PUB DAY REVIEW:
UNTIL WE MEET
by Camille Di Maio
Out today.

What a gorgeous cover and what a compelling story of friendship during WWII. In NYC in 1943, we meet Margaret, Gladys, and Dottie as they do their part for the war effort along with knitting socks for soldiers. Across the sea are three men fighting for the Allies: John (Margaret's brother and Dottie's beau), William (who corresponds with Margaret), and Tom.

We see the war through their eyes and the letters they exchange unspool this compelling story uniquely. I grew to care about each character, even worry about them as the war ensues, and that speaks to Camille's strong character development and narrative skills. An absorbing historical fiction tale that brings a war and an era to life through the kaleidoscope of friendship. Highly recommended.

Thanks to the author, Forever (Grand Central Publishing) Forever, and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are mine.

#UntilWeMeet #NetGalley

It is always a delight reading a creation by the talented storyteller, Camille Di Maio while visiting the past.

UNTIL WE MEET is well researched and beautifully written, and since her debut and subsequent historical fiction—a huge fan.

1943 Brooklyn, NY: We meet two groups of friends during WWII. The women work at the Navy Yard and spend their time sewing, knitting socks, writing letters, and supporting their men and one another.

Margaret, Gladys, and Dottie are very different, each with their own individual personalities. John and Dottie are together when John goes to war. John rooms with William and Tom and they become the 3 Musketeers.

Margaret likes that there are now many jobs available for the women off to war and wants to help the soldiers. She begins knitting socks and inserts cards/letters in the socks. She develops a pen-pal relationship with the soldier and longs to meet him one day.

Gladys is a feminist who aims to get women's respect and independence in the workplace.

Dottie finds herself pregnant while her fiancé is off fighting the war, and her parents kick her out and want her to give up her child. Knitting is therapeutic for her.

John, Tom, and William face dangers on their end. The three men have a friendship, and their lives are intertwined with the three women on the home front.

A heartfelt story of war, courage, family, grief, tragedy, hope, loss, friendship, and love. Readers will enjoy the emotional picture of women's daily life during wartime through the eyes of three extraordinary women.

In our trying times today and those faced with war leaving their loved ones behind, it makes you stop and think and cherish each moment you have.

Character-driven, I enjoy how the author writes of important events in history or places and blends them with fictional lives of men and women with romance and friendship.

I also loved reading the Epilogue (June 1949). For fans of Author: Lynda Cohen Loigman's The Wartime Sisters and Martha Hall Kelly's The Lilac Girls of Ravensbrück.

A special thank you to #NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central) for an advanced reading copy.

Blog Review Posted @:
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: March 1, 2022

Highly recommend all her books. Read My reviews below on my blog or Goodreads below..
THE MEMORY OF US 2016
BEFORE THE RAIN FALLS 2017
THE WAY OF BEAUTY 2018
THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGERS 2019
#AuthorElevatorSeries Interview
THE FIRST EMMA 2020

UNTIL WE MEET by Camille Di Maio is a beautifully-written and well-researched work of historical fiction set during World War II. I have read and loved all of Camille Di Maio’s books, so I was thrilled to have a chance to read an early copy of her latest. As always, the characters are wonderfully-portrayed and their stories were so compelling I couldn’t put the book down. This book follows two groups of close friends, three men who meet during their military training and end up deployed overseas together and three women who work together at the Brooklyn Navy Yard while the men are gone. Margaret, Dottie and Gladys are very different but form an enduring bond of friendship and love that will sustain them during incredibly trying times. John, Tom and William face unthinkable danger at the front. Their friendship is unexpectedly entwined with the three women at home. This is a story of family, love and friendship that kept me engaged from beginning to end. I was totally immersed in this emotional story of bravery, grief and hope in the face of tragedy and I highly recommend it. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.

Until We Meet Again follows three women on the home front and three men fighting in Europe during WWII. Di Maio researches her novels extensively, and I always learn new details about the time period she covers. But her greatest strength is in her characters, who come to life on the pages. Well done!

If you enjoy historical romance fiction, then this book is for you!

The story of 2 sets of friends; 3 female and 3 male. Dottie and Margaret are lifelong friends, Gladys is newer to the group. Dottie is in love with Margaret’s brother John, off fighting in Europe with William and Tom.

What started as a way for the women to support John and his friends by knitting socks (lots of socks!) begins a correspondence between Margaret and William, aided by Tom, although Margaret isn’t aware. The letters continue on through the war and all it’s atrocities.

Be prepared to feel all the emotions. You’ll rejoice at the happy times, cry at losses and have hope for their future. Keep the tissues handy!

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

A wonderful historical fiction piece. I love that we see New York portrayed in this novel. The story stretches over seas as well. Dottie, Gladys and Margaret are three characters I would love to sit and have tea with!
Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Until We Meet is a story of friendship and love during WWII. It filled with powerful portrayals of life during the war from both sides of the ocean - NYC and the war zones of England/France.

Duel storylines follow three women in NYC and three men in the trenches. The author beautifully weaves them together through family relationships and penned letters from one soldier to one of the women. The harsh reality of war grips the characters as they experience love, loss and hope at the wars end.

Camille Di Maio is masterful in storytelling and has carefully woven in true facts into this historical fiction novel. Until We Meet is a tender story that conveys a real sense of the period.

Thank you Forever for the advance reader copy.
Historical Fiction

I really enjoyed this historical fiction novel about three friends whose lives are changed by WWII.

I liked the friendships and romance in this book. Margaret and her pen pal’s storyline was the most interesting to me. I really like the idea of the couple meeting via a note in a sock she knitted for a soldier in her brother’s unit. That one simple act sparked a relationship with her long-distance pen pal.

I also appreciated that we get to hear about the experience from the POV of the soldiers. Their hopes and dreams, followed by what they experienced preparing for and during combat. It was so well written.

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical fiction featuring strong female friendships.

It starts out just knitting socks for her brother’s unit. Soon Margaret is writing letters to one of the soldiers. What unfolds is a well researched story. We see just a small part of the war. The romance that blossoms within letters written back and forth. We feel the heartbreak that war can cause and the joy of coming home. Definitely recommend!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

I've said it before and I'll say again, I love reading historical fiction set around WW2. This was a really good historical set around WW2 and I really enjoyed the aspect of Margaret and Tom sending letters back and forth between each. I did wish that Tom would've told Margaret sooner, rather than at what time it happened in the book because it just seemed a little rushed at the end. Also the story felt to vast for such small page count, with all the different characters and their stories, it really didn't seem to focus to much attention on the main POV's.

I received an ARC from the publisher and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Until We Meet is a story about the bonds between a trio of women as they navigate World War II on the home front in New York, from their friendships with one another to their respective romantic relationships. I appreciate the detail put into capturing the day-to-day activities of doing their bit for the men in combat, surviving and trying to maintain hope in this uncertain and dark world.
I appreciate the way each woman highlights the different things women at large went through during the war. Margaret, in the process of her knitting and distribution of socks, develops a correspondence with a soldier she’s never met. Gladys is eager to embrace the new opportunities the war has opened up for women like her. And Dottie is dealing with the precarious situation of being pregnant while her fiancée is off fighting, and having to conceal her situation from her parents.
But it definitely felt a tad broad, surface level, and scattered. The focus on the three women, and even occasionally on the men sometimes meant that it would be hard to become overly invested in obe, as I’d constantly be shifted between perspectives. Perhaps a narrower POV focus might have been better, with others relegated to subplots. I also just didn’t feel like it stands out very much, given how saturated World War II historical fiction is.
While I found this underwhelming, I can understand the appeal for other readers. If you like World War II fiction centering hope and survival on the home front, you might like this one.

Sadly, I did not connect with this one. The characters were well written but it just wasn’t for me. I was looking for a little more action and I did not finish at 25%.

It is 1943 and young men from across the U.S. are heading overseas to support the Allied Forces. Margaret, Dottie and Gladys are three close friends doing their part to help in the war effort by working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Margaret’s brother John, who is engaged to Dottie, is sent to Europe. The three woman decide to support the troops by knitting the men socks. Margaret is urged by her brother to write to William, who is one of the airmen serving alongside John. A sweet note slipped into one of the socks turns into on-going correspondence that becomes important to both of them. Tom, another man in John’s company is helping William write the letters and adding his own drawings. War rages on and everyone’s lives are impacted.

While the harsh reality of war is detailed, the appeal of Until We Meet is the friendship of the three strong, ambitious women and the support they give to one another during such difficult times. Author Camille Di Maio did a fine job in creating a tender story that has a real sense of the period, portraying how difficult it was for the courageous young men serving as well as those who kept their hopes high back at home. A lovely book.

Rated 4.25 stars.

3.5 stars
Margaret, Dottie, and Gladys are best friends living in Brooklyn during WWII. Dottie is engaged to Margaret's brother, John. John is in England, training for war with William and Tom. Most of the book alternates back and forth between Margaret and Tom as main characters.
I enjoyed the second half of the book more.than the first. The beginning was a little slow for me, and I didn't like that many of the chapters would end on some sort of cliffhanger and then switch to the other continent for a fairly long chapter before resolving whatever it was.
Even with a book focused on war and having tough passages to read about battles, death, and hardships, the book does manage to be hopeful. The friendships depicted between the group of women and the group of men are almost more important than the romances.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Who doesn’t love a war time romance that’s conducted through letters? I didn’t want this story to end. Three friends, Margaret, Dottie, and Gladys form a strong bond on the Brooklyn home front during WWII. They face joy, hurt, tragedy, and happiness as not just friends, but sisters. The nest last of the book was the romance in the letters written between Margaret and One of her brother’s comrades. Subterfuge abounds, amends will Have to be made, but it is possible to fall in love with someone through missives.
Fall in love with Until We Meet; it’s a not to be missed book!

Camille Di Maio writes the very best characters! This book is set in New York City in 1943 and tells the story of 3 friends Margaret, Dottie, and Gladys. Until We Meet also tells the male side of friendship while they are away fighting in WW2. I have read many WW2 books and I enjoyed this one very much. It shows the horrors of war on those fighting and of those left at home. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own. .

This was the most beautiful book. It was so much more than what I’d expected. I thought this might be a quaint story about some ladies who form a knitting club to knit socks for soldiers. It is not that at all. It’s so much more. This went places and told stories I didn’t expect it to. Until We Meet is a lovely, emotional, and deeply moving story of love, friendship, and perseverance. It highlights the importance of human connection and celebrates the spirit of resilience. It’s at times heart-warming, heart-rending, sweet, thought-provoking, charming, terrifying, and uplifting.

The story is magnificent but the characters are the heart of this book; they are vibrant and charming, true to their time and believably written. Between the cover image and the character names (and never having read anything else from this author before) I thought this could potentially be full of cliches and stereotypes. But Di Maio has carefully crafted characters so rich and beautifully formed, I felt like I knew them. I really liked Margaret, Dottie, and Gladys. The three of them together made a lovely group of friends who understand the importance of taking care of one another. And the male counterparts of the story are just as interesting. I really enjoyed getting to know John, William, Tom, Oliver, and George.

Everything about this book goes straight to the heart. The story is captivating. It felt like opening a time capsule due to its realistic portrayal of WWII-era America. It’s easy to romanticize this period but the book illustrates just how difficult it was to live through.

I came to realize that despite the story taking place nearly 80 years ago, in a very different time and place to what we know now, nearly everything in this book is relevant to our lives today. One can absolutely read this book for the emotional impact of the story alone and it would be plenty worth doing. But there’s much more to it if you care to see it.

The social & political climate of 1940s working-class Brooklyn and the patriarchal social norms that dictate so many aspects of Margaret, Dottie, and Gladys’s lives are deftly woven into the story. Culture has changed quite a bit in the intervening decades, but I appreciated the way the book made me see how far we’ve come as well as how far we have yet to go. We all experience love and loss and trials in life, and everything the characters go through is so very human and relatable. That alone makes this worth the read.

I thought the writing was excellent overall. Not just in the way Di Maio fleshed out the characters or made the setting come alive. I enjoyed the alternating perspectives in the chapters, going back and forth between Margaret (and the ladies in Brooklyn) and Tom (and the men in Europe). It was a great way to keep the interest high and the pace brisk. Portions of the book are made up of snippets of the letters Margaret and her military pen pal write one another and it’s a beautiful way to get to know them all. I really enjoyed the correspondence parts. The back and forth of the perspectives when a certain letter is delivered built such exquisite tension. Towards the end, you can really feel the excitement as the climax approaches. And the epilogue was just *chef’s kiss*.

In the end, I found this bittersweet story utterly breathtaking, emotional, and ultimately full of hope. It will make you feel all the feels and remember the important things in life. I would highly recommend this to anyone.

5 stars out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Forever/Grand Central for providing the digital ARC.

I absolutely loved this book. It is filled with beautifully descriptive prose, likeable characters, and an abundance of heart. The evils and heartbreak of war provide the backdrop to the promise of better days filled with love and family.

Camille DeMaio consistently writes interesting books with fully developed characters. This book is no different. The story takes place during WW2 but covets the training of American flight crews in England with some information about American battles after D-day. The other focus was life in America during the war. Women stepping up to fill jobs. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel I could hardly wait for some time to read more.
#forever #camilledemaio #untilwemeet #netgalley

I couldn't put this book down and don't regret losing sleep to finish it in the wee hours of the morning. I was prepared with tissues and hot chocolate to comfort myself and absolutely love this novel, even with it wrecking my emotions.