Review: WWII people thinking past the wedding!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 9, 2012
The central conflict of this romance was not class, kidnapping, arranged marriage. No one is surprise!pregnant.This is a book about two people working their way through World War II. Joe is a reluctant paratrooper medic, and Lulu is delighted to be ferrying planes around where they need to go.They have an acknowledged mutual attraction, but Lulu is wary. She has been badly burned by the psychological damage the war has caused, and so she has a one-night-only policy. Joe has a dark secret that makes him skittish about anyone wanting to be with him. Both of them are adults, but alone in the world.The thing that they actually have conflict about is their vision of the future. Lulu loves flying, and fears what her world will contract down to at the end of the war. Joe is very much a man of his era, and has trouble conceptualizing manliness without being very protective of women. He hates that the war has "forced" women to work, hates that they are in danger, hates that Lulu tells him over and over again that her work is more important to her than a potential relationship with him. She is having fun, but on her terms, her own methods of staying safe.Through the whole book, even when they are unwrapping prophylactic kits and making whoopie, the fun shuts down when they touch on what they might be to each other after the war. Her job is a dealbreaker for both of them.The history is super satisfying, and each of the characters was distinctive and crisp. I love Joe's mental self-castigation:He wanted to touch her, kiss her, lay her down across the bar... Jesus, his imagination had no manners.In contrast, Lulu: She let out an exhale that bordered on a hoarse scream, then pulled a face at the controls. "Very well, if you insist. Plan B. And by Plan B, I mean a pancake landing."The romance is taut, the sex is no more giggle-inducing than normal, and although I want to look up underclothing of the time, the details and touches of what was rationed and what was available and all that seemed neatly and smoothly inserted.-----------------Note for Code Name Verity fans---------------It's a weird parallel universe. Dark haired ATA pilot, check. Blonde femme best friend, check. Dancing, cold, flying over France. And yet this is a romance. The other main character is a paratrooper medic. He has big muscles. There is sex. It's not as SMART or miserable, or anything like as intense. But it is quite satisfying. And I bet it could have an identical bibilography. But oh, what different books.---------------------------------------------------------------Read if: You would like historical romance with some tension that is character driven, not improbable deus ex machina. You would like some nicely textured WWII history. You would like to learn more about battlefield medicine.Skip if: You are looking for this to beCode Name Verityall over again. You do not want to read graphic sex, graphic people getting blown up, or awkward conversations in the middle of fictional nookie time.Also read: Courtney Milan's books, for historicals with spitfire women and psychological trauma.Unraveled