impossible to outwit.”
3: LILITH by Nikki Marmery Courtesy of the Publisher via NetGalley
A triumphantly feminist retelling of the Hebrew creation myth in the tradition of Madeline Miller and Claire North.
Lyrically rendered, this epic U.S. debut tells the story of the woman known as Adam’s first wife and her fall from Paradise and quest for revenge.
Before Eve, there was Lilith.
I’m really looking forward to reading this book. It sounds like a fun read…..
4: LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON by Liv Anderson Courtesy of Publisher via NetGalley Perfect for fans of Wendy Walker and Samantha Downing, in this thrilling domestic suspense novel, a woman fights to hide her secrets as her life’s idyllic façade begins to fall apart.
1: WEYWARD by Emilia Hart Gift to self
NSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“A brave and original debut, Weyward is a spellbinding story about what may transpire when the natural world collides with a legacy of witchcraft.” ––Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary
I read the first book in the Lost Daughters series and absolutely loved it. It left be breathless. This one is just as good. Another one that will make you cry for the characters. Cry for the women and the babies. The family. The connections that are found. This series is about finding families. Finding mothers who had to give up their babies for various reasons. This one was so tragic. But it was also so beautiful. I loved every single minute of this book.
You meet a young couple in this story who meet and fall deeply in love. A young woman who is adored by all of Havana. Who makes heads turn when she enters a room. Esmeralda Diaz is the oldest daughter of the sugar king of Cuba. He takes her to London where he has a business meeting with a young man that will make him even richer than ever. Make both of them much money. What he doesn’t know is his much adored daughter will fall madly in love with this young man who’s name is Christopher Dutton.
When Christopher meets Esmeralda his life changes in ways I’m sure he never expected. He spends as much time with her as possible considering he would never be able to marry her. Her father would never accept him as he is not Cuban. She’s to marry a good Cuban boy. But Christopher falls for Esmeralda and even travels to Cuba to seal the deal with her father just so he can see her again. They sneak off one night and spend it together. When he returns home to London both are very unhappy. But Christopher writes to Esmeralda. Her father finds out and locks her in her room.
You meet Claudia. Claudia finds out that her grandmother was adopted and never knew it. Her grandmother had died and Claudia missed her awful bad. She has a tiny box that contains a business card and a drawing of a family crest. Her dad helps her find out as much as possible about both. Seems the drawing is of the Diaz family crest so Claudia goes to Cuba to find out what she can. She meets the dashingly handsome Mateo and they fall madly in love. Mateo helps her find as much information about the Diaz family as possible.
Mateo is a hard working young man and dedicated to his family and to Cuba. He helps Claudia find out what he can. His mother finds an address for one of Esmeralda’s sisters in the United States so Claudia goes there and finds out so much. She meets family that she never would have known about. You learn so much about the Diaz family and Esmeralda.
I loved most of the characters in this book. Most were so good and so caring. I didn’t however like Esmeralda’s father in the least. He was ok at first but then he turned on her so quickly. He was a very cruel and controlling man. I also didn’t much care for Christopher. To me he should have come and fought for Esmeralda. Not just sent a few letters. No, he should have fought. I absolutely adored Mateo. He just seemed perfect. He and Claudia were meant to be together. No doubt about that.
This is a very heartfelt book. It will make you shed a lot of tears. When I read the end and how Hope felt I had to take a break. I couldn’t stop weeping. That was just sad. I love Hope. She has the perfect name. She helps young ladies who are left with pregnancy. Left pretty much alone and ostracized by society because they are pregnant. Good grief. Get over it. Anyway she is their last “HOPE.” I love her so much.
Thank you #NetGalley, #SorayaLane, #Bookouture, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
Five huge stars. I can’t wait for the next book in this series. Have tissues handy when you read this. You’ll need them.
SYNOPSIS:
The Cuban Daughter: A totally unforgettable and heartbreaking page-turner full of family secrets (The Lost Daughters Book 2)
Cuba, 1950: As Esmeralda moved past Christopher, her breath stilled as he caught her finger in his. It was only a split-second, their fingers intertwined in a hold so brief that no one could have possibly noticed, but it told her everything she needed to know. He didn’t just come to see Cuba. He travelled all this way to see me.
London, present day. When Claudia discovers that her grandmother was born at Hope’s House, a home for unmarried mothers, everything she thought she knew about her family is shattered in an instant. Looking down at a faded family crest, she is determined to discover how it can possibly relate to her grandmother. Soon Claudia learns that the crest belongs to the Diaz family, once one of the wealthiest dynasties in Cuba. Impulsively Claudia books a ticket to Havana, feeling sure in her heart that she will be able to uncover her family’s true story.
Arriving in the bustling and vibrant city she meets a young man named Mateo, a chef who loves nothing more than to cook his family’s recipes. As they get to know each other over dinner, Mateo says that his grandfather worked for the Diaz family and he too wants to uncover what happened.
But when they arrive at the Diaz family home, they find it completely abandoned as if preserved in time from the 1950s. It’s not long before they uncover a heartbreaking story about Claudia’s family and of a young woman who was forced to leave behind everything she’d ever known in search of true love.
As Claudia becomes closer to Mateo, will her family’s story of bravery and sacrifice inspire her to follow her own heart to Cuba? Or will the tragic love story force her home?
An utterly gripping and heart-wrenching novel about family secrets, lost loves and new beginnings. Perfect for fans of Santa Montefiore, Lucinda Riley and Victoria Hislop.
This was a real page turner of a thriller. From the very beginning it grabs you and pulls you into the story of a young woman who was conceived in the most horrible way. From a life that is not filled with any kind of love. But from a fear. A fear that she will be just like “him.”
Violet is a detective with a group who goes all over the place to solve the strangest of cases. A lot of them are serial killer/religion based crimes. She’s working hard to prove that she is a good person despite everything she’s been taught. Her life was not a good one and she was constantly reminded of her background. Where she came from. Who her father was. That she was just like him or would be. Can she prove that to be false? Can she make herself believe that she deserves to be loved. That she is not a monster.
John is working on the Blind Eye Murders with Violet and the whole team. They are called to the hills of Kentucky. To the Night Hollows(hollers) after three young women are found in a cave brutally murdered with their eyes removed. John is convinced that his wife was killed by the same murderer. He also is very attracted to Violet.
There are many secrets in the Hollows. They take care of their own. At least that is what they say. I think some do and then you have the ones that are only out for themselves. The cold hearted ones. Those you better look out for. They will hurt you. They will stop you at all costs. They are the “religious” ones. While I don’t believe in all the religion aspects of this book it did make it way more interesting when trying to figure out who did it. Who the killer was. I was way off. I really thought I had it all figured out but I was so wrong. I was shocked when I finally read who it was and what he had done and why.
There are quite a few twists and turns in this book and quite a lot going on. Drug runners. Prostitution. Murder. Serial killing. Rape(though not explicit). Even a love story in the making if you will. John and Violet. I rooted for him to break her icy exterior. Melt her heart. Help her see that she was so worthy of love.
Thank you #NetGalley, #JessicaRPatch, #Harlequin, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
Five huge edge of your seat stars.
Synopsis
Deep in the Kentucky hills, three women have been found brutalized and murdered. But the folks in Night Holler have their own ways and their own laws. And they’re not talking…
Led to an isolated Appalachian Mountain town by a trail of disturbing murders, FBI special agent Violet Rainwater’s determined to catch a serial killer with a twisted agenda. With locals refusing to reveal their secrets, Violet’s only ally is Detective John Orlando. But even John has an ulterior motive—he’s convinced this case is connected to his wife’s murder.
As they dig deeper, Violet uncovers a link to her own unresolved past. For years she’s worked the cold case of her mother’s abduction, which had led to her birth. The need to look into the eyes of the sinful man who fathered her consumes Violet. Until she can, she’ll never have peace. Because she’s terrified she might be exactly like him.
In this chilling novel, when the present collides with Violet’s mysterious past and John’s tragic loss, they must unravel the warped, sinuous connections before the killer strikes again. But solving the case might not be nearly as terrifying as the possibility that Violet’s finally found her roots…
This book is a heartbreaking account of what happened during WW2 when people sent their children to other countries to keep them safe. This is a fictional account of something that actually happened in 1940. In September of 1940.
Told from two women’s lives. Lily Nicholls and Alice King.
Lily has two young children. Georgina who is ten and Arthur who is six and a half. They are the light of Lily’s eye. She loves her children more than life. When things get bad and England is getting bombed she makes the hardest decision ever. She is going to send her two children to a safer place. She wants nothing but to keep them safe from the things that are happening all around her. She’s already lost her husband and can’t fathom losing her children. Just keep them safe. That’s all she wants. That’s all anyone wanted that sent their children to safety at this time.
Alice is a woman who wants to do something different with her life. She’s a little older and has never been married. She was very close to her father and is very close to her sister and brother. She applies to be an escort for the children who will be evacuated. Her life is about to change is many ways. More than she ever expected.
This book takes you through so much. So much anguish and heartbreak. So much loss. It’s all about one lifeboat that carries what remains of the last passengers from the Carlisle, the ship carrying children to safety. Everyone has had to get off this ship after it was torpedoed. There are twelve lifeboats and Alice is on THE LAST LIFEBOAT!! There are five boys and one girl that she will be responsible for. Also there are several men. A lot of people didn’t make it. A lot were on other lifeboats. This story is about The Last Lifeboat and what all they endured. The quick thinking. The horrors. The eight days they are at sea. Totally alone.
This book is so beautifully written. So full of deep emotion. It made me weep. I do mean weep. I did laugh a few times at the antics of some of the children but for the most part it was very sad. In a historic way sad. Hazel Gaynor has written a wonderful story here based on actual facts. Actual events. I fell in love with some of these children. Especially Arthur and Billy. Billy is one that I rooted for. He was just a little child full of wonder. Arthur was a great child also. He was so very brave.
Do not forget to read the HISTORICAL NOTE at the end. There is a lot of info that is vital to this story there. There is no doubt that this author did a lot of good research. It’s so sad that this ever happened.
Thank you #NetGalley, #HazelGaynor, #Berkley for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
Five huge stars. Don’t let this one pass you by. Grab it and several boxes of tissue.
Synopsis
Inspired by a remarkable true story, a young teacher evacuates children to safety across perilous waters, in a moving and triumphant new novel from New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor.
1940, Kent: Alice King is not brave or daring—she’s happiest finding adventure through the safe pages of books. But times of war demand courage, and as the threat of German invasion looms, a plane crash near her home awakens a strength in Alice she’d long forgotten. Determined to do her part, she finds a role perfectly suited to her experience as a schoolteacher—to help evacuate Britain’s children overseas.
1940, London: Lily Nichols once dreamed of using her mathematical talents for more than tabulating the cost of groceries, but life, and love, charted her a different course. With two lively children and a loving husband, Lily’s humble home is her world, until war tears everything asunder. With her husband gone and bombs raining down, Lily is faced with an impossible choice: keep her son and daughter close, knowing she may not be able to protect them, or enroll them in a risky evacuation scheme, where safety awaits so very far away.
When a Nazi U-boat torpedoes the S. S. Carlisle carrying a ship of children to Canada, a single lifeboat is left adrift in the storm-tossed Atlantic. Alice and Lily, strangers to each other—one on land, the other at sea—will quickly become one another’s very best hope as their lives are fatefully entwined.
I read this author’s book Unmissing and loved it. I could not wait to get into this one and boy is it a good one. Another book to keep you turning the pages. This was a quick read too as I devoured it.
Celia tells her story in past and present. Her life is very sad for the first eighteen years. Her parents are into a very strict religious organization. I would call it nothing short of a cult. If you don’t tow the line you get severely punished. I mean severely. Bad things happen to children that can’t be controlled. Celia is determined to get away from this horrible life. After what happened to her you won’t blame her either. After some of the things she experiences you will root for her to get away.
Genevieve tells her story past and present also. Her’s is not as bad as her older sisters. She doesn’t experience the abuse her sister did. She just learned to fade into the distance. To be somewhat invisible. She did what she was told without any questions.
Then there is Celeste. She’s the baby of the family. The one I had so many questions about. I thought one thing about her and Celia but I was wrong. It was much worse. So much worse.
After Celia’s fortieth birthday party she gets a note that disturbs her greatly. She drives away to clear her head and runs into trouble she wasn’t expecting. Everyone is looking for her and no one seems to know what happened to her. Could she have run… again. Be gone… again.
This book will keep you turning the pages until the very ending. You will be guessing at who did what and why but I don’t believe you will get it. I sure didn’t and I usually do. I didn’t like Genevieve at first. I thought she was a bit petty. But she did grow on me and I understand now why she felt the way she did. She had no idea why Celia truly ran. Their parents were awful but their dad was the devil. Some things she will find out make it clear. Everyone was affected by the actions he took.
Can these three sisters ever become close. Can they bury the past and move on. Will their be any justice for what some did. This book does not leave you hanging. You’ll find out everything and more.
Thank you #NetGalley, #MinkaKent, #Thomas&Mercer, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
Five big stars and I highly recommend it. It’s really very good.
Synopsis
In this novel of escalating fear and suspense by Washington Post and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Minka Kent, a secret from a woman’s past unearths a lifetime of lies. How long can she run from the past?
On her fortieth birthday, Celia Guest has reason to celebrate. She has a loving marriage, a beautiful Connecticut home, and treasured friends. Celia has everything she’s ever wanted. But among the cards and well-wishes, she discovers a disturbing note: You don’t deserve any of this.
Who could be so cruel, so resentful, so…knowing? Then, in the early morning hours, Celia vanishes without a trace.
As suspicions and concerns rise among Celia’s friends, her sister Genevieve, with whom she shares a fractured and troubling bond, starts to piece together a shattered life that Celia fled from once before. As a foundation of lies begins to crumble, a terrifying childhood secret Celia thought was dead and buried comes to light.
Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists!!Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books, has a permanent home now at Mailbox Monday. Here’s a shout out to the administrators: Emma @ Words And peaceSerena @ Savvy Verse And Wit Martha @ Reviews By Martha’s Bookshelf
THANKS to everyone for keeping Mailbox Monday alive.
THE HOUSE BEYOND THE DUNES by Mary Burton Courtesy of the Publisher via NetGalley
BENEATH THE SURFACE by Kaira Rouda Courtesy of the Publisher via NetGalley
THE NEW MOTHER by Nora Murphy
Courtesy of the Publisher via NetGalley
THE MADWOMEN OF PARIS by Jennifer Cody Epstein Courtesy of the Publisher via NetGalley
Each book in this series is better than the last. That is saying a lot as each is great.
They are about a family. A family with lots of drama and some secrets. Some new loves may be developing along the way also. And the dogs. There are some stories about dogs that will take your heart. Both good things and some bad.
Taylor is a cop who works hard. She’s always helping others and putting herself last. She lets a few people walk over her at times but I have a feeling it will all work out in the last book. Everything will. I hope. I sure do hate to see this series end. It’s been my favorite of this author’s books and she’s written some very good ones. This book has a lot going on. Family is at the center of all everything. Taylor’s sisters seem to need her more than even they realize at times. You get to know their mother more in this book.
Cate, the mother of these four girls. She was wrongfully sent to prison many years ago. She was accused of murder by arson. She spent all that time locked up and very lonely. Not having much trust in anything or anyone. A real loner. Taylor found her and helped prove her innocence. Now Cate is trying to make a life with her daughters. She may just find that special someone also. We’ll see. I hope so. She has a love for animals and gets a job at the local humane society. There is a lot of drama there also. Not with the employs but with some of the nuts that come in.
There is a big murder in this book. A dad, son and best friend are killed in cold blood. Taylor and Shane are the leads on this one and won’t stop until someone is caught. It is not one of those where you will figure out who did it. You won’t. But they might. They work well together but I’m still rooting for Taylor and Sam. I want them to get together.
Lucy is happy with the choices she is finally making also. Her son and her are living on a boat and making new friends. I think she’s going to be a great mother. Of course she still needs Taylor’s help and her mom, Cate’s, love and understanding.
You get to know a little more about Jo and her son also. And just a bit about Anna again. I worry about Anna. I don’t think she’s in a good place in her marriage. I’m afraid her husband is going to be a bit controlling and possibly a bit abusive. I hope not. We will see.
This book was a fun read and a serious one that made me laugh out loud in a couple of places. One in particular. The word that one man used… “hippa-thesis.” If you read or read the book you’ll see what I mean. It had me laughing so hard. I could just picture this country, possibly a redneck, man saying that.
This book is great. It has a bit of everything for you. I do hope we find out who hurt Taylor and he gets brought to justice.
Thank you Kay Bratt for this beautiful series and this third book. I am very anxious to read the last one now. Not that I want it to end but it’s that good.
Five big huge stars..
Synopsis
Hart’s Ridge used to be such a quaint, peaceful little town but when Deputy Taylor stumbles upon a triple murder, she won’t stop until she finds the ruthless killer.
Working a murder case is hard enough but when she is also trying to navigate a new relationship, not lose her dog, and also keep her own family straight, Taylor realizes she may have taken on more than she can handle. Something has got to give.
Deputy Taylor Gray is a young woman carrying the world on her shoulders as she does her best to solve mysteries (each inspired by a true crime), as well as fight to piece her fractured family back together. What will it take to convince her to step back and figure out what she needs?
I loved this book. It had so much going on that it took my breath away. The ending I did not see coming at all. Still wondering where the twins came from but it’s not relevant to this story. It was just an all around good edge of your seat story.
Children in the system. Living in a group home for foster children. Teens. At the right age for adults to basically take advantage of them. There was five children who you meet in this story. Each one coming from some type of loss to be left here by the state. Under the care of who I saw as a very uncaring man. His son was a bully and he did nothing to stop him.
The story is told from several different characters. Each explains what is happening to them at the time. Someone is out to kill them and it takes them a bit to understand that it has something to do with the house they lived it.
It starts out with someone being shot. Multiple people shoot this person. You know who is pulling the trigger so no surprise there. Five children who live in this group home. Each pulls the trigger. Sealing them together with this secret forever. Thus the title: WHAT HAVE WE DONE!
You’ll meet Jenna. She’s married to the love of her life. She has two step-children and she once worked for an organization that took out people. She was groomed from the age of fifteen and finally got out. Finally has a good life. Then it all starts to fall apart. Someone is threatening her and her family if she doesn’t do what she is told. She has to take out someone or else!
Donnie is a musician. He is also a bit of a drunk. He never truly got over his life. He’s been drinking since he was a kid. But one night he falls off a cruise ship. One that he was playing in a band on but was fired from said band. Did he jump or was it something more sinister?
Nico is a tv personality. He is in charge of a reality tv show called The Miners. Someone tricks him and leaves him for dead in the pits of the dark mine. He knows there is not much time and he has no cell signal at all. Very little battery life also. What will become of him?
These three will have to work together to find out who wants them dead and why. Could it be linked to what they did twenty-five years ago. Could it be the son of the man they killed?
Ben was on track to be a federal judge when he was murdered. He was one of the children from the group home also. He worked very hard to pull himself up and do what he did with his life. He left behind a wife and child that he loved dearly. He had no secrets from his wife either…. Who killed him and why.
There is also Artemis. Artemis was the quiet one. The inventor. The one that grew up to be very rich. He was also in the group home. You’ll get to know him also.
Then you get the twins. Casey and Haley. Both evil to the core. They love inflicting pain and horrors on people. They seem to get off by tortuous acts. Who are they and where did they come from. What do they have to do with the children, now grown ups, from the group home.
You’ll find out everything. You will cringe from some of the things that happen in this book. You’ll root for the kids to make it. For the grownups to make it. For some to live. I have to admit that I wanted a couple of these characters to be killed. They really do deserve it.
I loved the three initial story tellers. Jenna, Nico and Donnie. They are solid and very likable in their own ways. I don’t think any one of them deserved to go through anything.
This book is very good. It’s edge of your seat good. It’s not what I thought it was going to be after reading a few other reviews. It wasn’t dark. It contained no acrobat actions. Nothing out of the ordinary for a good thriller. Lots of fighting and some bloody parts sure. What did you expect. It’s a Finlay book. A good Finlay book.
Thank you #NetGalley, #AlexFinlay, #StMartin’sPress, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.
4.25 stars. Grab it. It’s that good.
SYNOPSIS
In this “top-notch mystery thriller” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from Alex Finlay, What Have We Done is a tale about the lives we leave behind and the secrets we carry with us forever.
One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2023:• BookPage • BookBub • E! News • Go BookMart • Goodreads • PopSugar • The Every Girl • She Reads • Beyond the Bookends
A stay-at-home mom with a past. A has-been rock star with a habit. A reality TV producer with a debt. Three disparate lives. One deadly secret.
Twenty five years ago, Jenna, Donnie, and Nico were the best of friends, having forged a bond through the abuse and neglect they endured as residents of Savior House, a group home for parentless teens. When the home was shut down—after the disappearance of several kids—the three were split up.
Though the trauma of their childhood has never left them, each went on to live accomplished—if troubled—lives. They haven’t seen one another since they were teens but now are reunited for a single haunting reason: someone is trying to kill them.
To survive, the group will have to revisit the nightmares of their childhoods and confront their shared past—a past that holds the secret to why someone wants them dead.
It’s a reunion none of them asked for . . . or wanted. But it may be the only way to save all their lives.
What Have We Done is both an edge-of-your-seat thriller and a gut-wrenching coming-of-age story. And it cements Alex Finlay as one of the new leading voices in thrillers today.
I’ve read a few emotional books in my time. Some that really kept me weeping all the way through. This is one of them. This is emotional on a whole new level though. I learned a few things while reading this book. A few things that we all should know and prevent from ever happening again.
This is fourteen year old Leah Payne’s story. It’s told with her voice. Her thoughts and her feelings. Her pain. Her losses. Her heart. It will absolutely break your heart. The sad thing is that this happened in this country. Way to many times. I thought other countries were bad trying to create the perfect race. While this is not in so many words about creating the perfect race, according to the people who did this, it actually is. Using Eugenics to keep anyone from having a child. To sterilize women. To sterilize a child. It is beyond cruel. It’s inhumane. No one has the right to decide who is not smart enough to have a child. Who is not good enough. It’s just wrong on so many levels. This book will take you there and many more places.
Leah was living her life with her daddy in North Carolina. Going about her daily life happy and content. While they were basically poor they did have a lot. They had each other. They had a roof over their heads and her daddy had a job. Yes they lived on the Barnas’ property but Leah’s daddy worked for them. She played with their son Jesse. Went to school with him. He was her best friend. Her mother died after she gave birth to her. She bled to death. Her daddy raised her and taught her to be a good child but also let her experience freedom. Be alive and happy. Until the unthinkable happened. Then she had to go live with a foster family. But she didn’t have any idea what she was in store for. Being a “helpmate” instead of a typical foster child. The Griffins were a typical family. They had money and a nice life. Three children and a home. Plenty of food and each other.
Leah goes through so much from Mrs Griffin. The woman is cruel. Evil mean. She puts Leah in what can only be described as a closet out back with room only for a bed and dresser. One tiny window. All Leah is there for is to cook, clean and help with the youngest child. Leah is a hard worker and only wants a family. To be accepted. She also wants to go back home. She puts up with physical and mental abuse from Mrs Griffin. While the other children seem to love her, especially the youngest, Leah is not at all happy. She tries so hard to please this woman. The final straw comes when she over hears Mrs Griffin and another snooty woman taking at the cotillion. She finds out that the woman her her sterilized.
This story takes you on a very emotional ride. Through so many tears. The things this teenage girl goes through is so sad. What makes it worse is it is based on an actual event. This author’s aunt. You will learn about her in the “Author’s Note” at the end. It’s heartbreaking what happened and in some cases it seems still happens. This book is well researched so don’t think it’s not real. That it never happened. It did. It needs to never happen again. No matter what.
Quotes that hit me:
‘ALL I HAD LEFT IN ALL THE WORLD WAS MY QUILT AND THE PICTURE I’D TAKEN FROM THE DRESSER BEFORE WE’D WALKED OUT THE DOOR THAT MORNING.’
‘THE THING ABOUT KIDS. ADULTS ALWAYS TRY TO TELL THEM TO GROW UP, ACT THEIR AGE, THAT THERE’S NO SENSE IN CRYING. BUT KIDS KNOW THAT SOMETIMES THE ONLY THING TO DO IS LET THE TEARS WASH OUT OF YOU. SOMETIMES TEARS ARE THE ONLY WORDS WORTH SHARING.”
Yes, this is a very emotional story. It does have a couple of very sweet parts and a couple of chuckles but overall it’s based on actual events and it’s heartbreaking. It’s horrible. It’s one you need to read.
Publishes March 28th of this year.
Thank you #NetGalley, #MeaganChurch, #SourceBooksLandmark, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this story.
Five huge stars and a very high recommendation. Read it with a new box of Kleenex. You will need them.
SYNOPSIS “Unforgettable, this a powerful debut to savor.” — Kim Michele Richardson, New York Times bestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
A searing book club novel for fans of Where the Crawdad’s Sing and The Girls in the Stilt House following one girl fighting for her family, her body, and her right to create a future all her own
Some folks will do anything to control the wild spirit of a Carolina girl…
For fourteen-year-old Leah Payne, life in her beloved coastal Carolina town is as simple as it is free. Devoted to her lumberjack father and running through the wilds where the forest meets the shore, Leah’s country life is as natural as the Loblolly pines that rise to greet the Southern sky.
When an accident takes her father’s life, Leah is wrenched from her small community and cast into a family of strangers with a terrible secret. Separated from her only home, Leah is kept apart from the family and forced to act as a helpmate for the well-to-do household. When a moment of violence and prejudice thrusts Leah into the center of the state’s shameful darkness, she must fight for her own future against a world that doesn’t always value the wild spirit of a Carolina girl.
Set in 1935 against the very real backdrop of a recently formed state eugenics board, The Last Carolina Girl is a powerful and heart-wrenching story of fierce strength, forgotten history, autonomy, and the places and people we ultimately call home.
Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists!!Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books, has a permanent home now at Mailbox Monday. Here’s a shout out to the administrators: Emma @ Words And peaceSerena @ Savvy Verse And Wit Martha @ Reviews By Martha’s Bookshelf
THANKS to everyone for keeping Mailbox Monday alive.
THE INTERN by Michele Campbell Courtesy of Publisher via NetGalley
A TRAITOR IN WHITEHALL by Julia Kelly Courtesy of Publisher via NetGalley
HAVE YOU SEEN HER by Catherine McKenzie Courtesy of Publisher via NetGalley
THE FORGETTING by Hannah Beckerman Amazon First Reads March
lindasbookreviews.wordpress.com 
