Helen Tucker wants to drive trucks, it’s her escape and always has been. She also wants Teresa Owens, but that might be harder to achieve as Teresa is an incredibly shy Baptist girl who has secrets she needs to deal with. Helen’s ambitions lead her into dangerous waters with her first posting, but her love for Teresa can help save her from a very dishonourable discharge.

Sergeant Rains and Private Elizabeth Smythe both have issues to overcome as they try to establish a life together in a world that doesn’t accept them on many levels. But Smythe has a secret that could destroy them.

Following directly on from “Basic Training of the Heart” this is a sweet romance set in the Women’s Army Core in 1942 at the height of WWII. It stands alone perfectly well, although “Basic Training of the Heart” is also an excellent read so why not try both.

Jaycie Morrison has captured the mood of an era really well in these novels; the fear of the married women whose husbands are overseas, the attitude of the men who take their place for granted, the hostility of the black ghetto at night, and the determination of the women who have signed up to the WAC to not only do a good job but to forge a place for themselves in the world.

The characters are well drawn and each has a journey to take, learning to do. From the platoon being thrown together for basic through to the rivalry and hostility of the sergeants we get to see a wide range of characters all in a very new situation, finding their way in a man’s world and for many the first time they have not only left home but travelled out of state and away from their family.

The romances are sweet and gentle, the mood is soft focus despite the harsh realities of the time. An excellent follow up in the Love and Courage Series, I look forward to book three.

The premise and plot of the book seemed interesting and enticing for the reader. In particular the relationship between Tee and Helen perhaps had parallels for WAC at the time. The pace and development of their story seemed sporadic and challenging for me to follow and enjoy.

I realized just prior to reading that this was the second book in a series, and while I like to avoid series-books like the plague, it didn't sound like I necessarily needed to have read book 1 prior to this. I'm going to go out on a limb though and say that there's a good chance I probably should have, but had I done that there was no way I would have bothered with this book. Each book in this series apparently follows a different set of characters, although there is some overlap with couples. My main complaint though is that from the first pages, I felt like I was coming into this story about 100 pages in. There were events eluded to that these characters were reacting to that threw me for a loop--only to have the event in question briefly described several chapters later. None of the chapters I made it through actually described what these characters actually looked like nor built up any chemistry between them. Apparently, it's enough just to make them lesbians--naturally it's assumed they'd want each other and who cares what they look like!
I was off-put by the writing style and the horrendous grammar as well as the complete lack of actually "building" characters. This isn't the type of book I am able to "lose myself" in and actually enjoy, so I stopped reading partway through. I hate to do that, but there are too many other books out there to enjoy more.

I was unable to review this book because of a conflict in my schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused the publisher or the author of the work. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review for you and I look forward to reviewing for you in the future.

I thoroughly love this series. I was thrilled that Bett and Rain’s relationship development is included in this book. They are both fantastic characters and I was glad to read more about them.
Helen and Tee’s relationship is the main focus of this book and the book begins at their beginning (before Betts and Rain got together). The reader is then taken to the present. This was a great addition to the series. A reader could read it as a stand-alone but I recommend reading Basic Training of the Heart first.

This book deals with the first women in the American army during the Second World War. It is the second book in a series, the first is Basic Training of the Heart, which I have not read and I have to say that it has not been necessary to understand and follow this second, although I suppose that if I had read the first part Some things in the second would have made more sense.

Anyway, this story explains life in a female military base where women from different social strata come to contribute to the needs that war entails. The two couples that appear during the story are Rain and Bett, one being an American Indian and the other daughter of a wealthy family, Tess and Helen, the two from rural environments, Tess with more religious education and some traumas of childhood that make her insecure and fearful. The story, despite being set in a military environment, focuses more on the development of the relationship between these two couples.

Rain and Bett are already a more consolidated couple that decides to go to live together and ales are some conflicts that coexistence entails. Tess and Helen, especially Tess, still have to learn to overcome some fears, especially fears of sin and hell instilled by religious education.

The book is dense in some parts, the explanation of the experiences of the protagonists is sometimes so detailed that it becomes a bit heavy. But it seemed to me that he describes in a very credible way the environment and the problems that, at that time, women had to decide and live freely.

A good book I recommend reading.

An enjoyable depiction of a critical but too rarely examined aspect of feminine contributions to the Second World War.. While Kate Christie's "In the Company of Women" remains the beautiful standard for relationships and service tales of this type, Ms. Morrison did a more than serviceable job with this volume. I look forward to more from her.

I love this book series. I know these books are just written about our true history, but the way Jaycie writes with so much detail I feel like she’s created an entire new world.

I love Bett and Rain, and this picks up where the last one leaves off. However, we now get in to Helen/Tee’s POVs and the book begins with their relationship back before Bett and Rain get together. It doesn’t take long for the reader to catch up to the “present” and it’s just a really great read to go through these women’s lives. There were even a few surprises that I never saw coming.

If you haven’t read the first one, you need to not only for this one to make sense but because this is such a well written series. I can’t wait for the next one!

3 ½ Stars. This is the second book in the Love and Courage series. I thought this was another pretty good romance by Morrison. The question is do you have to read book 1 Basic Training of the Heart first? Technically no, I think you could catch up enough if you couldn’t read book 1 first. But, you would be missing out on the beginning of one relationship, and the friendship stage of another relationship. The two books actually enhance each other. This book picks up before the first actually ends. It shows the POV of other people, and what they were doing during that same time period. Then the book goes past where book 1 ended, and you get to see what happens to the main couple from book 1, and the new main couple from this book. It is actually quite clever how Morrison chose to do this; this is not a normal sequel. My personal recommendation, to really enjoy this series, read Basic Training of the Heart first, then read this book while book 1 is still fresh in your mind.

Rain and Bett, are the main characters from book 1, Helen and Tee are the new mains from this book. What was nice is you still get plenty of time with Rain and Bett. You even get more scenes from Rain’s POV, which helps to understand her character more. Helen and Tee, were very likeable secondary characters from book 1, it was nice to let them have time to shine. I think Morrison writes characters very well. They are all far from perfect, and it is nice to see them evolve.

This book does deal with a few tough subjects, abuse and sexual molestation. There is a memory from a characters teenager-hood, which is very hard to read. I was actually feeling a bit sick. But Morrison didn’t just throw it in. It really explains why one character is still dealing with a lot and effected still to this day. So yes there are a few tough parts in this book, but this is not a dark book. In fact, many parts are pretty romantic.

The romance seems to be amped up from book 1, especially for Bett and Rain. Where they are in their life, they have more time to be together, and it shows. Morrison can write some really sweet and poetic lines. I found myself almost swooning a bit. A few times it was almost a little too much, almost a little too sappy, sweet. But honestly, I was okay with it. I don’t mind a little sugar sweetness sometimes.

The only thing I found myself really struggling with at times was the length and pace of the book. The book would be going along great, and then it would get bogged down a bit. I wish the pace was a little more consistent. The way the book ended, there are still some threads that are not really resolved. I think Morrison is leaving the series opened for a third book. I think I would have liked a few scenes to have gotten cut shorter, and everything to be resolved before the end. If Morrison writes a book 3, I will absolutely read it, I just don’t know if it really was needed.

If you enjoy military love stories, definitely give this series a chance. At times it can be wonderfully romantic, especially this book. I will absolutely keep my eye out for what Morrison writes, in the future.

An ARC was given to me by BSB, for a honest review.

I have not read the first book in the series but I didn’t think it was a problem. The first two chapters seemed to overlap a little and it took me a while to get all the references but it wasn’t a big deal - it can definitely be read as a standalone book.
The writing was good and I liked the switching of the POV but I couldn’t really get their chemistry - that made the story kind of lost for me. Other than that it was a good story with a good pace and developement.