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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
This was a stunning book. It broke my heart. I really just wanted to scoop Leah up and take her home with me and protect her and love her.
A good but difficult story to read, “The Last Carolina Girl” is a solid debut from Meagan Church. Leah’s story is a devastating one in a dark chapter of America’s history and I am glad light is being shone on it. For setting alone, this book has been and will be compared to “Where the Crawdads Sing.” And while WTCS more effortlessly weaves the nature elements into the story of the orphan girl, TLCG has a heroine your heart bleeds for *and* a story not only worth telling but also worth recommending. So while the tale is more simply told, don’t neglect reading “The Last Carolina Girl”– it is good, true, and important.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. “The Last Carolina Girl” comes out on March 28th!
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. “The Last Carolina Girl” comes out on March 28th!
Sometimes you just know, and you can hardly contain your excitement over a debut set in your home state in places you know well. I’ll be honest… the title grabbed my attention right away. I’m a Carolina Girl through and through. The blurbs by other authors also grabbed me… But the story, that’s all on Meagan Church and her storytelling acumen.
About the book: “A searing book club novel for fans of Where the Crawdads 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.
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.”
I’m not going to delve further into the details of the story than the actual synopsis does. I went in blind and found it rewarding. The author has a personal connection to the story, adding power and authenticity. This was compared to Crawdads, and while I really enjoyed that one, this is more well written. I also felt it captured coastal Brunswick County, North Carolina, an actual North Carolina location. As an aside, my dad spent his last three years in a small town in that county, and I felt a little wink from him that the book was set there.
All in all, The Last Carolina Girl is a true experience of a read with gentle writing and endearing characters. I am ecstatic to have found a new author to love and hope Meagan Church has many more stories to share with us.
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
About the book: “A searing book club novel for fans of Where the Crawdads 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.
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.”
I’m not going to delve further into the details of the story than the actual synopsis does. I went in blind and found it rewarding. The author has a personal connection to the story, adding power and authenticity. This was compared to Crawdads, and while I really enjoyed that one, this is more well written. I also felt it captured coastal Brunswick County, North Carolina, an actual North Carolina location. As an aside, my dad spent his last three years in a small town in that county, and I felt a little wink from him that the book was set there.
All in all, The Last Carolina Girl is a true experience of a read with gentle writing and endearing characters. I am ecstatic to have found a new author to love and hope Meagan Church has many more stories to share with us.
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
I’m always a fan of a good beach story especially Brunswick County but felt the ending was anticlimactic and abrupt. I was left wanting a confrontation with Mrs Griffin.
This was everything I wanted that other orphaned southern girl book that everyone else loved to be. 4.5 stars
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
