Over the years my reading habits have changed and I no longer reach for historical fiction as much since my brain can't seem to follow along with all of the variety of characters. I do no feel like I can give a fair review for this book because of this so I am just going to move it onto my "in the future when life slows down" tbr.

It's very easy to become invested in these characters. Adrienne Chinn has so skillfully developed the sisters and their surrounds that you feel as if you know them. LOVE IN A TIME OF WAR is set against the beginning of WWI and the turmoil caused when many young people, men and women, left their homes to support the war effort. Those left at home stepped forward to fill those necessary skilled jobs that would have never been available to them before.
The Fry sisters have lived a privileged life. When the first rumors of war start, the sisters will each follow a different path. Chinn has layered the story threads and characters to build not only an excellent first in the series, but a solid foundation for the next books. With so many titles available set against the WWI and WWII eras, it can be difficult to choose your next read. The Three Fry Sisters was recommended to me and I'm happy to recommend it to anyone looking for historical fiction that will leave you looking forward to the next book in the series.

Wow. What a great book following the life and loves of the three sisters during the Great War and their mother’s back story. The descriptions of gardens and places were particularly well written. This is a new writer for me. She has a great gift and draws you in to each and every character. I loved it and can’t wait to read more

I enjoyed this story of three sisters navigating their way through the first World War. We also get the story of their mother as a young woman in flashbacks, and (or course) it ties in nicely with her daughters' lives.

I thought the romance between Cecelia and Max was particularly well done because it showed that really England and Germany were close and cooperative before the war - no wonder these two characters fell in love. And I was surprised by the end of Etta's story, in a good way!

Some things didn't end as I wanted, but they ended in a totally realistic way. And I for sure want to read the next book and see what happens once the war is over.

Love in a Time of War is a detailed medium paced story that is separated into 7 parts, spanning between the timelines of 1891-1892 and 1913-1919.

Chinn has provided vivid imagery and research into 1913, by looking at the medicine, faith, culture and traditions of countries such as Egypt and Italy. There are important historical events like women's rights to vote and WW1 mentioned. The writing style gives a mixture of description and dialogue with titled chapters easier for navigation between different characters however, there are still some viewpoints that can be confusing and some sections that are slow paced. I would have liked a little bit of an explanation of what was being said in Italian…

The character development of Love in a Time of War gives the reader an insight into some of the characters by using background information and flashbacks to help form connections. The characters are interesting and relatable with their own personalities. I liked hearing about the different viewpoints of the soldiers but felt that there were too many characters to remember.

19 year old Cecelia is an intelligent person. She is a member of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), who campaigns for the rights of women. Cecelia has an interest in photography that leads to work alongside an editor as a journalist. She eventually has to choose between her life in London and her relationship with her German love interest, Herr Maximilian Fischer (Max) when war breaks out….

Jessie is a strong willed person, who longs for an adventurous life, in other countries. She has been training as a nurse at King’s College Hospital, with the hope of becoming a surgical nurse. Unlike her fraternal twin, Etta doesn't Jessie doesn’t want to be married. The matron is shocked by her results in a recent anatomy exam and suggests that she is a good candidate for Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service. As WW1 begins Jessie is called to action and has to travel to Egypt to help those in need...

Etta is very artistic and has a romantic nature. When she visits the Royal Academy of Art she meets fellow artist Carlo Marinetti from Napoli, Italy. They discuss the paintings and display at the exhibition. Etta soon becomes mesmerised by Carlo's charm and begins to spend as much time as possible with him. When she finds out she is expecting a baby she leaves with Carlo to lead a married life in Italy, however fate has other plans...

There are 2 sides to Christina’s story. The reader sees the viewpoint of Christina in 1891 as a young woman and 1913 as a 42 year old mother….

In 1891 Christina was a carefree and hopeful person. She is staying in Capri, Italy with her mother’s family for the summer where she is learning Italian. Whilst out shopping she meets a young English tourist, Harry Grenville who turns out to be an Earl and Viscount Sherbrooke as he is the eldest son soon. Christina soon becomes enamoured with Harry and seeks out his embrace willingly believing that he loves her, but Harry ends up abandoning her when he finds out about the life that grows with her...

In 1913 Christina had been married for 21 years to photographer Gerald, a respected member of the middle class. She does everything within her power to keep her daughters secure and safe. Christina often comes across as being very critical of daughters, always seeming to be negative and controlling of what they do. She is taunted by her past and plans to raise her daughters to good Catholic wives and mothers….

I would suggest reading Love in a Time of War to people who enjoy historical fiction and sagas, as it is a character driven story about friendship, family and secrets….

Set during and after WW1 this is the first in a series following the lives of 3 sisters. Cecelia, Jessie and Etta Fry growing up during a period of great change for women. Life draws them in different directions, Cecelia towards romance with her German teacher Max who inevitably becomes the enemy and is alienated from the family. Jessie is determined to contribute to the war effort and enlists as a nurse and iheads off to Gallipoli and Egypt. Etta follows her heart and elopes to Italy with Carlo and gives birth to a child under the pretence of being married. She’s taken in by an aunt who sees history repeating itself and helps her to raise her child

I found it an interesting read in a challenging era for women and their rapidly changing identity.

Thanks to Netgalley the author and publishers for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

‘Love in a Time of War’ by Adrienne Chinn is the story of three sisters during wartime, how the inconveniences of war can shatter dreams and promises, disguise lies, hide secrets and offer opportunities previously unimagined.
In 1913, Cecilia Fry, eldest of the three Fry sisters, is nineteen when this story starts. She has fallen in love with her young German teacher and must decide whether to spend the summer with Max in Germany or in London working for the suffragist movement. Eighteen-year old Jessie is studying at nursing school and has been offered an amazing opportunity of which her mother disapproves. Jessie’s twin Etta visits the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts where she meets an Italian artist. All three sisters have dreams for the future, but those dreams are to be thrown into disarray by the Great War.
‘Love in a Time of War’ starts with a Prologue set in Italy in 1891. A young Englishwoman called Christina, visiting her Italian family on the island of Capri, falls in love with a young tourist. What happens during this Italian summer reaches through every page of this novel with its themes of the life of women at the dawn of the twentieth century, the new possibilities for women, promising independence, a voice and freedom of expression, weighed down by society’s traditional expectations of their role and behaviour. This is a view of a prosperous middle-class family, though the plight of working-class women is glimpsed via Milly, the Fry’s maid of all work who leaves to work in a munitions factory, and Jessie’s nursing friend Ivy. The three sisters choose completely contrasting paths in life and their stories are followed as war is declared and the family separates. Each in turn faces a difficult choice and then must learn to live the life they have chosen. Little do they realise how their own decisions echo the choices their mother also faced at a similar age.
Towards the end there are number of coincidences which enable the tying up of loose ends, these felt awkward and abrupt. But the Acknowledgements at the end explains how the novel was inspired by the author’s own three great-aunts and grandmother who lived in Britain, Canada and Egypt. So perhaps real life does provide coincidences that are presumed good, or bad, luck.
A gentle, romantic war story, ideal for reading on holiday. As the first book in a family saga series, ‘The Three Fry Sisters’, this book ends as life after war begins and the sisters face the new lives they have chosen. Book Two will cover the Twenties and Thirties, while Book Three will span World War Two into the Seventies.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

I enjoyed how the author kept the pace of the novel moving well with the characters that were well developed. A good insight into the many areas of conflict of the First World War. As this is the first of a trilogy, I know I look forward to the other stories in the series.

What a story that I will not forget. I can not wait to read the other two novels when they are released. Set in WWII and flashbacks to Italy during WWI. This is a age old story of falling in love and following your dreams and hoping you make the right choices. Some of us get lucky and others have to live with heartbreak and betrayal and go on with our lives hiding the pain. .

I really enjoyed this. It was long at almost 500 pages and at times it went slow but I was seeing the characters develop more and that worked for me.

Christina Fry lives with her husband, Gerald. She is Italian and can be a bit snobby at times. He has a photography business. There are three daughters with Cecelia the oldest, and the twins Jessica and Etta. Cecelia is taking German lessons and has fallen in love with her professor. They agree to marry and when war breaks out Max has to return to Germany. Jessica and Etta couldn't be more different. Jessica is the sensible one who wants to be a nurse. She joins the Queen Alexandra nurses and is sent to Egypt to take care of wounded soldiers. Etta is studying art when she falls in love with a fellow artist, Carlos. Christina is not happy with any of this. She wants her girls to marry and lead respectable lives in England but Christina also has secrets. For the most part each chapter covers one of the girls and Christina and while that could be confusing I felt it worked because of the different settings of Capri, England and Egypt.

There is going to be more in the series and I'm looking forward to reading them all.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for providing me with a digital copy.

Enjoyed this story of the three Fry sisters, set in WWI (a nice change for the numerous WWII women's fiction stories). The story was well written and the characters and plot realistic and engaging. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advance digital galley.

If there’s one thing that I like doing, it’s discovering new authors. Adrienne Chinn is certainly a new author for me. I especially like discovering new authors who write historical fiction as I am a bit of a history nerd too. So imagine my excitement when I read the synopsis of ‘Love In A Time Of War’. The story sounded so interesting that I grabbed my Kindle, grabbed a cup of tea and settled down for what I hoped would be a fab afternoon of reading. I really enjoyed reading ‘Love In A Time Of War’ but more about that in a bit.
I have to admit that it did take me a little while to get into the story. I had received some bad news and I initially found it hard to concentrate for any length of time. However once I got to know the characters a little better and got used to them that was it and I was away. I was intrigued by all three sisters and how different they were from one another. I had my own suspicions as to what was going to happen and I had to keep reading to see if I was on the right track or if I had wandered down another path entirely. I became so wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time and just how quickly I was turning those pages. All too quickly I reached the end of ‘Love In A Time Of War’ and I had to say goodbye to the three Fry sisters. I found ‘Love In A Time Of War’ to be a lovely read and full of drama, romance and heartache. I was gripped by the story from start to finish.
‘Love In A Time Of War’ is really well written. Adrienne has one of those writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. Adrienne certainly knows how to draw readers into what proves to be one hell of a story. Adrienne has clearly done a lot of research into the time period of when the story is set and this shines through in the very vivid and realistic way in which she tells the tale. Adrienne cares about her characters and she describes them so clearly and realistically that they seem just as real as you and I. Whilst reading ‘Love In A Time Of War’ I did find that I ended up going through every emotion that the characters were going through. I love the way in which Adrienne made me feel as though I was part of the story and at the heart of the action.
In short and overall I did enjoy reading ‘Love In A Time Of War’ and I would recommend it to fans of historical fiction. I will certainly be reading more of Adrienne’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

Beguiling…….
Many thanks to Harper Collins UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Story set at the start of World War one,featuring three young sisters and their mother. They all choose different paths in life and we follow them through the war. An enjoyable,not too taxing read.

Three sisters - Cecilia and twins Jessie and Etta - are just reaching adulthood as the Great War starts, but all follow very different paths. Celia joins the suffragette movement, Jessie trains as a nurse and heads off to war, while Etta is an artist. As they fall in love, the war threatens happiness,

Love in a Time of War is a gently paced story, with no major plot twists to ramp up the excitement. It flits between each sister every chapter, with the back story of their mother interspersed at regular intervals. At times I found it confusing as to what was happening to who and when, but overall it was a pleasant read to while away an evening or two. Nothing too taxing, just a gentle romantic war story.

Love In A Time Of War by Adrienne Chinn is the first in an up and coming trilogy which follows the lives of the three Fry sisters. Celie and fraternal twins, Jessie and Etta. The author has developed three unique personalities in these sisters. Celie,is the oldest. She is an early crusader for women’s suffrage. She is also extremely thoughtful. Etta is the bohemian of the sisters. She is an artist and very headstrong. Jessie is the most serious of the sisters. She has no desire to follow convention and get married and have children. She is interested in putting her nursing skills to use.

This first installment of the trilogy begins just prior to the start of World War I. Historically this is the cusp of great change for women.
Women are now taking on roles/positions traditionally held by men. Of course the men are called to be in the armed services so the women are left to fill all of these jobs. Women are allowed to travel without a chaperon and travel overseas. Of course there are romantic relationships for the sisters which makes for major problems given the world climate at the time.

Ms. Chinn does an excellent job of portraying and developing the characters of all three sisters. The sisters come alive on the page and are memorable to say the least. Part of this story is about the sisters mother, Christina. So there is some back and forth between when Christina was a young woman and present day where we find the sisters approximately the same age.

A character I’ve not mentioned so far is the sisters’ father and Christina’s husband, Gerald. He was the character who I empathized with the most. He did his very best to provide a comfortable and stable home for his wife and daughters. He definitely encouraged their interests and was a devoted husband. I was surprised by his discovery that all is not what it seems in his marriage.

It makes for a long book. However, that is the point of a trilogy. You fall in love with a character(s), enjoy the family drama and the time period. If this sounds appealing, then Love in a Time of War should definitely be on your reading list.

This is the second book I have read by Ms. Chinn. I adored The English Wife which debuted in 2020. Love in the Time of War did not disappoint. There were some things that I would tweak but overall a great read. It will definitely leave you wanting to see what happens in the next installment.

I would like to thank Adrienne Chinn, One More Chapter and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An evocative read set across a dual timeline both before and during the Great War, this is a tale of family, love, heartache, secrets and moments in life that change things forever.

The author expertly weaves the narrative to build the story of the Fry family and its three sisters, each with their own individual personalities and aspirations.

Historically accurate and reflective of views and opinions of the time, the reader encounters life as it would have been for each member of the family and how this impacted on their opportunities and experiences. It is impossible not to get caught up in each of their stories and also reflect on how history can often repeat itself.

A thoroughly captivating and emotional read.

With thanks to the author and Rachel at Random Resources for the opportunity to participate in the tour.

A sweeping emotional roller-coaster from a master storyteller, Love in a Time of War is a compulsively readable historical novel from Adrienne Chinn.

It’s 1913 and three young girls living uneventful lives in a quiet corner of London are coming of age and are excited about what the future holds for each of them. With the possibilities for these three girls being endless, there is absolutely nothing that they cannot do. However, little do they realise that just around the corner there is a seismic event that will shatter their promising futures and take them on eventful journeys halfway across the world that will leave them wrestling with terror, uncertainty and heartbreak: the First World War.

Cecelia is head over heels in love with Max and had hoped to spend the rest of her life with him. However, Max wears a German uniform and the man she loves is now the enemy and out of her reach. Is a future for the two of them possible? Or has the war put paid to any hope they had of being together? Jessie has always craved adventure and excitement and it looks like her wish has come true when she enlists as a nurse with the army and is sent all the way to Galipoli in Egypt. However, on her arrival, Jessie wonders just what she had got herself into. Etta has just eloped to Italy with the love of her life, Carlo. Etta is expecting a baby, but the marriage certificate she carries is not worth the paper it is printed on.

As her three girls embark on their journeys that will take them to the four corners of the world, their mother Christina worries not just about the dangers they face, but about the secrets she’s kept from her daughters all this time…

Adrienne Chinn’s Love in a Time of War is a wonderful historical novel that effortlessly draws readers into a beautifully evoked world of secrets, jeopardy, hope and love. A sublimely written epic that takes readers from London to Cairo and Italy, Love in a Time of War is a beguiling novel set during the First World War that is full of captivating female characters forging forward in an uncertain world armed with determination, resilience and hope.

Haunting, atmospheric and enjoyable, Adrienne Chinn’s Love in a Time of War is an unforgettable historical novel I highly recommend.

Love in a Time of War is the story of four women, it starts with Christina and then follows her three daughters. They all face diifficult decisions and choices in their lives and for their love. At times it felt like the lives and stries were a bit too linked together, too many coincidences.

Despite the difficulties they all faced and the harshness of war it was an easy and fairly light read,

I was given a copy of Love in a Time of War by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

Any time I see a story about WWI (or let’s be real, any time period other than WWII) I get excited. This book followed the lives of three sisters and the different journeys they take throughout. I loved getting to travel the world with them. I loved the strong women. I loved the themes. The dual timeline flashbacks were also very interesting to me. I will strongly recommend this to my friends and bookclub and I’m shocked I haven’t seen it being talked about more!