This is the second historical fiction book I’ve read by this author and I really enjoy how she writes such strong and independent women. The three women this story centers around all have their ups and downs, their moments of weakness and their times of strength. Through it all they are determined to make their mark on the world and help others.

I wasn’t sure if Grace was going to win me over because I had issues with her in the beginning. Rest assured, she does redeem herself. But in the first half of this story Grace was very egocentric. Every time I would start to like her and think she wasn’t as spoiled as I was making her out to be, she would do or say something to her sister that would make my blood boil. By the end Grace will not only redeem herself, but will even earn my respect.

Eva has the biggest climb out of despair after the Pearl Harbor attack, and she seems to take the longest. Through everything she has to come to terms with she is still such a nurturer. There are some things that have to do with Eva’s thought process in the beginning that I had issues with. I kept reminding myself that it was a different time and most women had far fewer options than what we have today. If some of the things Eva fears start to rile you I’ll tell you the same thing about her as I said about Grace, by the end you won’t really think of those earlier problems.

Now April I liked from the start. She could be a bit uptight and strict, but when you get to know her you realize that she came by those personality traits honestly. In other words, you can’t hold those things against her. Plus, they tend to serve her and the other women well. April is the strongest of them all and the most forward thinking, but she still feels the need to conform to the ideals of the time. She slowly starts to gain more confidence. There is something that happens with her that most readers will pick up on pretty early on but that she is oblivious to…once all of those issues come to light she will come through even stronger.

There are love stories throughout this book, but it’s truly about the strength of these women and how they support one another through many hard times. Don’t worry if you’re here for the love, there’s plenty of chemistry and sweet moments. There is heartbreak and things that will make your heart soar. I like that these women find love, but that you know they’ll be okay even if they don’t.

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

You can find more of my book reviews at All In Good Time.

Starts Out Feeling Like The Movie, Becomes So Much More. Through the opening third of this book or so, when our central characters are at Pearl Harbor, it is very hard to break away from comparing the scenes here to the Ben Affleck / Kate Beckinsale movie from the turn of the Millenium. Which isn't an overly bad thing - this reader loved that movie and it made a fair amount at the box office to boot.

And then we get to Dec 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. (Though I do wish Lane had included that particular phrase when showing some of Roosevelt's speech the next day.)

At the actual attack, Lane does a superb job of getting us into the heads of these particular characters as the events and aftermath are unfolding. It is here that she truly sepatates her tale from the movie, and it is at this point that the reader never really thinks about the movie again until sitting down to write the review.

To go much in depth at all with the plot beyond this is to veer close to spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that for those that survive Dec 7, the book continues with the efforts to further support the war, this time in the Africa Campaign. Superb writing here again, though there *is* a rape scene that some may want to be aware of going into this. But Lane does an excellent job of expanding our scope in this section to see not just the soldiers and nurses, but the townspeople they are working among.

Overall maybe my one complaint here is that the ending is perhaps a bit too tidy, particularly after doing such an amazing job of showing the various horrors of war from the small and personal to the grand and international. Still, very much a recommended book.