Until We Meet

Until We Meet is a period piece that is about the strong women of WWII who worked sewing flags, making armor and welding parts of the USS Missouri. It follows the stories of three ladies, and three military men. The story begins with John and Dottie who are together when John goes to war. John is roomed with William and Tom and they become the 3 Musketeers. They are parachuters and become like brothers. John convinces William to write to his sister, Maggie. William introduces Tom to the letters by having him draw pictures.

While the men are fighting, the ladies are working their way upward at the Naval Yard. Gladys is a feminist who aims to get women respect in the workplace post war. She also aims to prove that she doesn't need a man, or traditional romance. Dottie experiences a plethora of emotions and adventures during the war and ber friends help her through all of it. And Maggie finds herself falling hopelessly in love with her letter writer.

This is a wonderful, empowering, romantic, realistic, forward thinking novel. The characters are strong, intense, wonderful, and quite what I expect from the time period. This is truly a must read

Until We Meet is a beautiful story of love and war. Set just after the United States enters WWII, this eloquent novel follows two sets of friends, a trio of women state side and a trio of men set on the edge of war. United by siblings John and Margaret, these young Americans lean on each other to get them through some of history’s darkest moments. Friendships are formed and lives are lost. Love is lost and love is found. What starts as a war time pen pal correspondence, turns into a beacon of hope until they meet.

I LOVED every page of this book! I knew from the very first page that it was going to be a page turner. It was written in such a way that I was able to connect with each of the characters. They made me laugh, they made me smile and they made me cry…it doesn’t get any better than that! I was so invested that I didn’t want the story to end! In fact…can this puhlease be made into a movie?

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Camille Di Maio for early access to this stunning novel! It’s my first 5 star read of 2022

Camile DiMaio has given her readers a beautifully written and well researched book about two groups of friends during WWII. The men meet in training and then stay together when they go into the war zone. The women all work at the Navy Yard and spend their free time knitting socks, writing letters and doing whatever they can to help the soldiers come home.

Margaret, Gladys and Dottie are very different from each other but they all work at the same place doing jobs that were done by men before the war. Margaret is the most practical woman in the group and is thrilled that she has so many opportunities for jobs now. Her brother is in the Army in Training. Dotty is in love with Margaret's brother and after he leaves for training she finds out that she's pregnant. Her parents kick her out and she depends on her two friends to help her. Gladys is an early feminist who believes that women can and should be able to do anything. The three men also become close friends and have each other's backs no matter what's going on. Margaret starts writing to one of the men and he shares his life with her. She wonders if she'll meet him in person after the war.

The thoughts and feelings of the three men as they faced enemy troops were beautifully written. They shared their feeling about their lives at war but they never quit fighting. This is the first book that I've read that not only talks about the feelings of the women at home but also delves into the emotions of the men who are at war.

This is a book that you don't want to miss. It's about war and there are some pretty brutal battle scenes but overall the book is about love, friendship and family. Family isn't always based on blood sometimes it's based on the people you care about the most. Until we Meet made me smile and it made me cry but the overwhelming feeling throughout the book was the love between both groups of friends.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.