Full honesty here – after reading the synopsis of this book, I expected to not entirely enjoy this read. I’m not entirely sure why but just a gut thing. After reading it, here is what I can say – for what it is, the book is delightful. The hard and handsome landscape contrasts the somewhat airy and pretty story very nicely. The pace is excellent without sparing imagery, making it a hard one to put down. Plus, I really enjoyed learning a bit of badass women history. I mean, these women were freaking amazing.

The other side of the coin is that the story certainly lacks for some character complexity. Each person in the story, while serving a very distinct purpose, is either decidedly good or decidedly bad (or at the very least deeply flawed). No character is particularly challenging. Everything is made easy for you in the book – including Depression Era Kentucky, which is made to feel quaint.  I felt it a bit problematic that families living in abject poverty hoping for a part of an old magazine to be delivered to them felt romanticized.

These decisions in developing the characters and landscape as she did allowed Moyes to introduce a hell of a lot of humanity. Everything people did for one another in this book felt so nice because it was so nice.  And, honestly, it was nice to read. Even with a weird part were they broke out in song for some reason and a title that really has nothing to do with anything, I really did enjoy this one!