Hi guys!
Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.
The days just keep rolling and so do the reviews! Today’s featured title comes to us via the ever fabulous Rachel’s Random Resources and stars a Historical Fiction novel my fellow genre fans will want to get their hands on. I admit, I had a love-not-so-love relationship at first, but once the tide turned, I couldn’t turn away. Ladies and gents, get ready...get set...grab your TBR list and prepare to add today’s ebook of choice and blog tour guest...
Jeannie’s War
by
Carol MacLean
About the book...
War changed her country, but it couldn’t change her spirit
Glasgow, 1939
Despite being shy and reserved, Jeannie Dougal finds herself newly engaged to handsome soldier, Arthur Dunn, the day war is announced. Jeannie accepts, even if she is unsure if a girl from the tenements will fit in with Arthur’s comfortable, middle-class background. But as WW2 takes its toll on the world, her wedding must wait…
As she sets off to work at a munitions factory she meets Eileen, Janet and Annie. As her new friends bond together in war work, sharing their stories of romance, Jeannie is grateful to be settled with Arthur, even if he is set in his ways.
Until she meets charming Canadian soldier, Bill, and realises she has found a spark she was always missing. But how can Jeannie tell Arthur? And is she strong enough to fight her own battle, with the country already at war…?
An emotional and romantic family saga set in WW2 Scotland and the start of a captivating new series. Fans of Call the Midwife and Katie Flynn won’t be able to put this down.
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This is not a book about a war, but rather the lives of those in it, surrounding it, and surviving it. As I previously noted, I was prepared for a worst case scenario thanks to the utterly detestable Arthur and his severe lack of emotional ANYTHING. I couldn’t fathom how I was going to make it through the pages if THAT was the scope of the characters built. However, my quick snap opinion was put to rest as the novel unfolded. I got to know Jeannie and her new friends. ..wonderful ladies, even when I didn’t agree with them at times. I had the chance to witness the heartache felt while their loved ones were away, whether for their own safety or to protect the safety of kin and country, and joyous reunions, however short lived. I was privy to new beginnings never imagined, and friendships made that were stronger than blood ties. The highs and lows as well as the scary times in-between, all made you feel a part of this small town.
By book’s end, I realized that it was in fact a book about a war, but not one historically plotted as such, but rather the personal, individual wars that each person was fighting through. Jeannie had to come into her own and realize that she was worth more then she was being given, and while I wish the BIG SCENE happened differently (namely with someone-who-shall-not-be-named-at-this-moment lying on the ground, crumpled in pain from a well aimed knee), it had the desired affect, allowing her to finally be free. Helen, Arthur’s mum (and SO not like the son!) was unknowingly fighting for her own independence, while Jeannie’s mum (a remarkable woman!) is fighting for the strength to pull through it all for her family. Eileen, Janet, and Annie all had their own battles as well, from searching for love in all the wrong places to family secrets kept off the radar to finally understanding their family as well as their place in it. There’s not a soul left without battle scars, (including Jeannie’s younger sister!) but they all come through THAT much stronger in the end.
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About the author...
Carol MacLean lives in the Glasgow area. She began by writing pocket novels, having 18 published before deciding to write an historical saga. She enjoys weaving social history into fiction and imagining how life must have been for ordinary people living through different times.
When she’s not writing, Carol can be found visiting museums or walking around the city looking for traces of old Glasgow to inspire her next novel.
Carol is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
She has written 18 pocket novels published by DC Thomson and Linford Romance Series (Ulverscroft).
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Special thanks to Rachel at Rachel's Random Resources for the chance to bring this tour to you. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, this promotion, or those on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title is available now, so click on over to your favorite online retailer to snag your copy today and be sure to check out the rest of the tour for more bookish fun!
Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!
A genre I do enjoy though probably more so in the past. I think that part of the problem for me is that, the market flooded with so many books set at this time, it got so that one WW book seemed pretty much like another. Still, doubtlessly a genre I will return to someday, I'm keeping a record of all of these titles.
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