Blog Tour & Review: The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley (audio)

Title: The Moon Sister
Author: Lucinda Riley
Series: The Seven Sisters, #5
Narrator: Imogen Wilde
Published: January 2018, Whole Story Audiobooks / February 2019, Atria Books
Length: 19 hours 53 minutes / 544 pages
Source: Audio - Personal copy via Audible / Print - ARC E-copy via Netgalley via Publisher

Summary: 
From New York Times bestselling author Lucinda Riley, The Moon Sister transports you to the grandeur of the remote Scottish Highlands and the gypsy caves of Granada, just as Spain descends into civil war, interweaving the stories of two women searching for their destinies, at the risk of potentially losing their chance at love.
  
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, a gypsy 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 gypsy 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 on their journey to discover their true futures—but at the risk of potentially losing the men they had hoped to build futures with.


My thoughts: Without a doubt, this series is going down as one of my favorites! This is the latest installment, book 5, in Lucinda Riley's The Seven Sisters series and with each subsequent book, I fall more in love not only with the D'Apliese family, but also with Lucinda's writing. It is magical and just pulls you into the story so that you don't want to put the book, or audio, down until you have reached the last page. I keep saying with each new book that it's my favorite, but really - they all have been so good that I don't know if I can just single out one over the overs.

I will say, though, that I did have a harder time getting into this book than I have had with the others. And, I didn't necessarily love all the characters as much as I have with the previous books. That's not to say I didn't love the overall book, because I absolutely did and I think it was a brilliant addition to the series. I just felt that with this one, it took me a little longer to warm up to the story, and Lucia, Tiggy's grandmother, grated on my last nerve. But once you read the story, I think you might agree with me on this...and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think it's the way she was meant to be - her character was created this way and believe me, it came across loud and clear!

One of my favorite parts of this series is the cultural education I feel I am getting from each and every one of these books. This time around we go from the Scottish Highlands to the gypsy caves of Granada and then even into South America. I loved learning about the culture of the flamenco dancers and even the bit about the gypsy community. The book is set against the Spanish Civil War and WWII, and you feel the persecution that this community has felt and dealt with. It definitely has sparked an interest in me and now I want to read more about this culture...this is why I love reading historical fiction - it leads me to learn something new and wanting to read more about it.

I also love that there are some more clues dropped on us about the mysterious Pa Salt. I am so curious about him and with only two books left in this series, I cannot imagine how this is going to wrap up. Plus...who is the seventh sister? I know the next book is going to be Electra's story and I am quite excited for that. She is the sister we know the least about so I am quite anxious to dig into her life! 

This series is absolutely one of my favorites and I just know that once I have all the books and have read them all, I will certainly be revisiting them to see if I have missed any of the clues along the way. Plus, the stories are just so good that I know I will enjoy them again and again. Do you have a series that you revisit again and again?


Audio thoughts: This was another great audio installment in an overall fantastic series. I've listened to this whole series so far and I've enjoyed each one. And this is a case where it makes sense that there have been different narrators for each book. I think Imogen Wilde did a great job with the voices, giving each character their own unique voice and bringing each character to life. She made this book, which was quite long, a very enjoyable listening experience.

About the Author:  
Lucinda Riley is the #1 internationally bestselling author of over twenty novels, including The Orchid House, The Girl on the Cliff, and the Seven Sisters series. Her books have sold more than fifteen million copies in over thirty languages globally. 

Lucinda was born in Ireland and divides her time between England and West Cork with her husband and four children.   

The Moon Sister  by Lucinda Riley 
Atria Books
February 19, 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 9781982110611
E-book ISBN: 9781982110635

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