Stormy Waters at Harbour House is the second installment in a WWII home front series and can be read as a stand-alone.
Stormy Waters at Harbour House by Fenella J. Miller
Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Coming-of-Age, WWII Home Front, England,
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My Summary:
Thanks #NetGalley @BoldwoodBooks for a complimentary eARC of #StormyWatersAtHarbourHouse upon my request. All opinions are my own.
Stormy Waters at Harbour House is the second installment of the Harbour House series and can be read as a stand-alone. The story’s central character is Nancy, the new girl working at Harbour House. Nancy is indispensable to the family and has a serious boyfriend who works as a bargeman on the river and is away for days and weeks at a time. Part of her feels she’s too young to settle down and she explores what it would be like to run a business. Some effects of war are felt.
My Thoughts:
Main Character
Having read the first installment, Wartime Arrivals at Harbour House, I was a bit surprised about the main character in this second story. It doesn’t pick up with the parents are main characters. Instead, the focus is on Nancy who works for the family and is a mentor and like a big sister to the family’s daughter, Emily. Nancy is an ambitious, kind, and compassionate young woman with her own aspirations for making a better life.
Life on the Home Front
It’s always interesting to contemplate what life would be like on the home front during World War II. Rationing is in effect and children have been evacuated from London and live with families in the village. The transportation of goods and materials on the river is becoming dangerous.
Coming-of-Age
The first book in the series is definitely a family drama as the husband moves his family (against his wife’s wishes) away from London to the countryside. Although the mother was a bit unlikable at first, the seeds are sown for a great deal of character development….which I was looking forward to in this sequel. However, the story places the parents firmly in the background with no further opportunity for character growth. The focus is on eighteen-year-old Nancy, a family maid, and the nearly teenage daughter of the family, Emily. Although their stories are somewhat compelling, it is a coming-of-age story and I was expecting more family drama.
Content Consideration: bullying
Recommending Stormy Waters at Harbour House:
Fans of WWII home front stories and Fenella Miller might enjoy this new series.
Related: My review of Wartime Arrivals at Harbour House by the same author.
My Rating: 3.5 rounded up to 4 Stars
Book cover and more information link
Meet the Author of Stormy Waters at Harbour House, Fenella J. Miller
Fenella J Miller was born in the Isle of Man. Her father was a Yorkshire man and her mother the daughter of a Rajah. She has worked as a nanny, cleaner, field worker, hotelier, chef, secondary and primary teacher and is now a full time writer.
She has over sixty Regency romantic adventures published plus four Jane Austen variations, four Victorian sagas and twenty-seven WW2 family sagas. Fenella J Miller now writes for Boldwood. She is a mother of adult children, a widow and lives in a small village in Essex with her British Shorthair cat.
QOTD:
Do you enjoy WWII home front stories?
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Too bad this sequel switched it up and you didn’t find what you were looking for. I’m glad you still enjoyed it enough to recommend it, Carol.
Yeah…I kept wonder how the original characters were coping with the move!