Sentimental Journey

Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: As we lose more and more of our WWII veterans and their contemporaries it's nice to see this book once more in print. Sentimental Journey does a good job immersing the reader in the setting. I think some things (mostly fashion and technology) that were ubiquitous in the '40's but are lost to the modern reader could have used a little more description, but Ms. Bretton fairly well reconstructs what life was like on the homefront. The attraction between Catherine and Johnny grows gradually and believably and Ms. Bretton does an excellent job of showing us this, both through their behavior once he returns from the warfront and through their letters. The epistilary section of the book was a nice way to steep the reader in the setting as well as making Sentimental Journey a little more unique amongst the Harlequins.

The only thing I wish Ms. Bretton had done more with was the romance of Catherine's younger sister, Nancy, who falls in love with a sailor she knows only through the letters they exhcange. I'd like to see her pick up this theme again, maybe in a single-title release where she won't be so limited by the category romance restrictions.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent World War II era romance
Review: I recently had the pleasure of reading this book and felt completely immersed in WWII America. As I read the pages I came to know and love the characters and feel as if I shared a part in their story. The author has a great eye for detail and ear for dialogue and obviously did her research well. I find it such a shame that this fine book is out of print for I know that anyone in search a beautiful love story set in the 1940's or any era for that matter would fall hard for this book.

Rating:
Summary: Takes you another place in time...
Review: I recently had the pleasure of reading this book and felt completely immersed in WWII America. As I read the pages I came to know and love the characters and feel as if I shared a part in their story. The author has a great eye for detail and ear for dialogue and obviously did her research well. I find it such a shame that this fine book is out of print for I know that anyone in search a beautiful love story set in the 1940's or any era for that matter would fall hard for this book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent World War II era romance
Review: This 1940's entry from Harlequin American Romance's "Century of American Romance" mini-series covers the romance of Catherine Wilson and Johnny Danza. Catherine and Johnny meet and dance the night away at New York's Stage Door Canteen. They intially like each other, but Catherine is engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Douglas Weaver and plans to marry him after the war. However, everything changes after Catherine receives the tragic word that Douglas has been killed in action.

She and Johnny correspond by v-mail, and begin to form a friendship. Catherine also takes over her father's position as the head of Wilson Manufacturing. Then, Johnny turns up, wounded and ill, on her doorstep on Christmas Eve; and Catherine nurses him back to health. Soon, they realize that they are in love, and become engaged. But Catherine wants to continue to work at Wilson, while Johnny wants a stay-at-home wife. How will they resolve their conflict over this?

This is one of my favorites of this series. The section dealing with v-mail between the characters --interspersed with newspaper dispatches and a reminder to reorder victory garden seeds-- adds an extra flavor and immediacy to the story. This book was followed by the 1950's entry, "Stranger in Paradise". I highly recommend both books.