During World War II, both Maddie Weeks and Gerry Stern leave their homes to join the war effort, Gerry as part of the WAVES and Maddie welding ships for the Navy. When they meet by chance at a gay club in San Francisco, Gerry is immediately taken. Maddie is curious and as they spend more time together, they fall in love. When the war ends, they face challenges with their love, and a double whammy as women and an interracial couple.

Overall, this book was okay I do enjoy a sapphic period piece, and there was some representation as the MCs are an interracial couple, but it didn’t hit for me like I hoped it would. I think some of it was the hard butch/femme roles of yore. I never have been into that. Tons of people are and that’s cool. It’s just not necessarily my bag. Overall, though, I enjoyed the love story and I want to see more interracial and black sapphic love, so points for that.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

The author put a lot of time and effort into this romance and it shows. The details draw you in as do the characters. Two women and an interracial couple during the was was rare. This book gives us a glimpse into the lives of lesbians then. Brava.

I love sapphic historical romance, and reading about interracial sapphic romance in the 1940s is always a treat. This one is an easy read. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I was hoping I would - the romance and the conflict fell a little flat for me, but I did enjoy the conversations around butch/femme identities and dynamics.

Thanks to Bold Strokes and NetGalley for this ARC.

I am not a big fan of this book. The writing was okay, but the racism experienced by one of the characters was not properly dealt with in my opinion

I did not enjoy this book. I tried but it just didn't sit well with me. Regardless I'm sure someone else might appreciate this story. 3 stars

I received an ARC Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I got an ARC of this book.

I made it half way through before I gave up. This is the sort of book that makes me sad. It makes it look like lesbian romance has not evolved beyond pulp fiction. I wanted more. I get more from YA Sapphic romances than I do from adult ones like this.

There was no character development. There was no suspense. There was no feeling. Everything read so incredibly bland. Everything was told, nothing was shown. There was no nuance. There was nothing at all to keep my attention. I gave up after Gerry was kicked out of the Navy and they were caught in bed together. To even write that sentence I had to check the book description to remember who was who. I had to constant check to see who Gerry was and who Maddie was. They were so flat that unless they were at work, I had no idea who was who.

I was so excited to see a historical romance featuring a Black lead, but oh boy, no. The author did “research” about what it was like to be Black in the 1940’s. If there was another “gee whiz” comment I would have ripped out my (nonexistent) hair. I could not tell the white character from the Black character. They grew up in DRASTICALLY different worlds. Maddie supposedly grew up in a super racist area, but somehow is perfectly ok being into a white person? She doesn’t see race somehow. Neither does Gerry, despite everything. It is like racism lite. Somehow Maddie and her family had a good house, but that is not the reality of 1940’s Black housing in San Francisco. So many details were just clearly a white person trying to write a Black family, but not knowing what was happening.

So between the lack of anything and the terrible handle on racism, this book was not for me. I really don’t recommend it.

I appreciated the premise and the author's determination to confront racial and homophobic issues, however the relationship between the main characters was dry. They seemed more like friends than lovers due to the lack of chemistry. The historical setting was interesting, but the author just didn't do enough to make me feel invested in the relationship between Gerry and Maddie.

𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟱.

This book is set in 1945 at the tailend of World War II just after the Japanese surrender and it tells the story of an interracial lesbian couple who fall in love. The love alone is incredibly sweet, even though intimate scenes are fade-to-black, but there are obstacles and by looking at the whole set up, we can guess what those obstacles are.

There are at two big themes in this book - homophobia and racism. Homophobia is displayed at various angles such as through Maddie's family who needed time to accept her sexuality and through Gerry who served as a queer Navy WAVE officer. And I think this was more or less dealt nicely and realistically.

How racism was dealt with however, was much less satisfying. Gerry is White and Maddie is Black. And the entire time, Maddie is the one who has to make a consistent effort to blend into Gerry's social life. I wish I could also see Gerry do the same for Maddie but there just wasn't an opportunity for it. But what made me a little uncomfortable was that Gerry seemed oblivious to the racism that was affecting Maddie. Maddie expresses her discomfort to Gerry more than once about being in the gay bar that Gerry likes to frequent but Gerry brushes her off at one point, promises to protect Maddie (but does nothing), because she just wants to hang out with her friends. The same ones who are racist, by the way.

This book is a mixed bag for me. I like the storyline but the way racism was being handled makes me a tad uncomfortable.

Gerry Stern joins the WAVES (the women's branch of the Navy reserves during WWII and ends up stationed at Treasure Island by San Francisco, CA. She grew up on a family farm in Fresno. Maddie Weeks along with her brother and sister in law answer the government call for workers and leave a small town in Arkansas to work in the bay area. Maddie is a Rosie the Riveter and welds in a large shipyard. She is also black. They meet one night at a club and Gerry is instantly attracted. I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. I like the time period and the setting. Both of these women are very naive and at first neither is aware of their sexuality other than a lack of interest in boys. Gerry gets taken under the wing of a butch and gets tutored by her. The designation of butch vs. femme is important and it takes time for Gerry to learn there are variations.

The author draws lots of parallels between the similarity of oppression for blacks and queer communities. But I found it odd that interracial dating wasn't a focal issue. Maddie has concerns about it but Gerry is oblivious to the challenges. Even when Gerry's best friend has issues with Maddie's color it gets forgiven. Or other times Gerry just says I'll stand up for you is someone says something and no one ever does. Gerry doesn't always hear Maddie's concerns like when she says she'd rather go to the movies that to a bar on their dates. But she does bend on a key issue. I'm hopeful for their HEA but not convinced. The book is clean for language and intimacy is off the page. It is a nice historical fiction romance but I wanted to connect more with the couple. Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books, Inc. for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

One thing I love about a good historical romance is when it feels steeped in the history it has chosen to situate itself in and this one has that in spades. Set in 1945 San Francisco, Gerry and Maddie are both working for the war effort - Gerry as a member of the WAVES and Maddie as a civilian riveter (yes, that riveter). Amidst the celebrations of VJ Day, they meet and end up sharing a ride home from a lesbian club. The romance develops from there as the two - Gerry a White "butch" and Maddie a Black "femme" - negotiation their budding feelings around their schedules and societal expectations. I love romance about learning how to love someone who experiences the world differently than you do.

This was an easy read, though not as enjoyable as I was hoping. I just wasn't that invested in their relationship. As a White person, I can’t speak to the representation of Maddie's Blackness, but the racial dynamic between these two didn’t feel nuanced enough to me. At one point Gerry decides to remain friends with a woman who is blatantly racist towards the woman she's dating, and that's just unacceptable.

The book is really invested in the conversation about the oppressive constructs of butch/femme identity, which I found really interesting.

Note: This is a fade-to-black romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC.

CW: Racism, homophobia, police harassment