#SaturdaysAreBookish | “The Moon Sister” (Book No. 5 of the Seven Sisters series) by Lucinda Riley

Posted Saturday, 23 February, 2019 by jorielov , , , , 2 Comments

#SaturdaysAreBookish created by Jorie in Canva.

After launching this lovely new feature of mine during [Autumn, 2018] it is a pleasure of joy to continue to bring #SaturdaysAreBookish as a compliment focus of my Twitter chat @SatBookChat. If you see the chat icon at the top of my blog (header bar) you can click over to visit with us. The complimentary showcases on my blog will reflect the diversity of stories, authors and publishers I would be featuring on the chat itself. As at the root and heart of the chat are the stories I am reading which compliment the conversations.

#SaturdaysAreBookish throughout [2019] will be featuring the Romance & Women’s Fiction authors I am discovering to read across genre and point of interest. Every Saturday will feature a different author who writes either Romance or Women’s Fiction – the stories I am reading might simply inspire the topics in the forthcoming chats or they might be directly connected to the current guest author.

I am excited about where new guests and new stories will lay down the foundation of inspiring the topics, the conversations and the bookish recommendations towards promoting Romance & Women’s Fiction. Here’s a lovely New Year full of new authors and their stories to celebrate!

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Acquired Book By: Last year, I had the chance to become introduced to the Seven Sisters book series by Lucinda Riley – the experience became one of my *favourite!* reading experiences for the year – happily I was invited to join the blog tour celebrating the fifth release this February, 2019 – for “The Moon Sister”. I was simply overjoyed and humbled I could continue to champion this author and her series which I have found emotionally convicting and soul lifting with a delightfully lush narrative which is wicked brilliant for its continuity.

Ahead of reading the fourth release “The Pearl Sister” last year, I decided to back-read the entire series – which is why I have felt so dearly connected to this series ever since and why I applaud the brilliant continuity running through the series.

I received a complimentary ARC copy of “The Moon Sister” direct from the publisher Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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On how I felt after I read the fourth installment of the series:

CeCe had felt Star pulling away from her even before Star knew how to articulate the reasons why she was seeking a life outside of being with CeCe; this made her feel unwanted in such an extreme way, she felt the only way to rectify her emotions was to make a radical change. Boarding a flight for Thailand – the one place she considered her respite in the world before taking the last leg of her journey to Australia (as this is where her clues led her to travel) felt right somehow. What was interesting is that you oft felt CeCe held all the confidence in the world – she never came across as being especially vulnerable, she seemed quite the opposite: like a bear to take-on the world and be the protector of Star. In reality, both sisters were equally vulnerable and had yielded to life being lived side by side rather than separately; until now, of course, when they both felt it was time to simply sort out how to live independently.

One critical thing CeCe shared is how the opinions of others can destroy your well-being and break your spirit. The kind of criticism which doesn’t seek to aide you on your journey towards being a creative artist (as she leans towards industrial art and found art installations; whilst sorting out what kind of paintings she likes to create) but rather to dissuade you from the pursuit itself. No one should have to endure that kind of judgement and for whichever reason, I found CeCe didn’t confide in her Ma or in Star (although, perhaps she felt she wouldn’t have cared) – one thing which helped me the most in life is being able to turn to my parents. Sadly, I think the confidante in her life was Pa Salt and without him nearby, she felt like she’d lost her anchour; and rightly so!

I loved how she felt Buddhism was her most comfortable religion to feel attracted to practicing because of how she felt the inner peace of what it provides to us all. CeCe was quite the deep thinker and spiritualist without realising any of this about herself. She also held back her fears, the nightmares and the questions of sanity from her family; she had a lot moving through her mind, things which you would have thought she’d want to openly discuss if only to disallow them from festering further afield. Yet, CeCe was a very private individual such was a trend of her sisters – each of them thinking they could take-on whatever they needed to face alone.

Some of my favourite moments of watching one of the seasons of The Amazing Race (in the early days) was observing the larger than life Buddha statues found throughout the South Pacific and the Pacific Rim! I was in absolute awe – due to the high definition of the cameras being used, you didn’t need to hop a plane to see them either – they seemed like they had somehow come straight through your television to where you felt as if you were standing right ‘next to them’ yourself! I thought of this as I read about how CeCe felt calm near the Buddha she was mediating near as she went to her favourite spiritual spot for a bit of solitude and causal companionship with others doing the same. Causal here referring to the fact although they were in the same place at the same time everyone was internalising their own thoughts without saying a word aloud. This close proximity to others allowed CeCea respite from feeling she was entirely alone and cast out into the world without knowing how to land on solid ground again.

The beauty of CeCe’s story is how like Star, she started to reach outside her zone of comfort, trusting people, letting them into her internal world. She might not have felt she was a good judge of character due to the fall-out with her relationship with Ace (as throughout her trip in Australia the headlines and newsprint articles were growing worse!) but with Chrissie and others she was trusting, she was finding true friends. Each of them were helping her on her journey towards positive self-growth and a deepening awareness of her roots; where her origins were only the first part of her foundation as Pa Salt helped her find herself since she left her home country. By returning back to Australia she was finding the symmetry necessary to meet her future with a balanced sense of place and self – as so much is tied to how we self-identify ourselves. For CeCe, she didn’t have a positive impression about being dyslexic as it wasn’t something she could compensate for like I could, rather it was her lifetime ‘fly in the ointment’; she couldn’t shake it if she tried. She also didn’t see it as a gift but a slight curse because she only saw how it affected her from doing things others took for granted.

In Australia, she was finding her muse again – of what inspired her to create her art and how her art was an expression of herself in a way which left her raw and vulnerable. She created artwork which spoke to her on a soul level of heightened intuition – her art was not like other people’s and that’s the way it should be for each artist has a new vision of the world around them. She simply had forgotten to trust in the process of creating and to be comfortable as a an artist who didn’t use words to share a portion of herself but she used visual media.

The best message of CeCe’s story is that in order to live free you have to be honest about who you are – in every facet of your life because if you start to hide who you are from everyone, you can literally disappear from your own spirit too. CeCe was encouraged by Pa Salt to be who she was no matter who she realised she was at the core of her being but knowing she was accepted by her father and understanding who she was on those levels of awareness were two very different things. Her sexuality was part of her identity she never addressed, it wasn’t on her radar to even look at it from an angle of enlightenment because she had a lot of fears to overcome in general. She was a woman who was afraid to live by most counts but this journey she was taking towards her past was what truly gave her the inspiration to finally see herself and face herself for the first time in the mirror. The best takeaway for me was watching her blossom into being the artist Pa Salt knew she was destined to become; as he truly saw his daughters true essence and wanted them to see themselves the way in which he did all along.

-quoted from my review of The Pearl Sister

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com#SaturdaysAreBookish | “The Moon Sister” (Book No. 5 of the Seven Sisters series) by Lucinda RileyThe Moon Sister
by Lucinda Riley
Source: Direct from Publisher, Scribd | Subscription
Narrator: Imogen Wilde

Tiggy D’Aplièse spends her days experiencing the raw beauty of the Scottish Highlands doing a job she loves at a deer sanctuary. But when the sanctuary is forced to close, she is offered a job as a wildlife consultant on the vast and isolated estate of the elusive and troubled laird, Charlie Kinnaird. She has no idea that the move will not only irrevocably alter her future, but also bring her face-to-face with her past.

At the estate, she meets Chilly, an elderly Romani man who fled from Spain seventy years before. He tells her that not only does she possess a sixth sense passed down from her ancestors, but it was foretold long ago that he would be the one to send her back home…

In 1912, in the poor Romani community outside the city walls of Granada, Lucía Amaya-Albaycin is born. Destined to be the greatest flamenco dancer of her generation—and named La Candela, due to the inner flame that burns through her when she dances— Lucía is whisked away by her ambitious and talented guitarist father at the tender age of ten to dance in the flamenco bars of Barcelona. Her mother is devastated by the loss of her daughter and as civil war threatens in Spain, tragedy strikes the rest of her family. Now in Madrid, Lucía and her troupe of dancers are forced to flee for their lives, their journey taking them far across the water to South America and eventually, to North America and New York—Lucía’s long-held dream. But to pursue it, she must choose between her passion for her career and the man she adores.

THE MOON SISTER follows these two women bound across time and distance on their journey to discover their true futures—but at the risk of potentially losing the men they had hoped to build futures with.

Genres: Adoption & Foster Care, Biographical Fiction, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Epistolary | Letters & Correspondences, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, LGBTQIA Fiction, Time Slip and/or Time Shift, Women's Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781982110611

ASIN: B07GS4SYDB

Also by this author: The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister, The Pearl Sister

Also in this series: The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister, The Pearl Sister


Published by Atria Books

on 19th February, 2019

Format: Paperback ARC

Length: 19 hours and 53 minutes (unabridged)

Pages: 544

 Published By: Atria ()
{imprint of} Simon & Schuster (

I *love!* finding videos by authors who love to engage with readers about the inspiration behind their stories – this truly is a wonderful way to find yourself immersed even further into the settings as by catching small glimpses of the characters your reading about – you start to re-align what you’ve read with what they are seeing with their own eyes whilst feeling thankful the author took a very immersive path into the heart of this book series!

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The Seven Sisters Series: of whom are Maia, Ally (Alcyone), Star (Asterope), CeCe (Celeano), Tiggy (Taygete), Electra and Merope – the series is based on the mythology of the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades – interestingly enough, this is a constellation in close proximity to Orion*.

The Seven Sisters : Maia’s Story (Book One) | (see also Review)

The Storm Sister : Ally’s Story (Book Two) | (see also Review)

The Shadow Sister : Star’s Story (Book Three) | (see also Review)

The Pearl Sister : CeCe’s Story (Book Four) | (see also Review)

The Moon Sister : Tiggy’s Story (Book Five)

Available Formats: Hardcover, Audiobook, Paperback and Ebook

Converse via: #SevenSistersSeries

#whoispasalt ← I advise not visiting the second tag on Twitter as it tends to reveal a few things ahead of reading the stories themselves.

About Lucinda Riley

Lucinda Riley Photo Credit: Boris Breuer

Lucinda Riley is the #1 internationally bestselling author of sixteen novels, including Hothouse Flower and The Seven Sisters. Her books have sold more than ten million copies in over 30 languages. Lucinda divides her time between West Cork, Ireland, and Norfolk, England with her husband and four children.

Photo Credit: Boris Breuer

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on where we alight within the fifth installment:

Tiggy is speaking to a doctor in the capacity of an interview though for her sake, the interview has taken a turning she hadn’t foreseen – discussing her life with Pa Salt, his death and the ways in which she believes we experience predestination. I had to agree with her – sometimes even when you try not to reveal your innermost thoughts, cardinal beliefs and the beauty of what makes you an individual, hiding those revelations is a work against your own nature.

Dr Kinnaird has an estate in the Highlands of Scotland which had gone to rot in many ways which is why he wanted to breathe new life back into it. To help encourage the wildlife back into existence on its grounds whilst owning to the fact, some of the misdeeds of his father and of his past relations – the land might only be able to become recovered so far and not all the way to where he’d prefer whilst he was alive. Evenso, through their conversation you can see how Tiggy was attracted to the idea of living on a remote estate, where it would be her, nature and the wildlife occupying her days. She truly felt hugged close to Mother Earth and with her spirituality it made sense how she would thrive in such an environment.

Meanwhile, it was curious to note the doctor’s teenage daughter was a composite of herself – someone who knew her own mind, her heart and what she wanted to do in regards of her life’s goals. They matched well as they both shared a passion for the outdoors and the natural world; for these reasons I was hoping I’d get the chance to get to now Zara rather well!

My Review of the moon sister:

The beauty of where we alight on Tiggy’s path is seeing her in the comfortable abode of Margaret – where the two women had developed a kinship between them. Tiggy cared for the older woman and her motley crew of animals dearly but as they were on the brink of relocation, this had prompted Tiggy to seek employment elsewhere; hence her enquries into the Kinnaird estate. There is a cosy comforting return to centre when you re-enter this series – it is one of the first times though where we weren’t recapping the exact moment of announcement for Pa Salt’s death which I felt was fitting for Tiggy’s story. Instead, we were moving forward with her – as she was still coming to terms with her thoughts and emotions about Pa Salt. She was living her life on her own terms whilst she was acknowledging the loss of her father who was dearly influential on not only herself but her sisters’. It is here we find how she trusts her instincts but sometimes she is uncertain if she is making the right choices for her life which makes her approachable and relatable.

I could relate to how Tiggy is hestiative about the unnecessary killings of animals – how estates which focus on culling (in this case deer) is a hard pill to swallow (even if mandated practice) whilst putting the hunting practices aside, what Tiggy and I share is a love for conservation and rescue.

Tiggy’s first introduction to her new environment was through Cal, the gamekeeper of the Kinnaird estate as he needed to help her get from the train to the grounds themselves. It was an interesting introduction from the stand-point of how Tiggy was used to being a bit more social than Cal would allow but how she immediately took a liking to his dog; even if she was reminded of his purpose thereafter. Next, it was Beryl the lovely woman who had an interesting personality who welcomed her straight-away, put her to rights in her own quarters and gave Tiggy the best unexpected surprise of all – a luxury bath outfitted with a shower to end all showers! Even I was envious as Tiggy has such a lovely way of expressing her humbled joys and the ways little comforts give her a soul lift right when she could use one.

It is Tiggy’s sensibility of how she interconnects our lives with the natural world which I loved most in seeing develop through her story-line. She has a heart and a mind in-tune with the natural order of things but also, holds a deeper appreciation for the introspective truths of how we are all inter-connected. She owns the knowledge of how despite man’s hiccup in thinking he is immune to the same kinds of dangers as animals – the failure to recognise the important role of nature, environment and climate is to cut short the truthfulness of how we are all meant to be the caretakers of Earth, mindful of the cycles of nature but also humbled enough to remember we are affected by nature as much as nature is affected by us.

Tiggy is a girl I can relate to myself – she is thoughtfully insightful and she has intuition that leads her to understand things that others might not either recognise for themselves or they might overlook them as they are not seeing what Tiggy observes. It is a waking mindfulness of being aware fully of what is round you – in life, in nature and in the inter-knitted ways a person’s life moves through time and experience. I adore the fact she has a pet hedgehog!

Margaret gave her a place to hone on her skills as a wildlife healer and as a wildlife protector; though truly, what I think Margaret also graced her with is a mothering period of healing. Margaret had a way of enticing Tiggy with thoughtful life lessons sprinkled into their conversations whilst she also tried to influence Tiggy about how best to approach a life spent with animals. The highs and lows can injury your heart very easily and this is why Margaret was trying to encourage Tiggy to find acceptance in the things she couldn’t change whilst embracing her emotions but not to the degree where her own spirit might suffer for the added baggage of what she could not allow to ‘let go’. It is a critical piece of insight – not just for Tiggy but for everyone – especially those who have compassionate spirits with championing hearts for causes which are individually important to them.

Finding Tiggy house mates with Cal was a clever surprise – especially considering Cal wasn’t the best at keeping a place fit and to the rights as a woman would have it herself! I had a good laugh over the conditions of the cottage they shared as it reminded me dearly of how Goldie Hawn first saw the house she was to occupy in Overboard! Sometimes the best thing to do is knuckle-down and get into the grit in order to make it shine!

The fact Tiggy is a vegan and the rest of the characters are mostly carnivores was also clever as it spoke to how everyone approaches living and their choices of food differently. I’m currently an omnivore who wants to be a veghead vegan eventually as meat was never really something I was passionate over in either taste or variety of flavour profiles. I’d rather cook vegetables and grains with fresh greens, beans and other lovely delights than having to sort out meat, poultry or pork. Thereby I felt an immediate kinship to Tiggy as she was attempting to explain how she became a vegan and why despite her own choices in eating patterns she wasn’t going to criticise someone else for their preferences. Which is quite a true statement to be had as whenever I talk about wanting to lose the meat out of my life, I find most people take it offensively rather than just accepting we’re all on different paths. I have no idea why I dislike meat and poultry is going to affect someone else from eating either one – but there you have it, the quirkiness of being human.

Tiggy’s main purpose on the estate was to settle the wildcats and to see if she could encourage them into a breeding program, part of the laird’s (Dr Kinnaird) plan to re-habitat his estate with the wildlife who deserve to be living on the land. Whilst she’s attempting this, she unexpectedly meets his wife – a person neither she nor I were overly impressed by and she even discovered Cal has a secret woman in his life as he never talks about her openly. As you start to see her settling into life here on the estate despite how difficult it was to part company with Margaret, you start to gather a sense that Tiggy isn’t truly sure if she is cut out for the life she wants here. She questions herself and her tactics with the cats, which is understandable considering their quite timid and are not becoming socially active with one another; but at the same time, trying to breed any species takes a bit more patience as there are so many factors affecting the success of it.

The sisters are all elsewhere whilst Tiggy is spending Christmas in Scotland – she’s full of reminiscing the memories of what their traditions back home meant to her and how she longed to be nestled close to the family who had always felt like her True North. She was overcome a bit about how life had changed since she was a young girl growing up with her sisters and how now as adults they were starting to grow a bit apart from one another. The tight bond between them was still present but their actual presence in her life was feeling to be a bit more distant. Or at least, from how she was feeling this Christmas, everything just felt a bit more removed than normal. It hadn’t surprised me to find her with Margaret – as the older woman and Tiggy shared such a special connection to one another, it only felt fitting they were reunite.

My favourite part of the stories, of course, is the reading of Pa Salt’s personal letter to his daughter(s) and of how the insight from his final communication paints a ready portrait of where each of his daughters has to travel in order to understand their origins and their own personal legacy of ancestry. For he was a kind man who had taken in the girls’ raising them as his own but also, never wanted them not to know who they were outside of their newfound family. The series moves us through time and history; tucking us close to the people who came before each sister and how their ancestors and their present lives are never very far from each other in the temporal line of time itself.

When it came time to segue into the past in order to better understand Tiggy in the present, I must admit, I loved meeting Chilly! He was this seemingly unapproachable man who lived like a hermit, preferred his own company and lived rather rustically compared to others but for him, he was content. It was Zara who opened the door for Tiggy to meet Chilly but it was how Chilly was interconnected to Tiggy that I loved the most to discover! There is always an anchouring character in the Seven Sisters series and for The Moon Sister it was Chilly. Soon after she met him we were taken backwards in time to the early Nineteen Hundreds where we were settling into Spain and happily tucking closer to the legacy of the women in Tiggy’s family.

The birth story of Lucia was a tender moment of natural childbirth but it is how she was inspired to be called Lucia which touched my heart the most. Riley never fails me for how she inserts a lot of inspiring depth into her story-lines; where even if you look at the stories on the surface of what they are presenting there is always something a bit more to be had if you tuck closer inside them. I love how she has an instinctive nature of knowing how to draw you closer to the heritage of her sisters but also, how their heritage effectively draws us closer to their cultural identity. The sisters were raised in such an open environment of acceptance, their uniqueness of person and their differences in appearance never truly came into play. They simply were who they were and they lived their lives authentically embracing themselves. As we move through the series, however, we get the chance to tap into the fullness of their back-stories which is what makes reading The Seven Sisters such an engagingly lovely experience.

The marriage between Lucia’s Mum and Dad (Maria and Jose) was not one which was built of a sturdy foundation which in many regards owned to their issues with raising their children. Maria felt spent from the housework and the fact, all her efforts of mothering her children was lost on them; they had their own minds and they did not yield to her advice. I felt a bit sorry for Maria as she was a humble woman who had once loved her life but because of some mistakes in her past, I felt she felt condemned to a life she hadn’t envisioned she would have lived if she had had another choice. Her destiny was short-changed by tradition and social expectations – where who you were was as intricately tied to your reputation and the actions of your youth.

Lucia (Tiggy’s grandmother) was a firecracker! She truly embraced her talent for dancing and her eyes gleamed with the luxuries of stations outside her birthright. She had desires and goals which in theory were alright to cast for oneself but she had this pitying way of feeling depressed for where she lived, the family she was bourne into and the life she had lived as a child. Almost as if she’d rather condemn her upbringing and announce she had lost out in life because of whom her parents had been. I felt she was a most difficult child to raise as nothing would feel good enough nor acceptable to her standards.

In contrast, Tiggy her granddaughter was a humbled woman who was appreciative of everything she had; never wanting to put herself on a pedestal or to feel she was better than others; rather, Tiggy wanted to spend her life doing good works, giving back and finding a way to have a greater purpose in her life than to live on the comfortable stipend she was given through inheritance. She wanted to do more than what she was needed to do and she didn’t take herself too seriously. She might not have known of her origins until Pa Salt had died but the differences in her personality and her grandmother Lucia were rather stark!

I felt the worst for Maria – she was caught inside a loveless marriage where her self-worth was suffering under the oppression she felt from her husband. He made her life miserable by how he took her for granted but also, he never felt the need to take her counsel when making choices for the family; in essence, Maria felt washed out, exhausted and had lost the joy of living; all before she had turnt forty.

Interestingly enough, the one character I hadn’t warmed to at all is Zed; he was supposedly interested in Tiggy for the right reasons but for me, he seemed to be scheming more than he felt sincere in his attentions of her which is why I felt they weren’t a good match. Though despite how horrid of a bloke I thought he was – he was nothing compared to the rat of a man Jose turnt out to be for Maria. Except for there is this one part of the story where you are feeling is eluding to something quite awful but your not entirely sure if what you feel has happened, did. At least that is the best I can say without saying too much towards a spoiler! On that level, I was truly hoping Tiggy would come out on top and how blessed Maria had become when she found a way to rise through the ashes of her past. She was an incredible woman who found strength and happiness later in life whilst her daughter Lucia shouldered far more than any child should have in one lifetime.

What was beautiful about the story is the resolve of Tiggy’s grandmother and the rest of the women in the family; I leaned closer to Maria than Lucia; though in truth, Lucia had a complicated life. She was passionate to a fault, addicted to her talent and sought for nothing outside the pursuit of her chosen craft: dancing. She also was at a deficit in life to strive for her own goals due to her father’s manipulations – overall, you felt for her in those moments where you wonder how things could have gone if she hadn’t hitched her dreams to her father’s selfish motivations.

Tiggy’s story has a lot of unexpected surprises within it – the best of all is when Ally came back into the time-line as I was most happy with what is revealled about her and where she is presently in her life. Other sisters came in and out of the sequencing of events but it was truly more centred on Tiggy and Ally at one point which was quite lovely, I thought! Tiggy didn’t have an easy path anymore than Lucia – similar to how the past and the present affected her sisters, Tiggy was learning that her past was also influencing her present in ways she might never had understood if she hadn’t believed in her instincts to live and work the way she believed was her heart’s passion.

It speaks to how we all need to listen to our intuition and to be mindful of the things we are understanding – living life on faith and for hugging close to our family. Whether our family is found, adopted or biological – all families are important in our lives as it is the one place in this crazy world where we can find unconditional love and acceptance. This is truly a series which champions family, love and the fierce strength of the women who the seven sisters are related too. Each new installment re-strengthens the legacy of their lives and draws us closer to the truth emerging out of the unknown passages of time uniting them all.

on the historical writing styling of lucinda riley:

I truly love when writers insert linguistical expressions of phrase into their stories – I’ve read quite a few stories about Scotland and the Highlands in particular (as it is my favourite setting!) – however Ms Riley truly tapped into their dialect in a beautiful way of convincing you on your arrival to the Kinnaird estate! The words are writ just as they would be heard and it added more dimension I felt to Tiggy’s story as this is how she would be hearing the words herself when she was interacting with everyone.

The linguistics continued in the sections highlighting life in Spain – including the cultural heritage of gypsies and the flamingo dance. You truly felt taken on a flight through history – seeing how Tiggy’s ancestors once lived in caves and how their cultural heritage was something they were not just proud of but something they maintained generationally. Getting to peer into the past was a blessing as it showed the background of Tiggy’s origins whilst it contrasted with who she is today. It also spoke to those moments of insight she felt as she had grown up and what her intuition truly could reveal about her truer nature.

Riley continues to inspire me for the depth of conception within her series – she spends a heap of time developing the characters, their back-stories, their present lives and the ways in which the past arches back into the present to where you will lovingly feel dearly attached her narrative style for giving you a breadth of joy as you settle into her series.

I love how this series transitions through a Contemporary narrative into a Historical one – it is a time shift series where you spend half of your time in the past and the rest of the time in the present. Each section of the novels inter-relate to the other sections to where you have this beautifully strung continuity between the ancestral lines of the sisters and their own lives in the present day. It makes for a lovely reading experience because your shifting back and forth, digging into the past but also walking through the present towards the future. I love this style of story and the best bits really is how taut and exacting she’s crafted the continuity between the installments.

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Post Script banner created by Jorie in Canva. Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo.

Acquired Digital Audiobook by: I have a subscription to Scribd for audiobooks since January 2019, which is why I was blessed to have enough time to listen to the audiobook in time to share my thoughts on its behalf for the publisher’s blog tour – thereby, I was not obligated to post my opinions about the audiobook, as I am adding these notes about the performance and sound of the audiobook for my own edification as I personally love listening to them! They also happily help offset my chronic migraines – it is also the first Seven Sisters audiobook I’ve experienced. I definitely want to listen to the series in full and re-immerse myself into the series ahead of book six! I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

specifically in regards to the audiobook:

As I am relatively new to reviewing audiobooks and listening to them with a greater frequency than of the past, I am appreciative of Ms Jess providing a cursory outline of how best to articulate my listening hours on behalf of this audiobook and the others I shall be blogging about or reviewing in future. I’ve modified the suggestions to what I felt were pertinent to respond too on my own behalf as well as keeping to the questions I felt were relevant to share.

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Number of Times I’ve heard the Narrator(s):

This is my first audiobook experience with the narrator Imogen Wilde – she is happily on Twitter (@ImogenWilde_) which is lovely if you want to send notes of gratitude to narrators (like I do) for the stories which have given you so much joy to listen too.

Regards to the Narrator’s Individual Character performances:

Tiggy: She has a softeness to her voice – an introspective personality and a very kind heart. This is reflected in how Wilde approached narrating her story.

Cal (gamekeeper, Kinnaird estate): He might have had a rougher lint to his voice but his Scottish accent was lovingly provided by Wilde; you could truly feel suspended by her performance – as if you had rooted yourself in the Highlands and this is the bloke you’d find using the natural dialogue of expressions who had a passion for his job; one he had inherited a dedication too from the men in his family.

Secondary Characters:

Dr Charlie Kinnaird: I liked how Wilde approached voicing this Scottish cardiologist – he was approachable and up front about his views on wildlife conservation whilst he owned to the fact his own father wrecked the estate Tiggy wanted to work on as a caretaker. His voice was somber and his attitude on making changes in the here and now was something to celebrate as he wanted to be the change in the immediate world rather than continue to face the fact humanity was shrinking the natural environments surrounding our living spheres.

Margaret: Hearing how she was voiced brought back wonderful memories of watching Monarch of the Glen – as Wilde brought to life her Highlander Scottish voice rather well. She had a deep accent and when she shifted from voicing Margaret to Tiggy – it was definitely a treat!

Zara: She has a youthful zest of energy about her which is fitting for the voice of a sixteen year old though she has a few rougher edges about her – I liked how Wilde approached characterising her.

Chilly: It was so interesting how this older gentleman of Spanish descent was characterised by Wilde as I instinctively felt I could ‘see’ him as he came into scene with Zara and Tiggy on first meeting. There was something unique about his voice and he added a dash of flair, too as he was a character who felt larger than he was.

Jose and Maria: Lucia’s parents. You could feel the vexations of Maria and the dreamy disconnections of Jose; they were two different people who were forced to marry and sadly their union never felt lovingly romantic. Their voices reflected their history and in many ways were a good contrast to their daughter.

Lucia (Tiggy’s grandmother): She’s quite young at the start of her story, just a young girl but she has such a fierce fire inside her it felt she could not be contained. She believed in causing your own destiny and for her that involved the dance she had grown to feel was meant for her and her alone. She had dreams of wealth and as she was never inspired by her station in life she constantly wanted to leave her childhood behind.

How the Novel sounded to me as it was being Read:

(theatrical or narrative)

Spoken narrative – the lovely bit though is how Wilde etched out the English vs Scottish accents – whenever she was moving between characters, you truly felt rooted in her performance. I loved the Scottish accents as she had a particular way of illuminating the Scottish words and expressions in a way which not only befit honouring the language itself but she added personality and interest into the Scottish characters who populated the story.

How was the sound quality? Any special effects? or other notations?

The sound quality was very good even though there weren’t any special effects or overtures of music either at the beginning or during the story itself. The only thing I felt was a bit jarring in places is how Wilde has a bit of a half laugh in certain places – it is meant to show the characters having a jest of a laugh when their speaking but for me and the ways in which it sounded to me, it felt a bit awkward rather than natural. It through the timing of those passages off a bit actually.

Preference after listening to re-Listen or pick up the book in Print?

As I had the ARC in hand to be reading for this review, it was a luxury of course to be able to follow along with the print version of the story and listen through headphones to the audiobook. It is a special treat I love to encourage myself to do whenever I realise I have a hard copy and have the chance to listen to an audiobook. Thereby, as I read the previous four novels without once hearing the audiobook books I think I’d like to revisit the series before the six novel releases – listening to the the audiobooks but without the books in hand. Just me, the stories, the narrators and some colouring books – as whenever I colour and hear an audiobook I feel I can settle into the world far easier than if I was strictly listening to it without the art in front of me.

I’d then like to re-listen to this audiobook without the ARC or finished copy and continue to colour and see how the five stories wash back over me and what my new ruminative thoughts might become as whenever you listen to an audiobook after having read the story in print – you might surprise yourself and pick up new observations or something else you might have overlooked or forgotten about when you read the story in print.

In closing, would I seek out another Imogen Wilde audiobook?

I believe I would, yes! There was a moment whilst I was listening to the audiobook and I must admit, I only heard the characters and not the narration! I loved having that veil between the narrator and the story disappear to where you are simply living inside the words and the story the author has left behind for you to find.

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Reader Interactive Question:

What are your favourite reasons for dipping into a story which ‘shifts’ through time – happily residing in dual timelines of both the present and the past whilst engaging you in a multi-generational saga which expands and contracts through the experiences and journeys the key characters are undertaking throughout the story itself?

If you’ve been reading the Seven Sisters series,

What encourages your heart whilst reading this kind of Historical Fiction?

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A Note of Gratitude:

In the beginning of the ARC is a note from Ms Riley – talking about the story and the series, whilst also delving into why she wanted this to be a Feminist driven series which explores the concept and acceptance of love in all its forms. I have truly loved unearthing her layers of insight and the joyfulness of how she navigates us through each installment – as we all have something special to learn – about ourselves, our world and the Seven Sisters… it is a beautiful series from that angle of interest because each time we spend caught up inside one of her stories we find something new to admire & appreciate about them.

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Reading this story has counted towards some of my 2019 reading goals:

2019 HistFic Reading Challenge banner created by Jorie in Canva.

2019 Audiobook Challenge banner created by Jorie in Canva.

2019 New Release Challenge created by mylimabeandesigns.com for unconventionalbookworms.com and is used with permission.

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{SOURCES: The book covers for “The Seven Sisters”, “The Storm Sister”, “The Shadow Sister”, “The Pearl Sister” and “The Moon Sister”; the author photograph of Lucinda Riley and the author biography were provided by the publisher; all of the Press Materials as well as the book’s synopsis is being used with permission of Simon & Schuster. Tweets embedded due to the codes provided by Twitter. YouTube videos featuring the author Lucinda Riley talking about the Seven Sisters series was embedded due to codes provided by YouTube. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. 2019 New Release Challenge badge provided by unconventionalbookworms.com and is used with permission. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Saturdays Are Bookish banner, 2019 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, 2019 Audiobook Challenge banner, PostScript Review banner (using  Coffee and Tea Clip Art Set purchased on Etsy; made by rachelwhitetoo) and the Comment Box Banner.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2019.

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About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

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Posted Saturday, 23 February, 2019 by jorielov in #SaturdaysAreBookish, 21st Century, A Father's Heart, Adoption, Ancestry & Genealogy, Animals in Fiction & Non-Fiction, Biographical Fiction & Non-Fiction, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Bookish Films, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Epistolary Novel | Non-Fiction, Equality In Literature, Family Drama, Family Life, Father-Daughter Relationships, Fathers and Daughters, Genre-bender, Historical Fiction, History, Inheritance & Identity, Inspiring Video Related to Content, Jorie Loves A Story Features, Life Shift, Modern Day, Orphans & Guardians, Passionate Researcher, Post-911 (11th September 2001), Simon & Schuster, Single Fathers, Sisterhood friendships, Time Shift, Unexpected Inheritance, Vulgarity in Literature, Women's Fiction, Wordsmiths & Palettes of Sage




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2 responses to “#SaturdaysAreBookish | “The Moon Sister” (Book No. 5 of the Seven Sisters series) by Lucinda Riley

    • Hallo, Hallo Jennifer,

      I am overjoyed you’ve decided to start reading the Seven Sisters series!! Ooh, I am so dearly connected by heart and spirit to this series – each installment not only brings you closer to each sister the story is focusing upon but to their evolving family histories. There is the greater concern about Pa Salt in the background as well – but what is brilliant is how close the sisters are to each other and how their hidden legacies are disclosed per each story within the series itself. The breadth of the series is what pulled me into it originally and what keeps me deeply rooted in it now. I hope you’ll have a wonderful adventure soaking into the stories and will find your own happiness being amongst the sisters!

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