BLOG TOUR - Courage for the Home Front Girls

DESCRIPTION:

Manchester, 1940. The Blitz is threatening to destroy everything they love. These girls will never stop trying to help their country – and each other. But will it be enough when disaster looms?

By day, Betty works cheerfully with her best friend Sally, now the manager of the salvage depot. By night, they both do their bit for the war effort as Auxiliary Fire Service girls. But Betty wishes she could do more.

So when Samuel, a kind and gentle young bookseller, needs help sorting out novels to entertain the boys overseas, Betty volunteers. Anything for the troops! There might be a flashy, handsome stranger who keeps seeking her out at the depot, but she can’t help enjoying Samuel’s quiet humour as they work together during the blackouts.

But when the worst night-time air raid they’ve ever seen strikes, Sally’s home is destroyed. Even worse, any of Sally’s treasured possessions that did survive the blast are stolen by looters. Desperate to help her friend, Betty could never have expected the guilt when she uncovers what really happened… Was it all her fault?

Despite Samuel’s best efforts, Betty can’t forgive herself. Determined to set things right, Betty sets off to catch the thief, leaving Samuel in the dark. And then the sirens begin, warning of another bombing raid. Can Betty find the strength to finish what she started, despite the threat to everything she holds dear? Or will the smoke clear on heartbreak for the home front girls?

An utterly gripping and heart-wrenching saga that will transport readers back in time. With a guaranteed happy ending, this is perfect for fans of Fenella J Miller, Rosie Clarke and Nadine Dorries.

BUY LINK:

https://geni.us/B0CW84TPJQsocial

MY THOUGHTS:

Title:  Courage for the Home Front Girls

Author:  Susanna Bavin

Publisher:  Bookouture

Series:  The Home Front Girls #2

Genre:   Historical Fiction

Format:  Kindle ARC

No. of Pages:   

Date of Publication:   April 16, 2024

My Rating:   5 Stars 

Sally, who was featured in the first book of this series, is newly married to Andrew. She has just been made manager of the salvage depot where she works. This new promotion makes Sally proud, but she must contend with the overbearing Mrs. Lockwood, who thinks she should have been given the job.

Sally also works alongside with Betty, and the two of them are also voluntary fire-watchers. Indeed, World War II is raging. Air-raid sirens increase the already palpable tension. Then there is Lorna, a socialite who now works at the salvage yard, and due to drama and difficulties where she lived in London, she has had no choice to be working there, and works on an uneasy friendship with Sally and Betty.

Betty splits her time at the salvage depot to help a rather shy young man named Samual Atkinson, and they organize books donated for those needing a distraction from the war. In fact, Samuel said to Betty: “Films are an important part of c-culture. People need stories.” The same was true of books, especially for soldiers overseas. Samuel’s job running a bookshop was very important work at that time. As much as Betty enjoys her time at the bookshop, her head is turned by a young man with a “Clark Gable mustache”. 

As in the first book of the series, The Home Front Girls, the tragedy and fear the war created unsurprising tension, but there is also drama that Sally, Betty and Lorna face as they each go about their daily routine.

While this second book would do well as a standalone novel, the connection that the girls share builds a fine foundation by reading the first book as well. In this second book, I love how Sally and Betty’s friendship has grown, and with Lorna now there with them, that too was something worth watching grow. I also continually enjoy some important parts of history that authors like Susanna Bavin brings to our attention, especially as more and more generations pass. I definitely can see a third book in this series, and I do look forward to reading it.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 Susanna Bavin has written 4 standalone sagas and her new WW2 trilogy, The Home Front Girls, will be published by Bookouture in 2024. She also writes as Polly Heron (The Surplus Girls 1920s saga series) and Maisie Thomas (The Railway Girls WW2 saga series)

Susanna lives on the beautiful North Wales coast with her husband and their two rescue cats. She is originally from Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester, where her family has lived for several generations and which provides the setting for her family sagas.

Author social media

 

Website: www.susannabavin.co.uk

 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MaisieThomasAuthor

 

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