Sunday Stealing: Books

Linking up with Bev this morning for Sunday Stealing. I should have looked up the questions yesterday...bit of heavier thinking for a Sunday morning.

Pick a book you have read and answer
the following questions:

1.  Why did you pick the book?  I'm choosing The Last of the Moon Girls by Barbara Davis because it's the last book I finished reading. As for why I read it...Amazon offers me free books once a month for being a Prime member and this was one of them.

2.  What did you think about the book?  It wasn't my usual fare. It was about a family of women who generation after generation remain

single, but raise a single daughter, to whom they pass on their "gifts" and knowledge. Each woman has her own gift. One knows how to grow herbs and mix medicines, tonics, and potions. Another can smell emotions. One sees how people are going to die. It's hinted at, but never actually said, that they are pagans, wiccans, witches, or whatever you want to call them. 

The story revolved around Lizzy, the youngest woman in the family, who had left the family farm and the town to escape the whispers, pointing fingers, and the blame being leveled at her grandmother for the death of 2 teenage girls. The death of the grandmother brings her back with plans to sell the farm and leave again, but once home she decides to find out once and for all what happened to the 2 girls and clear her grandmother's name. 

Lizzy's digging into the past stirs up a lot of things within the town and with the real killer. The boy next door is back home, too, and appoints himself as Lizzy's guardian (he's been in love with her since he was 18). Preparing the farm for sale and reading the journal her grandmother left for her forces Lizzy to take a good look at who she is and where she came from and all the women who came before her. Her long estranged mother even comes back to the farm, drawn by the passing of her mother. 

The book's a bit of a mystery, a bit of a romance, and a bit a coming of age story.

3.  What do you know about the author?  Barbara Davis was born in New Jersey, grew up in Florida, worked in the Carolinas, and finally settled in New Hampshire. She enjoyed a career in the jewelry industry before leaving to follow her dream of writing. She describes herself as an avid reader, foodie, and music lover and a rabid football fan and life long Florida Gator. She likes traveling with her husband.

4.  What’s the most memorable scene?  Probably the rainy day in the cemetery when Lizzy's mother, Rhanna, confesses what her "gift" is...something she's never told anyone before.

5.  How did the book make you feel?  Thoughtful. It made me think about my ancestors and those who will come after me. What traits have been passed down to me? What will I pass on? How do I feel about those who went before me? How will those that come after feel about me?

6.  How do you feel about the way the story was told?  It was very enjoyable and kept me interested.

7.  Which parts of the book stood out to you?  The relationships between the women in the Moon family. They were complicated and while in some ways they knew each other very well, there were ways they didn't know each other at all.

8.  Which specific parts of the protagonist can you relate to?  Her need to get to the bottom of things even if it's messy or painful. Her mixed feelings about family.

9.  Which character did you relate to the most?  Mainly Lizzy, but also somewhat with her grandmother, Althea, who is dead, but still a fairly large character in the story.

10. Share a line or passage from the book.  "We lose nothing when we love. It's only in refusing to love that we pay, and lose the most precious part of ourselves."

11. What did you think about the ending?  It wrapped everything up neatly, which I liked. I hate when a book leaves me hanging.

12. Is the story plot driven or character driven?  Definitely character driven.

13. If the book was made into a movie, what changes or decisions would you hope for?  I don't think it would make a good movie at all. Too much of it takes place in the mind.

14. How did the book change you?  It didn't. 

15. If the book is part of a series, how does it stand on its own?  It is a stand alone book.