Molly is book 2 in the Pendleton Promises series by Shanna Hatfield and is a historical romance set in the time of The Great War.
Molly is a young switchboard operator in her home town of Pendleton, when she sees an ad looking for switchboard operators who speak French to assist with the war effort, and she decides to volunteer. She is soon in France, working as an operator with the Signal Girls, women who joined the army as telephone operators. While there, she meets Friday Fitzpatrick, a young man serving in the army who is from a town only a few hours away from Pendleton, and they fall in love through the letters they exchange.
Told in third person, the story alternates points of view between Molly and Friday and gives us glimpses of their lives on the front line of World War 1. Although part of a series, this book is easily read as a standalone, I had not read the previous book in the series and I don’t feel like I was missing anything.
I really enjoyed Molly and Friday’s story, if I had one problem I would have wished to see more of their time in the army. I realize though, that this book is more of a romance than historical fiction so I can see why the author did not get more heavily into the details there. I was slightly disappointed though that we didn’t get to hear more about Molly and the other women in the Signal Corps and their struggle to be recognized as part of the army, when that was an important part of the opening of the book.
This was a lovely, wholesome romance with many characters which really gave one a sense of a close community in both Molly’s home town, and Friday’s. I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys inspirational, wholesome romance with some interesting insights into a historical time which is not a common backdrop in the romance genre. I would be interested in reading more of this series.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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