The novel is filled with wit, humor, and heart, and Pearce's writing is charming and delightful. She skillfully weaves together the stories of Emmy and the other women, creating a rich and engaging portrait of life in London during the war. The characters are vividly drawn, and readers will find themselves rooting for Emmy and her friends as they navigate the challenges of war, love, and loss.

One of the novel's strengths is its portrayal of the experiences of women during the war, including those who took on jobs in factories to support the war effort. Through the character of Anne, a young woman who takes on a factory job, readers are given a glimpse into the struggles and sacrifices that women faced as they tried to balance work, family, and the war effort.

Pearce does an excellent job of showing the challenges that women faced as they entered the workforce and the ways in which they fought back against discrimination and injustice. Through Anne's story, readers see the strength and resilience of women during this period, as well as their determination to contribute to the war effort and support their families.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC!

YOURS CHEERFULLY picks up with Emmy at Women's Friend magazine as Emmy navigates life in the on-going World War II. I loved the specific focus on women's work in the war, and all the complexities, inequalities, and empowerment that held.

While these books continue to make me laugh out loud, one piece that I really loved about this book was the relationship between Emmy and Bunty. While Charles and Emmy take their relationship to the next step, it was the tenderness and respect between Bunty and Emmy that kept me tearing up throughout the whole thing.

I'll be eagerly anticipating the next book in this series - I am loving following along with Emmy Lake and all the characters she comes across, and I dare say this is a perfect WWII series - not too light, not too heavy.

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed.

YOURS CHEERFULLY is set in London during World War ll. Emmeline Lake has become the advice columnist for the Women’s Friend magazine. Boyfriend Charles and her best friend Bunty figure prominently in Emmeline’s story.
In need of women’s assistance in the war effort, the Ministry of Information asks the staff of women’s magazine like the Women’s Friend for their assistance. Emmy is eager to help. On a train trip Emmy and Bunty befriend a young mother who has been hired to work in a factory that aids the war effort. Emmy learns quickly that conditions in the factory are not ideal and the women working there encounter numerous obstacles.
Emmy is faced with a moral dilemma. Does she support the working women she has becomes friends with or write positive articles the Ministry wants to see.
YOURS CHEERFULLY is an engaging story about friendship, romance and women’s rights. I hope there is another instalment in the Emmeline Lake Chronicles.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for allowing me access to an advanced digital edition of YOURS CHEERFULLY.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. I have not read Dear Mrs. Bird but I will be picking it up soon as I loved reading about Emmy and how she supported women during WWII. Emmy is journalist and was given the opportunity to run the women's advice column called Cheerfully Yours. I thought to myself, long gone are the days were people would write into their local paper for advice. hahaha

While doing her part in the war effort, recruiting women to work in factories to produce munitions and other supplies needed by the soldiers, she is also worried about her boyfriend who has gone to fight in the war. During her research she uncovers a side of the war effort that isn't given much thought by the men running the factories. All the working women, after working long shifts at the factory have to go home to care for their loved ones. All the while receiving little to no support. I was amazed by the strength, and determination the women had and how they all rallied around each other and support each other the best way they could.

This book showed the power that each person has in making a difference.

The second book in the Emmy Lake Chronicles series another great story in this series, it takes place in London during WWII. This tells of Emmy and her best friend Bunty as they learn of the very real challenges that women war workers face, and the struggles they all go through but also the humor and kindness that is shown.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

I LOVE these characters? How are they all good and sweet and lovely to read. This is a feel good story that goes into the conditions women had to adapt themselves to during war and I thought it was really well done again. I don't think you need to read Dear Mrs. Bird to read this one but I very highly recommend it because 1. It's lovely like this one and 2. Some of the storyline is continued and it's just easier to fall back into the characters.

2.5 stars

I loved Dear Mrs. Bird and was excited to have the chance to read this one. Unfortunately, this wasn’t nearly as good. It started off ok, but somewhere along the way I struggled to wanna pick it back up once I put it down. Not sure what it was exactly, but it kinda lost steam towards the end and somehow Emmy became a little annoying in my opinion.

Overall, it was just an okay read, which was a disappointment cause I was really looking forward to it.

Read about 50 pages and then lost interest in the story. I would not recommend this book., Your Cheerfully by AJ Pearce.

Yours Cheerfully (The Emmy Lake Chronicles #2) by AJ Pearce

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC for my honest review.

I was so looking forward to this second Emmy Lake book and she didn't disappoint! This is a heartwarming story about the women who persevered through WWII. I found it very inspiring to see how they did their part working in munition factories, etc, while trying to run their households with minimal childcare.

I highly recommend this to historical fiction buffs who enjoy an uplifting read.

#NetGalley #YoursCheerfully

Yours Cheerfully is the second book in The Emmy Lake Chronicles, but you do not have to have read Dear Mrs. Bird to enjoy this story. Emmy is a young journalist who has just been appointed to head up the newspaper’s women’s advice column, Cheerfully Yours. She has some great ideas and even though she doesn't have the final word, she is pretty much left alone. When the War Ministry calls a meeting of the editors of the women's newspapers, Emmy is invited by her editor to attend with him. The papers are tasked to come up with ideas to recruit more women workers to produce munitions and other supplies needed by the many men who are off fighting in the war. Emmy is ready for the challenge and visits a munitions factory to meet with the women working there. She meets several women who are mothers, some whose husbands already died in the war and finds out about the balancing act needed to be a working mother, as well as a war widow. What she learns starts her on her crusade to help these women.

I enjoy this series as it does not deal with the darker side of the war, but still an important part. Women were holding down the fort at home, but were still not appreciated for those efforts. If they needed something, like nurseries for their children, they were rebuffed with comments like mothers should not be working, they should be home or there's a war going on, you just do your part without complaining etc. I liked the characters in this story, well most of them. Emmy, her fiancé Charles, her friend Bunty and the women in the factory were extremely patriotic, but also knew that the women working needed help and support. The management at the factory was nasty. His desire to make money and not have any problems overrode any action to do what was right. Emmy was not about to let anything stop her and I loved her persistence to do what she could to help these women, and also to recruit new workers. I loved watching her develop more of backbone as the story progressed. This is a wonderful well-written story, at times funny, poignant and honest. We see the strength of those left manning the home front, mostly women. This is a story of friendship, courage, patriotism, women's rights and family. It is a look at what ordinary people did to support the war effort in an interesting and enjoyable story. I am hoping that there will be another Emmy Lake Chronicles and I definitely recommend this book and series.

Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearce is both a charming and uplifting novel set during World War II in London about a brave aspiring journalist. The characters in this book are full of life and determination. I did not read the first book in this series and did feel like I missed out.

Thank you #netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A.J. Pearce's Dear Mrs. Bird was one of my favourite books of 2018. I loved the hilarious historical fiction novel she had written and the intriguing character of Emmeline Lake. Yours Cheerfully, published on August 10, carries on not long after the previous book ended and allows readers back into the wonderful, if hard and terrifying, lives of Emmy and her friends. I finished it in a day and absolutely adored it.

Here's the book's description:
London, November 1941. Following the departure of the formidable Henrietta Bird from Woman’s Friend magazine, things are looking up for Emmeline Lake as she takes on the challenge of becoming a young wartime advice columnist. Her relationship with boyfriend Charles (now stationed back in the UK) is blossoming, while Emmy’s best friend Bunty, still reeling from the very worst of the Blitz, is bravely looking to the future. Together, the friends are determined to Make a Go of It.
When the Ministry of Information calls on Britain’s women’s magazines to help recruit desperately needed female workers to the war effort, Emmy is thrilled to be asked to step up and help. But when she and Bunty meet a young woman who shows them the very real challenges that women war workers face, Emmy must tackle a life-changing dilemma between doing her duty and standing by her friends.
Because it had been two years (almost exactly) since I read Emmy's first story, I was a bit fuzzy on what, precisely, happened. But Pearce does a great job of reminding readers what had happened in the previous book while avoiding a boring info dump. You don't have to read Dear Mrs. Bird before this one - though I do wholeheartedly recommend it! Each book has it's own sort of feel so they work well on their own but are even better together.

Emmy is the star of the novel but what makes her such a delight are the people she pulls into her orbit. Her best friend Bunty (whose story absolutely breaks my heart but I have a good feeling about a third book and what might happen next) is wonderful and the friendship between the two is ultimate BFF Goals. The team at the magazine are a delight and the new friends Emmy makes in Anne and the women at the munitions factory were an amazing addition to the story.

Whereas the first book focused on the Blitz (and I still marvel at Pearce's ability to make a novel about such a horrifying time so heartwarming and funny), Yours Cheerfully takes a closer look at what war was like for the women. It's 1941, England has been fighting for years now and, with all the men going to the battlefields, there are holes in the workforce. So many women stepped up (do you ever wonder what you would have done during the war?) but they faced so many hurdles when they did. Married women with children had to earn for their families (especially if they were widowed) but shift work at the factories meant it was almost impossible to arrange childcare. And the men running the factories didn't care. Part of it was they didn't understand but so many of them didn't want to understand. Women made a "fuss" and they came with "baggage" and "men would never ask for time off for the children" and so on and so forth. Easier to sack a woman for having to bring her children in because her mother (if she was lucky enough to have a mother nearby able to provide childcare) was ill than put the effort into creating a Government Nursery like they were supposed to. It was absolutely infuriating, even for a woman like me, in today's world with no children. Pearce wrote about these issues so well and it's a great addition to the many WWII books out there.

Emmy does have a sweetheart and I loved them together (even though they were hardly ever physically together). In addition to being adorable, her relationship with Charles was used to show what it was like for couples during the war. Early on, so many women lost their husbands and fiances that no young couple wanted to wait to get married because they didn't know how long they'd have together - and they usually had hardly any time actually together to even have a wedding. It was common to have hasty weddings before the man shipped off, just in case. Honeymoons were one night spent on leave in a small hotel nearby the train station he had to leave from the next day. It's heartbreaking but also...inspiring, maybe? They were faced with the worst and yet made sure to take the time to marry their sweetheart. Yes, there were monetary gains to be had by being married, I know, but Emmy and Charles' relationship is so sweet that it has me casting a rosy glow over it all.

Yours Cheerfully is a must read for historical fiction fans. It paints a picture of what it was like in England in 1941 as WWII finally becomes a true world war. Emmy is a character who is smart but also real, in all her bumbling, well meaning actions. She and her friends will make you laugh out loud as you read their story. I cannot wait for A.J. Pearce's next novel!

My review of Dear Mrs. Bird is here.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by Simon & Schuster Canada via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

This is Book 2 in a series following the life and career of Emmeline (Emmy) Lake, who has hopes of becoming a Lady War Correspondent. I really enjoyed the first book, Dear Mrs. Bird, and was happy to settle in with the second book which begins in June 1941. Mr. Collins has replaced Henrietta Bird as the editor at Woman's Friend magazine and Emmy is given more responsibility.

It was so nice to immerse myself in this story and see how much Emmy has matured since the first book. I had to smile at her feeling of pushing the envelope when she said "blast" or "bloody". Wouldn't she shudder to see and hear some of the words used these days! This book contained some interesting information about the women who worked in munitions factories during the war and the hardships they faced including lack of child care. Although I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first one I'd still recommend it to friends. Like another book I read recently, it's a nice change of pace from the murder mysteries and psychological suspense I usually read.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.

Release Date: August 10, 2021

3.5 *

So happy to see the endearing Emmeline Lake (just love that name!) back. I loved the first book, Dear Mrs. Bird

In this second book we see Emmy promoted at her job at the Women's Friend Magazine. She is assigned to interview and write a story about women who are employed at a local munitions factory while the men are away at war. The women are stepping up to this, "call to action" but are experiencing some problems at the factory. It is up to Emmy to interview them but can she help the women without jeopardizing the story?

I enjoyed the story but it did move more slowly than the last book. It is well written and draws attention to the problems during the WWII era in a light and heartwarming way.

I'd like to kindly thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for granting me access to this Advance Reader Copy.

This is by a British writer and is the second in 'The Emmy Lake Chronicles', the first one being "Dear Mrs. Bird". The author was inspired when she found a 1939 women's magazine. This one follows the adventures of Emmy, who is working at such a women's magazine in London during WWII. In this one she helps young women who have taken jobs to support the war effort fight for their rights and some sort of day care. It is a lighter take on the WWII historical fiction, but wonderfully illustrates the various difficulties experienced by the women left behind. I would recommend readers start with the first one to benefit the most from the story.

Put on the kettle, grab a cuppa and be prepared to stay up all night.

Yours Cheerfully is a delightful, heartwarming testament to the tough as nails women of yesteryear. A fabulous, unputdownable must read for 2021!

I am one of the many readers who fell in love with Dear Mrs. Bird, so needless to say, I was very happy to see another novel featuring Emmy during the same period.

Like its predecessor, Yours Cheerfully feels like a “lighter” WWII novel (if you can think of a novel about wartime that way), because of how well Pearce weaves humour and ordinary life stuff into her work. Those who enjoyed Bunty and Emmy’s friendship in book one will find much more to charm them here.

For me, it’s the tone / feeling of this series that pulls me in. There’s something cozy and comforting about Pearce’s style. Her novels tug at the heart strings, provoke some delighted guffaws, and are the kind of stories you want to read when you need a little hope in your reading life. A perfect TV counterpart would be Call the Midwife. If you like that show, this is for you.

The pace was slower than book one, and it didn’t have the same level of tension, but you don’t read this kind of story expecting a page turner. You read this kind of story for comfort and gentle entertainment.

☆☆☆☆ /5
(english review below)

Ce second tome peut se lire tout à fait indépendamment du premier, bien que nous ayons plus d’informations sur les personnages et leurs relations si nous lisons le tome précédent.
Pour ma part, je n’ai pas ressenti ce manque et j’ai apprécié la découverte de cette inspirante journaliste qu’est Emmeline Lake.
¤
Londres, Novembre 1941. Après le départ de la formidable Henrietta Bird du magazine Woman's Friend, les choses s'améliorent pour Emmeline Lake alors qu'elle relève le défi de devenir une jeune journaliste de terrain en temps de guerre. Sa relation avec son petit ami Charles (maintenant en poste au Royaume-Uni) s'épanouit, tandis que la meilleure amie d'Emmy, Bunty, encore sous le choc du pire du Blitz, regarde courageusement vers l'avenir. Ensemble, ce groupe d’amis est déterminé à s'en sortir.
Lorsque le ministère de l'Information fait appel aux magazines féminins britanniques pour aider à recruter des travailleuses dont on a désespérément besoin durant la guerre, Emmy est ravie qu'on lui demande d'intervenir et d'aider. Mais lorsqu'elle et Bunty rencontrent une jeune femme qui leur montre les défis réels auxquels les travailleuses de guerre sont confrontées, Emmy doit faire face à un dilemme qui changera sa vie : accomplir son devoir ou se tenir aux côtés de ses amis.
¤
J’ai apprécié le personnage d’Emmeline, qui eut l’effet d’une bouffée d’air fraîche. Déterminée à aider son prochain, empathique et consciencieuse de faire du bon travail, c’est une jeune femme qui a su prendre sa place dans l’environnement dans lequel elle vit. J’ai été touchée par la force des relations qu’elle entretient avec Bunty et Charles. Les personnages sont attachants et à travers les lignes, l’affection qu’ils se portent et leur complicité sont transmises au lecteur, qui les découvre.
Concernant l’histoire, j’ai beaucoup apprécié en savoir plus sur la place et le travail que les femmes vont trouver pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. Beaucoup attendent leur mari partis au combat et ont besoin d’autre chose que de se tourner les pouces. Clairement, c’est une partie de la guerre dont on ne parle ou on n’entend pas parler, mais nombre de femmes ont accompli des choses pendant cette période-ci.
Malgré un style d’écriture qui ne m’est pas familier et avec lequel j’ai eu de la difficulté au début à entrer dans l’histoire, c’est un texte que je trouve riche, autant dans les informations données que dans sa construction.

-------
ENGLISH REVIEW:

This second book can be read independently from the first, although we have more information about the characters and their relationships if we read the previous tome.
For my part, I didn’t feel this lack and I enjoyed the discovery of this inspiring journalist Emmeline Lake.
¤
London, November 1941. Following the departure of the formidable Henrietta Bird from Woman’s Friend magazine, things are looking up for Emmeline Lake as she takes on the challenge of becoming a young wartime advice columnist. Her relationship with boyfriend Charles (now stationed back in the UK) is blossoming, while Emmy’s best friend Bunty, still reeling from the very worst of the Blitz, is bravely looking to the future. Together, the friends are determined to Make a Go of It.
When the Ministry of Information calls on Britain’s women’s magazines to help recruit desperately needed female workers to the war effort, Emmy is thrilled to be asked to step up and help. But when she and Bunty meet a young woman who shows them the very real challenges that women war workers face, Emmy must tackle a life-changing dilemma between doing her duty and standing by her friends.
¤
I liked the character of Emmeline, who had the effect of a breath of fresh air. Determined to help her colleague, empathetic and conscientious about doing a good job, she’s a young woman who has taken her place in the environment in which she lives. I was touched by the strength of her relationship with Bunty and Charles. The characters are endearing and through the lines, their affection and complicity are transmitted to the reader, who discovers them.
Regarding the story, I really enjoyed knowing more about the place and work that women will find during World War II. Many are waiting for their husbands to fight and need more than twiddling their thumbs. Clearly, this is a part of war that we don't talk about or hear about, but many women have accomplished things during this time.
Despite a writing style that is unfamiliar to me and with which I had difficulty at the beginning to enter the story, it’s a text that I find rich, as much in the information given as in its construction.

I absolutely adored AJ Pearce's debut novel, Dear Mrs. Bird. I was thrilled to find she had written a second book featuring the indomitable Emmy Lake. Yours Cheerfully is newly released - and it's just as wonderful as the first book!

1941 Britain. Emmeline Lake works for Women's Friend magazine. She's now in charge of the advice column, Yours Cheerfully. Her role expands even further when women's magazines are asked to help recruit female workers to the war effort, such as working in munitions factories.

What has endeared this series to me? Pearce has created an absolutely delightful character in Emmy. She's plucky, (don't you love that descriptor?) irrepressible and so darn likeable. The supporting cast includes best friend Bunty, the magazine staff, the women in the factories and more and are just as well drawn. I easily became invested in their stories.

Pearce has captured the stalwart attitude of the Brits in the war years, the 'can do' attitude, the camaraderie of the women and their determination to help the war effort. Her plotting is based on historical happening. Her detailed descriptions paint vivid mental images of wartime Britain. And I quite liked the features, stories and letters from the magazine.

Pearce also weaves romance into her books, both found and lost. Again, all capturing the time period. The social mores, the joy in simple things, the making do and more. And more is what I want! Pearce is working on the third book and I can't wait to see what's next for Emmy and et al. Absolutely recommended!