REVIEW: Wedding Bells on the Home Front by Annie Clarke

Wedding Bells on the Home Front (The Factory Girls #3) by Annie Clarke

Genre: Wartime fiction, Sagas, WW2, Historical fiction

Read: 28th December 2021

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Published: 23rd July 2020

★ 1 star

DESCRIPTION:

March 1942: As the war continues, wedding bells are ringing for the factory girls . . .

Sarah is happily settling into married life with new husband Stan, whilst Fran is busy planning her upcoming wedding to sweetheart Davey, who’s still conscripted to Bletchley Park. With limited resources, the girls must make do to create the perfect day.

Meanwhile, Beth has other things on her mind. She hasn’t heard from her husband Bob since he returned to the navy, and she’s starting to fear the worst. And new friend Viola is still recovering from a nasty accident.

Life on the home front can be challenging, but with the support of one another, the factory girls can get through anything.

MY REVIEW:

I'm a sucker for wartime fiction, particularly sagas, but I'm sad to say I could not get into WEDDING BELLS ON THE HOME FRONT. I don't know whether it is because it's the third book in the series or the north eastern vernacular, but I found the characters to be slightly irritable. 

I have read plenty of books set in Newcastle and the north east and am no stranger to their vernacular so I can only assume it is because I came in three books in and don't know Fran from Sarah from Viola from Beth and all the menfolk in their lives. They were simply strangers to me I felt like I had walked into tht middle of a conversation and had no idea what was going on. Having said that, I have joined other series midway and not bee remotely lost so I am guessing that this is just one series that doesn't do it for me. And there are some out there that just don't.

However, from what I can gather from this installment, the girls are getting married and the story begins with one of them - Sarah - having just married Fran's younger brother Stan while Fran herself is engaged to be married to Sarah's brother Davey, who works at Bletchley Park. The girls themselves work at at Ordnance factory making explosives for the boys at the front, though if asked they are under strict instructions to just say they are working at a factory making "thingummybobs" or whatever lie they can come up with. As the posters state "the walls have ears" and you never know who may be listening because "loose lips sinks ships" and the menfolk away fighting at the front depend on their discretion...and the munitions they build.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into the trope that was being bandied about and as I said, felt I had stepped into the middle of a conversation with no idea what was going on. However, having said that, this is a highly rated series and a favourite for many so please don't take my word for it. 

We can't all like the same thing or enjoy every book we read. But I thank the authors for the journey upon which they take us all the same.

I would like to thank #AnnieClarke, #Netgalley and #ArrowPublishing for an ARC of #WeddingBellsOnTheHomeFront in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Annie Clarke’s roots are dug deep into the North East. She draws inspiration from her mother, who was born in a County Durham pit village during the First World War, and went on to became a military nurse during World War Two. Annie and her husband now live a stone’s throw from the pit village where her mother was born. She has written frequently about the North East in novels which she hopes reflect her love and respect for the region’s lost mining communities.

Annie has four adult children and four granddaughters, who fill her and her husband’s days with laughter, endlessly leading these two elders astray.

Annie Clarke is a pseudonym for bestselling author Margaret Graham, who also writes under the name Milly Adams.

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