I couldn’t ever really get into this book. It felt like it dragged on. I started caring a bit for the characters, and then the next chapter I was annoyed by them and the writing. If someone asked me what this book was about, I wouldn’t quite know how to explain it. But I still thought that it had a good message and a good ending that made me happy. It wasn’t my favorite book but overall not a bad read.

3.5/5 stars

This is a debut novel centered on three grown sisters (Rachel, Imogen and Sasha) and their complicated relationships with their free-spirited mother (Margo). Taking place at their childhood home on the Island of Wight, it’s a look at all the complications and messiness of family and its secrets.

Richard and Margo were an epic love story that gradually disintegrated following Richard’s downward spiral. He abruptly left the family with no explanation after 10 years of marriage, leaving Margo depressed and their daughters confused and in the dark while trying to take care of Margo and hold the family together. As the girls grow up, Margo becomes both a source of comfort and strife as she loves fiercely but also controls in equal measure. Each has her own issues with their mother (and absent father) as well as their own life dilemmas to work through before they can be free to move forward and live on their own terms.

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. The writing was fine. The plot (with some childhood snippets), while a bit thin in parts, was fine. The characters however…I didn’t connect/particularly like any of them. And perhaps that was the point? But at times I became so frustrated and annoyed at the back and forth of their love/hate that I felt mentally exhausted and dreaded reading further. Margo was too domineering and immature for her 59 years, and her daughters too obsessed with her, seeking her approval and detesting her, often in the same paragraph.

In the end, I’m just ambivalent about the book. Not all bad but not great either.

My thanks to NetGalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for providing the free early arc of The Garnett Girls for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore – 410 words

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy of this book.

This vivid portrait of three grown sisters and their mother pulls the reader into their close circle as family secrets are revealed.

Free-spirited, party-loving Margo will soon turn 60, and she and her daughters – Rachel, Imogene, and Sasha, all in their 30’s – have relationships so close-knit that Rachel’s therapist husband, Gabriel, might call them enmeshed. (He does not, and enjoys being part of their somewhat tangled web.)

Rachel and Margo live on the Isle of Wight, Rachel in the house in which both her mother, and then she and her sisters, grew up. Margo now lives nearby, and Imogene visits frequently. Sasha does not, and at the book’s start maintains a prickly distance, both physically and emotionally from her mother and sisters.

Margo and all her daughters have successful careers: Margo is a magazine columnist, Rachel is a lawyer, Imogene a playwright, and Sasha, a physician. Rachel has a strong marriage and two young daughters; Imogene and Sasha are struggling with their partners. Margo has had many secret partners, almost all local men with other commitments.

The women were deeply scarred by the abandonment of their husband and father, Richard, when Rachel was 10. At that time Margo had a “breakdown,” and spent a year sequestered in her bedroom, drinking, sleeping, and relying on Rachel and a few close friends to care for the younger children. No one has heard from Richard since his disappearance, now 25 years ago. Or have they?

In fact, each family member has secrets, and through the course of the novel, most are revealed, and relationships are mended or let go.

All the characters are fully dimensional, and the Isle of Wight is almost another player, with its beaches, water, and winds. This is a lively and engaging story, with themes of the life-long legacy of loss, but also growth. In a satisfying, if not complete way, mistakes and secrets are acknowledged, and resolved or put to rest.

This book was good. It drew you in and you were involved just like the characters were. The writing was beautiful and I absolutely loved it. This book makes you feel deeply about all the characters lives. This was very very good.
I just reviewed The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore. #TheGarnettGirls #NetGalley
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Three sisters must deal with life coming from a dysfunctional family. Their parents split up and their mother is living her own life.

A gorgeous cover had me intrigued. Three sisters and their mother's stories. I had to read! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for the purpose of this review. Three stars. It was a bit too slow for my liking but overall there is good character development and plot.

This is a debut novel by Georgina Moore. It’s about the 3 Garnett sisters and their mother’s stories over the years. It started out as a slow burn for me and I had a hard time getting to the end. There are a lot of characters to keep track of so I found myself getting confused. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review.

The Garnett Girls
by Georgina Moore
Pub Date: May 9, 2023
Harper Collins
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.
Love makes you do things you never thought you were capable of…

Forbidden, passionate and all-encompassing, Margo and Richard’s love affair was the stuff of legend—but, ultimately, doomed.

When Richard walked out, Margo locked herself away, leaving her three daughters, Rachel, Imogen, and Sasha, to run wild. They've got messy relationships with the family and others that I very much enjoyed reading about. Great debut novel!
4 stars

THE GARNETT GIRLS is a thoroughly enjoyable family saga. The author does such a great job at pulling the reader into the story world. I opened the novel planning to read a page or two before I went to bed, and I ended up reading several chapters because I was so immersed in the narrative.

Some of the characters are less likable than others, and at times I was frustrated with their selfishness or immaturity. Some problems could have been solved by simply talking with each other. However, this is absolutely true to life and lends the novel the feeling that you're taking a peek into the lives of real women with realistic faults.

The setting is also beautifully conveyed.

Enjoyed this family drama. There was enough character development for me to care about the Garnett Girls and the story moved along at a good pace.