A LIFE CAME CALLING by Ann Howard Creel

Fiction, Historical Romance, 1940s

4****

Blurb: It’s 1945, and Janey Nichol’s new engagement should be a dream, but memories of Cole haunt her. The sailor she pledged to marry, lost at sea, left only letters and unanswered questions. To find peace, Janey travels to his Gatlinburg home. There, she discovers his secrets, and a chance encounter with his cousin Luke ignites unexpected passion. Trapped by circumstance, Janey finds herself drawn to Luke, even as doubts arise. Can she trust him, or is history repeating itself? Torn between a safe future in the city with her Philadelphia fiancé and a love fraught with uncertainty in a totally different environment, Janey must make an impossible choice. Which life will she choose, and which heart will she break?

THOUGHTS: This is a sweet story that takes place during World War II in the US. It’s a story of love and loss and finding yourself. Janey is a young woman who gets a good job as a secretary and moves up in the corporate world. She makes good money for that time and is able to save enough to purchase her own house. Note, this was during a time when women could not get a mortgage without a man’s signature, but she managed. She is a strong, independent woman who knows what she wants. And that causes a few problems for her.

She gets engaged to Todd, a man with money who wants to marry quickly and “take care of her”. He offers safety and security in Philadelphia, but is boring. And she doesn’t want to be “taken care of.” Plus, she was once engaged to Cole, a man who died in the war. She never got to go to his funeral and needs closure, but her current man doesn’t understand this. Janey heads to Gatlinburg to say her final goodbye to Cole and decide if marriage to the new man is what she really wants. While there, she meets Cole’s cousin Luke and her life changes again as she falls for him. Janey has to figure out what she really wants from her life – one man in the city who will “control” her, or true love in the country with someone she just met.

The writing is beautifully flowing and we get to know Janey really well through her travels and trials and a HEA ending that satisfies. The setting of the war years is well-done and gives you a glance into what life was like back then in both the city and the country settings. We see the sorrow that happened to families who lost someone, and the elation of V-E Day and when Japan surrendered. This is a good look into those years.

Recommended.