Loving Miss Moonshine

I’m sad to report that my Kindle has passed away. I’ve never been at the forefront of technology but I was early on the bandwagon with e-readers, so it was one of the first generation, with all its faults and foibles. I could forgive its clunky keyboard for the freedom it gave me to read, the ease of reading in bright light and the capability to make the type larger, which must have staved off my need for reading glasses by at least five years. 

The last book I read was a goodie. Short stories, no less, by a group of northern romance authors, some of who I know personally — something which was enough of a guarantee of quality. Miss Moonshine's Emporium of Happy Endings (subtitle: A feel-good collection of heartwarming stories) was just what I needed to help me wind down on holiday. 

The underlying premise is the mysterious and eccentric Miss Moonshine, who keeps a shop full of bric-a-brac in a Yorkshire town. Each story focuses on a different character and in each, Miss Moonshine’s intervention leads to a happy ending. All the authors know exactly what their readers are after and all of them write beautifully. Each individual tale was a joy. 

I should say that, while I loved the concept, I’d have liked a little more variation in the stories. A lot of them felt a little bit samey — girl down on her luck buys or is given something from Miss Moonshine’s shop and the happy ending ensues. The first two stories are historical — one Regency, one suffragette — but the remainder are all contemporary, which I felt left it slightly unbalanced. And it would have been good to have found a little variation in content, too. The last story makes reference to happy endings other than romance, such as a criminal being brought to justice, and one or two of those might have made the whole thing more, rather than very slightly less, than the sum of its parts. 

But that’s me being pernickety. As I’ve said before, they’re all beautifully written and some of them made me laugh out loud. Miss Moonshine runs as a constant through the book — not easily done in a group effort — and I’d love to see more from her. 

My conclusion? If that was the last book my Kindle had to offer me, it will have died happy. 

Buy Miss Moonshine here

Disclaimer:

I am not a book blogger, so I don’t have a review policy, but here’s full disclosure.

I have a lot of author friends and reviews help them. I read and enjoy their books. I support fellow authors and in future I will try and review more books. I’ll post on my blog rather than elsewhere. 

I review when the mood takes me. I won’t leave a bad review, but if I haven’t reviewed a book it doesn’t mean I don’t like it. I buy every book I review.

Happy reading! And if you would like to help fellow authors, feel free to share my reviews.