“July 1940

With Hitler’s bombs getting closer, WAAF Diane Forsyth is determined to face the oncoming danger and do her duty to support the brave RAF pilots who risk their lives as they take to the skies.

And there’s one pilot in particular Di hopes remains safe – Squadron Leader Freddie Hanover. But with a romance between them growing, Di and Freddie know their duty must always come first. How can they dream of a future together whilst this terrible war continues?

Lady Joanna Harcourt understands Di’s vow of duty – she’s taken one herself. But Joanna also knows that life is terribly precious and that one must make the most of every single day…before it’s too late.”

First off, I completely missed it when requesting this book to read that it was part of a series. And at the beginning, that definitely made a difference for me when reading Duty Calls at Goodwill House (Amazon). Because it’s the third book in a series, the reader is dropped into events and introduced to so many people at once that it took me until about 20% into the book before I felt I had a handle on who everyone was and how they fit into the story. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad book, but the backstory is in the previous books, The War Girls of Goodwill House (Amazon) and New Recruits at Goodwill House (Amazon), which I hadn’t read.

That being said, Duty Calls at Goodwill House checks off so many boxes for me for an historical fiction book. World War II, the English countryside, women and men working for the war effort, the air raid drills, the rationing, everything one has read about regarding the war is brought to life. I really felt the sense of patriotism the characters felt, and how no sacrifice was too much.

I enjoyed the focus on the women of the war effort, who until recently, were forgotten. I also appreciated the dialogue, to a point. There were some phrases used repeatedly, like tickety-boo, or “going for a Burton” that were a little annoying. Not EVERYONE uses the same slang so that got on my nerves a little, but it’s a minor complaint.

Overall, I appreciated this look into the life of an English village and its inhabitants during World War II. I thought I was getting tired of all the World War II books that seem to have glutted the market the past few years, but I’m certainly glad I picked up this book. I’ll definitely be picking up the first two volumes in the series, and hope there are more to come.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Boldwood Books in exchange for an honest review.

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