Elsie's Wartime Wish

The girls of Kiltie Street, Elise, Doris and Annie. This book makes you feel like you too are living through the war in a tenement flat in Glasgow. A great second book in a series and hopes for many more.

Firstly thank you Netgalley for this Arc

What another brilliant book family saga at its best. I love the characters and how you feel you are part of the story

Can’t wait to read more by this author

I thoroughly enjoyed this book set in wartime Glasgow, i didn't realise there was a first part, but it can be read as a stand alone as it's based around characters in a street .

A great story of 3 young women living in Glasgow during the war. Elsie, Doris and Annie. Following their lives, and love and heartbreak. 3 very believable characters, I couldn’t put this book down as I so engrossed and wanted them all to have a happy ever after.

Great wartime story, Elsie is trying to keep her family together after a tragedy.

Sue to fircumstances beyond her control her and her sister have to move in with a relative, but life is not kind to them as they have to fight the heartbreak they are subjected too

A great addition to the series. Fantastic characters, great setting, I was hooked and devoured this book in one sitting, was sad to finish it and keep thinking about the characters, lots of highs and lows am really looking forward to the next installment.

If you love wartime sagas this is definitely for you.
As we revisit Kiltie Street Elsie’s world is turned upside down with the loss of her mother. Elsie sees it as her duty to do her best for her younger sister Jessie which isn’t always easy when they are forced to go to life with long lost family members.
Thankfully her friends Annie & Doris always seem to be there to share problems, which they all have. Annie is adapting to life with her injured husband (Paul) home from the war with terrible injuries. Doris lives with her domineering mother who makes her feel inadequate.

I loved the descriptions of parts of the city which were familiar to me. Hope there is a third one!

Lovely book I really enjoyed reading it the story and characters go so well together and you feel as though you are there.5*

Can she keep her family together, Kiltie Street Girls book two, 1943 Glasgow, Louise Weir wants Elsie to bring her sister Jessie home from Mr and Mrs Cranston in Perthshire, WW2 is still raging but they have not had any raids in a while, her mother still a gin drinkers and bad with her nerves and Elsie works at the Fearnmore Munitions factory and looking after them both will be a big struggle for her. This book is full of secrets that have been untold for a long time after her mothers death Elsie finds family that she never knew about. Will she get her wartime wish.
The characters come in from Jeannies War as I found a delight to read more that makes this book a huge bonus to read.
I loved it and look forward to reading book three coming soon.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I loved this story of 3 women, Elsie, Doris and Annie, who are living in Glasgow at the time of the war.

We read about all the happenings in each of their lives, where there is heartbreak and love.

I was unable to put this book down, it had me hooked.

I recommend this book.

Can she keep her family together...or will secrets tear them apart...?

I read and loved the first book in this wonderful heartwarming series "Jeannie's War" and it was wonderful to revisit some of the minor characters from that first book. But this time they were the focus of the story. Jeannie popped in and out a couple of times but was mostly a mention in passing. ELSIE'S WARTIME WISH is just as delightful and as easy read as the first one that I enjoyed my time on Kiltie Street once again.

Glasgow 1943: War has raged for four years and by now Britons and its Allies have grown weary with the constant death and losses that ravage those left behind. After the Glasgow Blitz in which many children were evacuated to the country, Elsie's younger sister Jessie (now 13) had settled in Perthshire with a lovely family who loved her as their own. However, the time has come that Louise Weir wants Elsie to make the journey and bring her youngest daughter back home where she belongs. Upon arriving at the sprawling house owned by the Cranstons, Elsie can hardly see Jessie wanting to return to the slums and tenements of Glasgow. And she doesn't. Jessie pleads with her sister to let her stay. The Cranstons beg her also and stating that it is their wish to adopt Jessie. For two years, this has been Jessie's home. She is fed, clothed, loved and above all, safe here. But her mother wants her home, and go home she must. The train journey back to Glasgow is a silent one.

Annie had once worked alongside her friend Jeannie at Fearnmore Munitions Factory, where Elsie also works, but upon marrying Paul Thom she had then fallen pregnant. Now she has given birth to a hefty baby boy they have named Davey. Annie should be happy. But all Davey seems to do is cry and it wears on her nerves. Paul is barely home and when he is he is drunk and argumentative. What happened to her kindly husband? The man she fell in love with? He came back from the war a changed man and it has made him bitter. But when Paul falls in with a wrong sort, Annie fears he will land himself in more trouble and then what will become of them?

And then there is Doris. She by no means pretty, with her thick lens glasses and plain features, but she is clever. She lives with her mother Leila who spends her days fretting about just about everything which wears on Doris' nerves, often sending her into a panic and thus making her asthma worse. Doris longs for her dearest friend to see her as more than a little sister but fears with her plain looks that will never happen.

The three women become friends when they meet by chance on Kiltie Street, despite each of them working, or having worked, in the Munitions factory though in different roles. And then when Elsie's mother dies suddenly her entire world falls apart and she finds herself homeless but for a secret her mother kept from them until she was on her deathbed.

Thrust into a home where they are not wanted, Elsie and Jessie make do the best they can, despite being ignored for the most part until they are required to undertake chores to earn their keep. Both girls cannot wait until the day they can escape these cruel walls. But it seems their mother had yet another secret or two she kept from her daughters...and when Elsie discovers them, she does her utmost to make her greatest wish come true.

ELSIE'S WARTIME WISH is an easy read that will sweep you up and take you back to the tenements of wartime Glasgow. I loved taking the journey with each of the women and hoped that each of their wishes would come to fruition. There is plenty of heartbreak, secrets, lies and of course friendship and love. A truly wonderful heartfelt read.

I can't wait for book 3 which I believe will focus on Jeannie's wayward sister Kathy.

I would like to thank #CarolMaclean, #Netgalley and #HeraBooks for an ARC of #ElsiesWartimeWish in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

3.5 but rounding up to 4.
Another really lovely story by Carol McLean. I loved reading about Elsie, Doris and Annie. They were such lovely, caring characters who did their best for one another during the dark days of the war. The ending was so lovely. It really made me smile. I hope there'll be another book in the series, I'd love to see Sarah have her own story.

This is from sadness and heartbreak on to happiness. There is a part one to this book but it doesn't matter if you haven't read it. The characters are so good that it makes you feel as though you are living amongst them. 5 stars and \i can't wait for more/.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC