I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It tells the story of estranged adult sisters who discover how to rekindle their relationship while figuring out the mystery of their deceased mother’s estate. The narrative alternates between each sister’s POV and allows the reader opportunity to understand each one and gain insights into her perspective growing up, and her current family. The cast of supporting characters was also nicely developed and I loved hearing about Bette’s friends and how each one also had something to contribute to unraveling the mystery closet she left when she passed away.

The relationship between the sisters resonated with me, probably because I have a sister. It didn’t surprise me that two people could grow up together and yet have such radically different perspectives on their upbringing and experiences. I’m the same with with my own sister. If you’re looking for a fun, fashion forward read that includes some fun family mystery I highly recommend this book. It proves how much you really don’t know other people’s hearts no matter how close you are or thought you were.

Thank you to Net Galley and Blue Box Press for allowing me to read this ARC!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Lulu is dealing with alot. Her mom just passed and she has a meeting with her sister who she hasn't spoken to in years at he lawyers office. Lulu is disappointed in the amount of money in her mothers estate. She was hoping to pay off some bills. I liked the different characters on this book.

Charming look at a mother, her unknown Chanel obsession, and the 2 daughters she leaves behind. A must for fans of vintage fashion and a great read for women’s book cubs.

I am no fashionista and know little about Chanel, but I enjoyed the notes in their mom's purses she left behind for her daughter's to enjoy. Many times they felt the Chanel quote had much to do with their lives and the new lives they were embracing as they got their mothers affairs in order. I so enjoyed their mothers friends coming together to support the gals as they got to reminisce !!!

When starting this book, I was dazzled, thinking “wow, a new interesting read”. Then The dazzle became less and I felt disappointment, but continued on. Sneaky dazzle crept up on me, as I held the course. I realized strength, perseverance and finding friends and family made this story special. An excellent read, with a good amount of dazzle. Grab this one for your TBR list.

The Fashion Orphans by Susan Myers and M.J. Rose was fun and sweet like a surprise macaroon! I love that this book alternated perspectives between Lulu and Gabi so you got to know what each sister was thinking!

This is a story about two sisters navigating the death of a mother neither were close to. I was captured from the beginning of the story as it starts during one of their many rides on a subway train. Gabrielle and Lulu are as different as if they born from two different families. They show us in times of stress and heartache that family together is better than family separated. I was entranced with all the characters in the story. The author did a wonderful job of showing Gabrielle and Lulu’s strengths and their weaknesses along with the pettiness and jealousy that can come between sisters. The story was well written and has a great flow as it tells the story from each sisters POV. I am looking forward to reading another story from this author.

The fashion found here spans many generations and countries and lands in New York State today. Sisters struggling with life’s not so little surprises find themselves thrown back together and into an inheritance made of high fashion dreams. This is a telling of strong women with a love of fashion supporting one another. A family of bakers, booksellers, lawyers, divorcées, widows and fashionistas all in a cozy nook with a cup of tea. Randy Susan Meyers and M.J Rose somehow have folded all the best things into one heartwarming bite full of life.

Half sisters, a deceased, self involved mother and Coco Chanel come together in this heartwarming story. Gabrielle and Loire have been estranged following devastating times in both of their lives. I loved the way their mother’s odd inheritance forces them to work together to discover what’s most important to them. I loved all,the fashion references, especially the Coco Channel quotes. I have had many of those quotes taped to my mirror over the years. Yes, I am a big Coco fan, but I think anyone will enjoy this story of family, fashion, and New York City.

The Fashion Orphans by Randy Susan Meyers and MJ Rose is the story of two sisters and how they dealt with the legacy of their recently deceased mother. Fashion, predictably, plays a large role in the story and this reader was most interested in those passages where it was the main character. Even with all of the loss experienced by the two sisters, it was hard to feel too sorry for them. They were rich with family and friends and had just inherited a collection worth thousands of dollars, even if they had to go through the inconvenience of figuring out how to liquidate it. Fairy godmothers who were both wealthy and generous pushed this story into the realm of fairy tale. However, it was a nice, light read and will be recommended to patrons looking for something that's not filled with too much stress and ends happily.

The Fashion Orphans explores what would happen when two sisters who have had years of emotional baggage come to terms with the loss of a cold, demanding, and frankly terrible mother through the forced acceptance of her collection of pieces from Coco Chanel.

Exploring the baggage we all carry from previous relationships, romantic, familial, and otherwise, many of the moments in the Fashion Orphans provided a sense of healing and growth for the main characters as they coped with their loss and tried to move forward in their lives. Many quotes from Coco Chanel peppered throughout the book and while I can appreciate the skill, research, and love that went into this book, it could have wrapped up about two hundred pages sooner. It was a bit of a trudging read, and as a consumer who was not a fashion historian or particularly impassioned with Coco Chanel (in particular), I found it very polarizing for a niche market.

The Fashion Orphans by Randy Susan Meyers and M.J. Rose is the story of two estranged half sisters, Lulu and Gabrielle, who have lost their mother. They are both hoping for a windfall as they head to the reading of her will, but neither expected what she left them...a collection of Chanel clothing and accessories, in all sizes, most never worn that they had to go through and decide what to do with. Lulu was all for selling it and paying off some of her debts, but Gabrielle was not and how they explored the collection, the notes they found in many of the handbags that were left for them by their mother and what they decide to do in the end is the crux of the novel...and of this unique relationship between sisters.

Thank you to the authors, Blue Box Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and opinions. I wanted to read this the minute I saw the cover and the description! This was a great read and very well written and I will for sure be reading more by this author. Thank you for the chance to read this ahead of publication.

I love books about sisters and The Fashion Orphans provides a fantastic book about sisters along with a lot of information about Coco Chanel both her clothes and comments that she made about fashion during her life as a designer.

Gabrielle and Lulu are estranged half sisters. Even though they had the same mother, their upbringing was very different from each other. Gabrielle was the oldest. She is in the midst of a very public and ugly divorce that has cost her the job as Broadway costume designer. She is beautiful and always well dressed but is stressed about finding a job and paying her debts.

Lulu is a widow with two grown sons who is trying to cope with her grief while she works at her husband's family bakery. Her husband didn't leave the family well provided for and Lulu is working hard to reduce her debt. Lulu doesn't have much of a fashion sense and would sooner be comfortable than dressed to impress.

When the sisters are called to the lawyers office after their mother's death, they are both hoping for large monetary inheritance so that they can pay off their debt and go back to ignoring each other. They are shocked to find out that there is no money but they are left with their mother's apartment. When they go to the apartment, they are shocked when they open the closet. It's overflowing with couture clothes, mostly from Coco Chanel. Lulu wants to sell everything so she can get the money but Gabby feels that they should do more. They are both amazed to find quotes from Chanel hidden in purses written by their mother - perhaps a helping hand from the other side. After they meet some of their mother's friends, they all work together to make a final decision of what to do with all of the wonderful clothes, purses and jewelry in their mother's closet. Will the sisters bond with each other again or become estranged again due to resentments from their childhoods?? Will they find a good solution for all of the designer clothes??

This is a wonderful book about sisters and friendships and how strong women are, no matter what the circumstances. I didn't know much about Coco Chanel and spent time goggling pictures of her dresses and her life as a designer.

Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Who can’t relate to sisters arguing about which one is having a harder time at the moment and how much harder their mother manages to make it for them without even trying? These sisters may have different fathers but they share the same mother and have developed their own vocabulary to describe all the ways she drives them crazy. When she dies, they hope against their own lived experience that she may have left them money to solve the debts they’ve been saddled with from the various men in their lives. No such luck. But, unsurprisingly even in death, she leaves them something to argue about and struggle with. They ultimately find some resolution about their relationship to her and each other but the journey is worth the reading in this clever and warm book, for sisters and daughters everywhere. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

I enjoyed reading this book. It is about two middle aged half sisters Gabi and Lulu. Their mother Bette has passed away and they now have to settle her estate. There are stipulations that she put in her will and the sisters have to agree what to do with their mother’s collection of Chanel. The sisters are disappointed because they thought they were getting money because both are in debt. This book has a bit of mystery - why did their mother have a huge collection of Chanel in different sizes, forgiveness, a bit of romance and second chances. Thank you to NetGalley and Blue Box Press for the E-ARC. This is my own opinion.

Even though there is fashion in the story, the story is about two sister that find themselves again while exploring the deceased mothers closet. Don't get me wrong just the mention Chanel makes me happy and the two estranged sister find out a lot about their mother and each other by exploring their mother's closet that she gave them in her will. The exploration of the closet makes the sisters examine their lives both in good ways and bad and lets them see what they might want to do next, and they find many things and people who can help them along the way.

This is the fifth book I have read by M.J. Rose and I love the way the author adds a little intrigue into the story and a little high fashion in the mix. Very quick read and made me feel included in the story.

I want to thank Blue Box Press, AuthorBuzz and NetGalley for an advance copy of this loving story.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a good heart warming story. Two sister Gabrielle and Lulu. They both are having financial problems and they mom has passed. But their are stipulations to their mothers will. I really enjoyed this story, plot and characters.

A fun, easy read for anyone who misses chic-lit and wonders what happens to those characters two decades after their 20s. THE FASHION ORPHANS is a heartfelt story about two middle-aged sisters who have gone their separate ways but are brought back together by their mother’s will, which requires them to work together. Readers who love fashion will appreciate this novel..

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.

The Fashion Orphans
by Randy Susan Meyers and M.J. Rose
Two estranged sisters find that forgiveness never goes out of style when they inherit their mother’s vintage jackets, purses… and pearls of wisdom.

Half-sisters Gabrielle (55) and Lulu (48) have only two things in common: mounds of debt and coils of unresolved enmity toward, their controlling recently deceased mother.

The sisters arrive for the reading of their mother’s will and instead of a sizable inheritance discover all they have been left is their mother’s secret closet jammed with high-end designer clothes and accessories—most from Chanel.

Contemplating their mother’s self-indulgence, the sisters can’t help but wonder if Lauren Weisberger had it wrong: because it seems, in fact, that the devil wore Chanel. But as they explore the collection, meet and fall in love with her warm, wonderful friends, and magically find inspiring messages tucked away in her treasures—it seems their mother is advising Lulu and Gabrielle from the beyond—helping them rediscover themselves and restore their relationship with each other.


It was pretty good. Funny in spots. Just seemed a bit too chic-lit for the age. Anyway, EVERYONE but the mystery readers will surely love it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC to gove my honest opinion.