I was so excited to get this ARC. I come from a long line of military and following Calla Connolly and her impact with the soldiers at Camp Greene.
Camp Greene was part of Charlotte, NC in 1918. (Definitely read the author notes) Calla finds herself touring American training camps, hoping to get to the front lines in honor of her fiancé. While at Camp Greene she gets the Spanish flu. She finds her signing talents helping soldiers. Since she is now confined to the camp, her former rival gets to continue her tour.
She finds love and is entrusted with a secret which she knows will change several lives.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and Calla’s journey. I am familiar with USO tours and I know how if lifted the spirits of so many in harms way for a few minutes or hours.

I love Joy Callaway books and her latest The Star of Csmp Greene is classic Joy. She can take a particular event or person in history and transform them into an amazing story. Her dialog is fun, her characters are all so well-defined and her research is impeccable!!!

Audio is amazing. Brittany Pressley is one of my favorite narrators and is perfect for this book!

Thank you netgalley and Harper Muse audio for the honor to read and review this book!,

"The Star of Camp Greene" by @JoyCallaway and my heart is full! 🥰 This historical fiction dives into a WWI training camp and the vibrant story of a young woman finding her way. Callaway brings the era to life with such rich detail – I could practically hear the marching bands! 🎶
Our main character's journey of growth and finding her purpose was so engaging. While the story took its sweet time in places, the charming characters and fascinating historical setting totally won me over. It's a heartwarming read that offers a unique glimpse into the homefront during the Great War.

First time reading this author and really enjoyed the pace and story line. During WWI, Camp Greene in Charlotte NC is not where up and coming performing star Calla Connelly wants to be. She wants to be in France, in the action, to honor her deceased fiancé. But when recovering from the Spanish flu, she overhears sensitive information and must remain at the camp. Joy Calloway has researched this book through soldier letters and we feel each uncertainty and patriotic duty. The main characters, Calla and Jesse, share sweet words and kisses but in uncertain times one never knows. Joy’s words, through the eyes of the soldiers and main characters tug at our heartstrings. The flow of the story and the twists were nice and spaced well. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author.

The Star of Camp Greene
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Wow This was a great book & story. Joy did it once again. You will smile & fall hard for Callie. It was fun & so uplifting! I couldn't put it down! The Audio was Fantastic!
Thank you NetGalley

I’m so grateful for this advanced listening copy for The Star of Camp Greene. Thank you Joy Callaway and Harper Muse Audiobooks.

It’s sad to say that most of what I remember of the history of WWI comes from Downton Abbey. Enter Joy Callaway.

Joy writes the fictional story of Calla Connolly visiting a training camp in Charlotte, NC. Calla is broadway star visiting training camps in hopes of making it to the front in France. She wants to bring hope, joy, and even a little peace to those forced to fight. Unfortunately, there’s a Spanish flu outbreak and during her visit to Camp Greene she becomes very sick. During her recovery she overhears an Army secret, and after that is required to stay on base and supervised at all times.

And her supervisor is Jessie the new head of the army camp. He never wanted her there, does not understand why she thinks her performances help anything related to training an army, and is extremely disgruntled by this inconvenience.

The story has many nuances surrounding how people handle thoughts of war, family, and happiness. While Calla and Jessie are the main characters, there’s an amazing cast crucial to the story that you will easily fall in love with as well.

Joy truly captures the voice of the time and Brittany Pressley does an a perfect job of narrating. I felt transported back in time. Make sure you listen to the Author’s Note (I was excited to hear Joy graduated from the same high school my kids attend!).

Thank you to Harper Muse Audiobooks, Joy Calloway, and NetGalley for this ALC. Everything in this review is my true and honest opinion.

I absolutely adored this audiobook! To me, it was the perfect blend of historical fiction and romance. As a public health professional (who works especially in infectious diseases), I appreciated the inclusion of the Spanish influenza and how that played such a big role in the overall premise of the story. I appreciated even the little details like noting characters putting on cloth masks as needed (which was a historically accurate practice for medical and hospital wards during that time).

Being from NC, I also appreciated the story taking place at Camp Greene/in Charlotte and could tell the amount of research that went into representing the Camp and Charlotte accurately for that time period. I appreciated the times during the book where segregation was noted and how Calla felt it was wrong and didn’t understand it. It was a good balance of not just brushing it off while also acknowledging that’s accurate for how things would have been during this time period.

At first I wasn’t sure how interesting a story with a performer stuck at a military camp for so long would be but as it turns out, A LOT can happen during that time, even with the setting remaining the same!

This book did a great job, in my opinion, of portraying the anxiety of being at a military training camp during a major world war and the fears of being sent to the front not just from the soldiers but also their families/loved ones and everyone working at the camp.

Finally, the narrator, Brittany Pressley, did a great job and was easy to listen to!

As a big fan of historical romance, I was excited for the opportunity to try a new to me author with The Star of Camp Greene, a WWI novel. The setting for this book was really unique and fascinating as it took place in the US at a military training camp instead of overseas in Europe or any of the battlefield areas. That created so many opportunities to share rich historical elements occurring in the US at the time and unique pieces to move along the story.
I thought it was intriguing how Calla was a stage actress and intriguing what her motivations for being at the camp in the first place were. Her acting and Broadway background created such a neat bond with some of the soldiers and I liked how it both effected moral and the way this played out in a twist towards the end. When she is forced to remain at the camp with Jesse in charge of basically chaperoning her, I loved how this created some forced proximity moments and played into the "enemies to lovers" vibe the story had though I would say it was more of a "misunderstood to lovers" which was nice how that unfolded.
I did get worried there at the end that this book wasn't going to have a happy ending as the final chapters are quite intense and made me nervous. I was really happy, though, with how things did turn out in the end.
I listened to the audiobook version of this story and thought that the narrator, Brittany Pressley, did a really good job capturing the class and socialite aspects of Calla's character as well as did a good job with the dialogue so it was easy to follow along to. I would listen to it again and recommend the audiobook version.
Content: there is a fade to black scene between a non-married couple that I was not expecting. Other than that, it contained no language and only some innuendo to other relations outside of marriage. Nothing detailed or on the page.
I received an advance listening copy of this novel from Netgalley and Harper Muse Audiobooks. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I recommend this book.