I wanted to read this book mostly because I liked the author's narrative style in The Forgiving Kind. This was not as good but has the same feel to it. It is historical fiction and focuses on a family of self termed 'hillbillies' who make moonshine.
The story begins with the narrator, our troubled Jessie, remembering her mother. The loss of whom affected her deeply. She is so traumatized by the events surrounding the death, the faint images she has of the day, and her father's steadfast refusal to talk about her that it is quite painful to watch her grow up and lead her life.
This is the kind of book that you better appreciate when talking about in places like this review but find hard to digest while reading. There is nothing extremely graphic about the trauma they experience, but it is the little things that amount to more important things that cause the maximum impact. She does not like being a moonshiner's daughter and struggles with all its implications.
Her family and another have been rivals for generations, and this will be deadly for them all. Jessie struggles with her body image, going to school as well as dealing with her family (who, for the most part, are obnoxious).
Finally, the story covers the moonshine industry, the pros and the cons. As the plot was trying to cover both sides of the conversation, I was left uncertain about what I felt about the whole thing by the end. It is not a book that I would freely recommend to people because of the heavy context, but people who like reading about different locations/families in their historical fiction that does not feature wars, might enjoy it.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience of this book and the author's previous work.

This is one of my favorite stories of all time! Donna Everhart has a way of storytelling that introduces and develops characters who are very realistic. The Moonshiner's Daughter is about a young girl whose mother has passed. She has to do chores and assist her father in his moonshine business. This is very hard on her physically and emotionally and at times she is put in dangerous situations.

I highly recommend this book! You will love the characters and the story, hard to put down!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author brought the characters to life as the reader was drawn into their world. The ending was surprising but I would definitely recommend this author to book clubs who would like to read and discuss a well planned and detail oriented story. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Jessie struggles against the family business of moonshining. Convinced that her father caused her mother's death when the still blew up, when Jessie was 4, she suffers emotional trauma through her teens. The story opens when she is 16 and trying to survive her strained relationship with her dad, plus the indignities of high school. Merritt, her brother, seems like the apple of her dad's eye, though moonshining is causing different problems for him.

Jessie finds a coping mechanism in an eating disorder. Thankfully, school nurse Brewster recognizes the signs and latches on to Jessie. The added stress of an aunt, uncle and cousin joining Jessie's household pushes things further.

As Jessie moves from teen to young adult, her forced maturity refines her perspective.

Meet the book that got me out of my reading slump! Once again Donna Everhart has written an incredible story of family, loss, and love.

Jessie lost her mother at a very young age and has only flashes of memory to remind her who her mother was. She desperately wants to know more, but her father is extremely tight-lipped which only causes her to become increasingly frustrated and to make some questionable decisions.

Jessie lives in the shadow of her family. She is inquisitive, stubborn, and most importantly determined not to be known forever as the moonshiner’s daughter.

This book took me right to North Carolina in the 1960’s, where the underground moonshine business is thriving and very dangerous. While a lot of this story is about Jessie’s family and the moonshine business, there is a whole lot more to this book than what meets the eye! It is a raw, powerful story about a girl who is struggling and no one can see it, not even her.

For an atmospheric, thought-provoking read, be sure to check out this amazing story!

My husband and I used to watch a television show on the History Channel about modern day moonshiners, so when I saw this book, it immediately intrigued me. It is told from the POV of teenager, Jessie Sasser. When she was four, her mother was burned to death in a moonshine accident and she wants no part of the family business. Unfortunately circumstances change and she is pulled in, whether she wants to or not.

I loved this story. It is a southern historical fiction story, based on things that really would have happened. Family feuds, revenuers, hill people, poverty, addiction, mental health, medical situations and more are all part of this story. Jessie, our main character struggles with so many things. She has an eating disorder and struggles with her appearance and how that ultimately affects her self-esteem. With no mother to help her deal with these issues, she is unable to move on. She also refuses to take any money that her father earns from moonshining, so is wearing clothes that are several sized to small which adds to her distorted view of herself. My heart broke for Jessie throughout the whole story. Then there is her brother. He suffers physical difficulties directly as a result of the family feud with other moonshiners, but he still supports the family business and he and Jessie often fight about it. Jessie's relationship with her father is also strained which causes even more emotional situations. As you can see, the characters in this story were so well developed that I couldn't help but become emotionally involved with this family. As I have come to expect from Donna Everhart, this was a well researched, plotted and written story. It was heart-wrenching at times and hopeful at others. It was gritty, hard to read at times, yet I couldn't stop reading/listening to find out what was going to happen to Jessie and her family. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially ones that are set in the US.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of The Moonshiner's Daughter. This was a powerful piece of historical fiction -- at times almost gritty, but readers love Jessie and can't put it down.

The Sassers have made moonshine in North Carolina for generations but Jessie wants no part of it and believes it has caused her mother's death when she was a child. She rebels against her father and develops an eating disorder as her own way of coping. After reading The Education of Dixie Dupree, I was anxious to read this, although I enjoyed it, unfortunately something seemed to fall short for me.

At the beginning of the story, there is a flashback to a startling, dramatic event, one that haunts sixteen year old Jessie Sasser, a troubled girl who doesn’t want to be known as a moonshiner’s daughter. She’s frustrated wanting to know more about her mother, looking for remanants, signs, maybe finger prints on a wall perhaps, with little recollection of her mother since she was just four when the accident happened. She doesn’t fit in at school or at home, not wanting to be part of the family moonshine business not wanting to be known as a “moonshiner’s daughter “ with a father who in his own grief and need to provide for his son and daughter, doesn’t seem to see her. This is compounded by Jessie’s eating disorder and there are moments that are difficult to read as she endures this alone, except for a very kind and aware school nurse who recognizes Jessie’s issue. She doesn’t want to be a moonshiner’s daughter, yet later in the story, as she sits in her class room, “I gave a sky peep around the room, wondering what they would think of they knew I hauled moonshine, knew how to do a bootleg U-turn, could tell by the bead what was good liquor and bad.”

Coming of age in the south is the focus of the three novels that I have read by a Donna Everhart. I can’t say this one is my favorite and for at least the first half I would have rated it 3.5 stars, but the second half delivered, kept me captivated. The portrayal of this part of North Carolina in 1960, with hidden stills that needed tending, the violence of the competitors, provided a strong sense of the place, of the culture, the dangers, the violence associated with moonshining and an ending that I was not expecting.

I read received an advanced copy of this book from Kensington through NetGalley. I’m late in reading and reviewing this, but glad I finally got to it.

The Sasser family has been making moonshine for decades, but Jessie Sasser, the 16-year-old daughter, wants no part in that. She has seen the devastation caused by this illegal activity. She fights against her family's desire to continue the business. Several confrontations with another family in the moonshine business, the Murry family, lead Jessie on a path she would've never imagined. Everhart has a way of writing that makes you feel you can truly understand what the characters are experiencing. I look forward to reading more from her!

Jessie Sasser was four years old when her Mama died, and she blames her Daddy, Easton, for it. The way she sees it, if her Daddy wasn't obsessed with making moonshine—just like all the Sassers that came before him—her Mama might still be alive. Instead, all she has left of her is the horrifying memory of seeing her engulfed in flames. Making moonshine is in her veins, or so Easton says, and her younger brother Merritt agrees... but they're both wrong. Jessie hates moonshine, and she's come up with a plan to destroy all of her Daddy's stills... not knowing her actions would lead to terrible consequences that would touch the lives of everyone closest to her.

"The only memory I have of Mama, she was on fire."

That is how you hook your readers from the very first line—and I was well and truly hooked from there on out.

Readers see everything through Jessie's eyes, learning about past and present events that happen in the story through her narration. It's clear right from the start that Jessie remains profoundly affected by the loss of her mother, the pain of that loss made worse by the horrific way she died. In the earliest parts of the story, Jessie asks questions about her mother repeatedly, but is stonewalled not only by Easton, but her Uncle Virgil, as well, who insists it isn't his place to tell her anything. Denied the answers she craves and forced to help make the moonshine she despises, Jessie turns to coping methods that are as obsessive as they are dangerous.

I was immediately drawn to Jessie's character. By the time I'd finished reading the first chapter, I felt fiercely protective of her. Every time something troubling was happening that either focused directly on Jessie, or affected her deeply, I'd have to pause for a moment before moving on. Each new tribulation she faced weighed heavily on my heart, and even when she rose to the occasion and faced head on, I couldn't help but wonder just how much that poor girl could take. Jessie was the quintessential dichotomy of strength and fragility—always pushing forward and doing what she must, even when she had to fight her own weaknesses or self-doubt in order to do it.

Betrayal lies at the heart of this story. It is a recurring theme that comes from both expected and unexpected sources, and drives a large portion of the story forward. Justice and injustice were accompanying motifs, brought into sharp focus when the Sasser family was harassed by rival bootleggers. An ordinary family would be able to turn to the law for help, but how can you get justice when you, yourself, are also guilty of criminal acts? What can you do, when you must deny yourself the help you would otherwise feel safe to seek?

I came away from this story feeling as if I'd walked alongside Jessie every step of the way. Whether she tending the stills, fighting adversities, or struggling with her inner demons, I was there. I felt her anger and frustration, her worries and fears. I could have wept with pride at her triumphs, because when they came, it meant the world to me in that moment. I don't think I'll ever forget Jessie Sasser, and part of that is because of the way the book ended. I wish I could discuss that ending in this review, but of course, I can't. I'll just say that it took my breath away, without explaining why.

Everhart has once again written a deeply moving story with richly imagined characters and situations that prove to be infinitely fascinating. Having read all her previous novels, I had high hopes for The Moonshiner's Daughter, and expected it to be good, but I was absolutely blown away by how outstanding it was. I highly recommend this book for fans of southern fiction and historical fiction. You do NOT want to miss out on this one, folks.

I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Kensington via Netgalley.

Jessie was four years old when she witnessed her mother being burned alive. As she grew older she blamed her father and his side business of making and running moonshine.
She has come to the conclusion that she will never be a moonshiner.
When her father is arrested at one their stills she is forced to run their stills to support herself and her younger brother.
This is one of her challenges, but she also has low self-esteem. Her feelings of the fat ugly girl she views in the mirror causes her to also battle anorexia and bulimia. She is in fact a very small girl, under weight, cold, and suffers heart palpitations.
All of these things factor into an exciting story of a young girl coming of age. Discovering who she is and how to discover her best self.
Excellent read!!

Moonshiner’s Daughter by Donna Everhart

This is an amazing story set in North Carolina 1960, where a young woman is navigating the loss of her mother, and torn between the morality of her family’s legacy and the money they earn that puts food on their table. When she was only four years old, Jessie Sasser witnessed the death of her mother, burning alive from what she understands to be caused by their family’s Moonshine business. Her father refuses to talk about it.

Her father is convinced that moonshining runs in their blood as they are well known in those parts to having the best moonshine. Jessie would not have anything to do with the money they earn - refusing to eat or even buying much needed clothes! Determined to destroy the stills, her plans backfire when old rivalry escalates.

This is the first book I have read from Donna Everhart and what a great experience it was to read her amazing and unique characters full of grit, passion and strength.

The writing is solid and the plot kept my interest and fingers turning those pages. It was an entertaining read for me that I really enjoyed!

Death leaves a stain on you, a dent in your soul.

Jessie Sasser at the age of four witnessed her mother's death. Burned to death while making moonshine at her families still in the mountains North Carolina. Now at 16, her mamma's death still haunts her and she blames the family business moon shining. She asks her father about her mamma and he refuses to share anything about her. Jessie in her identity crisis turns to food for comfort and her comfort becomes her accuser. She is determined to end the family business however, when another family competitor rages war with the Sasser's, she discovers who she really is with the help of a unlikely friend.

There are several interesting characters in Jessie's story as she discovers the legacy of her mother, the respect of her father, and the bond of a friend as she fights for her family name that she once hated..

A Special Thank you to Kensington Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

<b>Provocative, emotional, & compelling!</b>

THE MOONSHINER’S DAUGHTER by DONNA EVERHART is an engaging, fascinating, gritty, heart-wrenching, and soul-stirring southern historical fiction novel that was such a fabulous, compassionate, and heartfelt story. I was immediately sucked into the storyline and it gripped me right until the very end.

I absolutely love these types of gritty southern fiction tales and absolutely loved that this story was centered around moonshining. I’ve always had this fascination for the history of the making and running of moonshine and this definitely fulfilled my curiosity. Along with the moonshining there is some tough themes discussed here within this novel. Very early on we are privy to our main character here, Jessie having an eating disorder. We are given a firsthand look into how she struggles with her appearance and how that ultimately affects her self-esteem. DONNA EVERHART explores and delivers this subject-matter with tender loving care. Jessie and her journey totally consumed my thoughts and my heart, her story definitely resonated with me deeply on a personal level.

DONNA EVERHART delivers a steadily-paced, well-researched, and a beautifully written story here that remarkably captures the essence, time, and place perfectly. I felt like I was experiencing everything in this novel right along with these believable and exceptionally well-drawn characters. This novel deeply affected and touched my heart. It is one that I soon won’t forget.

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: Eye-catching, lovely, vintage, and an extremely fitting representation to storyline. I absolutely love this cover and it definitely enticed me in reading this book.
Title: An intriguing, relevant, effective, and fitting representation to storyline. I absolutely love this title!
Writing/Prose: Easy to read, eloquent, entertaining, vivid, palpable, engaging and captivating.
Plot: Gritty, stirring, heart-felt, memorable, atmospheric, plausible, interesting, steadily-paced, and entertaining.
Ending: A bittersweet, heart-felt, moving, and satisfying ending.
Overall: 4.5 Stars! I have such a deep affection for this story and highly recommend it!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Donna Everhart and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

I don't drink so I didn't know much about moonshine. I had heard about it in relation to NASCAR and it's beginnings, that was about all I knew. Once I got that information out of my head I was ready to dig in and read this book. I settled in my chair on a rainy day with a cup of hot chocolate and got lost in this book.

What a great book about people and relationships with moonshine thrown in. The book started off great and kept my interest most of the way through, a few times it was a little slow, but overall it was an enthralling read. I thought the writing was beautiful detailing a story of love, loss, heartbreak with compassion thrown in. I have never read any of this authors other books, but that may change very quickly. Great book.

What an amazing coming-of-age book based in the south! I loved the background of being a moonshiner as well as the look into a young girls' struggle with an eating disorder. Having grown up down the road from Wilkes County, I had heard about "shining." However, I was not aware of all of the dynamics of being a moonshiner or part of their family. The dynamics of family relationships, loss, violence, prejudices of the community, ostracization by schoolmates, and fear will move you and have you flipping the pages to see what the Sasser family will face next.

A shocking but emotional ending to the book, but the author has done a wonderful job of sharing life in the NC mountains. I highly recommend reading this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“The Moonshiner’s Daughter” grabbed me from the very beginning and did not let go.

The characters were interesting and well written.

There were a few surprises in the story that caught me off guard. The end had me gaping open-mouthed..... literally !!!!!

Historical Fiction is not my typical genre, but I have to say I’m glad I took this book for a whirl!

I definitely recommend this book by Donna Everhart! Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for fair and honest review.

4 Stars.

Really liked this book (despite some plot holes) til that ending. Ugh. There were ar least 10 ways it could have ended. Why THAT one???

WOW! Donna Everhart, author of "THE MOONSHINER'S DAUGHTER" has written a captivating, intriguing, riveting, enthralling and thought-provoking novel. The Genres for this novel are Domestic Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction, and Historical Fiction. The novel takes place in the mountains of North Carolina. The timeline for the story is 1960 and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events. The author describes her dramatic and colorful characters as complex,  and complicated. This is a coming of age novel, and also deals with the history of Moonshine. There are betrayals, revenge, vandalism, and murder. 

I appreciate Donna Everhart's storytelling and vivid descriptions of her characters and landscape. Jessie Sasser was very young when her mother was killed. Her father refuses to talk about her death, and Jessie is determined to find out the details.  Jessie is 16 years old in this story and is aware of the Moonshining her father and his family has done for years. 

I appreciate that Donna Everhart discusses eating disorders, and how that affects her character. Jessie has a major eating disorder. The lifestyle is very hard for Jessie and her brother.

This reminds me of the Hatfield and McCoys, and the feud that they had for years. In North Carolina, the Sasser and another family are fighting over selling Moonshine, and the tills. There is always danger!! I would highly recommend this captivating novel for those readers who enjoy Historical Fiction, and Coming of Age Novels!