The horrors of World War II are so vast, most genres of fiction have grappled with its impact. In her debut novel, The Moonlight Healers, author Elizabeth Becker crafts a World War II/present day tale that combines magical realism, romance, and historical fiction. It’s a powerful story about love, family, and the gifts and costs of magic.

Louise and Peter have been best friends almost since they were in diapers. But with Louise about to leave for college in New York and Peter stuck in their hometown of Richmond, Virginia, their days together are nearing an end. At a party, Peter drunkenly confesses he loves Louise, but in the car the next day, he can’t remember. Distracted by their discussion, Peter veers into oncoming traffic. When Louise regains consciousness, Peter is on the road. He flew out the windshield and broke his neck. Heartbroken, Louise performs CPR on him anyway. A mysterious energy flows out of her hands, and somehow Peter comes back to life, and the injuries on him disappear.

When Louise tells her mother Bobbie, a former nurse, the truth about what really happened to Peter, Bobbie confesses a long-held secret: All the women in their family are healers, and Louise must talk to her grandmother Camille about how to live with her newfound knowledge. Bobbie and Camille have been estranged for years, for reasons they won’t tell Louise. But Bobbie takes Louise to Camille’s orchard in Appalachian Virginia so Camille can train her.

The story also takes place in 1943 France, as Camille’s mother Helene works as a nurse in an occupied hospital run by a convent. Unlike Louise, Helene has grown up with her healing abilities and a mother who encourages them. She’s called to the hospital by her cousin, who shares the abilities but tells Helene it’s an affront to God to use them. When Helene falls in love with a recovering soldier, her abilities and convictions are tested.

The Moonlight Healers moves seamlessly between the love stories and fantasy aspects of the novel. The car accident starts the story with a literal bang, and Louise takes readers on a compelling journey as she navigates her new powers, the muddy relationship between her mother and grandmother, her feelings for Peter, and her plans for her future. The plot and tone are light, similar to the TV show Pushing Daisies. In contrast, the chapters with Helene feel heavy and dark, as the author gets into questions about the nature of evil and what limits a healer should put on herself.

There’s a good twist about two-thirds of the way through the book that heightens the stakes and gives Louise a personal investment in her abilities and their limitations. Still, her story pales in comparison to Helene’s travails—a dilemma all authors face when alternating a World War II story with a present-day tale.

With all the elements that Becker packs into her story—the mother-daughter drama, the friends-to-lovers trope—the magic does not dominate the narrative as I had hoped it would. I wish Becker had explored some of her paradoxes more; why can Louise literally bring Peter back from the dead, but not cure cancer?

Still, The Moonlight Healers balances the different requirements of its genres adeptly. I wanted the book to be longer, so Becker could have really dug into all of her subplots, but as a debut author, she was probably limited in word count. There’s plenty of story left for a sequel, so perhaps Becker and her readers will get to see more of Louise. I certainly hope so.

This was a beautiful and whimsical witchy fantasy! It follows the story of a family with special healing powers through dual timelines.

One set in historic France, a young woman is forced from her home to travel to a catholic hospital for modern nurse training. She is caught between missing her home, being unable to use her powers as she was always taught and struggling to adapt to the new way of life surrounded by the same people who had destroyed her homeland.

The other set in modern times, following the great-granddaughter as she discovers her healing abilities, manages tense family trauma and uncovers truths long buried.

As a nurse myself, this was an incredibly emotional read. Tears flowed freely (ok maybe heavily) by the ending but the story was so beautifully done! Maternal bonds, relationships, the balance of life and death, the value in providing a peaceful ending to suffering - it was all there!

I highly recommend this for any one in the medical field, thinking of going into the medical field or just any one who has had to endure the lose of someone you love.

Helene is a nurse with the ability to heal during WWII in Nazi-occupied Germany. Her great-granddaughter, Louise, has just saved the life of her best friend in 2019 using the same healing powers.

A story on family bonds, healing, loss, death and life, and what it means to be a nurse. Truly beautiful writing. A phenomenal author who I’ll be watching for more work. This was so beautiful and inspirational. How Helene is trying to do whats right while being a healer, how Cecilia is religious and still uses her powers was such a good exploration of different religions and family dynamics. Barbara and Camille made me cry.

What a standout debut. From start to finish, I was completely immersed in this story and invested in these characters.

Told across timelines between war-torn France during World War II to present day Blue Ridge in 2019, we get a beautifully told story about a generation of women who have the power to heal others with just the touch of their hand.

It’s a love letter to healers and nurses-inspired by the author’s own experience. It’s filled with poetic prose, and contains multitudes of moments from whimsical and enchanting to heartbreaking and thought provoking. While the end did have me in tears, it was also filled with hope. These characters are resilient and inspiring and will stay with me. The author brought beauty to the cycle that is both life and death in such a poignant way. I think this is a must read debut and look forward to future work by this author.

Thank you to Graydon House and NetGalley for my #gifted ARC

*** 4.5 Stars ***

THE MOONLIGHT HEALERS is a story about family, love, and difficult choices. Becker’s writing is not only eloquent and lyrical, but it is captivating as she travels back and forth in time to explore two young women discovering the magic within and how they can use it.

This book is a gift to readers. It brings together emotion, interconnected relationships, and life struggles in a way that is both compelling and deeply heartfelt. A tale such as this comes from the soul of an author. It is an expression of her innate ability to create layered and complex characters, all the while developing the intricacies of their lives.

At its core, THE MOONLIGHT HEALERS is about family and self-discovery, but it is so much more. The women who come to life in these pages are real. They go through a variety of emotions and complications because of who they are. Learning about what they can do is only the beginning. Dealing with the consequences of what their healing can do is far more involved.

There is so much I could say about this book, but it wouldn’t do justice to Louise, Helene, and all the others I met while reading. Honestly, pick up the book. You will not regret it.

Audiobook Note: This book was narrated by two different women, Cassandra Campbell and Bailey Carr. Having each represent a different character and moment in time truly made the listening experience much better. Louise and Helene are well represented, and it becomes easier to transition from one to the other. Each of the narrators has a good pace and perfect inflections for the stories they are telling. Having spent more time with the audiobook than the physical book, I can say it was completely enjoyable.

I'm not really sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up, in fact it was quite different, but I think that is what made me really enjoy this book. I truly enjoyed the past/present timeline in this book, it was engaging and kept feeding enough information to never make it be overwhelming. The overall tribute to nursing was phenomenally done and just so absolutely beautiful - the way in which it followed each woman in a family as the gift that they had passed from generation to generation.

Helene was an absolutely beautiful character - her journey was so up and down - her strengths, and the legacy that she left behind was truly beautiful. I love how it truly showed that no matter how much a woman struggles it really is ultimately shaped and supported by the generations of women before her. A sharp reminder with current events as well!

I loved the discussion of death as well - how it's not overlooked because it is something that we all face. The honest perspective that is written was truly beautiful.

Overall, this book is truly a beautiful and heartbreaking (yet very, very real) love letter to nurses and it's beautifully done.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This stunning debut is a love letter to caregivers, healers, and nurses everywhere. I enjoyed the dual timelines in this story of a family's legacy. The complex relationships among the women in this book are truly heartfelt and told in an honest and refreshing way that feels real. The magical realism is gentle and feels organic to the storytelling. Themes of motherhood weave through this story, and the contrasting decisions made over generations had me reflecting on my own beliefs and parenting style. This book made me think, made me feel, and made me cry and I can't wait to see what Becker has up her sleeve for her sophomore novel.

A heartfelt thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read this novel prior to its publication in exchange for my honest review.

The narrators did a beautiful job, however this didn't hit home for me. I found myself being bored. But it is a beautiful love letter to nurses and healers of all kinds.

This book!!!! ❤️❤️❤️
It completely caught me off guard—in the best way. I went in expecting one thing and got something way more emotional and thought-provoking than I anticipated.

The story jumps between two timelines: Helene, a nurse in WWII France who discovers she can heal people through touch, and her great-granddaughter Louise, who accidentally brings her best friend back to life after a car accident. That moment flips her world upside down and sends her searching for answers about her family’s hidden history—and the cost of their gift.

What really got me was how this book makes you think about life, death, and what it actually means to heal. It doesn’t shy away from the heavy stuff, but it’s also full of love and resilience. The way the past and present unfold together is so well done—no info dumps, just little pieces falling into place as you go.

There’s a little bit of romance, but this is really a story about family, legacy, and figuring out who you are. It’s emotional, bittersweeet, and If you like historical fiction with a touch of magic, I’d definitely recommend this.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advanced copy!

4.25⭐
Lovely meditation on healing wrapped up in a multi-generational story of a family of women whose gift of healing remains stronger than the various ways each generation tries to control or deny its existence. Opening with Louise and a devastating car accident that exposes her matrilineal gift, the repercussions of what happened may be able to heal the gift between her mother and her grandmother. The story switches between Helene, a young girl in France during WWII, and Louise in present day coming to understand her family's story. While magical realism plays an important part, at its core this is a love letter to nurses and all healers. Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Dual timelines from world war II France to a present-day Appalachian orchard. The stories seamlessly waves generations of women found together either gift, healing touch. But is it a gift, or a curse? Is it helpful, or harmful? Is it embraced by each woman, or denied. The twist and turns, the rights and wrongs, the ups and downs, the moral dilemmas. I really enjoyed this story which included bits of romance and mystery. The characters are compelling, the story is thought-provoking and touching, and the ending isn't anything you'd see coming! I could easily see a sequel to this book and if there is one, put me on the list to read it!

loved this romance and how they are able to heal over moonlight. loved that she loved someone enough to bring him back. great story.

The Moonlight Healers by Elizabeth Becker beautifully captures the realities of those who dedicate their lives to healing. While the story weaves in magical and fantasy elements, I truly believe that healers, whether doctors, nurses, or anyone offering care, possess a kind of magic within them.

Set across two timelines, this novel follows Helene and Louise, revealing the powerful legacy of women who heal. Their stories are filled with love, strength, sacrifice, and deep compassion, making for an emotional and moving read.

I went into this book expecting something different, and I’m so glad it surprised me. It resonated with me on many levels. As someone who has tried to support mental health and well-being, I connected deeply with the feeling of wanting to take away others’ pain while also recognizing the burnout that comes with it. We don’t often think about the emotional toll on those in healing professions, and this book captures that reality beautifully.

This story will stay with me for a long time. Thank you, Harlequin Trade Publishing and Graydon House, for the copy.

I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book was such a nice surprise. A historical fiction with touch of magical realism. We follow family of female healers via two points of view: one during WWII in France, the other nowadays in Virginia. It kept my attention and I needed to know what happens next and how each generation deals with their gift.

The Moonlight Healers was a delightful intergenerational novel exploring themes of healing, love, loss, and repair. The two point of views helped to move the story forward in a creative way, and the dynamics between characters were so heartwarming.

I found myself a bit lost in the pacing at times and the ending felt a bit rushed. I think an epilogue would have really benefitted the book and provided readers with closure.

Thanks to @NetGalley for my digital copy of The Moonlight Healer!

What a beautiful tribute to nurses, legacy, and the unseen threads of time.

I didn’t expect this story to unfold the way it did, but what a gift it was. I went in blind, and I was pleasantly surprised! Having encountered a few amazing nurses myself—nurses I will forever remember and be grateful for—this book felt like a whispered blessing passed down through generations. It is a hymn to nurses—the quiet sorcerers of healing, the keepers of comfort, the steady hands in life’s most fragile moments, the unsung heroes…

Told in a dance of past and present, the novel follows a lineage of women bound by an inheritance not measured in gold, but in something far more sacred—a gift, a calling, a thread that stitches them to one another across time. Helene’s journey gripped me, each moment of heartbreak and triumph resonating like an echo in my chest. And Louise—her great-granddaughter—wandering through the tangled paths of love and identity, searching for herself in the reflections of those who came before her, was just as mesmerizing. Their stories entwine like roots beneath the soil, unseen yet vital, shaping and steadying one another.

But what lingers most is the novel’s meditation on life and death—the way it turns them over like stones in a river, revealing their quiet beauty, their inevitable flow. It reminds us that we are all connected, that even in parting, something of us remains.

This book is more than a story—it is a song of resilience, a love letter to those who heal, a gentle reminder of the magic we so often overlook. It lingers like a soft refrain, long after the last note fades.

3.5

This was an emotional book about multiple generations of women carrying the gift to heal. It's a beautiful exploration of the challenges that health care workers, especially nurses, face when caring for patients. I really appreciated the commentary around allowing people peaceful, respectful passings. Dignity in death is something that's important to me, and this story definitely emphasized it's importance.

However, I never really found myself fully connecting with the characters. I'm not exactly sure why, but I finished the story and just felt like it was missing something. I do think that someone who really loves historical fiction would enjoy this more than I did!

Thank you to NetGalley and Greydon House for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received both an ALC and an eARC from the publisher of this story, and I’m absolutely enthralled. The audiobook is beautiful, the narrators did an excellent job, in fact the audiobook adds an extra touch with the accents for dialogue that truly magnifies the story.

The moonlight healers is a beautifully written, haunting, and powerful story that will tug heartstrings, and feel like a blanket of understanding to nurses, doctors, and healers everywhere.

As a medical professional I found this story to be a powerful testament to the work of nurses and healers, a look into the beauty and grief that comes with the profession. When sometimes the hardest thing is the right thing, and also the power of letting someone go, for their dignity rather than trying to cheat death for our own selfish desires. The complexity of mother and daughter dynamics, the way we want to shelter our children from the world, especially in the medical field where we see so much pain that we may cling to the pureness of children staying little. And how sheltering them isn’t always protecting them, but rather we need to prepare them to face the darkness of the world by giving them tools along the way.

Absolutely brilliant.

This was a strong dual timeline debut about a family of women with the ability to heal people but their gift comes at a price. The opening grabbed me from the start where a car crash almost kill's a girls friend but in her panic she's able to save his life only for it to having long-lasting repercussions. In the past we get to know more about her grandmother and her time serving as a nurse during WWII and helping heal soldiers. Great on audio narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Bailey Carr (two favs), this was an enjoyable listen and perfect for fans of books like Emma Donoghue's The pull of the stars. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I would like to start off this review by thanking Harlequin Trade Publishing| Graydon House and Elizabeth Becker for allowing me to read this novel, The Moonlight Healers, via #netgalley. All opinions following are my own.

This book is a beautiful tribute to all those that have the power to heal those around them: nurses, doctors, midwives, caregivers, therapists, and the list goes on. This story specifically talks about a family legacy of healing.

For generations as far back as she knows, the women in Louise Winston's family have had the power to be healers. She finds this out herself when she is in a horrific car accident with her best friend, Peter, that leaves him dead. Not knowing her family secret, she performs CPR on his lifeless, broken body. Minutes later, he is alive again and doesn't have a scratch on him. After being discharged from the hospital, she rushes home to her mother for answers.

Resigned, her mother says that they need to go visit Louise's grandmother for answers. There, Louise remembers a childhood with her great-grandmother Helene, and readers are then given her story as a healer in German-occuppied France during World War II.

Spanning four generations of women, healers, and nurses, readers are gifted a beautiful story of love, resilience, and the balance of the universe.

If it's not obvious by my synopsis, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. As a debut author, Elizabeth Becker is able to cue into people's emotions and the human experience in a way that is breathtaking. This was an easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. When it comes out on Tuesday, February 11, I implore everyone to read it.

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