The Last of the Moon Girls

Product Information

Soline Russel belongs to a family from Paris that specializes in ensuring happy endings for others. Their hand-stitched bridal gowns are known to bind the couple together forever. But the blessing is also a curse. No one in the family has had a happy ending of their own. Soline tries to challenge the curse only to realize she can’t.

Years later, in Boston, Rory (Aurora) is trying to find hope and stay positive. Her fiancé has been abducted in another country, and there’s no news of him. The strained relationship with her mother offers no solace. Until, by chance, Rory spots an old shop damaged by a fire accident.Unlike my usual experience, both the contemporary and the historical timelines appealed to me equally. Also, the two storylines begin independently but merge pretty well. Lizzy has to face the tragic past, two young girls Heather and Darcy Gilman were murdered eight years ago, her beloved grandmother was one of the suspects and ever since the people of Salem Creek have shunned the Moon’s. Elzibeth knows her sweet, kind and loving grandmother didn’t kill the girls, the investigation has gone cold, Lizzy wants to find the killer and clear her family’s name.

We are treated to her beautiful pull-you-in story telling skills and storyline, a strong female character, a mystery, family ties, and love. While I am not a "clothes person", I enjoyed the descriptions of the beautiful embroidery and other handiwork that went into the Roussel wedding gowns. The element of magic added even more spice to the story. How I wish there were more of the magical bits!Little bits were left unsaid....we didn't know what happened to the Kennedy gown nor THE dress that Soline carried across continents...this left me a bit flat, especially that last, since it featured heavily. I'd like to think Rory could maybe utilise it one day..... The Last of the Moon Girls is an enchanting tale of letting go and finding forgiveness. A five-star must read." --Bette Lee Crosby, bestselling author of Emily, Gone

Rory (Aurora) Grant is leasing and renovating a building that had been in a fire, as she knows it will be perfect for her art gallery. While cleaning up she comes upon a box with letters, memorabilia and a vintage wedding gown inside. She figures she will return it to the owner of the building Soline Roussel. So when I saw that Barbara Claypole White offered praise for this novel and is the author of Echoes of Family, I immediately put that book on my TBR list. I last read a book by this author 2 years ago, again with the Kindle First offer. I really enjoyed it but marked it down to 4* for some silly mistakes, only to find those same mistakes still feature in this one as well !! It is baffling that nobody spots them, let alone corrects them !The majority of the book is introspection by the main character - Lizzy - and these are painfully repetitive. The same ideas are discussed over and over again in the style of someone who is trying desperately hard to sound poetic. At first I enjoyed this, but the further I got into the book the more it felt that these pieces were just recycled from earlier parts. There is also no change in views, no matter what happens in the story, her views barely change. She seems to even fall in love but still repeats the exact same reasons for leaving the farm. For some people family legacy and history can be something they want no part of. This is the case for Lizzy Moon, or her proper name, Elzibeth Moon,"She couldn't even have a normal name", the last in the line of gifted healers she's descended from. Nine generations have come before her and now it all comes down to Lizzy. She's inherited the Moon Girl Farm from her grandmother, Althea, after she passes away. Lizzy has been gone from the farm for eight years making her own future away from the finger pointing, humiliation and mostly the rejection of her own mother, Rhanna. Now she's faced with returning to her childhood memories and saying goodbye once and for all. Her grandmother has left her a library of nine journals, "Books of Remembrances", all written by her ancestors with one story still to be told. Hers. All this changes in the blink of an eye when Soline loses everything she holds dear due to World War ll.