DNF. The premise sounded great, but I didn’t expect it to be so drenched in fashion references, even taking the title/cover into consideration. And the characters were boring and didn’t intrigue me in the slightest.

2.5 stars. Two estranged sisters are left with an unusual “will” from their fashionista mother who coveted anything by Coco Chanel. In the contents of her Chanel belongings are little notes, messages which they have to figure out who for and what the message pertains to.

Fashionistas will enjoy the references to vintage clothing and their value but the main gist of the story is the challenging personal lives of the sisters, their understanding of their unusual mother, what she meant to them, and they to her. In the process they learn much about their mother and themselves. The side characters were fun to get to know, even the Gray Lady.

There were warm and touching moments, but in whole, quite predictable, actually. Not really my cup of tea, but many have enjoyed it and I wish the authors much success with their collaboration..

My thanks to NetGalley, and Blue Box Press for the e-galley, early copy to review. Release date coming right up on 2/1/22.

4 1/2 ⭐️‘s
The Fashion Orphans is a wonderful story of family, unlikely friendships and second chances. When Gabrielle and LuLu’s mother, Bette, dies, the estranged sisters just want their inheritance and to walk away. Both have suffered devastating life changes in the past two years and neither was there for the other. Bette was not a warm and fuzzy type of a mother and coming to terms with her death is not easy for either of them. When the sisters find out that Bette has spent all of her money on a treasure closet of designer clothing (mostly Chanel whom she idolized) and accessories, they are more than a little disappointed. Both were counting on that money! LuLu is deep in debt and Gabrielle’s life style has changed drastically leaving her with not as much savings as she would like. According to the will, they must work together to figure out what’s best for Bette’s collection. As Gabrielle and LuLu start to inventory Bette’s collection they begin to find notes in handbags. Notes that seem to have a special kind of magic and speak directly to whichever sister picked the note. There are some pretty stringent rules attached to the collection and it’s not until the sisters meet the women of the Styles Endures Society (friends of Bette) along with Gabrielle’s boss, Thea, that they find a community that in the end will help them come up with the perfect solution to Bette’s treasures. With a cast of delightful characters and a story that touches the heart, The Fashion Orphans was a tale that won’t soon be forgotten.

The Fashion Orphans by Randy Susan Meyers and M.J. Rose is about two sisters who receive an inheritance of sorts from their mother… a closet full of clothes! Now for a fashion lover, this might be a dream come true but for these sisters, they are less than thrilled.

I loved the rich details of the clothes and imagined myself with a closet filled with designer clothes to sift through, a dream come true! I appreciated the struggles of both sisters and their relationship.

This was a wonderful story and I can’t wait to see what the authors write next!



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.

Coming to you on 2/1

Estranged half-sisters, divorced Gabrielle and widowed Lulu, grew up together, but had different experiences due to their fathers. When their mother, Bette, dies, they must come together to figure out what to do with Bette’s collection. This is a wonderful story about dealing with the heartbreaks of life and coming out of them stronger.

I received a free copy of this book to review through NetGalley.

Even though this is a story about half sisters navigating their dead mothers legacy, it is an easy relaxing read. Gabrielle and Lulus Chanel obsessed mom (Bette) has left them a stores worth of vintage clothing with messages from the beyond. Both Gabby and Lulu are at crossroads in their lives and haven’t been close in years. With the help of Bette’s fashionista friends, family and legal guidance these two sisters come together to build something new and exciting. Thank you to netgalley for this book preview.

THE FASHION ORPHANS by Randy Susan Meyers and M.J. Rose will be a hit for anyone that has ever seen a photo and actually known what the model was wearing…or had a night where they felt their clothing helped them feel like a million bucks… or that is drawn to a well written and complicated story of siblings and mothers. When Bette passes away, she leaves a legacy of not being the best mother to her two daughters. And those two daughters are not the best sisters to each other. Their lives have all been defined by the men that fathered them and the husbands they lost. But when Bette passes, she leaves them another legacy – her special collection – and they have to figure out she wants them to do with it. The story that unfolds covers the girls getting to know the true value of family and happiness and of a few designer pieces as well. They also learn that they are surrounded by people who loved them and that includes their mother. I appreciated the humor, the pace, the supporting cast, the quotes, and the writing of this collaboration as much as I like each author’s individual works. I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

When estranged sisters Gabrielle and Lulu's mother dies instead of the monetary inheritance they expected they receive their mother's collection of mostly Chanel high-end vintage and designer clothing and accessories. They are tasked with trying to find a fitting and appropriate way to handle the collection. This is a beautiful book about family both real and found. It is about reconnecting with the family that you are born into and forging new familial type connections with people you may not be not related to by blood. If you are feeling down about the state of the world and people's horrible treatment of one another, you are definitely going to want to read this book. There are so many good, kind, and caring characters in this book, it will make you feel hopeful. You will wish you could be a part of this family group.

Half sisters Gabrielle and Lulu have become estranged as adults. Gabrielle’s life was centered on their mother and an upper-class life in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. She started a career as a Broadway costume designer and married a Broadway Producer. Lulu’s life was shaped by her working-class grandparents. She married young and ended up working in her in-law’s bakery. Both of their lives have imploded recently – Gabrielle with her divorce and Lulu with the death of her husband. The sisters meet at the reading of their mother’s will. They find that they have been left an unusual inheritance and tasked to “preserve and value the items in my collection. Everything is carefully wrapped and particularized in a manner meant to bring forth their appreciation and understanding.” Not understanding what their mother meant, and under the supervision of the attorney, Gabrielle and Lulu begin a journey to discover who their mother really was. Along the way they meet and befriend their mother’s friends and discover themselves again. I really enjoyed the journey. I gave it four stars because I feel like there were some things that weren’t wrapped up in the end. Perhaps there is a sequel in the future????

There’s a lot to like about The Fashion Orphans. There’s the Odd Couple pairing of two sisters who are so different and how they try to find their way to common ground. There’s the questions about their mother’s life, a mother who was good at the big events but not-so-good at everyday mother stuff. There’s even a little romance thrown in, but not too much, which I thought was good. Too much romance doesn’t appeal to me.

One thing I didn’t like was a detailed description of sooooo many Chanel pieces. It’s clear the authors have done their work in researching the collections, but I didn’t find it necessary to be so thorough. The ladies’ mom had lots of high-end Chanel and some other designers–we get it. No need to beat the reader over the head with it. Maybe it’s because I’m a lot like Lulu, who prefers Gap to Bergdorf’s for her shopping. There was a time when I was in high school when labels mattered to me, but I soon outgrew that when I was in college and paying my way through school and buying my own clothes. It was a totally foreign thing to me to pay thousands of dollars for one item in one’s apparel/handbag/shoe/jewelry collection. I’m more of an Old Navy/Gap/thrift store kind of gal.

I also found both Lulu and Gabrielle very naive and not the wisest with their money choices, which had me scratching my head. Lulu’s barely hanging on, two years after her husband’s death, with $40,000 in credit card debt alone, plus parent student loans and an overdue mortgage. It seems the last two years she’s just survived, barely, and doesn’t want to confront anything uncomfortable, like bills. This reminds me so much like my mother after my father died. If it weren’t for my oldest brother to help her get a handle on things, she probably would have ended up like Lulu. Both Lulu and her late husband didn’t make the wisest money decisions and now she’s paying for it. She’s ready to sell the house because she can’t afford it. She’s really looking forward to an inheritance, only to find a collection of clothes, jewelry, shoes and handbags from her mother.

I really felt for Gabrielle, whose husband left her for another woman, had a much better lawyer than her in the divorce leaving her with hardly anything, and is ostracized in the industry she previously worked in due to her ex’s machinations. But just like Lulu, she hasn’t handled herself any better since the dissolution of her marriage. She’s got a job that barely pays the bills, and she frequently picks up rich men for one-night stands because she doesn’t want to risk her heart to another relationship. She’s got a small retirement fund and owns her condo, but otherwise, she’s just scraping by, too. She, however, has a totally different outlook on her mother’s collection than Lulu.

The more I read the book, the more pissed off I got at Bette, the mother, who made the women’s inheritance like a game instead of telling them straight out about the collection and what to do with it. She was definitely lacking in the mother department, unless of course it involved superficial things like shopping or throwing big birthday parties. Instead of just investing money or buying real estate, she bought couture. To each their own, I guess, but the sensible midwestern girl in me couldn’t wrap my head around it. It seemed so wasteful.

I thought Gabrielle and Lulu’s solution to be satisfying, to open a high-end thrift shop to promote the reuse of these high-end fashions. The clothing industry is a big producer of waste, so the eco-friendly message put forth was a good one. Both women make friends with Bette’s friends, who offer up other designer’s high-end designs for the shop. The addition of two helpful men that the women previously had known adds to the mix.

Overall, a very satisfying, quick read. I’ve enjoyed M.J. Rose’s other collaborations, and that’s what led me to this book. I look forward to more.

What could a closet full of clothes and accessories bring to two sisters? Quite a lot. Especially when they are couture clothes and are worth a mint. Lulu and Gabrielle grapple with the legacy of their mother and the terms of her will. They also have their own lives to sort out.
I enjoyed this book about sisters, blood related and their external community. I loved when the other women were brought on board because it demonstrated the power of sisterhood.
It’s a great story of friendship, sisterhood, and of course, Chanel.

What a cute little read this was. I usually am not the right reader for books that aren’t young adult or romantic, but the development of the main characters throughout really kept me going, as well as the fashion. Gabrielle and Lulu losing their mother, who was believed to be rich, but only left them with basically her extensive Chanel collection to take care of, is not at all what they wanted. As they unravel all these secrets about their mother, they grow to understand the way she was and her heirlooms. With both sisters' POVs, it really dives deep into what they were going through. The plotline was perfect and I can’t wait to read some more from these authors!

If you’re a fashion lover, or if you simply have a sister, than this one’s for you! Highly recommend.

Loved the beginning of this book but about 2/3 of the way through it seemed to get a little too sweet for my liking. All in all an enjoyable read!

Four stars for this heart-warming story of two sisters coming together after the passing of their mother. It was pretty predictable, and there were a couple threads I wish had been expanded upon, but I liked the characters and I really liked how they learned so much about the person their mother was.

Gabrielle and Lulu are half-sisters with a seven-year age difference. They were raised by their mother, but each had a very different experience growing up. Gabrielle's father had come from money and he set her up financially when he died very young. Lulu's father was not that financially savvy, so when he and Bette divorced, Lulu was left with public school and a streak of jealousy towards Gabi.

And what to say about Bette? The reader never meets her; she is dead before the book begins. She loved Coco Chanel and all that she stood for (except maybe that affair with a Nazi during WWII), but was not a warm or very supportive mother. Gabrielle and Lulu are at the reading of the will and discover that there is not much left to them...except a mysterious collection of Bette's. They discover a treasure trove of Chanel fashion: dresses, coats, shoes, purses, and jewelry. This is going to solve their troubles, but how?

The sisters are introduced to a group of Bette's friends and together they create magic. That is the part of the story I loved. Through all of this, Gabi and Lulu learn who their mother was. They learn to forgive her and one another, all while building community. It is a sweet and hopeful book.

My thanks to Blue Box Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was the lighthearted break from thrillers novels type of book that I definitely needed. It was about sisters who became orphans and turning their love of fashion into success (with some bumps along the way). Relatable, funny and an ode to Coco Chanel.

Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Randy Susan Meyers and Blue Box Press Author Buzz for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 2/1/22

I was 20% through this book when I decided not to finish it. With two older main characters I expected The Fashion Orphans to be Women’s Fiction rather than “Chick Lit” which is how I would classify this novel. I am sure there is an audience that it will appeal to though and for who it would make a good beach read. Thank you to the authors, the publisher and NetGalley for approving me to read this ARC.

Book received for free through NetGalley

An incredibly cute book that, once you get pulled in, you can’t put down. A great feel good read.

I didn’t find this book very interesting. Very repetitive about Coco Chanel clothes and costume jewelry. The descriptions were not detailed enough to picture the items in your mind which made the book boring. A lot of interesting quotes. There is a story about sisters repairing their relationship after their mother died.
#netgalley #fashionorphans #randysusanmeyers #mjrose

An easy, lighter read about two estranged half-sisters, Lulu and Gabrielle. They come together for the reading of their mother's will. They haven't always gotten along, but they are both anticipating a large inheritance and getting their lives back on track with the extra cash.

Sisterhood is at the heart of the novel. They have some fun while trying to navigate the mystery of the collection, dressing up in vintage Chanel, putting ensembles together and guessing how much any of it is worth. They get schooled with some "pearls of wisdom" from Coco Chanel, magical, thought-provoking messages their mom believed in.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Blue Box Press for the early arc of this novel.*