This book features an interesting writing style that can make it hard to connect with the characters. It's emotional and well-written, but the third-person point of view may create a disconnection between the reader and the text.

Beautiful historical fiction depicting women’s challenges in the 20th century. This is a short and quick read based on a true story that brought me to tears. The author did a wonderful job and I enjoyed the third person narrative.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a beautifully done historical fiction novel, it had that romance element that I was looking for. The characters were what I wanted from this concept and was glad that I could see the true story element to it. The overall feel of the story worked and was glad I read this. Jeremy Bending writes a strong story and characters that I wanted to read more from.

Gwendoline by Jeremy Bending is a quick read, but one of great empathy and care. I almost had to imagine it being told from the perspective of an observer than from the perspective of the protagonist or other actors within the storyline

Based on a true story, it reflects on the sensibilities and challenges of the times and how everything began to change due to global conflict and developing social attitudes. It is a good story and one told with great compassion

Thank you to Netgalley, Cranthorpe Millner Publishers and the author Jeremy Bending for this heartfelt ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

Wow emotional and heartfelt read! Loved knowing it was based on a true story. With it being in third person it made it a little harder to connect and feel for Gwen. And obviously the cover art is absolutely beautiful.

I tried really hard to get into this. While it may definitely be other people’s style, it truthfully wasn’t mine. The third person writing was a bit strange to me.
There seemed to be tragedy everywhere you turned in this book, it was so sad. Yet at the same time, it really opened my eyes to how it truly was back in those days. There was more tragedy back then than there is now, simply because we have access to mental health care and other types of health care that wasn’t very prominent then.
I also had no idea that it was so “looked down upon” to be a nurse. Nurses are so common now in 2024. When I read that my jaw dropped.
I wish this had been written from Gwen’s POV. I feel like getting to dive into her thoughts and feelings would have made this story more incredible. It would have made it more sad, obviously. But I think it would have been a much more engaging and interesting read that way.

This was a very emotional read for me and I liked it a lot! I struggled a bit with the narrative at some points and I wasn't able to get into the story fully but overall it was great! The historical parts were spot on in my opinion - recommend it to anyone who's into historical romance!

A deep and heartfelt read. The descriptions in the book were sufficiently realistic and emotional. But the writing style was strange—it was written in the third person, which made it difficult to empathize with the characters. Again, I believe that having it told from Gwen's or a dual point of view would have been beneficial. However, the narrative gained more feeling and empathy when we learned that it was based on a true story.

**Thank you NetGalley and Cranthorpe Millner Publishers for the opportunity to review this book.**

A very touching and deep read. The historical things made me tear up at times. The charactera were on point, and i loved the interactions. I will definitely try to read thia kind of books again in the future. Thank you Net Galley for giving me this opportunity.

This book was heartful and the descriptions vivid enough I could "see it". However, the writing was odd in that it was written in third party narrative and it was hard to connect to the characters because of this. Knowing it was based on a true story brought more emotion and empathy to the story, but again, I think having it narrated by Gwen or dual POV would have been helpful.