This is a gem of a story with strong female characters! It takes place in the early days of WWII against the backdrop of the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts. Ruth and Millie are two estranged sisters. They have always been at war with each other, with Ruth resenting Millie’s beauty. Ruth marries and moves to Springfield with her husband, Arthur, who is a scientist with the army. Millie marries too and it seems her husband is killed while in the army, so Ruth invites her and her son Michael to move in with her for a time. It is soon apparent that the relationship between the two sisters is complex and that each is carrying a secret. Ultimately a story about the strength of a sisterly bond.

The Wartime Sisters by Lynn Cohen Loigman is an eloquent portrayal of the experience of World War II by American civilian women, an important section of society that is not usually the focus of novels set in WWII. Each of the “wartime sisters” represents a different faucet of society -- the married mother who chooses to work outside of the home, a supposed war-widow who has experienced an abusive marriage, an uber-organized military stay-at-home wife, and an African-American singer whose talent is no longer recognized.

Similar to many women from many backgrounds all around the world these women are thrown together by circumstance and by virtue of the situation become sisters as they help each other through thick and thin. (Hence, The Sisterhood.) The war provides the background for this novel as the women who are keeping the home fires burning pitch in and do what they can for the war effort.

Loigman takes great care in developing her characters. Each of them has a well planned backstory, personality, life style and behaviours. She spends a lot of time describing the childhood of the two main characters, allowing the reader to understand how the influence of their parents formed their adult decisions.

Perfect for this reviewer: there is a happy, although unexpected, ending and no loose ends are left to torment me.

I received a free copy of this ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not sure how it eluded me that this book is by the same author as The Two-Family House (a book I absolutely adored!) but it did. However, once I realized this, I knew I was going to love this book. Loigman has a way of writing characters that you can relate to and feel yourself in their shoes. The multi-narrative story speeds by, giving different points of view, something I have always enjoyed in a book.

I found myself getting wrapped up not only in the story, but the time period as well. Anything set during this era is of interest to me and I couldn't read this fast enough.

I absolutely loved this and look forward to her next book!

Lynda Cohen Loigman is two for two and fast becoming a new favorite historical fiction author for me. She has a talent when it comes to telling a story about the dynamics of a family. I really enjoyed the different setting for this WWII novel, featuring the home front rather than the battlefield. We often forget what it was like for those left behind. Ruth and Millie are as different as two sisters could be. Very often in life we wish for something we don't have, whether it's curly or straight hair, a personality trait we admire in another, or the eye or admiration of a parent or friend. That happens to both Millie and Ruth in this story and almost puts a permanent rift in their relationship. I liked that there were wonderful secondary stories layered in as well. I enjoyed reading about the cook in the Armory cafeteria who was a feisty opera singer and who ultimately finds love. I also enjoyed the story of the head Armory officer's wife. I really felt these characters could have been real people they were so well written. They really added another layer of complexity to the story.

This was a very well written book about sisters who had their difficulties! This book truly had a bit of everything- history, family drama etc and was very good. I enjoyed it!

I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ruth and Millie are sisters who are like night and day. Ruth is thoughtful, controlled, intelligent, and average-looking. Millie is passionate, impulsive, and beautiful. This dichotomy develops into a chasm over the course of their adolescence and early adulthood, set against the backdrop of the Interwar Period and World War II. Eventually Ruth marries and moves away to live her own life without Millie's shadow hanging over her, only to have her sister and nephew arrive several years later in need of assistance.

The novel skips around chronologically between childhood, adolescence, and their present day. It follows several characters but focuses mainly on Ruth and Millie. The flashbacks were helpful and usually interesting, and they were not difficult to follow. However, the addition of the other characters does not improve the story. The author fixated on certain aspects of the real life individuals (ex: opera singer who volunteers in the cafeteria) and obviously wanted to weave them into her narrative, but they feel one dimensional and simplistic. All of the friends are wonderful people and all of the villains are terrible people; there's no development to them.

Overall, the novel was enjoyable, and I appreciated that it didn't focus on the War but instead used it simply as a backdrop for the relationship of the sisters with each other and their environment.

Review: This is the first time I've had the opportunity to read a book prior to it's release, and I will admit, I had no idea what to expect. Usually, I visit other blogs and websites to get a feel for whether or not I might be into it but that's obviously not a  luxury I had this time. Instead, I'm excited that you get to hear about it first from me!
Let me start this off by saying I'm a huge fan of historical fiction from the WWII era. I've read a LOT of books from that time period, so achieving four and a half meows from me is an achievement. But this one isn't completely about the war - more so, the complex relationships during the war and how it brings some people together or pulls them apart.

The Wartime Sisters started off as a story I can relate to within the first two chapters. Have you ever fought with a sibling? Maybe you felt like your parents treated you both differently with different sets of expectations? Maybe there was jealously, some resentment in there? Ruth can tell you all about how her sister is the pretty one and how her parents make her feel like she should dumb herself down to attract a man. Millie can tell you about how dull Ruth is with her math and little sense of adventure. But things change as they grow up and their parents pass away unexpectedly.

The secrets these two keep from each other are big ones that impacted the outcome of paths of their lives. When tragedy seems to strike again, they find themselves reunited in Springfield where one is the wife of a war officer and the other is a war widow. The relationships with other women on the base threaten to tear them apart again or bring them back together. 

The author does a wonderful job of exploring complex relationships and how each character seems themselves and others. You experience characters growing and learning and you start rooting for them to stand up for themselves. I was so sad when this book ended!

If this WWII-era relationships and secrets is something you're into, you'll definitely want to read this when it is released at the end of January 2019!

I wasn’t sure about reading The Wartime Sisters when I got approached to review it. I am not a fan of historical fiction. I have been burnt by too many books that were dry and uninteresting to read. I was afraid that this was going to be the case with The Wartime Sisters. And I almost turned it down. But something about the blurb caught my attention. With that, I decided to accept the request.

The Wartime Sisters is the story of Ruth and Millie. Ruth and Millie have been estranged since their parents were killed in an automobile accident. Before the accident, Ruth resented Millie. Ruth blamed Millie for stealing her boyfriends, for being popular and for being the apple of their parents eye. Millie, however, doesn’t understand why Ruth is so cold and distant to her. When Millie’s husband dies overseas, she writes to Ruth, asking for help. Ruth agrees to let Millie and her son live with them. When Millie arrives in Springfield, she finds that Ruth hasn’t changed. Ruth grows more bitter the longer Millie stays with them. But Ruth and Millie have secrets. Secrets that could destroy their relationship if they came to light. Can Ruth get over the past to help Millie in the present? Or will she allow past resentments color what she thinks of Millie? Can Millie trust Ruth enough to tell her about her secret?

I didn’t like Ruth one bit. I didn’t like how she treated Millie. I thought it was disgusting that she held on to old resentments. She was afraid that Millie was going to one-up her. I wanted to shake her and say “Get over it!!“. What she did the night of her parents funeral was awful. The author did try to change her character by having her confront Grace Peabody. It didn’t matter. I didn’t like her.

I liked Millie and I felt bad for her. I liked how the author wrote her side of the story. I understood why she left out parts of her story when she moved in with Ruth. I do think that she was unfairly judged by people. They saw how good-looking she was and thought she wasn’t that bright. Which was far from the truth. She was also stronger than most of the women in this book.

I liked Lillian. But I didn’t understand why she was getting her own chapters until later in the book. She was an amazing woman. She had been through so much in her life and she still looked on the brighter side of things. She didn’t dwell on things she couldn’t change. What she did for Millie was nothing short of amazing.

Aria was brought in later in the book. Again, I didn’t understand why she was getting her own chapters but I soon realized why about the same time I understood why Lillian did. She brought an outside perspective to Ruth and Millie’s relationship. She was the only person in the book who dared to call Ruth out on her treatment of Millie. She also was the only one who stood up to Grace and her husband when things were going down. Aria was a true friend to Millie.

I liked how the author wrote Millie’s secret into the book. I also liked what she did to get rid of it. That was also a turning point in Ruth and Millie’s relationship.

I loathed Grace Peabody. She was a nasty woman who got everything that she deserved. I do wish that her husband got the same treatment.

I did like that I got a better understanding of what a woman did to support her soldier/country during World War II. I thought it was fascinating what Millie did. I also liked the location. Having grown up in the NE part of MA, I love it when any part is represented in a book. Double kudos if it is in a positive light.

The end of the book was sweet. I liked that Millie and Ruth were moving towards a better relationship. The author did a great job at ending all the storylines. I had a question about the Aria/Fitz one. Other than that, perfect!!

What I liked about The Wartime Sisters:

The storyline
Mille
How Millie’s secret was written in and out of the book
What I disliked about The Wartime Sisters:

Ruth
Grace Peabody
Aria/Fitz relationship left up in the air
I gave The Wartime Sisters a 4-star rating. I liked the storyline and Mille. I also liked how Millie’s secret was written in and out of the story. It was Ruth who killed the book for me. She was miserable the entire book.

I would give The Wartime Sisters an Adult rating. There is no sex. There is no language. There is some mild violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread The Wartime Sisters. I would also recommend this book to family and friends.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Wartime Sisters.

All opinions expressed in this review of The Wartime Sisters are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

I enjoyed the story of the different lives the sisters led. having two sisters myself, the petty arguments and assumptions of what the other is like is very real. The ending was well done and shows that family is family...whether blood or not.

This book was spot on about this time in history. It was very interesting to read how peole lived and worked during the war. Characters were wonderful and I did not want the book to end. Looking forward to more books from this author.

The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Lolgman is a intriguing novel centered around two different types of war. Part of the story occurs before WW II and during the war. The plot revolves around a very conflicted relationship between two sisters. Their mother relates to each quite differently. She favors the younger more attractive and outgoing sister. This creates a deep resentment in her older sibling and makes it quite difficult for the sisters to co exist. They try to lead separate lives but also need each other and share a past. Its at the end of the book that they get together and vocalize the conflicts they felt growing up. This enables them to establish a satisfying and peaceful relationship. Their war has ended.

The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman was a book that was very hard to put down. This is my first book by this author and I absolutely loved it. I just recently became a huge fan of Historical Fiction and this book was right up my alley. This was a very well researched and written book with well-developed characters. I would love to see it made into a movie. I will definitely read more books from this author. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC.

Two estranged sisters; Ruth and Millie, raised in Brooklyn are reunited at the Springfield Armory in the early days of WWII. Ruth the older of the two resents how her parents have always doted on her younger, prettier sister, Millie. Breaking free from her sister's shadow after the death of their parents, Ruth enjoys her life as an officer's wife and her job at the Armory. When Millie arrives as a war widow and once again is the center of attention, old resentments surface and both sisters fear their secrets are about to be exposed. Told from both points of view, it is easy to understand how they each perceive the other as being the problem in their sibling rivalry.

"During World War II, the armory again turned to women to overcome the labor shortage. By June 1943, somewhere between 11,300-11,800 people worked at the armory, and of that number 43 percent were women." Loigman has written a poignant story capturing that time in history and crafting a story that brings the reality of their lives to the reader. Even in wartime, a hierarchy and snobbishness exist among the women workers and the officer's wives belying the strength that is required to survive the hard times. The Author's Note provides background on the Springfield Armory and is a welcome addition in the book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will go on to read her first novel, The Two-Family House.

I found this book very easy and enjoyable to read. I just finished a WWII novel that took place in Europe so I was glad that this novel took place in America and focused on the relationship between Ruth and Millie with the war as a backdrop. It was interesting to get the perspective from each sister and to understand how each sister was hurting. I would definitely read more from this author. Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for an advanced electronic copy.

This book struck a particular chord with me. Although separated by 2 or 3 generations, I too grew up about 30 miles from Springfield and my parents read the Springfield paper every morning. The story is set in a time I could relate to, and as a child I spent "vacations" with an aunt who took me to Forest Park and to the tearoom in Steiger's department store. Later as a young mother, I took my own children to Forest Park and bought their snowsuits in Steiger's. Although I moved from there many decades ago, I'm wondering how did I never know the history of the Armory?
I loved this book and couldn't put it down. The estranged sisters were so well drawn and gives the reader a hometown look at war, women's place in society, parental bullying, deceit , betrayal and also familial loyalty.
Kudos to the author.for an exceptional and unique novel about WWII.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

This was a good book. I love how complex the relationship between the sisters was. It bounced around in time a bit but it was well done. I was well written, i wanted to keep reading it and it came to a close nicely.

I would read from this author again.

Sisters Ruth and Millie, a few years apart in age, are at odds with one another through almost 30 years of life. Ruth, the older, is noted as reliable, responsible, plain and boring. Millie is expected to get by with her looks and her friendliness. Oh how Ruth resents Millie. WWII throws the sisters together again as Millie’s husband, Lenny, signs up to serve. Millie joins Ruth at the armory and takes a job. This period of time allows Millie to regain her footing and for Ruth to relax her defenses. Coming together as sisters, without rancor, is not easy for these two. I lay the blame for their differences with their mother who seems to be caused so much with her own actions and many words.

This novel was wonderful. The writing was great, the story was compelling, the characters were well fleshed out. I honestly have nothing critical to say about it except that I cried at several moments! I have two sisters of my own and it brought up all the feels.

This was my second novel by the author and I am a fan!

This one fell flat for me. I thought the stories going back and forth in time were slightly confusing and not properly fleshed out. I had hoped that this would be more about the war and less about the sisters and their awkward relationship but it was not, it really was about the sisters. I won't recommend this to anyone but I'm sure I'm in the minority. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I got sent this book to review- I liked the premise
Then I started reading and I did not want to put it down, carrying it around while I did as much ad I could.

2 sisters are not close:
1- her missteps were red wine spilled on a tablecloth
other- only a small wrinkle in tablecloth

1 sister hopes to fix their relationship. A seam sewn crooked is better than a hole.

Words never get chance to be spoken

A nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn, tries to assimilate to a new life in a new place while helping her son adjust to a new life. Problems from the past arise and need to be dealt with so as not to infect their new life.

I highly recommend this book!!

P.S.
Update -
I actually opened my Kindle hoping I could read more of the story, then realizing that I had already finished the book, I wanted more of the characters's story... maybe write a sequel ?!