#BlogTour: Wartime For The Chocolate Girls by Annie Murray @AnnieMurray085 @panmacmillan @chlodavies97 @RandomTTours #WartimeForTheChocolateGirls #AnnieMurray #RandomThingsTours #WW2 #saga

Book Synopsis:

April 1941.

Almost losing her life in a bomb blast while serving in the Women’s Volunteer Service has made Ann Gilby take stock of what’s really important – her family.

With daughter Sheila back home, and Joy still working munitions at the Cadbury factory and engaged to her soldier sweetheart, home life feels more settled too. Ann has even come to an uneasy truce with her husband, Len, despite her recent discovery of his infidelity and the fact that he has fathered a child with another woman.

But what Ann has not reckoned with is, Marianne, Len’s other woman, turning up on her doorstep – a woman with a mysterious past.

Only Ann has secrets of her own and one day soon she knows she will have to tell her youngest child, Martin, who his father really is . . .

From Annie Murray, the bestselling author of Chocolate Girls, The Bells of Bournville Green and Secrets of the Chocolate Girls, Wartime for the Chocolate Girls is a gritty family saga about love, war and chocolate . . .

My Review:

I’m a huge fan of this author so you can imagine my excitement when I was invited onto the blog tour for Wartime For The Chocolate Girls. Once again the author has written an interesting, heartwarming read that I really enjoyed.

Birmingham is only an hour away from where I live and I’ve actually visited Cadbury World on multiple occasions so I found it fascinating to learn more about what the factory was like in wartime. It was interesting to learn more about factory life and the extra problems the workers faced due to it being wartime. The author doesn’t just feature factory life though, the reader also learns a little bit about the local history and what life was like for everyone in England’s second biggest city.

The three main characters were wonderful creations who I enjoyed following throughout the book. I loved that they were all so different to each other and how they all brought something different to the story. I found myself wishing I could be part of their group, able to join in with all the banter. My favourite character was Evie as I thought she was really kind to take David in. It was so lovely watching their relationship grow over the years and seeing how they both helped each other.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read more from this author in future. I felt immediately drawn into the story and into the lives of the three main characters, as if I was actually there watching everything unfold. The story had a great pace to it and there always seemed to be something happening to keep my interest. I especially liked that the story was set over a longer time period so the reader can see what happens to the characters after the war.

This is actually the fourth book in the series but can easily be read as a standalone, like I’ve done, as anything that you need to know is explained. I will definitely be going back and reading the other books in the series.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Annie Murray was born in Berkshire and read English at St John’s College, Oxford. Her first ‘Birmingham’ novel, Birmingham Rose, hit The Times bestseller list when it was published in 1995. She has subsequently written many other successful novels, including The Bells of Bournville Green, sequel to the bestselling Chocolate Girls, Sisters of Gold and Black Country Orphan. Annie has four children and lives just south of Oxford. She also writes as Abi Oliver.