Interesting take on what is left behind for survivors/family upon death. Half sisters Gabrielle and Lulu are left with designer clothes, mostly by Coco Chanel. What they learn about their Mother/life from this inheritance is told through her friends and the notes in the clothing that she leaves behind. Quick, interesting read.

I had high hopes for this book but it was just ok. I almost didnt finish but i just wanted to know what happened to the clothes! The story seemed to drag and the ending felt rushed.

Half-sisters Gabrielle and Lulu, though estranged, are working together to inventory the contents of their extravagant mother Bette’s apartment after her unexpected death. Gabrielle, a costume designer, is still trying to find her footing after her very public divorce from her theatrical producer husband, while Lulu is grieving the death of her husband several years earlier. While Lulu has the love and support of her two sons and her husband’s family, where she works in the Quattro family bakery, Gabrielle has been working in a small bookstore for a wonderful lady named Thea. As the sisters navigate the mountains of Chanel clothing and accessories, Gabrielle discovers a card, handwritten by Bette, tucked into a very expensive Chanel handbag, and realizes that the quote, from Coco Chanel, speaks to her soul. When Lulu finds another card, in a different handbag, that seems tailor-made for her, the sisters begin to repair their damaged relationship and create a new extended family while doing so.

I loved Gabrielle and Lulu, and found their strength, both together and separately, to be inspirational. Bette’s friends from the SES, Thea, Lulu’s sons, and even the Quattros all pitch in to help the women achieve their dreams, and it was heartwarming to see the love and support pouring off the pages. I loved the different quotes from Coco Chanel, but my favorite was the one at the end of the book – “To achieve great things, we must first dream.”

Cleverly crafted story of family dynamics tested by losses. Gabrielle and Lulu are half sisters struggling with their lives and their mothers complex legacy.

What would you do if your mom left you a collection of vintage clothing by Coco Chanel? You might be tempted to sell it off or find another way to cash in, which is what at least one of the sisters wants to do, but there are restrictions and an attorney has the final say on what they do with that collection. This book is more than just about clothing by Chanel, it is about sisters finding their way back to one another and learning how to open up and let others into their life.

Gabrielle and Lulu were once close, but time and circumstances have caused a rift between the two. Plus these sisters couldn't be any more different and you wonder how that could have possibly happened. Lulu is more of a free spirit and really doesn't care much about fashion. Gabrielle has, and wants more, of the finer things in life. Both have endured some tragedies in their lives, Lulu's husband passed away and Gabrielle went through a trying divorce. However, both are a little short-sighted and mired in their own grief to look outside of their little world.

This story might resonate with many readers especially when it comes to the loss of a parent. Or perhaps it will be the sibling relationship and what caused a rift so that you aren't as close anymore. Then there is the merry band of women, friends of Bette (the mother), and the challenges they face as they grow older and want to leave a legacy behind. This doesn't even include Thea, the bookshop owner that employs Gabrielle, and has her own set of issues with a son that has become greedy over what he might inherit from his mother...but that is a whole other story that you will discover within the pages.

I enjoyed the story even thought Lulu and Gabrielle could get on my nerves with their lack of communication and expressing their needs. Family is family, and while they might be afraid, if they don't speak up worse things could happen in their lives. I loved Lulu's kids and their spouses. They were not afraid to jump in and help at various times. Gus even has a love for baking and has all sorts of ideas for the family bakery.

The ending just proves that communication and love will go far in your life, you just have to be able to express it to others.

We give this book 5 paws up.

A fun and touching family story about how things can look different once someone is gone and how memories can bring people together.

My parents are strict minimalists but I can see why this would be an emotional thing to do--sorting through a life by their belongings. I felt like this would make a really cute movie or mini-series. As a book it was a little lightweight and bordered on cutesy at times but I liked the relationships and the inciting incident was very relatable.

This was a fun read with a serious side. Half sisters Gabrielle and Lulu both of whom have lost their spouses, face a challenge in which they must band together to meet the conditions of their recently deceased mother’s last will and testament. Reminiscences by them, individually and together, fill the reader in on their their childhood and the paths each has taken as adults. What unfolds through their interactions and relationships built with their mother’s circle of friends reveals a mother different from the long held ideas of who and what she was. They also learn things about themselves and each other which enrich and change their perceptions as well as their relationship with each other.
I really enjoyed this book and learned so much about one of fashions most famous designers.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Blue Box Press for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

⭐️3.75
CONTENT WARNINGS: parental death, divorce, widowhood

The Fashion Orphans follows the two sisters Lulu and Gabrielle who inherit a surprise vintage fashion collection after their mother’s death. It’s a tale that perfectly captures the complex dynamics that take place between estranged sisters and estranged mothers, though my heart was not as completely warmed as I’d wanted or expected it to be.

For starters, nearly everyone in the story needed therapy, very badly; I do not mean this as an insult in any way, but to be absolutely honest, if the characters were real people, I’d have no qualms suggesting that they seek professional help for their own good. Lulu and Gabi’s voices and reactions to the developments in the story were also indistinguishable from time to time — even though it had been stressed time and again that they had mostly different upbringings, Lulu with her father and grandparents in Brooklyn, and Gabi with her mother in Manhattan. And by the second half of the story, the book tended to be a bit in-your-face with discussing ethics in fashion, especially when it came to defending Coco Chanel’s wartime activities.

Still, there was far more reason and substance behind the sisters’ disposal of their mother’s clothing collection — far more than, say, Becky Bloomwood did in Confessions of a Shopaholic. And all in all, it had the truest and most important things to say about what happens when someone dies: that grieving is and ought to be communal; and that moving on after death is and ought to be communal as well. After all, it is rarely ever the dead who are to be pitied, but almost always the living, the ones left behind.

I wanted to like this book but I was only able to get through 36% of it. Gabrielle and Lulu were just meh, I couldn’t connect with them. They just were not relatable, and the story was just boring. I really was looking forward to this book and I’m disappointed that it didn’t hold my attention.

A fun read for anyone who loves New York, fashion, or just a heartwarming story of sisters reconnecting. After their mother Bette dies, Gabrielle and Lulu are left with nothing except a surprise closet full of vintage Chanel. With the help of their mother’s stylish, quirky friends they try to figure out just who Bette was and if this unusual inheritance can help turn their lives around.

The Fashion Orphans is a heartwarming story about the relationships of moms and daughters, and sisters. When Gabrielle and LuLu face each other after a years long rift for their mothers will to be read, neither woman is in a position to be forgiving or accepting. As they start cleaning out their mothers amazing closet they learn who their mom was, and while she wasn’t the best mom, she was a mom who did as best as she knew how. The sisters plot and plan to carry on their mothers legacy while facing their own truths and shortcomings with each other. A great book about truth, forgiveness, and the power of women supporting women.

Gabrielle and Lulu are sisters who have fallen out with each other. But after their mother, Bette, dies, they have to come together to read her will.

Bette has been clear from the first that all her assets have to be divided equally between her two daughters. Both daughters are hard up for money and are eager to get some from Bette. But then, they discover that their mother has left them a "collection." Of course, they are not thrilled.

But then, they learn and grow and get inspiration from Bette who seems to be talking to them from beyond. What is she trying to say?

While the story was good and I even liked the characters, I found the story too slow. It took me 5 days to complete this book which is saying something. There are also too many dialogues and while this is not a bad thing per se, it slows down the narrative.

3 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This was a fun read about two estranged sisters, Gabrielle and Lulu, brought together after their mother Bette's death. They have inherited a substantial and valuable collection of Coco Chanel's clothing, jewelry, and handbags. Per their mother's wishes, they must come up with plan on what to do with said collection. A plan that must be approved by Bette's attorney. The sisters argued, they planned, they argued, they brainstormed and researched, but did they produce a suitable plan? You will have to read the book to find out. I liked how Bette's friends came together to help the sisters with their decision making, and I loved how Bette left handwritten notes of Coco Chanel quotes in every handbag. A nice read about family coming together, about lasting friendships, and forgiveness. Very enjoyable.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

The Fashion Orphans gives one an in depth look at the products of Coco Chanel all tied up with a story of two half sisters their lives and troubles and their relationship with their mother. A fun read.

Estranged half-sisters Gabrielle Winslow and Lulu Quattro don't have much in common. What they do have in common is mounds of debt and more unresolved issues towards their recently deceased mother, Bette Bradford then I can count.
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Gabrielle, the firstborn, was raised in relative luxury on Manhattan’s
Upper East Side. At fifty-five, her life as a Broadway costume designer married to a Broadway producer has exploded in divorce.
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Lulu, who spent half her childhood under the tutelage of her working-class Brooklyn grandparents, is a grieving widow at forty-eight. With her two sons grown, her life feels reduced to her work at the bakery owned by her late husband’s family.
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Both sisters are expecting quite the monetary inheritance. But to their shock, what they have been left is their mother’s secret walk-in closet jammed with high-end current and vintage designer clothes and accessories— most from Chanel.
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As they explore their mother’s collection, meet and fall in love with her group of wonderful friends and find inspiring messages tucked away in her treasures — it seems as though their mother is advising Lulu and Gabrielle from the beyond — helping them rediscover themselves and restore their relationship with each other.
⠀
I love family drama especially when it comes to sisters! The pages of this fast paced book brings all of those things!

Fun read. I enjoy fashion and this book filled that gap in a really great way. Some interesting characters. The book doesn’t go too deeply into fashion if one isn’t interested in that genre.

The Fashion Orphans by Randy Susan Meyers and M.J. Rose was surprisingly entertaining. It started out slow but once it got going it was enjoyable. Two sisters with totally different personalities and barely having spoken for over two years, are brought together by the death of their mother. They must both attend the reading of her will at her attorney’s office. The sisters, Gabrielle and Lulu, both had a love/hate relationship with their mother, Bette. Bette had an obsession with fashion, in particular Coco Chanel. The instructions of the will bring the sisters back together like never before and brings them a new understanding of their mother. The story contains lots of discussion about fashion - clothing, jewelry, perfume, etc. But if your not into fashion you should still give this one a try because there’s a lot more to the story and it was a fun read. The authors remind us of the importance of fashion through history.
I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley.

What a fun and well-written story. All the characters were likable and relatable. Each had endearing qualities and traits that were irritating or frustrating. I enjoyed the relationship between Gabe and Lulu. Bette was a hoot, even in death. Each of the ladies of the SES brought with them a trait made them someone I would like to spend time with. The men were wonderful, of course. Except for the wimp, Nigel.

The Story seemed a bit slow at first but turns out to be perfect when looking at it. The slower pace was good for absorbing the initial details of why the girls were in the situation they found themselves in. I am a fan of Randy Sue Meyers, and this book does not disappoint.


I received an ARC from Blue Box Press/AuthorBuzz through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

Gabrielle and Lulu are sisters, but that’s where the similarity ends. Where the elder sister, Gabrielle, has always been a slave to beauty and fashion, Lulu has always been a no frills sort of woman, nonplussed by the latest trends. But when Gabrielle goes through a divorce and Lulu becomes a young widow, the two suddenly have more in common than ever before.

Another thing they have in common? Their strained relationship with their fashionista mother, Bette Bradford. So when Bette dies, the sisters are reluctantly reunited to settle their mother’s affairs. Even from the grave, Bette remains passive aggressively elusive, giving her daughters the mysterious task of tending to her “collection”. Neither woman knows what their mother collected, so when they walk in, quite literally, to a closet full of expensive and one of a kind items, they can’t believe their eyes. Forced to work together, the sisters quickly realize there’s more to the collection than pearls and purses. Neither may have been the perfect fit as daughters, but being there for one another is always in vogue.

Fashion Orphans was a refreshing novel with a unique premise. Not only did the women come to understand their mother better, they came understand each other better as well. The quirky undercurrent kept the story flowing as well as a designer’s new spring collection. It also left me wishing, once again, I had a sister to share clothes and companionship with. 😞

So grab your sister, your gal pal or your favorite garment for a story with a sweet message that, quite frankly, never goes out of style.