Book Review: The Last of the Moon Girls

The Last of the Moon Girls by Barbara Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nine generations of Moon women have lived and worked on Moon Girl Farm in the small town of Salem Creek, New Hampshire. Lizzy Moon grew up on the farm, and now has a promising career in New York City. But Lizzy’s grandmother, Althea Moon has passed on, and no one knows where Lizzy’s free-spirited mom is these days. And so the legacy of Moon Girl Farm is now hers.

She returns to the farm, intending to sell the property as quickly as possible and get back to her life in New York. But she finds the farm in terrible condition, and soon realizes that selling the property is going to be a lot more complicated than she expected – especially with the shadow of an unsolved double murder case still lingering over the land and tarnishing her grandmother’s reputation.

But there’s more to the story than a cold case and a real estate sale. Lizzie must also come to terms with her passion for perfume making, somehow reconcile with her irresponsible free spirited mother, figure out how she feels about a childhood friend who’s grown up to be an annoying, yet interesting man, and come to terms with who she is and what her life is really meant to be.

It’s the attention to the little details of daily life that turned this book into a cozy retreat for me. It’s easy to feel as if you’re sitting in the kitchen sharing coffee with Lizzy as she tries to figure out where her life is going. And when she opens a Book of Remembrances left to her by her grandmother, you’ll be looking over her shoulder as she reads surprisingly timely advice.

The story is what I call a ‘slow burn’. Let the plot unfold in its own time. Layer after layer, the story will be told, and in the end, I think you’ll be satisfied.

You might also be left craving an herb-infused bath and lavender sugar scrub. As a bonus, at the end of the book, the author shares her recipes for both!

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