Christmas with the Ops Room Girls (Women's Auxiliary Air Force #2) by Vicki Beeby
Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas, WW2
Read: 26th March 2023
Published: 24th September 2020
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
When there’s so much to be afraid of, can May help bring festive cheer to the Ops Room?
After failing to help evacuee siblings whom she witnesses being separated, May wishes she’d had the confidence to speak up. When Jess suggests a pantomime to boost morale on the station, May is desperate to help – but is held back by her own insecurities.
With her low self-esteem also affecting her relationship with Squadron Leader Peter Travis, May is fed up with being her own worst enemy and decides to take charge of her destiny. But the past she ran from, plus a crisis with one of the evacuees, throw May into the midst of a drama that will test all of her newfound confidence.
May, Jess and Evie must work together once again to help each other through the challenges of war and of their own hearts.
MY THOUGHTS:
It has been quite some time since I read the first book in this series and I've quite honestly all but exhausted the genre of wartime fiction as they all get a little bit "samey" after a while. I enjoy the camaraderie of sagas that focus on the homefront with the war as merely a backdrop but anything that gets into the nitty gritty of war work such as this, I tend to glaze over now. I do remember that I enjoyed the first book but I can't recall anything except the ending, and even that is a fleeting memory.
I began this book in the hope that I would pick up the story and go with the flow but unfortunately I found the opening pages to be irritating with the poor evacuees and then a brother and sister having to be separated because one woman billeted refused to take both. Anyone could see the little things were scared and being together was their only security in an unknown and uncertain world. But no. She flatly refused and made it known that even taking one was at a stretch. She wasn't knocking back her rations that came with the little girl. Horrible woman.
So anyway with the evacuees having arrived in the village, the girls - May, Jess and Evie - decide to put on a pantomime for Christmas to help cheer the up. But war continues despite the festivities and the bombings continue to rain down around them. With plenty of harrowing moments, the girls wonder if they can pull this off but then May receives a letter from home and things change.
A delightful heartwarming story in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) series, that focuses less on the war efforts and more on keeping the spirits up of those at home. Despite that horrible draper shop woman.
Overall, an enjoyable read.
I would like to thank #VickiBeeby, #Netgalley and #Canelo for an ARC of #ChristmasWithTheOpsRoomGirls in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Her first job was as a civil engineer on a sewage treatment project, so things could only improve from there. Since then, she has worked as a maths teacher and education consultant before turning freelance to give herself more time to write.
In her free time, when she can drag herself away from reading, she enjoys walking and travelling to far-off places by train. She lives in Shropshire in a house that doesn’t contain nearly enough bookshelves.
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