If you like dual timelines, multi-generational strong female characters, a time period other than WWII, Navy themes, secrets and courageous choices, you will enjoy @alixrickloff novel, THE GIRLS IN NAVY BLUE. Thank you @uplit and @williammorrow for my copy of this wonderful historical fiction novel that’s out now!

The novel follows two parallel timelines: 1918 and 1968.

Viv, Blanche and Marjory are all Yeomanettes with the Navy and their storyline chronicles their struggles as early women in the military, along with personal problems and secrets hidden deep. We also get a raw glimpse at the hatred that filled their 1918 time period.

Peggy has just inherited Blanche’s beachfront house after her passing in 1968, and she is in need of a desperate change. While deciding how to proceed with the house (sell it or restore it) Peggy embarks on an adventure to learn more about Blanche, her aunt, along with her two friends Viv and Marjory.

I really enjoyed the woven storylines and the surprise twists and ending. I am so glad that I stuck with this even as the holidays overtook my reading schedule! It is well worth the time for any historical fiction fan. I loved the fact it was not from the typical WWII time period and that it involves multi-generational strong female characters!

TITLE: The Girls in Navy Blue: A Novel
AUTHOR: Alix Rickloff
NARRATOR: Dylan Moore, Carlotta Brentan
Listening Length: 13 hours and 46 minutes
PUB DATE: 11.01.2022 Now Available

Suspenseful
Secrets
Sisterhood

The Girls in Navy Blue by Alix Rickloff is a triumph! I loved this book.

The narration by Dylan Moore and Carlotta Brentan really captured the voices and characters and had me totally immersed into the story.

The Girls in Navy Blue is an incredible historical fiction read told in a dual timeline, about three women who joined the Navy during WWI, and how choices have impacted Peggy in 1968, when she receives mysterious postcards from 1918. The way the story from these two timelines were weaved was done so masterfully, that I was quite intrigued to keep turning those pages.

I loved the detailed historical facts mentioned in the stories and also adding to my knowledge about the navy and being a yeomanette. I love each of the compelling back stories of the strong and inspirational characters, their friendships, and the historical research incorporated into the story line.

This was the first book that I’ve read by Alix Rickloff and I really enjoyed it! I love historical fiction and I was really excited to read one that took place in WWI instead of WWII for once. Getting some background on the yeomanettes was also really cool.

I would have liked more about Marjory and Blanche and their backgrounds. We got a good amount about Viv’s past by the end, but I would have liked more about Blanche’s suffrage work and more about Marjory’s extracurriculars. Additionally because this takes place in 1918, there was some time devoted to the flu epidemic but not a lot of time and that was a huge event.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing an ARC for this book.

What a beautiful, fun story! I was immediately swept away on a fast-paced journey of love, loyalty, pain, and friendship! These characters feel like friends and the setting was my hometown which made it even more special. This book has it all!

I love books with strong female leads and this book promises to deliver that. The multiple character point-of-views and the different timelines in this novel worked really well and is something I personally really like in a historical fiction novel. I was unfamiliar of the history of the yeomanettes and was interested to learn more about their story. Really enjoyed this one and recommend to lovers of historical fiction from a female perspective!

This book centers around the WW1 era as well as the 1960s. One aspect of historical fiction I truly enjoy is when I am able to feel what it was like to be living during a particular timeframe. I always find it interesting to learn of the war effort but what makes a novel come to life is when I can read about the likely lifestyles of women and society during this time and this book did just that. This book also added an element of mystery that made this an excellent read.

Rickloff packs so much historical content into this novel! With that being said none of it was forced. Every single element was perfectly combined into each character's story that it appeared seamless.
Blanche was the no-nonsense one of the girls. Her family owned the cottage where they found their refuge. She was a fierce advocate for suffrage and firmly entrenched in her belief that women were equal to men in all aspects. Blanche however had a secret.
Viv looked to the Navy for both a chance to hide and to get a fresh start. She was taken aback by the comradery she experienced with Blanche and the satisfaction she got from performing well at her job. Viv's past haunted her and tried to derail her life. Viv had a secret.
Marjory was embraced as American one day and considered the enemy the next. She wanted nothing more than to continue living the life she had built for herself. Marjory risked her life to convince others that she was as patriotic as anyone else.
Peggy was grieving. Inheriting the cottage was both the best, and the worst thing to happen to her. Peggy had to make the choice whether or not to embrace the new people in her life. She had to embrace a certain level of bravery to embark on the journey of discovering answers to the questions left by her great-aunt.
Fantastic read!

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.

The Girls in Navy Blue
Author, Alix Rickloff
Available now!

Thank you @uplitreads @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for my #gifted copy of this gorgeous historical fiction novel!

Where are all the historical fiction fans? I enjoyed this one so much! It has all the elements that make a historical fiction shine - dual times, strong female trailblazers, a unique plot during WWI and the 1918 flu pandemic, an interesting mystery, and of course, a little bit of romance!

1968 - Peggy is newly divorced after a devastating personal tragedy that has left her grieving the unthinkable. She inherited her estranged great- aunt Blanche's beach cottage in Norfolk, VA, that is a much need escape, but it turns out to be quite a fixer- upper. As she begins to acquaint herself with some neighbors, she slowly starts to live again and begins to receive mysterious postcards dated from 1918. Through some searching, she learns that her aunt served in WWI as a Navy yeomanette. As she continues to dig, she uncovers dangerous secrets and shocking truths that she many not have been prepared for...

1918 - The US navy has allowed women to join the war efforts and three women from very different backgrounds and with very different motives join the Navy and serendipitously meet. They soon form strong friendships and care for each other like sisters. But one of them has a dark past that threatens everything they hold dear.

I loved the strong relationships that Viv, Marjory, and Blanche formed during such a tumultuous time on our history. They fiercely protected and cared for each other and their resilience and strength during their experiences that bound them together was admirable and triumphant. And I equally enjoyed Peggy's story and how it intertwined with Blanche's and revealed decades- old buried secrets that ultimately offered Peggy inspiration and the will to move forward.

A moving and gripping historical fiction novel that I highly recommend!
4.5 stars!

Compelling, vivid, and insightful!

The Girls in Navy Blue is an immersive, dual-timeline tale set in Virginia during WWI as well as 1968 that takes you into the lives of four main characters. Marjory Kunwald, a young German American who yearns to prove where her patriotism lies; Blanche Lawrence, an independent gal determined to do whatever it takes to fight for equality; Viv Weston, a scarred woman with a tortured past looking for a new start; and Peggy Whitby a divorcée who after inheriting her great-aunt’s cottage starts to uncover more secrets about her family’s past than she ever could have imagined.

The prose is rich and expressive. The characters are independent, spirited, and brave. And the plot is an intriguing, tender tale of life, loss, love, hope, family, sacrifices, new beginnings, and female friendship.

Overall, The Girls in Navy Blue is an absorbing, moving, lovely tale by Rickloff that does a wonderful job of showcasing the lifestyles, struggles, and daily intricacies involved in being a “yeomanette”, one of the first women honoured with the right to serve in the US Navy.

The Girls in Navy Blue by Alix Rickloff

This is a dual timeline novel of 1918 and 1968.

In 1918 the world is at war with Germany and for the first time, the Navy is allowing women to join alongside men. Suffragette Blanche joins to prove women are equal to men. Majorly enlists to prove her Patriotism and Viv is joining to hide from the police.

1968: Blanche is divorced and reeling from a personal tragedy when she inherits her great aunt Blanche’s seaside cottage. She finds postcards from 1918 when her aunt was enlisted in the Navy.

I enjoyed this story. I was more interested in the 1868 timeline than the 1918 one because I found the 1918 timeline to be a tad slow. I had no idea about the Navy yeomanettes during the First World War so I appreciated learning something new.

1918, Norfolk Naval Enlistment Center – “Name? I paused over the application for only a moment before writing ‘Vivian Weston’ in bold dark ink.
The rest of the answers fell easily off my pen, and I handed the form to the young woman in charge with a smile of confidence. She was a tall, strapping girl. In the fitted blue serge naval uniform complete with shiny gold buttons, clipboard poised and the ready, she was altogether intimidating. I pushed aside my nerves. Soon enough, I could look like her: clever, efficient, an anonymous uniform among a sea of such.”
In these opening lines of chapter I in The Girls in Navy Blue, we meet Viv, one of the two main characters in this page-turner by Alix Rickloff. Viv enlists in the Navy as a yeomanette, assigned to stateside service.
In the next chapter entitled “Peggy,” we meet a young divorcee who has just arrived in Norfolk in 1968 to explore a cottage which she has unexpectedly inherited.
Thus, with alternating chapters, the author gives us two enticing stories set 50 years apart. We meet two other yeomanettes, Blanche and Marjory, who are roommates and best friends with Viv.
As their stories proceed, the themes of love, loss, deception, loyalty, and rebirth emerge. As in the opening description of Viv, Rickloff develops the characters so well that not only do we hear their voices, but we feel their pulses. The engaging suspense that runs through both stories is perfectly paced.
With the backdrop of WWI, Girls of Navy Blue, is an extraordinary historical story. Rickloff has done a masterful job of developing two enticing stories. I highly recommend. Rating 5.

A really well-written book, interesting story about the yeomanettes. At times it felt a little long, but overall I really enjoyed the duel story lines. Very interesting piece of history!

The Girls in Navy Blue is a historical fiction set during World War I about three women who join the Navy as Yeomanettes.

I really liked learning about the Yeomanettes. These amazing women were kinda overlooked by history and I want more books about these women!

The Girls in Navy Blue is a dual timeline between Viv one of the Yeomanettes and her two friends Marjory and Blanche as they worked in the Norfolk area supporting the Navy and Peggy in 1968 as she's just inherited her great aunt's beach cottage in Norfolk.

I loved the themes of friendship, secrets and fresh starts in this book. I really enjoyed this book! If you're looking for a great WWI historical fiction check this out!

Happy Pub Day to "The Girls in Navy Blue" by Alix Rickloff! This unique historical fiction novel flips between a story of 3 women who served their country during WWI and a woman who stumbled upon their story 50 years later. 4⭐

In 1918, Viv is fleeing her past life and arrives in Norfolk, VA ready to join the Navy as a yeomanette. She and her friends support the war efforts through secretarial work like shorthand and typing, as well as marching in parades and visiting with injured servicemen. War and hate threaten to drive the group apart. In 1968, Peggy moves into the house the women lived in together (fleeing her own demons) and tries to put all the pieces together of what really happened.

While this book wasn't completely un-put-downable, I did enjoy the dual perspectives equally. This book was more about friendship than about romance and really had some lovely themes about what it means to be a friend (or a mother). I end up reading a lot of WWII fiction so it was nice to change it up a bit.

Thank you @williammorrowbooks and @netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

⚠️ emotional and physical abuse, divorce, violence, war, religious discrimination, thoughts of abortion, infant loss

Shareability: not quite as action-packed as Kate Quinn books, but readers who like to learn about female servicemembers and the experience of WWI at home would enjoy this one.

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Pairs well with: baked good from Meyer's bakery 🥧

QOTD: The book ends with a group of women singing a song with special meaning to them. What is a song that has been important in your life?

AOTD: It's not a specific song, but I like finding songs or bands from the 90s that my husband and I both liked, way before we even knew each other.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Girls in Navy Blue is a dual-timeline story set in 1918 and 1968. One of the things I loved about this novel is that part of it was set in WWI, which isn’t as written about as often as WWII.

Another thing I loved is that the WWI part follows three women yeomanettes. We get to know Vivian Weston who has a big secret of her own, Marjory Kumwald who just wants to prove her loyalty to America, and Blanche Lawrence who is desperate to be on her own and wants women to have the same rights men do. These three women could not be any more different, yet their work as yeomanettes is only the first thing to bond them. The stories in this part of the novel will bond them further through some of the biggest ups and downs of their lives.

In the part of the novel set in 1968, we get to know Peggy Whitney. She is recently divorced and has decided to stay in her great-aunt Blanche’s cottage at the beach. She recently inherited this cottage unexpectedly, and that is not the only mystery Peggy will be solving while she figures out what she wants to do with the rest of her life.

Peggy slowly unravels the mystery surrounding her aunt’s cottage and in the process learns more about Blanche and her friends than she imagined. It all begins with a mysterious postcard and Peggy is intrigued and determined to learn more.

I loved this story. The three women in 1918 finding their way and also paving the way for future women in the military. Peggy in 1968 learning she is stronger than she thinks, and some of that strength comes from her aunt. Alix Rickloff did a fantastic job developing these tortes and tying them together. It was hard from me to say goodbye at the end of the book to these women who grew and learned so much, and in the process, taught me something too.

I voluntarily received a copy of this book from Uplit Reads and William Morrow. All views are simply my honest opinion.

This was a very informative, enjoyable book. I have never heard about the women in the US navy during WWI, and I loved getting a glimpse of their story in this book. I thought the dual timeline was well done, and I was interested and engaged in both Viv and Peggy's story lines. This story was very character driven rather than plot driven, and I thought the middle was a little slow. It was establishing the day to day routines of the characters, which I appreciate, but I found my mind wandering as I waited for something to happen. Otherwise, this was a very interesting, well researched book! I appreciated how to story came full circle at the end.

A poignant story of three women who befriend each other while serving in the Navy in Virginia during WWI. It also flashes to 1968 to intersperse the story with a descendent of one of the three friends.
Readers will learn a lot about the expectations for women during the First World War. Other major themes include secrets, stolen identity, heartache, loyalty, and learning to love again.
It’s a slice of history that is a heartfelt read.

The story bounces timelines between Viv and Peggy. Viv, in 1918, has signed up in the Navy to be a yeoman which is unheard of having women in the armed forces. As the story unravels, you realize she is running from her past and leans into her two best friends, Marjory and Blanche, her chosen family. Peggy, fresh off a divorce has been gifted her Aunt Blanche’s cottage and she doesn’t understand why. She starts to dig through letters and postcards to understand her aunts life. I am always a sucker for sister stories, or friendship stories especially empowering women when they traditionally didn't hold these roles. As with all historical fiction books that I read, I go ahead and search the internet for the true parts of the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early access in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book so much! And, I learned a lot about women in the Navy. I loved the dual timelines of this book and thought that the two timelines, one being during WWI and one being during the Vietnam war was a super interesting spin on this book. Those two wars were viewed differently by society, so it was really interesting for me to see the comparison between the two so closely. I love historical fiction books, and this one did not disappoint! I also liked the added component of a mystery added in to this story. Overall, a great read!