Frontline Angel

Happy Saturday! I have spent the day cleaning and decorating.  My mother is expecting company tomorrow (very early).  Our living room still looks like a disaster zone, but the den is company ready. I have to pick my battles (or, in this case, cleaning areas).  How about you?  Are ready for your Christmas company?

Frontline Angel by Genevieve Jordayne starts in 1939 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Elizabeth “Eliza” O’Grady has important news to tell her parents, but she is not sure how to break the news.  Eliza heads down to dinner and is surprised to see her beau, Steven Howard at the table.  Steven has a surprise for Eliza.  He proposes marriage much to her surprise (and to her parent’s delight).  But, Eliza is not ready to settle down.  Eliza has completed her nursing training and, due to the depression, has not been able to find a job locally.  Eliza has signed up with the Army Nursing Corp (she had planned to tell her parents at dinner).  She has dreamed of traveling and adventure.  Eliza turns down Steven’s proposal and breaks the news to her parents.  Eliza spends two years stateside and then gets her dream assignment in the Philippines (Manila).  Eliza falls in love with this tropical island and quickly settles in.  Eliza is working at Sternberg Hospital one evening when some drunk soldiers stumble in.  Private First Class James Marshall (Jimmy) and his friend, Corporal Jonathon “Reese” Moretti.  Reese and Eliza are instantly attracted to each other and thus begins their relationship.  Then the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.  The war rapidly spreads to the Philippines, and Eliza’s dream assignment turns into a nightmare.  Eliza will need her wits about her to survive the next three years on the Japanese occupied island.  To see how Eliza fares during the war along with Reese you will need to read Frontline Angel.

Frontline Angel was very good. Genevieve Jordayne does a superb job at capturing the time and place (the events that happened to the nurses and soldiers at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army).  I have read many non-fiction books on the subject, and Ms. Jordayne does a great job at handling this terrible time in history.  It is tragic what the nurses endured.  Frontline Angel is well-written and has a good main character in Eliza.  The women of the Army Nursing Corp are often overlooked in the history books.   I give Frontline Angel 4 out of 5 stars (I liked it).  I just felt there was too much romance (and sex scenes) in the first part of the book (after Eliza and Reese meet).  It took away from an otherwise wonderful novel (if not for that section I would have given the book 5 stars).  Frontline Angel will take you through the full range of emotions (happy, sad, angry).  I enjoyed the ending the author gave to the novel.  If you enjoy novels set during World War II, I recommend you read Frontline Angel.  Frontline Angel is available on Kindle Unlimited (if you are a member).

Thank you so much for taking time out of you day to visit my site.  I need to get back to my decorating and then I am going to collapse in my bed (for about 30 minutes and then I have a blanket to make for a gift).  I am currently reading The Lady Who Dream Me In by Thomasine Rappold (third book in the Sole Survivor series).  I hope all of you have a great night.  Take care and Happy Reading!

Kris
The Avid Reader