This moving story is set on the beautiful moors of Devon. It examines the damaged relationships of three generations of women and their journey to healing. For those who enjoy stories about the intricacies of relationships and how they are damaged, healed and mature. The relationships between mothers and daughters are predominant. For fans of Kate Morton, Sara Alessi, or Fiona Valpy.

The Lost Girls of Devon follows the story of Zoe, her estranged mother Poppy, her grandmother Lilian and her daughter Isabel. When Zoe's childhood best friend Diana goes missing, she and her daughter Isabel head to Devon from Santa Fe to try and find her. Since Zoe was essentially abandoned by her eclectic mother Poppy at a young age she refuses to forgive her and avoids her at all costs which makes it a bit of an awkward situation since Poppy is one Lilian's caretakers. Lilian, a writer, has developed dementia in her old age. Throughout the novel, we find out about Zoe's earlier life in Devon and an old flame resurfaces from her past. The characters' stories were really interesting! I particularly liked Isabel's story. I'm sure the way she dealt with her bullying incident is similar to how teenagers nowadays would handle something like that. It's sad that this type of bullying and assault is so common in our schools today. As a teacher, reading this broke my heart! I did feel like there was a lot going on in this story. Following all four women's storylines was a bit challenging at times. The book was a cross between a mystery and a family drama which I wasn't expecting and was pleasantly surprised about. However, I wasn't a huge fan about how it was wrapped up at the end. It felt rushed and I wish we knew more about what happened with Diana.

This review will be posted on instagram and will be reviewed on Barnes and Noble and Amazon closer to the publishing date of 7/14/20.

Update: Posted to instagram, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble and Amazon

This is the third book I've read of Barbara's and I couldn't have been happier. I get so excited when she comes out with a new book. I loved her story of 4 generations of women and what they can learn from each other. Barbara has a way of taking into her books so that you never want to leave the story. I love how she weaves mysticism into each one of them also. Having Poppy with a tarot card reader was amazing and makes me want to go pick up my tarot cards.

I appear to be grossly in the minority here; however, The Lost Girls of Devon did not impress me.

We are introduced to four generations of women, all who are highly unlikable and incredibly one dimensional.

What bothered me most was Zoe (a now 40 year old mother of a teen) and her obsession with the "love of her life", her ex with who she parted ways her first semester of college. Some small plot hole here and there. The reactions to Isa's trauma when its finally exposed.

Sadly, for me this lacked all the charm and heart of When We Were Mermaids. Everyone else appear to love it so far - check it out, maybe you will too!

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for my copy in exchange for a review.

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinions are my own.

Barbara O'Neal is a favorite author of mine. I have read her previous works and highly recommend this book.
This is a heartwarming story of four generations of women and the family relationships between them. It is also part mystery and suspense as the authors tells their stories and history. i loved the authors talent for creating outstanding charcters that are interesting and likable. The charcters are all substantial and add to the story. A very excellent read that sweeps the reader away into their world.

I didn't think Barbara O'Neal's latest novel, The Lost Girls of Devon, could be as good as When We Were Mermaids, but I was glad to be proven wrong. While I didn't like it quite as much as I did When We Were Mermaids, it was without a doubt a worthy follow-up novel. If you liked When We Were Mermaids, I'm positive that you'll also enjoy The Lost Girls of Devon. You can't go wrong with either of these novels.

I enjoyed many of the previous books from this author and was excited to get a chance to read her new book. It was as good or better than her previous books and she has now been added to my favorite authors' list.

The Lost Girls of Devon is about 4 generations of women and the bitterness and pain between several of them. When Zoe was seven years old, her mother, Poppy, left her with her grandmother, Lillian, and never returned. When she grew up, Zoe escaped England and the memories of her mother and moved to Santa Fe. She lives there with her 15 year old daughter, Isabel. When Zoe finds out that her best friend, Diana, has disappeared from the village they grew up in, she and Isabel head home to see if they can help find her. When she arrives she isn't happy to find out that her mother has also returned to the same village and Zoe refuses to see her or talk to her. She also finds out that Sage is living in the village. She has lots of growing up memories about the times that she spent with Diana and Sage. So here she is back in England with a mother she doesn't want to speak to, a grandmother who is getting senile, a typical teenage daughter with lots of attitude, an old boyfriend (Sage) and a missing best friend. Not only are they all trying to find Diana, but they all have personal issues with each other that need to be solved.

The chapters alternate between the four women so we are able to find out what secrets they are hiding and how they feel about each other. The women are all well written and the story flows nicely as the secrets are revealed. Will they be able to improve their relationships with each other as they struggle to learn how to deal with the past?

This book has a little mystery, a little romance and lots of family dynamics between the four women. Along with that it has beautiful descriptions of the Devon coast line. I really enjoyed this one!

When her estranged best friend disappears, Zoe returns to Devon to help figure out what happened. While there, she must reconcile the fractured relationships that are the fabric of her life.
Poppy, Zoe's mother, and Isabel, Zoe's daughter, have their own issues to face. Poppy left Zoe in the care of Poppy's mother (Lillian) when Poppy was a toddler. Isabel has suffered a trauma and retreated into depression. Barbara O'Neal writes a beautiful story of reconciliation, forgiveness, and hope involving these four generations of women. This would be a great book club pick!
Thanks #NetGalley for the early read!

What a wonderful book! It gripped me from the very first page and held my attention to the last one. While the plot involves a mysterious disappearance, the main thrust of the book is the complicated relationship between four generations of women in one family. Each of the women has to grapple with the impact of past actions/interactions, from the teenager up to the octogenarian. In addition to the inner lives of these women, the author provides vivid descriptions of the landscape in and around Devon, England. She brought the area to life for me and made me want to visit it (if we ever can start traveling again!).

This is the first book I’ve read by Barbara O’Neal but after reading this one, I intend to seek out her other novels in the near future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with an advance readers copy. This did not impact my review in any way.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review and honest opinion!

The Lost Girls of Devon was the story of 4 women who are struggling with family secrets and betrayal. A beautiful story of mothers and their daughters and how, through forgiveness and love, they find out who they really are with redemption. Lillian, Poppy, Zoe and Isabel take us on an unforgettable journey through their past, their present and their future, the good and the bad, the betrayal and redemption, the hurt and the forgiveness.
This was my first time reading Barbara O'Neal, but won't be my last. This was a perfect summer read, would be amazing for discussion at book clubs and would make a wonderful gift to anyone who enjoys reading. The only reason I knocked 1 star off my review was that at times, the 4 story lines got a little hard to keep up with and I found myself having to back track to figure out which story I was in sometimes. Overall, a wonderful book that I found myself devouring!

Love love love this. Not only because its set in Devon, its near my home, but because its such an amazing story to follow. I loved each character. There is a chapter per character.
I was gripped straight away, a real mystery

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion. I think I expected more from the book and definitely would not label this as a thriller or mystery. It is more of a family drama with a bit of mystery and also touches upon a few social issues as well but doesn’t go too in depth into them. This was a slow paced read and at times I wanted to just shake the characters into speaking to each other and just communicating darn it!

The Lost Girls of Devon is richly written with words that flow together to produce a wonderful work of written art. O'Neal is a master at description. She transports you to places you have probably never been to by engaging all of your senses in the beautiful and flowing words she uses. You can hear the ocean waves breaking, see the brilliance of the flowers and feel the menace of the dark rolling clouds.
The real purpose of the book is multi-faceted. O'Neal deals not only with the complexity of family relationships, but also the topic of bullying and cyber bullying. The mystery in the novel explored another troubling issue of our times that I won't give away here.
It would be hard for me to say which of the women of the four generational family was my favorite. They all had their issues, but they were all intriguing and complex. Zoe was probably my least favorite because of her rigidity--at least until the ending which showed a different side of her. Up until that point, I would have said Isabel showed the most growth during the book. Or was it Poppy? See my dilemma? Whoever you like or dislike the most, they all come together to present the reader with an incredible and beautiful story that won't soon be forgotten.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Unfortunately this was not my favorite. I tried getting into it several time but just couldn't.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

I have really enjoyed this author before and I did also enjoy this book even though it wasn't my favorite of hers. But I liked the characters and the setting and there was a little bit of everything some family drama some mystery some crime fighting some romance some self discovery. It did feel. Little clumsy at time but nothing that was too distracting. I think Poppy was my favorite character.

I wasn't sure how there was going to be a link between a missing woman and a family who desperately needed reconciling, but Barbara O'Neal made it work. Her descriptions of landscapes and animals were lovely and built up beautiful pictures in my mind. An enjoyable read!

Zoe returns to the Devon village that she grew up in when her friend Who is also her grandmother’s caretaker is missing. She has to return with her daughter to try to help find her but doesn’t want to see her estranged mother who has moved back to the village after abandoning Zoe when she was a child. Mystery, family, relationships.

The four women who inhabit this novel are exquisitely drawn in great emotional and psychological detail. The story speaks to dedication, control, love, abandonment, betrayal, loss, all the aspects that can pull a family apart and knit it back together, sometimes. Lillian is mother to Poppy who is mother to Zoe who is mother to Isabel. We hear each of their stories, bit by bit, in their words, remembrances and actions. Some relationships seem broken beyond belief, making you wonder why you keep going when you know you are going to face nothing but loss.

The disappearance of a close friend serves to bring these women together to confront their past mistakes and face the realities that have been plowed under. The mystery was an interesting contrivance that never gained traction other than to move the emotional discourse forward. As a story maybe not so earth shaking but as descriptive literature – Oh Wow!

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a copy

Four generations of women - all strong willed and all thrust under one roof almost to manage as best as they could.

Zoe and her daughter Isabel are returning to the home of Zoe's grandmother who is now ailing. Lillian the matriarch is a well published writer but who is now beginning to show the onset of dementia. Poppy her daughter abandoned her daughter Zoe at the age of seven and this wound has never healed for Zoe. Despite decades gone by Zoe does not want to have anything to do, or even see her mother. Living in the same small village, and knowing that Poppy has been a care giver for Lillian does not make it easier. Also realizing that she alone has held out against Poppy is gall, because even Isabel who is such a troubled spirit seems to find solace in Poppy.

The focus then shifts with the absence of Diana, a caregiver for Lillian who goes missing and who over a period of weeks is feared dead. The story of why and how this happened is a secondary story because it is the four women's story which is the primary one. It is an emotional, heart breaking one because the hurt caused by actions of abandonment and seemingly lack of love for a child is something that is seemingly un bridgeable.

It was not easy to keep track of four different stories - but the fact that they are divided into separate chapters helped.

Family drama and mystery hit the right spot. When Zoë came to know her friend had disappeared, she packed her bags and came to her family home in Devon to search for her while avoiding the mother who had abandoned her years ago.

My first book by this author, I was transported to a new land with the rolling vibrant discussions. Told in multiple POV, I got to know the characters and their situations. It was quite a surprise and delightful read