Tuesday, February 2, 2016

#BookReview: Post-War Dreams by Brenda Whiteside

Post-War Dreams by Brenda Whiteside

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

World War II has ended and the soldiers are coming home. After years of following her crop worker father, motherless Claire Flanagan is also coming home. If she can keep her father in one place long enough, she plans to follow her dreams to Hollywood. Until she meets Benjamin.

Benjamin Russell has been working since he was fifteen to support his mother and siblings. What he most wants in life is to own a construction business and take care of the family his father abandoned. The last thing he expects is to fall for his younger sister’s best friend.

Life, however, throws cruel twists and turns into the path of romance. And when an unrequited love seeks revenge against Claire, and Benjamin learns his ex-girlfriend is pregnant, will lost dreams of a future together be the only thing they have left?


Kindle Edition, 296 pages

Published October 14th 2015 by The Wild Rose Press, Inc

My Review:

Since I'm avidly interested in the WWII era, I eagerly began reading this story that takes place shortly after the war. It's the coming of age story of Claire Flanagan who lives with her Da and dreams of life as a Hollywood movie star. Her Da moves frequently from place to place in search of jobs. She ends up in a small American town where she becomes close friends with a girl named Pauline. She spends much time with Pauline and her family, enjoying the experiences of a large family, something she's never known. When she meets Pauline's brother, Benjamin, she realizes that he is a different sort of man than the other boys she's known so far. She's drawn to him and the story of their time together, as well as the complications of their relationship is what I really liked about this story. I'm all about the romance!

I enjoyed reading Post-war Dreams. It was filled with enough historical details to allow the reader to feel what it was like to live during that time period, but not in an overwhelming way. There were choice words a descriptions that really set the tone and mood for this story. The scene of the family dancing in their living room was fun to read since it was getting a glimpse at what people during this time did for entertainment. I suppose it must've reminded me of something my grandmother might have done with her family and I found it quite charming.

Also, I very much enjoyed the first person POV for Claire and the third person POV for Benjamin. I liked getting inside Claire's head to her intimate thoughts which allowed the reader to see and feel Claire's growth from a young girl into a woman. I'll admit, first person POV is probably my favorite when reading for enjoyment.

The only difficulty I had while reading this story was that midway my Kindle broke and I had to wait to several weeks to get a new one to finish it. Yes, I know there are Kindle apps for the computer, but I don't like reading for pleasure on my computer. It's more annoying for me since I can't cuddle up with my computer on the sofa.



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2 comments:

  1. I agree, we can't cuddle up with a computer on the sofa (smile) February co host visit (smile) Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for reading Post-War Dreams and sharing your review.

    ReplyDelete