It was good book and enjoyed it....excellent storyline!

Hard to know which characters of mothers, grandmother and daughter Ute got it all of them in the book....How did it happened to two missing persons hmmm? 

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy....

The Lost Girls of Devon By Barbara O.Neal  Reviewed on June 26, 2020  3+ sure was tempted to round up!
Story centers on four generations of women.
Lilian, who is the Mother of Poppy, 
Grandmother to Zoe, 
and is the 
Great Grandmother to Isobel.

Love these ladies.
This is not my typical genre but I enjoyed this story!
 
Want to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this early release granted to me in exchange for an honest professional review.  Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
 Publishing Release Date scheduled for July 14, 2020

This book just did not entertain me.  It was just kinda blah for me & it was irritating reading about Isabel's teenage drama which probably isn't as bad as she thinks. I'm sorry but I just had to DNF it. The family drama was eye catching so I'm sure alot of readers will enjoy this book.  Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union for my honest review

I thought this book would be more of a mystery. The mystery of the missing friend was really more of a backdrop to the larger story of 4 generations of women from the same family. I found the storylines of the women a little difficult to keep straight. I think the book might have been more interesting if it had centered a little more on the mystery. I rounded my rating up to 3 stars. It was good, but I would probably borrow the book from the library rather than purchasing.

This book was hard for me to rate. I enjoyed most of the book until the mystery behind Diana's disappearance was finally solved. Zoe travels to England to see her grandmother and help find her missing friend. It felt like Diana was such a minor part of the book, even though her disappearance was the center of the story. The whole point of the book was to find out what happened to her. That happens near the end and felt rushed. I have so many questions. How did she discover what was happening? What did she do? I wouldn't describe the book as a mystery at all. It's about family relationships, love, forgiveness, friendship and so much more. I didn't love the characters, but I also didn't hate them. Zoe has so much hatred for her mother and wants everyone who is her friend or family to have nothing to do with Poppy. Maybe she would have know what was happening to Diana if she would have kept taking with her. Instead she was mad at her for talking and being friendly with Poppy. Lillian and Poppy turned out to be better grandmothers than they were mothers. Would Isabel really be able to bring her cat over without it being quarantined? I can't believe they can't find any pictures or videos that were posted online about Isabel. Once it's on the Internet, it's pretty hard to completely erase any trace of it. 

Recommend giving the book a try. The description of the scenery was beautiful. The forest with the bluebells was magical. I wanted to be walking on the moors with Sage/Cooper and see the ponies. I LOVED "When We Believed in Mermaids" and "The Art of Inheriting Secrets," so I definitely look forward to reading more books by the author. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Lake Union Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I only made it about 13% into this book and had to stop. I couldn't find myself engaged in the story or wanting to read to find out what happened. I couldn't keep the characters straight and found myself feeling more confused than anything. I wouldn't recommend and won't be finishing this book.

Zoe and her troubled daughter, Isabel, return from an adobe in Santa Fe to her grandmother Lillian's manor house in the coastal Devon village of Axestowe.
Zoe's childhood friend Diane has gone missing and Lillian fears the worse.  Something is happening in the town which threatens them all.
What Zoe has to face is a tapestry of betrayal, love, fear and abandonment in the past, before she can start rebuilding the life she wants for herself, Isabel and her new family.
This is a very evocative and emotional story with can be slow and repetitive in places.

Barbara O’Neal’s books always have 3 things in common: strong women discovering who they are and where they belong; the value of friendship; and a lovable pet who makes the tough things in life a little easier to bear.

The Lost Girls of Devon includes these themes in the best of ways. While When We Believed in Mermaids and The All You Can Dream Buffet may be my top two Barbara O’Neal books, The Lost Girls of Devon has now earned a spot in the top 3.

Zoe Fairchild returns to her roots, a village in Devon, when her childhood friend goes missing. Reeling with guilt from a rift in the friendship, Zoe is faced with searching for her beloved friend while still dealing with her own childhood trauma. Simultaneously, Zoe’s teenage daughter Isabel is in the thick of a trauma all her own, and has been locking everyone out. Add in a wise, mystery writing Gran, a witchy mother, and the one that got away, and Zoe is in for quite the emotional rollercoaster. Will the moors, forests, and open sea of Devon help Zoe and Isabel open up?

This novel is an engrossing, character driven mystery with themes of trauma, healing, and forgiveness. The complications of mother daughter relationships are set against a breathtaking backdrop of the forests, moors and a quaint and charming village in Devon (that sadly isn’t a real place; I checked!).

The setting is so lusciously described I had to Google early on if it was a real place I could visit, because it’s impossible not to want to go there. I’ve definitely added Devon to the list of regions I hope to visit one day. The landscape is a character unto itself, and rightly so. From the magic of the forests to the inspiration found on the moor, it is the natural world that helps Zoe and Isabel heal and face their pasts.

And the pets! I’ve always had an affinity for animals, and I love books that include them. From the herding dog to the giant cat to the quiet grief that accompanies Zoe despite her dog passing six months before the book begins, the animals are all top notch. At one point, Zoe is thinking to herself about missing her deceased dog, and describes missing him so viscerally and accurately that it brought tears to my eyes thinking about my own beloved dogs that have gone. Quite a lot of the descriptions of her dog, Simba, match that of one of my beloved dogs (who ironically thought he was a lion due to my The Lion King obsession!). Though I could especially relate to that storyline, the way the person-animal relationships are described is on point and will be a blessing to all the animal friends out there.

Trauma is a delicate subject, and there are multiple storylines involving it. Both the healing process and the role of the therapy are portrayed delicately and well. It is treated as the tender topic it is, and isn’t used solely to further the plot. We all bear scars from our past; Zoe’s former trauma and Isabel’s current one show just how long the healing process can be.

I just fell head over heels in love with this book. The writing is superb, the dialogue realistic, and Isabel’s character portrayal is loving and realistic. Teens often get the short end of the stick in fiction, but Isabel is a character in her own right and is treated with respect. I love her character arc, and how all the teens are portrayed.

This book is just wonderful from start to finish, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I always read Barbara O’Neal’s new releases, as she reliable creates such wonderful worlds and characters that I can’t help but jump in to each new release. I’m grateful to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for an advanced copy to read such that I could write this review.

The Lost Girls of Devon will be released July 14, 2020.

It was overcast the morning Zoe's mother left her. She loves staying at her grandmother's house. Her grandmother's house is huge on a cliff above the sea on the Devon coast.Lillian is in her eighties and believes something is going on in the village. Her granddaughter is Zoe. There are a lot of tourists now. Zoe has a daughter Isabel.Diana is a nurse with a catering business.She has gone missing. Zoe has a graphic design job not painting like she use to love. Zoe and Isabel move to Devon at least temporary. Zoe is wary of her daughter dealing with the divorce and her social media crisis. Isabel is suspended from school for fighting a girl she use to be friends with. Isabel enrolls in an online school. I loved that there were multiple points of view. Poppy is Zoe's mother and a tarot reader.jennie is in a bit of trouble and has a baby. Diana had been helping Jennie.Isabel has a secret that has to do with  her social media crisis.i loved the characters. I loved the unexpected reason the girls were missing and the ending.

2.5 stars. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t love it either. 

I thought it might focus more on the mystery of the missing friend and it might have been more interesting if it had.

The storylines of the 4 women were somewhat confusing. They definitely have a very complicated relationship. Many reviews I’ve seen describe Zoe as immature and controlling, but I think I understand her and her inability to forgive Poppy. And I don’t think that Poppy deserves to be forgiven so easily. I think Poppy’s expectations of Zoe are unrealistic. The relationship (or lack of) between the two certainly influenced all of Zoe’s other relationships. 

Small issue, but sometimes the dates didn’t add up.  For example, in 1991 Zoe was 11, but in 1992 she was 16. Another, earlier in the book Diana had been missing for a few weeks. Then toward the end it was only one week. Hopefully these will be corrected in the final editing. 

I felt like a lot of the chapters were more of the same, no real new information and lots of descriptions about the land, the animals, and the views. I grew bored.  Once I hit the 50% mark I mostly skimmed. Things did pick up about the 60% mark. Overall, not my favorite Barbara O’Neal book.

The Lost Girls of Devon is an intimate story of four generations of women as they work their way though loss and betrayal. All of the women are wonderfully portrayed—none of them perfect, all with regrets and mistakes, but with a passion to love and connect.

The Lost Girls of Devon
Barbara O’Neal
July 14, 2020

This familial tale gives us the story of four generations of women.  Their love and faith in each other explores their histories.  We see Lillian, in her eighties, a writer, a gardener, a matriarch of the family.  Poppy is her daughter.  She is a traveler, a counselor, a soothsayer and a mother who couldn’t live with her child.  Zoe is young, recently divorced from Martin, her husband.  He is a musician and singer and they could not live through their time apart.  Isabella is Martin and Zoe’s daughter.  The spitting image of her grandmother Poppy, who she has never met.  Living in Sante Fe, New Mexico with her mother and grandfather, Ben.  In the past school year she has become a victim of bullying so severe that she refuses to attend school in the fall.  She wants to be homeschooled.  
Zoe receives a disrupting call from Devon, England.  Her best friend, Diana has gone missing. Her texts have stopped.  Her usual daily luncheon visits with Lillian sieced without any messages or visits.  Zoe has decided to spend time in Devon with her grandmother, Lillian and look into Diana’s unusual departure.  Isabella chooses to go with her mom to leave the problems in Santa Fe behind.  All of these women have parts of their lives to remember, recover, and celebrate.  By being together in Grandmother Lillian’s large house hopefully their worlds will run smooth again. 
Barbara O’Neal’s English journey takes us through these women telling of the times they ventured with their partners as well as struggled with familiar ties.  It is quite a diary of these strong women. The book was full of historical features of England and New Mexico to make the paths followed interesting and authentic.  I have read many of O’Neal’s books and each are tales of strong women.  This is an extremely soothing read.  The voices of characters attempt to pull their worlds together by forgiveness and reaching out to each other.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and encourage women’s fiction readers to indulge in The Lost Girls of Devon.  It will be published on July 14, 2020 by Lake Union Publishing.  I would like to thank Lake Union and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this novel.  It is excellent and I highly recommend it.

If you're looking for an emotional read with a good twist of mystery, you've met your match. Following the 4 different women was a little difficult at times, but overall, I could relate and felt invested in their stories. There wasn't enough to suck me into their world and force me to stay up late finishing this one, but I did enjoy it.

This was my first time reading anything by this author and I was highly impressed. While scrolling through the Read Nows on NetGalley, I ran across The Lost Girls of Devon by author Barbara O’Neal and the bookcover is what grabbed my attention. I downloaded it and am so very glad I did. She’s a fantastic author! This story has several different things about it that just captivated my full attention. It’s a mystery where there are 2 different women that are missing and you don’t find out exactly what has become of them until the end. The other main part of the story is about 4 generations of a female family who have made bad choices, mistakes in life as we all do, who are trying to make amends and find forgiveness. There’s also a childhood romance that reignites after falling apart from yet another mistake. Everything about this book I found fascinating. It completely held my interest and I didn’t want to leave the characters. They were all wonderful in their own way. It was a pleasant surprise finding a new author to read and I’m looking forward to checking out other books by her. I’d like to thank NetGalley for the arc to read and review. This was definitely a 5 star read for me!

I must say I have always loved stories by this author and was sad to see this one end.

This is a story of four generations of women on the maternal side of the family, who come together after Zoe and her daughter Isabel, fly back to England after Zoe's best friend from childhood Diana goes missing. 
Zoe, divorced and Isabel going through some trauma of her own, decide this would be a good time to help search for her friend and to see her grandmother who raised her from age seven, when her mother Poppy, left to travel the world and find herself.
Now decades later, Zoe, her Mother Poppy and her grandmother Lillian, plus her daughter Isabel are all in the same town and years of resentment for her mother are once again coming to the surface for Zoe. Also an old flame of Zoe's, Sage lives there.
Zoe is an artist, her daughter Isabel has gotten into photography Lillian the grandmother is a writer and Zoe's Mother Poppy, is still a free spirit, who delves into spiritual practices. 
This is a book with a mystery to it it, as they all delve into the disappearance of Diana, and another girl who was helping her in her business. It is also a book of healing for all of these characters, whatever their issues are from past and present.

I loved the story and the characters. I cannot wait for another of her books, I have read all of them except one, When we Believed in Mermaids, which I luckily have, to read soon.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a copy of this book.

“Lost girls. I’d found them everywhere, all over the world, all longing for hope, for love, for an answer to their hungers in a world that did not honor them.”

When she was seven, Zoe’s mother Poppy dropped her off at her grandmother’s house and never came back. While they wrote letters and talked on the phone, it wasn’t enough for her, so when she was 12, she cut her mother out of her life forever. Now a mother to a teenage Isabel, Zoe must return home to her grandmother Lillian’s to find her missing best friend. Things get tense when these 4 generations get together. Add in Zoe’s first boyfriend, Sage, and her missing best friend Diana, you have a book filled with possibilities.

I related to one of these women at one time or another during my reading, though I especially related to both Zoe and Isabel, who struggled with PTSD. My heart hurt for Isabel and could relate to her anxiety and panic. There was beauty in the way she walked herself through those episodes. I loved Poppy’s free spirit and enjoyed watching her grow as a character, a grandmother, and a mother. Through tragedy, they all brought something special to each other. All of them, talented artists in their chosen craft, and I adored that their art played such a big role in the book.

I first read O’Neal in December 2019, and I instantly fell in love. When I saw she had a new book coming out, I raced to request it from Lake Union Publishing because I knew I had to have it. I can’t recommend the book enough. The characters and the storyline are fantastic. Between the mystery of Diana’s disappearance, the blossoming love between Zoe and Sage, and the healing among the generations, it touches on so many emotions as you’re reading. A heartwarming and healing journey.

4 generations of one family each telling there own story, building up to them all finding out about themselves ,all tied together to make the perfect read, would recommend this author

Star rating: 4/5

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC! The Lost Girls of Devon will be available to the public on July 14th 2020. 

Summary:

Barbara O'Neal's highly-anticipated new novel combines mystery and family drama, telling the story of four generations of women. Zoe was abandoned by her mother, Poppy, at age seven and raised by her grandmother, Lillian, in the small English town of Devon. Zoe now lives in the States, and she returns home to her grandmother with her own daughter, Isabel, after learning that her childhood best friend has gone missing. While attempting to solve the mystery of Diana's disappearance, she is also forced to face her mother and the pain of her past she has tried to leave behind. 

Review:
If the above summary is confusing, it's because this story was confusing. This novel is just jam-packed with characters and plot. The story is told in alternating perspectives by Zoe, Isabel, Poppy, and Lillian, and each character is dealing with their own major crisis, all the while trying to solve the mystery of Diana's disappearance. It is, quite honestly, overwhelming. That being said, I did enjoy the story overall, and certain aspects of it are quite lovely. Poppy and Isabel are instantly loveable characters, despite the conflicting feelings we are meant to have about Poppy. O'Neal's writing, as always, is beautiful and descriptive and brought me to tears. That being said, I just don't think mystery is O'Neal's strong suit, and the mystery aspect felt out of place here - just added drama to an already dramatic tale. It made the novel feel disjointed, like it could have easily been two separate stories. 
Overall, if you can get past the overwhelming amount of plot, this is a really enjoyable read. I recommend The Lost Girls of Devon for fans of O'Neal's past work, as well as fans of Lisa Jewell, Kristin Hannah, and Chanel Cleeton.

The Lost Girls of Devon reunites four generations of women. There are many layers to the story, which are revealed for each character. The dialogue is good, interactions are both charming and testy. Old wounds and fee,ings are worked through. I liked the relationship between Zoe and Sage the best.

Barbara O’Neal is a favorite author of mine. Her books always have a little magic in them— just enough to make you believe. This book brings back the enjoyment that I got while reading her books that were set in New Mexico. This isn’t really a mystery—I much more enjoyed it as a family story, with all the ups and downs and tears and joy that are inherent in families. Well done if you’re not really looking for a mystery to solve.