This was such a heart-warming story. It really shares what true friendship is and how it can last a real lifetime. The author tied the story together in such a warm and tender timeline. Very much enjoyed.

Sisters Abbie and Clara are saying goodbye to their mother BettyKay when a celebrity walks in and places pink buttons in their mother's coffin. Kitty Deveraux has been a star since the late 60's. When the girls get over their shock they approach her to ask what she's doing. Kitty and BettyKay's story takes them back to their early days meeting at nursing school through to the present and the girls learn they knew nothing about their mother and are at a loss. Will this draw them farther apart or forge a new future? The past and present meld together to tell the story of friendship, family and forgiveness.

The Sunshine Girls
Molly Fader
December 06, 2022

Molly Fader’s latest novel is a heartbreaking look back at three best friends' lives. Jenny, Betty Kay, and Kitty are all in nursling school in Greensboro, Iowa at St. Luke’s Nursing School. It’s 1967 and although each wanted desperately to be there, lives were due to change, for good and the rough times to follow. I am hesitant to give many details but this journey is one readers especially women will want to follow.
The Sunshine Girls will be published on December 06, 2022 by Graydon House Books of Toronto, Ontario. I appreciate their allowing me to read and review Fader’s novel via NetGalley. This story is an exceptional tale of fifty years of these women’s lives. It is a well written book that invites itself to be read. I continued to pursue each chapter, enjoying it all. I recommend The Sunshine Girls for any readers who have had the amazing experience of attending schools and finding friends. Their passage into their adult lives is a welcome voyage to travel. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Enjoy!

The Sunshine Girls is a beautiful and heartwarming novel about all kinds of relationships – friendships, romantic relationships, and familial relationships. Told in alternating timeline between the present and the past, with the past being in first person and the present being in third person, Fader knocks it out of the park with her character development and giving the reader all the feels. There’s no doubt that any empathetic person will find themselves crying at various parts of the book, and not because something sad happened, but because of the beautiful friendship between BettyKay, Kitty, and Jenny. I absolutely flew through reading this book, reading it in just over a day. I did want to know about the secrets that everyone was hiding, but also because I just wanted more of these characters’ stories; I wanted to know more about them as if I was getting to know them to be their friend. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fiction and women’s fiction. A true 5/5 stars!

I really enjoyed this book. I've been looking for a historical fiction that would suck me in and keep me through the entire read, and "The Sunshine Girls" does not disappoint. It is told in alternating perspectives (which I love) and tells the story of a friendship, and bonding of two sisters who have no clue about who their mother was before she became her mother. I couldn't put it down, and definitely recommend it to my historical fiction lovers, especially if you're into the old Hollywood glam.

This book was told with dual timelines.
BettyKay,Kitty and Jennie first meet when they begin nursing school.
Clara and Abbie had no idea their Mom knew Kitty Deveraux. There’s so many surprises and secrets in this book. It’s so good, I had a hard time putting it down.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

Here’s an upcoming book that needs to be on your radar! Thank you Graydon Books for my advanced copy of this book!

When famous movie star, Kitty Devereaux, shows up to their mothers funeral, sisters Clara and Abbie are stunned. Many questions arise. Why is Kitty here and how does she know their mother, BettyKay?

As the sisters begin a quest for answers they learn Kitty and BettyKay went to nursing school together in the 60’s where they formed an unbreakable bond. The more they delve into their mothers past, the more secrets they seem to reveal. Will these secrets push the already estranged sisters further apart?

Shocking yet heartwarming, this is a moving story of the power of friendship and how family ties can go further than just blood. I loved every minute of reading this book and felt such a connection to these women. Thank you Molly Fader for creating this beautiful story!

Read if you:
- Want a book with strong female leads 💪🏻
- Love dual timeline stories 📑
- Have a best friend you would do anything for 👯‍♀️

This is my first book by this author. It was a great story! My heart went out to these women and I just could not put the book down. The ending is so good❤️

When their mother BettyKay dies, Clara and her sister Abbie are each grieving their own way. The sisters used to be so close but have drifted apart through the years. They are both holding onto secrets that are causing them pain.

When Kitty Devereaux shows up to the funeral, both girls are shocked. Kitty is a famous movie star and the girls cannot figure out why she would be at their mothers funeral. How does Kitty know their mother?

BettyKay, Katherine and Jenny were nursing school friends in 1967. When BettyKay met her roommate Katherine, she was in awe of her beauty and rebelliousness. Katherine wanted to be called Kitty and she was amazing at fashion design. Kitty had big dreams that would eventually take her away from Iowa and into Hollywood.

The women are separated due to life circumstances but maintain their friendship through the years. They experience love and grief and keep a secret that could change everything if exposed. Will this secret destroy BettyKays family?

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the dual timelines and how they intertwined. The characters felt real and I felt like I knew them well by the end of the book. I highly recommend this book!

Abby and Clara, along with their neighbors and friends, are shocked when the actress Kitty Devereaux turns up at the funeral of their mother BettyKay. Turns out they didn't know their mother as well as they thought they did. Beginning in the 1960s, when BettyKay and Kitty meet in nursing school, this moves around in time to tell their stories through narration and through BettyKay's journals. BettyKay served as a nurse in Vietnam and built a great life after with Willis, a Marine vet, but she had a secret or two that only Kitty can tell them. BettyKay learns the hard way, as does Kitty, that all that glitters in Hollywood is not gold. Kitty invites them to her home in California where they learn not only about their mother and Kitty, also about themselves, and make decisions about their own futures. This is best read, I think, the way I read it- with the twists (and there's a big one) untold. I liked all of these women (as well as their pal Jenny) and loved the buttons (what a nice tradition). Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I very much enjoyed this.

3.5 stars

First of all, I have to mention the cover of this book. It’s gorgeous! It was a huge draw to get me to request this book. Don’t you love it?

This is only the second book I’ve read by this author, and both stories are deeply touching and emotional. This book time jumps between what is essentially the present day and the late 1960s. There are a lot of content warnings for this book as part of the story takes part while some of the characters are in nursing school during the Vietnam War. Just keep that in mind before proceeding.

While I found this story to be well written and the author does a great job at weaving the past and the present, I found myself getting impatient with the speed things were unfolding. Quite frankly, I couldn’t understand how Clara wasn’t losing her mind trying to find out the truth about her life. At the same time, when not thinking about the secret Clara was trying to uncover, I thoroughly enjoyed the story of BettyKay and her girlfriends. The current-day parts of the story didn’t really hook me until later in the book. And though I was pretty sure I knew the gist of the secret Clara was looking into, I was quite curious as to how it came about. Again, that was taking too long for me.

What I loved about this book was all of the stories of sisterhood. Clara and Abbie having lost their mom are trying to hold things together while there’s also a huge chasm between them that was never there when they were growing up. They’re both wrapped up in their own problems and have a hard time looking beyond that to understand the actions of the other. Their slow way back to each other is lovely and hopeful. BettyKay, Kitty, and Jenny may not have grown up as sisters, but they form their own sisterhood in nursing school. They love each other, can’t stand each other, and support each other in equal parts. It’s a rare and special friendship that spans generations.

In the end, I was glad I read this book. It may have moved too slowly for me, but that is more of a preference of mine as I found the flow of the story worked really well. I found myself emotionally invested in these characters.

The Sunshine Girls by Molly Fader is a page-turning tale of female friendship set during the tumultuous Vietnam Era. Three nursing students from very different backgrounds form a strong bond that survives the years and the challenging events that occur in their lives. Difficult topics are dealt with, but not at great depth. For example, there is no real reflection on the decision to have an abortion at the time or looking back on it later in life.

Even so, this book is a compelling read as it takes readers through the early years of women gaining a voice in their personal and professional lives. From Iowa to California to Vietnam, it was a joy to spend time with these three women who refused to accept anything less than a life lived fully on their own terms. Recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy of The Sunshine Girls.

Who wouldn't be stunned if a hollywood starlet showed up at their mother's funeral. You'd be even more stunned if you found out that they were dear friends with secrets.

This novel is set against the beginning of the Vietnam war and present day. So there's a bit of dueling timelines. It's a great novel that kept me wanting to read and not put it down. I desperately wanted to find out the secrets that unraveled in the story.

4.5 stars that I will gladly round up to 5.

The Sunshine Girls is a book that I did not want to end and would make a fabulous choice for a Book Club.

The author draws you in slowly at first but suddenly everything clicks and you cant wait to find out what happens between BettyKay and Kitty.

Why and who is Kitty that showed up at their mum's funeral her daughters wondered.

Yet they were friends for life along with Jenny.

The secrets slowly start to unravel as the story is well told in a dual timeline .

You cant help but feel for all of them as you closely follow their journey of discovery.

This is my first Molly Fader book but it wont be my last.

I have preordered a copy for my sister who I know will love this book as much as I do.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harelquin Trade Publishing, Graydon House for a read I wont soon forget.

No Fate But What You Make. Wait. What? You're a freaking moron, Sexton. There is no possible way that a historical fiction/ women's fiction mashup tale set in 2019 and the Vietnam War period and barely featuring any male characters whatsoever can possibly have anything to do with John Connor's war against Skynet. It. Can't. Possibly. Be. Linked.

And yet... yes, it can. Because ultimately we see here that there truly is no fate but what you make, as three friends meet in a podunk Kansas nursing school and go on to live lives that become inextricably linked to one another - but which forces each woman to make her own destiny, society and family be danged.

Along the way, we're going to cry several times at least as hard as when the T-800 sacrifices itself into the molten steel. We're even going to beg some characters to make different choices, same as John was doing there.

But in the end, we're going to get one amazing tale, one that just might make it difficult to think of other books for quite some time. (Which is difficult to do when you're trying to clean up your ARC work before holiday traveling. ;) )

Ultimately this truly is quite a strong tale and friendship and family. Very much recommended.

This was an entertaining historical read. I loved reading about the 60's and 70's, instead of the usual world war two. It was an interesting era that I haven't read much about. I also loved how friendship and sisterhood were the main components. I enjoyed the past timeline much more than the current but thankfully most of the story was in the past.

There is so much going on in The Sunshine Girls, I don't know where to start except with I loved it! It's historical, it's about bonds between friends and bonds between sisters and then of course, the secrets.

When a famous actress, Kitty, shows up at the funeral for Clare and Abbie's mother, BettyKay, they are not sure what to think. They know who she is but their mother spoke about knowing her. Through their mother's diary pages and Kitty's reminisces of their life in the late 1960's, the sisters come to know a whole different side of their mother.

The sisters travel from Iowa to LA to get to know Kitty better and to also learn a bit about themselves. They both have "stuff" to deal with in their own lives. These characters are well-rounded and not at all caricatures, I think because there are so many elements to their lives. There's the 60's culture, Vietnam War and the misogyny of Hollywood to deal with!

I don't know how Molly Fader did it but I feel like I know these people and can definitely empathize with what is going on in their lives. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this dual timeline book. I was interested in finding out about BettyKay’s life before she got married. I liked that story better than the one set in present day. A great read!

My thanks to #NetGalley and #HarlequinPublishing for an advance copy of this book, much of which is set in the late 1960’s, the very time I was beginning college, much as BettyKay and Katherine/Kitty were beginning nursing school.

The book actually begins much later, in 2019, with Betty Kay’s daughters Clara and Abbie attending her funeral in small-town Greensboro, Iowa. Abbie lives locally while Clara lives with her girlfriend in Chicago. Into this somber gathering walks famous actress Kitty Devereux (nee Katherine Simon), who astonishes the gathering by her presence, as she is unknown to the late BettyKay’s (Betts’) daughters and those attending know her only as a distant celebrity.

What ensues is an intriguing dual-timeline story of nursing school in the late 1960’s for the “Sunshine Girls” BettyKay, Kitty and Jenny Hopkins, a black nursing student planning to serve in Vietnam to save her brother from serving. BettyKay’s parents, especially her father, are angry she wants to go to nursing school, wanting her to stay on the farm. Jenny’s parents are not supportive either, and Kitty refuses to say much about her family but is clearly not dedicated to nursing. What eventually develops is a close bond between the three through nursing school, careers, Vietnam and various romances; Kitty and BettyKay’s bond endures up to BettyKay’s death, though Kitty and Jenny become estranged through the years. Kitty’s successful career in acting plays a major role in the story as do the secrets she and BettyKay keep from the latter’s daughters.

What resonated with me personally was certain families not finding it acceptable for girls to pursue professional/nursing training or college, though this was not prevalent in the Northeast where I grew up. The Vietnam War was certainly contentious politically at the time, with frequent anti-war protests. Many men of my generation considered moving to Canada to escape the draft for what they saw as an unjustified war.

While the story revolved around Kitty divulging family secrets to Clara and Abbie while emphasizing the strong sister-like bonds between Kitty, Jenny and BettyKay and that was interesting, as was the view into the Los Angeles film industry, I could only see this as a 3 1/2 star book; it was interesting but not outstanding in my view.

For BettyKay, having Kitty as her roommate at nursing school was the beginning of a special friendship neither of them could have anticipated. They got off to a rocky start when they first met but Kitty became a much needed confidant for BettyKay when she was feeling sad and confused. Kitty was a breath of fresh air to BettyKay, with her stylish clothes, gossip magazines, and vibrant nail polish. BettyKay wasn’t sure what to make of Kitty but she certainly added fun and excitement to her life.

I absolutely loved “The Sunshine Girls” because it captured my attention immediately and the characters always kept me guessing. The creative storyline brought us from a small town in Iowa, to glamorous Hollywood and sadly, showed us the horrors of Vietnam. Ms. Fader accurately depicted life in the late 1960’s in California, which offered many temptations to BettyKay and surrounded Kitty with people who wanted to make her a star. “The times, they were a changing” as we saw Kitty and BettyKay grow into young women with bright futures, whether on a Hollywood movie set or a surgical ward at the hospital. I loved their carefree curiosity, their zest for life and the desire they had to follow their dreams.