Cover Image: The Last Carolina Girl

The Last Carolina Girl

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Member Reviews

I was a little bit worried that this was going to be another "Where the Crawdads sing" but this was definitely it's own book and honestly with a much less sketchy author so that's always a plus! A great bunch of characters and some heartfelt moments!

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

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Definitely for fans of Where The Crawdads Sing. I loved this book so much and I appreciated the setting of the book as a Carolina girl.

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This was a lovely read that reminded me of Where the Crawdads sing. As an east coast girl, I love reading anything that takes place is the Carolinas. This story was heartbreaking and raw in all the best ways.

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A heartbreaking story of a girl who's choices no longer are her own after a devastating loss. Torn from the family she has only known in a place that holds so much near and dear. The story of a girl becoming a women who's loss is so profound in each page and my heart breaks for her. A gripping read on how families navigate through life and how the choices we make or don't make ripple through familes for many generations.

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3.5 stars. This was mostly good, but didn't quite love up to its potential. I'm a NC girl and had to read this advanced reader's copy for that reason alone. There is no way NOT to sympathize with the main character. She just can't catch a break, from birth to the end of the book. There's enough small, happy scraps to keep you hanging on in hope, but overall it's pretty depressing and frustrating.
Almost every character is 2 dimensional. The eugenics stuff is thrown in there but really with no good context or grounding. It's just odd and the way that it is used as a way to hurt the main character is confusing -- because I still don't understand the real reasoning except to punish her for her long dead mother's life choices.
The ending was tied up neatly, but a bit boring and predictable.
I would give this author another chance since this was a debut.

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Loved the eugenics part of the book but felt the beginning was too slow. Wish the book had more of the eugenics in it.

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I haven’t read too many historical fictions, but I really enjoyed this one! The writing was amazing to me and I loved the entire storyline. It was different than my usual reads and it got me out of my reading slump. Definitely need to read more of this author’s work.

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3 distant and predictable stars

From the publisher: “When an accident takes her father's life, fourteen-year-old Leah is wrenched from her small community and cast into a family of strangers. Separated from her only home, Leah is kept apart from the family and forced to act as a helpmate. When a moment of violence and prejudice thrusts Leah into the center of the state's shameful darkness, she must fight for her own future against a world that doesn't always value the wild spirit of a Carolina girl.”

“I can tell my story. I tell it as if relaying the account of someone else, not someone I know too well cause then there’s emotions that want to get involved.” Unfortunately, everything felt very surface to this reader, and I did not relate to any of the characters. The author tends to do more telling of the story from a distance, and not enough experiencing and feeling emotions. Secondary characters are stereotyped as either very good or very bad. The evil Mrs. Griffin, who takes Leah in as an unpaid servant, is just mean and nasty. Her youngest child, often the brunt of her cruelty remains a sweet soul. No subtlety here. There is even a bit of a Cinderella element with a ball where Leah must serve the other debutantes punch while wearing a hand-me-down dress.

The narration by Susan Bennett really made the story come alive. Characters were easy to differentiate. The slight Southern drawl was easy to understand and coaxed the story along.

Don’t skip the excellent Author’s Notes. (They were not included in the ARC audiobook.) Church shares how her aunt inspired her to write the story. She presents some fascinating history of the American eugenics movement and forced sterilization.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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In 1935, Leah’s lumberjack father died during a logging accident—her mother passed away when Leah was born. Suddenly without parents and homeless, Leah is forced to leave the wild yet peaceful coastal Carolina town to live with strangers in the city - the Griffins, a wealthy family with a terrible secret. Here, at the age of 14, she’s forced to be a helpmate instead of a member of the family. But as secrets come to light, Leah must fight for her own future.

I enjoyed Leah’s coming-of-age story. Her love for nature is her one constant as she loses everything: her family, her home, her friends, her pet, her education. Yet, her spirit will not break. Leah constantly strives to be part of her new surroundings even though she deeply longs for home: the ocean. I appreciate the historical thread of eugenics woven into the last part of the story, but I wish eugenics history played a more prominent role. Also, I would have loved Leah’s journey even more if the book was longer, experiencing more of Leah’s perseverance rather than simply an epilogue as a sneak peek into Leah’s future.

Meagan Church is a talented writer. Leah is a well-developed character, and the vivid setting descriptions fill my imagination. Don’t miss the author’s note which includes her inspiration, research, and eugenics data. I might even suggest reading it first. I recommend this book, especially to book clubs who enjoy historical fiction, since there’s a wealth of discussion material!

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Readers of Southern Fiction will love this debut! It is well researched and well written! The audiobook narrator is really great and kept me engage all the way to the end. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are entirely my own and I am voluntarily writing this review.

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Thank you to NetGalley and SourceBooks Landmark for this eARC of 'The Last Carolina Girl'.

A beautifully crafted glimpse into the past, 'The Last Carolina Girl' offers a work of historical fiction that can be enjoyed by anyone, in or outside a classroom setting- I can easily see this book integrated into an American History curriculum, or an English one. While I enjoyed it greatly, I felt the last third was rush and weak, as though there wasn't a 'good' way to end the story. One of the core concepts is also glossed over, and I wish it had been explored more.

Overall, an easy and enjoyable read with likable characters, well-written and with good pacing. I will be recommending it to friends.

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Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for the complimentary copy.

This was an enjoyable and very quick read, but I was left wanting more. The synopsis describes Leah as a wild Carolina, I didn't see that. Strong, yes... but wild? Not really. Unless a connection to nature counts her as wild?

I expected a lot more of the eugenics side of the story, but that was just a mention here and there in the story, with one real appearance and then it was gone.

I also felt like 80% of the book was just build up, then there was a brief conflict and then the book was over. I needed that part to be much more fleshed out than it was.

Overall, a good book and I would pick up another by this author.

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The Last Carolina Girl is a coming of age story set in North Carolina in 1935. Fourteen year old Leah lives with her father in a one room workhouse on the property of her father’s employer. One day, a tragic accident occurs and Leah becomes an orphan. She’s eventually sent off to lives with another family expecting to be apart of the family only to be classified as the help. Traumatic experiences happen to Leah and yet somehow she endured and survived despite the odds stacked against her.

I’m conflicted with this story- it’s heartbreaking and upsetting but it also speaks to the strength and resilience of others and what they endure. I was absolutely appalled by what Mrs Griffin did and how she acted and I hope karma came for her. But sadly her actions weren’t that uncommon and my heart hurts for the real life people who went through that.

I wish some of the loose ends would have been wrapped up better in the epilogue cause I would have liked to know what happened to the Griffin children and if Leah ever got the justice/closer she deserved. If you don’t mind a tough hitting coming of age, historical fiction read then definitely pick up this book. Just be prepared to experience an array of emotions and definitely makes sure to read the author’s notes and discussion.

Rating 3.75 stars


Thank you @bookmarked and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

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📖 Book review 📖
Genre: historical fiction, fiction
Pages: 233
Arc: Yes
⭐️: 2.5/5

Synopsis: Leah is a girl of limited means, living with her father on the beaches of North Carolina. When her father unexpectedly dies, Leah is given to another family hours away from her home and she is forced to discover her place in this cruel world.

💭 my thoughts 💭

This book just wasn’t for me. I think the writing was beautiful and was pretty similar to Where The Crawdads Sing in that it was a coming of age of a poor country girl. I was pretty bored during most of it, the ending was anticlimactic and I felt like the characters were slightly flat.

This review is my unbiased opinion in exchange for the ARC of this book

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The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church was a beautiful, but heartbreaking novel.

This book is the story of Leah, a young girl growing up on the shores of the ocean in North Carolina. When her father dies in a tragic accident, newly orphaned Leah is taken in as a “helpmate” by a family in another town. Leaving behind everything she has ever known, Leah does her best to impress this new family, but it always seems that she is never enough for them and that they will see her as a low-class, simple-minded country girl. When the mother of the household becomes acquainted with a doctor practicing eugenics, she allows him to perform an operation on Leah to make her sterile in hopes of preventing another generation of “inferior” and “problematic” people.

This book was absolutely heart-breaking to read. It was saddening to read how the foster family treated Leah. It was horrific some of the things the foster mom put Leah though. However, I’m glad that she was able to have a mostly happy ending thanks to an old friend.

It was also sad to learn that this book was loosely based on the author’s great aunts. While the events were tragic, I am glad the author wrote this book because it sheds light on a part of U.S history that isn’t really talked about and should not be forgotten so that we can prevent the sterilization of women against their will.

Overall, this was a memorable and worthwhile read.

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This coming of age story really focuses on all the hardships that Leah had to go through. The poor girl didn't get to meet her mom and loses her dad in a tragic accident. Of course if things couldn't get any worse, she is sent to live with the Griffins and she is treated as a help mate.

I enjoyed hearing Leah's perspective, story, and voice. She was strong through a lot and just wanted to get back to childhood friend Jesse and what she knew. Mrs. Griffin was just utterly despicable and shouldn't treat anyone the way she did. I got major Cinderella vibes, but the Griffin children were at least friendly with Leah.

I wasn't sure what to think about the Eugenics portion. It was pretty disturbing, but I am not sure how some of the main points would have been portrayed if it had been left out.

This book definitely makes you stop and think about people should care about and treat others.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this ARC for my honest review.

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Outstanding! I fell in love with Leah and couldn't rest until I knew how her story turned out.

I just wanted to hug this poor girl who came from a dirt poor family, her mother died giving birth to her and her father was a beautiful man who did his best. She ends up living with a family and the mother has some serious issues. This is a sad, heartwrenching, beautiful story.

I bought a physical copy of this book because I loved it so much.

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"The Last Carolina Girl" by Megan Church is a thoughtful, at times, disturbing story about Leah Payne, a fourteen year old who is forced to leave her beloved coastal Carolina town when her father tragically dies. She moves in with a foster family, where she experiences horrifying emotional and physical abuse that makes her question who she is and where she truly comes from.

It is a well-written, at times chilling, story that leads us to ask questions about how we define a family and what makes a place truly feel like home. It can lead to thoughtful discussions about medical ethics and the meaning of forgiveness.

I would definitely encourage a book club to review this book. Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks for an ARC.

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I think my want to like this was significantly greater than the quality of the story allowed, not a necessary purchase for most libraries.

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Thank you to Netgalley, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, and Meagan Church for allowing me to read an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book for an honest review.

Readers who enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing, The Girls in the Stilt House, and Where the Forest Meets the Stars will absolutely fall in love with The Last Carolina Girl. You’ll be sopping up each and every chapter like the gravy that accompanies your favorite relative’s biscuits.

The main character is Leah Payne, just a child, faced with so much adversity that she was required to grow up and mature way too early. Leah lost both her mother and father at an early age forcing her to go live with a foster family. During this transition, she also lost the love of a best friend, her love of freedom, her wild spirit, and her country life.

Leah’s foster parents did not accept her from day one due to the drastic differences in their upbringing. She tried so hard to please them but never could. She began to wonder if it’s because she was more alike her foster family than they’d originally led on.

Favorite quotes:
“Sometimes family’s not who you’ve been given. It’s who you choose.”

“I chose to walk out of the house, to walk away from this family that I didn’t know I had. But of course I knew they were never meant to be mine.”

“I guess that’s the thing about coming home; it’s not the home that’s changed, it’s the person coming back who has.”

What I loved:
💕 The setting. Two small towns in NC. North Carolina is the state that I was Born and Raised.
💕 Leah’s determination, especially when faced with adversity or a good challenge.
💕 The innate goodness and sunshine that Leah exudes.
💕 How Leah sticks every lesson she was taught from her mother and father into every fiber of her being. She never forgets them!
💕 How much Mary Ann loved Leah.
💕 That true joy for Leah was found outside with nature, in the lush trees, in the garden, with her cat.
💕 The sweet, sincere connection between Leah and Jesse.
💕 Never losing the desire to find family. Being reconnected with those she chose as family.
💕 Seeing Leah’s one true dream come to fruition.

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