The Moonstone Girls

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/