The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church

A searing book club novel for fans of Where the Crawdad's Sing and The Girls in the Stilt House following one girl fighting for her family, her body, and her right to create a future all her own

Some folks will do anything to control the wild spirit of a Carolina girl...

For fourteen-year-old Leah Payne, life in her beloved coastal Carolina town is as simple as it is free. Devoted to her lumberjack father and running through the wilds where the forest meets the shore, Leah's country life is as natural as the Loblolly pines that rise to greet the Southern sky.

When an accident takes her father's life, Leah is wrenched from her small community and cast into a family of strangers with a terrible secret. Separated from her only home, Leah is kept apart from the family and forced to act as a helpmate for the well-to-do household. When a moment of violence and prejudice thrusts Leah into the center of the state's shameful darkness, she must fight for her own future against a world that doesn't always value the wild spirit of a Carolina girl.

Set in 1935 against the very real backdrop of a recently formed state eugenics board, The Last Carolina Girl is a powerful and heart-wrenching story of fierce strength, forgotten history, autonomy, and the places and people we ultimately call home.

Kindle, 304 pages

Expected publication February 28, 2023 

by Sourcebooks Landmark

3/5 stars

Told from the perspective of a fourteen-year-old, Leah's story is one of a sheltered life. She and her father live in a one-room shack, and she has no friends except for Jesse. As she leaves the area following the death of her father, her lack of social skills and her desire for family and affection come through. 

This book has been compared to Where the Crawdads Sing, which I enjoyed as an audiobook. The slow pace and the first-person narrative made it enjoyable to listen vs reading it. When it came to The Last Carolina Girl my feelings run in the same direction, I think I would have enjoyed it more in audio format.  It was just such a slow paced story that really lacked character development for everyone other than Leah.  It would have been great to get a glimpse into the head of her caregiver .

The blurb gives lots of the story away with some of it not happening until the 80% mark, spoiler alert!

The ending was abrupt, and I would have loved to read more about the next few years in this young girl's life. Fortunately, the author included notes, gave a lot of detail about the program in the US during this time and in subsequent years. 

Take my review with a grain of salt, I seem to be in the minority with my thoughts.

I am grateful to Sourcebooks (via NetGalley) for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn

Three women, a nation seduced by a madman, and the Nazi breeding program to create a so-called master race

At Heim Hochland, a Nazi breeding home in Bavaria, three women's fates are irrevocably intertwined. Gundi is a pregnant university student from Berlin. An Aryan beauty, she's secretly a member of a resistance group. Hilde, only eighteen, is a true believer in the cause and is thrilled to carry a Nazi official's child. And Irma, a 44-year-old nurse, is desperate to build a new life for herself after personal devastation. All three have everything to lose.

Based on untold historical events, this novel brings us intimately inside the Lebensborn Society maternity homes that actually existed in several countries during World War II, where thousands of "racially fit" babies were bred and taken from their mothers to be raised as part of the new Germany. But it proves that in a dark period of history, the connections women forge can carry us through, even driving us to heroism we didn't know we had within us.

Kindle Edition, 320 pages

Published October 11th 2022

 by Sourcebooks Landmark

3/5 stars

One of the reasons I enjoy reading historical fiction is the educational part.  Not that I don't love a good story but when mixed with some unknown pieces of the past just provides double the pleasure.  Cradles of the Reich is one of those books that took me by surprise in the educational department.  I know I shouldn't be surprised as to the things that took place during WW2 but this Nazi breeding home was something I knew nothing about.

Cradles is the story of 3 women who meet at one of these home that are part of the Lebensborn Society. While each of them are unique in their backgrounds and purposes that bringing them together I did struggle to connect.  The tension I craved just wasn't enough to feel an emotions for them.  The ending felt abrupt and left me with questions and not enough closure.

It was obvious the author has done her research and has a passion for this time period and story.  With the gorgeous cover, enticing blurb and social media buzz I was hoping for a captivating story. Like I said the social media buzz is strong, which makes this a'me' issue.

My thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for a digital arc in exchange for a honest review.