The Moonstone Girls

The Moonstone girls is about two gay siblings in the 1960 trying to overcome the challenges that come with being queer. the representation in this book felt genuine and was done very well. it was a lot darker than I thought it would be, so make you know that before reading this, but I highly recommend you do. The only thing that I thought could be better was the pacing. 60% of this book is Tracy trying to get to Alaska, which isn't terrible but I felt you spend way too long actually getting to the heart of the story. Overall, this book gets 4 stars and I recommend you read.
ARC provided by Netgalley and Publisher exchange for an honest review

The MoonStone Girls is a journey back for Tracy as she looks upon her life. Brooke Skipstone gives us a heartbreaking yet empowering heroine in Tracy. Skipstone kept me engaged throughout Tracy's story and the other characters. It is a rollercoaster of emotion that at the end you don't know if you want to get off because damn what a ride.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

Check out the rest of my review at Phoebe's Randoms. Link in bio.

This book was beautiful and also absolutely brutal. Kind of reminded why I don't read period pieces. Same melancholy awful feeling as the Miseducation of Cameron Post.

I received a copy of an arc through Netgallery

Trigger Warnings: homophobia, insensitive language/jokes, suicide, PTSD

I'm not going to lie, the cover of this drew me in immediately - look at all the pretty colours - but the beauty of this book isn't just on the outside (although I have to appreciate how much it resembles the lesbian pride flag). I at first found it hard to get into, but by the middle I was hooked and devoured the rest of the book quickly.

The main focus of the story was on Tracy as she experiences two years of her late teens and becomes her own person. She is fun to read as she's a bit of a hot head and is definitely controlled by her emotions, but her journey of self determination and bravery is balanced well with this, and by the end of the book you can definitely see how far she's come as a person. The other characters are also good reads, especially those within Tracy's family as well as the people she meets along the way. Skipstone does a fantastic job in exploring the complexity of characters and their individual fears, and ensures all of them feel different from each other.

I also enjoyed the breadth of relationships explored in this book, and how they can be formed, broken and ultimately healed over time and circumstances. Whilst at times, a little too cheesy for my taste, it was also really sweet and felt like a good encompassing of all the different kinds of relationships and their endings that you can experience in life.

However, it should be said if you are looking for the great queer romance, I'm not sure this is for you. There's definitely queer romance in here, some I found worked really well, and others just weren't for me.

I should note, if you are thinking of seeking this book out, it does contain some language and “jokes” that are inappropriate/insensitive. I don't believe this has been done by the author with any malicious intent, as it reads true to what characters in the 1960s would have said and thought, neither is it ever framed a the good way, it may just be something you want to be aware of though.

This is a good book, I have no serious accusations to levy against it and despite a few small bumps along the way I enjoyed it and think others will too.

Read my full review here: https://moonlit-books.com/2022/01/06/arcminireviews/