Dear Miss Lake by AJ Pearce

August 9, 2025

Dear Miss Lake by AJ Pearce

Emmy Lake and the other staff at Woman's Friend are still hard at work. But in the summer of 1944, Britain has been at war for five long years. While victory is coming, especially since the Americans joined the fight, between the nightly bombings raids and the ever tightening rationing, everyone on the home front is exhausted from the war. It's a challenge for the magazine staff to remain upbeat and positive while faced with constant worry about their own loved ones.

Fourth and final book in the Emmy Lake series. Pleasant historical fiction that covers life in Britain during the last year of World War II. I would recommend reading the previous books in the series as there are frequent references to events and characters from earlier books. 

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review. 

A POW camp in Stuttgart, Germany

Mrs. Porter Calling by A. J. Pearce

August 14, 2023

Mrs. Porter Calling by A. J. Pearce

Emmy Lake is working at Woman's Friend magazine as the Reader and Advice Editor. While her husband Charles is serving in the RAF, Emmy is sharing a house with her BFF Bunty, and their friend Thelma and her children are taking the empty flat in their house. Everything is going as well as it can in the middle of a war, until the mag is taken over by the Honorable Mrs. Cressida Porter ("call me Egg") who has specific ideas about changing the magazine's format, content, and audience.

The third installment in the Emmy Lake series, warm, cozy, heartfelt. Good escapist reading for a hot summer day.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Members of the London fire service during World War II, where Emmy and Thelma work in the evenings

Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearce

July 18, 2021

Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearce

Emmy Lake is an aspiring columnist at a women's magazine in London when the Ministry of Information asks all the women's magazines and columns to help them recruit women workers. Emmy jumps at the chance for greater responsibility. Although she embraces the challenge and plans a series of columns about women doing war work, a visit to a munitions factory staffed by women brings home the stark reality of mothers working in wartime. Emmy resolves to do everything she can to help these women.

Bunty, Emmy's best friend, is shattered when she finds out that her fiance has been killed in action, and the Blitz makes her anxiety even worse. Emmy and her fiance Charles decide to plan a hasty wedding when they learn that Charles is being shipped overseas. The difficulties with transportation during wartime make the build-up to the wedding a comedy of errors with a happy conclusion.

This is the second book by the author featuring these characters. The story is heartwarming and often funny, while also heartbreaking at times.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.