I love wartime fiction. It describes a time and a way of living that I can only imagine and when well written it can make you feel like you are experiencing it first-hand. This is my second book by this author and both books have been written just like this! This story begins in 1939, at the start of the World War II. Children are being evacuated from the cities into the countryside to keep them safe from the bombs which are relentlessly raining down. Seven year old Pearl Posner is one of those children and has been evacuated from the East End of London. She finds herself placed with Vivienne, who wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to have an evacuated child living with her, and her husband Edmund was even less sure.

This book gives a great insight into the lives of all those who were around at the times of both World Wars. I loved the character of little Pearl Posner. My heart broke for her during her evacuation out of London and could never imagine how those children must have been feeling at that time. Vivienne’s story was equally as sad being stuck in a loveless marriage with memories of her work during the Great War playing heavy on her.

The story switches between both wars from Vivienne and her sister, Olive volunteering as ambulance drivers in the Great War to the bombing and evacuations in World War II. The common theme of the loss of family and friends in both wars was particularly poignant and brought me to tears. I love how having Pearl as an evacuee gave Vivienne a purpose in life. The story has plenty of twists and turns between Vivienne, Olive and Pearl’s stories and it was so realistic and was clear that a lot of research into both wars had happened.

If you like romantic historical fiction, particularly which is set in wartime, then this is the book for you! This, at times, bought tears to my eyes and equally a warm glow to my heart. Would definitely recommend.

A lovely, heart tugging novel. Done in a dual time line with both World Wars, it's the story of Vivi, who regrettably married and is stuck with (yes, stuck with) Edmund, who is not a nice man. It's also the story of her sister Olive and how the two of them went to France in WWI to serve as ambulance drivers. Vivi makes a bad choice, which haunts her. During WWII, she volunteers to take in a child who has been evacuated. Pearl gives her a new reason to live. Pearl's background- no spoilers! Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of historical fiction. A good read.

I’ll be honest - it took me a while to get into this book. The blurb emphasised the evacuation storyline, so I was anticipating something like my favourite childhood drama – Carrie’s War. This is no Carrie’s War, and on reflection, the evacuation story isn’t the main theme. This book is about love and prejudice.
Vivi, the main character, keeps missing her chances of love- be it marital, sisterly or maternal, - because of attitudes about what is expected, respectable and normal. There are plot twists. One of them is well-signalled and it’s just a matter of waiting for Vivi to catch on. The other, about her marriage, is more of a shocker.
Having read one of Page’s previous books, I know that she researches thoroughly and likes to fictionalise real people. The more unlikely the names sound, the more likely they are to be true…yes, there was (and still is!) a volunteer group called FANY (who knew?), and you wouldn’t make up a surname like Mudie-Cooke would you?
So I would say, don’t be fooled by the rather maudlin evacuee on the cover. Allow yourself – like I did – to get sucked into the lives of women who lived through two world wars, and you’ll find the yourself engrossed till the last page.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Interesting and unusual war time saga,working between the two world wars.An insight into the role of women and their war efforts. Sad at times,happy at times,a good read.

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture for my copy of When I Was Yours by Lizzie Page.
The story has a dual time format so the story goes from 1939 or the second world war and back to 1914 and the great war.

In 1914 a young Vivienne Mudie-Coates falls in love with her cousin Richards best friend, Edmund Lowes. After Richard dies during the first world war, Vivi and her sister Olive decide to go to France to help the war effort and become ambulance drivers.
During this time Vivi saves a young English pilot Sam Isacc from his burning plane, Vivi and Sam feel an instant connection to each other, but Vivi is engaged to Edmund and feels that she can't let him down after she finds out he has been injured and she decides to do the right thing and they marry at the end of the war.

In 1939 Vivi and Edmund are stuck in a very unhappy marriage, they basically live separate lives and sadly don't have any children.
Due to it not being safe in London many children are evacuated to the English countryside, all houses are inspected and if households have any spare bedrooms their names are added to a list and they're informed of how many evacuees they will be required to look after.

Vivi and Edmund have one spare room, Edmund is not happy about having a child stay but they have no choice and Vivi goes to meet the evacuees. She meets a sweet little girl called Pearl Posner who seems a suitable choice and she takes her home.
Looking after Pearl gives Vivi a new purpose, her life has been rather predictable, boring and she discovers that her life and Pearl's has an unexpected link to Vivi's past.

The story goes back and forth between what happens to Vivi and her sister Olive during the great war and the current time frame of 1939 and what happened to Vivi's family and friends during the second world war.
Lets just say Vivi made a huge mistake marrying Edmund and she might get an unexpected second chance to find true love.

I enjoyed When I Was Yours by Lizzie Page, but the story did jump around a lot due to being set during two different wars, two time frames, and it made the story confusing at times. Due to this I gave When I Was Yours three stars and it's a light historical fiction read.

The book follows Vivienne’s life during both WWI and WWII. She helped the troops during WWI where she and her sister, Olive, drive the wounded soldiers to get medical attention. During WWII, Vivienne helps take care of a little girl, Pearl, who is an evacuee from London. Vivienne is also married to Edmund who is less than thrilled about having Pearl in their house. The book does a great job of switching between the two wars and even though it is historical fiction, there are some true elements that did take place during each of the wars.

This story was good, but the book started out a little slow for me and for this reason, I rated it a 3/5 stars.

Writing: 3 Plot: 3 Characters: 2.5

I loved the beginning of this book — tight prose, humorous, great writing, and the promise of a story that spanned two world wars (as told in alternating chapter time periods). In 1914, Vivi Mudie-Coates is the young, beautiful, and conventional British woman who wants nothing more than to marry Edmund, the handsome, upper crust friend of her cousin Richard. In 1939, she is indeed married to Edmund, but is anything but happy. When the children begin to be evacuated from London, the childless couple are given Pearl, somewhat against Edmund’s wishes.

The parallel stories wander through all the standard places — nursing on the continent during the Great War, the bombing of Britain in WWII, the evacuation of London children, driving ambulances, friends and relatives killed… There is a theme of casual anti-semitism threaded throughout that becomes more personal to Vivi as the story evolves. This book has all the elements of a great story but it just didn’t work for me. The plot was dragged out, so what started as a tight beginning just went on and on without any of the depth that would make the time spent feel worthwhile. Instead, it veered into pure melodrama with increased bombing deaths, close calls, suicides, and missed opportunities for true love. Even worse (for me), I found the main character to be shallow and kind of stupid. She did not behave in a way that I found at all believable. I never warmed to her, and even towards the end — when she finally started to do the right thing — she did it in a petulant, selfish manner that I found quite off-putting.

This is possibly the first book I’ve reviewed that kept me going to the end because I wanted to know what happened, but that I really disliked. I hate to be so negative — I tend to only review books that I like because I don’t bother finishing the others but …

I received this book "When I Was Yours" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. I started out liking this book in the beginning but I didn't like the switch between 1939 and 1914. I was bored in the chapters of 1914. I think it the book could have had a background bit about 1914 but it was too involved and didn't keep my attention. I almost didn't choose this book because it had #3 on it. Overall I have to say that I didn't like the book.

I truly enjoyed this book. First I must say I absolutely despised Edmund. Besides him though, I really loved the characters and their stories. I love that the novel spanned both WWI and WWII and went back forth between the two. While I have read a lot of WWII fiction and non fiction, I have not read as much about WWI and I find it fascinating to learn more about it. This book taught me some things I hadn't known about either war and made me interested to learn more. I loved the relatioship that grew between Pearl and Vivienne and how it tied together so much more than expected. I highly recommend this book for those who enjoy historical fiction and are looking for a different type of story to the typical war novel.

As a side note I didn't realize this was the third in a series, but it didn't make a difference in terms of understanding the storyline.

I received an advanced copy in exchange of an honest review.

This book allowed me to imagine that I was in the time of world war 1 and 2. This book did however seem to end abruptly which was a slight disappointment.
Well worth a read

I have read numerous historical fiction involving WW1 and WW2. This is a great read evolving around this era. Enjoyed the characters of Vivi and her sister Olive. Also, we see the common nature of children from the Blitz.
Thank you NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC of When I Was Yours by Lizzie Page. This is the first book I have read that linked characters who lived during World War I and World War II. I found this very interesting and as I was reading was surprised I had never read another book, or at least I don’t remember ever reading one linking the two wars together. I enjoyed he book, the writing, and the characters. I was disappointed in the lack of development of war details during this time. Vivi was the main character yet I enjoyed reading about her sister Olive much more. I would have liked to seen more development between Viivi and Sam. All this being said I look forward to reading more books by Lizzie Page. 3.5 stars

This is a really hard book for me to review. It started out in 1939 and I really liked it. Then it switched to 1914 and I felt the story line went flat. The story is written in a dual timeline format between the World War I (or the Great War as it is referred to) and World War II. The story begins in 1939 when Vivienne is unhappily married to Edmund and she has to take in a Jewish girl, Pearl, from London for her safety. Then, the story switches back to 1914 and the story line focuses on sisters Vivienne and Olive who are 18 and 19 at that time. As the wars intensifies, the sisters decide to join up to do their part and they are selected to be ambulance drivers. I liked the parts of the book that focused on WWII but I had a hard time getting through the parts that focused on WWI. I am not sure if I did not like the WWI parts because most of the characters were unlikeable or what but it fell flat in those parts for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve enjoyed other books by Lizzie Page and this was no exception. I particularly enjoyed the crossover between the two wars, and the way her life progressed.

To be honest I'm not sure what I think about this book. I enjoyed it - but I just feel that there was 'more' could have been done with the wars. The overarching link between the two wars of Sam and Vivi don't really give a depth to the emotional conflict concerned, either for themselves personally or for the situations they find themselves in. Olive is more attuned to the times than her sister.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this arc.

I really enjoyed this one and I mostly find "woman's fiction" to be empty reads. It was the historical fiction that drew me into this. While I've read a lot about WWII, WWI or the "greatest war" has mostly escaped me. This book straddled both wars with Vivienne's story. It's told in dual timelines, young & dumb and older & wiser. The atmosphere of war was very well captured and it hit on a lot of contemporary issues as well. I also enjoyed the war participation depictions... on the front line as well as on the home front. Vivienne's character was fully developed and it was wonderful seeing her come into a mature adulthood. There was also a sweet romance running through the background.

4.5 stars rounded up

I'm not sure if this book was part of a series, but the blurb sounded really good but striaght away I knew this book just wasn't for me, I found it really difficult to get into.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. The reading of this book was particularly poignant, as we lost a friend, a Holocaust survivor, as I read it. I'm reminded that we need not only non-fiction, but historical fiction to remind us of times past, and to realize that others live through things we can never imagine. This book was touching in that you could see characters maturing, coming to life, coming to terms, and becoming heroes. I was frustrated with the main character so many times, but I realize she was not unlike many young women of that time. This is a very good book, and I'm happy to recommend it.

A lovely story which floats between past and present a very emotional story that pulls at your heart.The charactors and the story are well suited i can highly recommend this book well done to Lizzie Page 5*

This is a beautiful story told between the two wars. Its told in the past and present. The description of people and events are so realistic you can actually see them!
It had me in floods of tears at times. And you can only wonder at the tragedy and heartbreak endured during both wars.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this arc. It had been a privilege.