Robin M. (robinmy) - , reviewed on 12/7/2019 + 2106 more book reviews

It's 1943 and America is embroiled in WWII. Twenty-year-old Catherine Wilson already has a fiancé overseas. Now she is accompanying her family to the Stage Door Canteen to green the soldiers and send her father off to war. There she meets Johnny Danza, a soldier who is in her father's unit. When Catherine's fiancé is killed, Johnny learns about it and starts writing to her. His letters keep Catherine moving forward with her life while processing her grief. After months of not hearing from Johnny or her father, Catherine opens the door to find Johnny on her doorstep.

This category romance set during the war was well written. Much of the story is told through the letters from Catherine, Johnny, Catherine's sister, and her pen-pal Gerry. The rest is what happens when someone comes home from war and everything has changed. The changes to the women who were left to take care of everything made the biggest impact on me. Catherine ran her father's plant while he was overseas. The men at the plant wouldn't take orders from a woman. She had to find a man to act as a go-between. They thought she should be home cooking and cleaning. Ugh! They made me so mad. Johnny's attitude also made me mad at times. A worker at the plant keeps appealing to the draft board, hoping they'll send him to war. Instead, because of some back problems, he is deemed 4F. Johnny and many of the men at the plant hold it against him. I don't understand their attitude at all. It's not like he was dodging the draft.

Anyway, I thought the story was very compelling. Anyone looking for a WWII romance may like this one. My rating: 4 Stars.

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