Saving Mrs Roosevelt

First off:  Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a signal buoy to relay information. 

Second:  Barbour Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

Third:  My reasons for choosing this book to read have much to do with my father's service in the Coast Guard during World War II and my love for novels set during this era.  

Daddy served on the USS Menges DE 320.  He was a Carpenter's Mate 3rd Class, which made him a Petty Officer, and he was Shore Patrol for his ship.  Among the Menges exploits is the fact that the crew members and the rest of the crews in the Hunter/Killer group of Destroyer Escorts received one of the few ribbons for the American Theater of the war for sinking a U-Boat off the coast of New Foundland.  The Menges was torpedoed, taking the back 1/3 of the ship.  It was towed to Algiers for temporary repairs, and then towed back to Boston and put into drydock for more permanent repairs.  The damaged stern was removed and the stern part of another DE was welded to the stern to make a slightly longer sea-worthy ship. 

Saving Mrs. Roosevelt is based loosely in fact.  There are some historical characters populating the book and actual events that help to build the plot.  The plot itself is moving, intriguing, compelling, engaging, and otherwise interesting.  Treason, betrayal, heroism, and grief all play a part in the book.  

Shirley Davenport wants to do her part to aid in the war effort. She's twenty-two years old and spends her days working with her father on his fishing/lobster boat.  When Captain Leo Webber comes to Lubec, Maine, to recruit women to serve in the newly formed SPARS branch of the Coast Guard, Shirley and her best friend, Joan,  go to enlist.  She's soon sent to Iowa for Basic Training and spends much of her time studying and learning basic protocols and customs of the Coast Guard.  

When threats are made on Eleanor Roosevelt's life, Shirley is chosen to go back home under the guise of a dishonorable discharge to see if she can find the source of the threats.  Her parents are hugely disappointed in her and the gossip mill in her small town has ostracized her to the point that it is hard for her to accomplish what she's been asked by her government to do.  

This book is part three in the Heroines of World War II series, but each is a stand-alone book.  These books do not have to be read in order because the plots do not overlap.  The authors chosen for this series are top-notch writers, and Candice Sue Patterson certainly fits this bill quite nicely.  I want to read more books by her.