The Maiden's Court: Book Review: Becoming Mrs. Smith by Tanya E. Williams

Becoming Mrs. Smith (Volume 1) by Tanya E. Williams
ARC, e-Book, 110 pages
Rippling Effects Writing & Photography
October 10, 2017
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction, Novella

Source: Received for review with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

Not all of war’s destruction takes place on the battlefield.
Violet’s heart flutters from the scarlet fever she survived as a child, and it beats faster at the sight of John Smith, the man she plans to marry. America is entrenched in WWII, and when John enlists, Violet is certain she won’t ever forgive him for dashing their dreams. As the realities of war slowly overtake her life, Violet's days are filled with uncertainty and grief. She struggles to maintain her faith in John, as the world as she knows it, crumbles.
Becoming Mrs. Smith is the inspiring, and at times, heartbreaking story of a woman’s struggle to reclaim what she lost. War stole the man she loves, and childhood illness weakened her heart—perhaps beyond repair. While guns rage in Europe, the war Violet faces at home may be even more devastating.

For a short novella, Williams covers a lot of ground within those few pages and moves us quickly through the gamut of emotions to include anger, happiness, and sadness. You are rapidly sucked into the action and moved a lot with the events as they unfold. Violet ages from a young girl at home to a woman out in the world, working and falling in love. Each segment jumps oftentimes several months between events and sometimes even years. Whereas this would normally be a potential turnoff as I would feel compelled to ask “what happened in between”, I didn’t find myself having time to ask that as Williams moves us right into the next emotional beat. There was maybe a half a moment, before the last scene, where I felt if it was a novel it would have built up more, however, it was emotionally satisfying just the way it resulted.

This is most definitely a story of those left behind during war. Violet and her friends face the challenges of watching those they care about leave for the front and some not return. This affects them all in different ways and I appreciated seeing how they all reacted to traumatic events. It is not all stiff upper lip and carrying on for those abroad, which made it feel very real.

I was absolutely crying by the end of this novella. I’m not one who typically cries while reading; for that to happen within this short time span is a testament to how quickly Williams’ characters grew on me and how much I cared about their outcomes. If your heart isn’t just a little broken by the end of this I don’t know what will! I look forward to reading the next in this series.

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Breathe

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