About the Book
Book: Mrs. Witherspoon Goes to War
Author: Mary Davis
Genre: Christian / Historical Fiction / Romance
Release date: February 1, 2022
A WASP Goes Above the Call of Duty to Free Captive American Soldiers
Full of intrigue, adventure, and romance, this new series celebrates the unsung heroes—the heroines of WWII.
Peggy Witherspoon, a widow, mother, and pilot flying for the Women’s Airforce Service in 1944 clashes with her new reporting officer. Army Air Corp Major Howie Berg was injured in combat and is now stationed at Bolling Field in Washington D.C. Most of Peggy’s jobs are safe, predictable, and she can be home each night with her three daughters—until a cargo run to Cuba alerts her to American soldiers being held captive there, despite Cuba being an “ally.” Will Peggy go against orders to help the men—even risk her own life?
Don’t miss these other stories about Heroines of WWII:
The Cryptographer’s Dilemma by Johnnie Alexander
A Picture of Hope by Liz Tolsma
Saving Mrs. Roosevelt by Candice Sue Patterson
My Thoughts
I have been enjoying the other books in the Heroines of WWII series, so I wanted to read this book as well. I'm not sure if I would have picked up the book otherwise as I didn't know the author and the cover does not catch my attention (I think it makes the heroine look older than she really is). I am glad that I decided to read the book because I enjoyed it. I liked Peggy and her relationship with her daughters. I liked getting to know them and Major Berg. I also liked seeing his interactions with Peggy's children. There was a biblical faith thread which I was glad to see. I look forward to reading more books in this series and more books by Mary Davis.
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About the Author
MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning author of over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has been in numerous compilations and collections. Stories and characters have been running around in her head for as long as she can remember. Her published works have been on Publisher’s Weekly bestselling lists several times. Some of her works include her award-winning Quilting Circle series and Newlywed Games.
An empty-nester, Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-seven years and a black Norwegian Forest cat. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. She enjoys playing board and card games, rain, and cats. She would enjoy gardening if she didn’t have a black thumb. Her hobbies include quilting, porcelain doll making, sewing, crafts, crocheting, knitting, and papercrafts.
More from Mary
AIRBORNE
When my agent asked if I had a WWII story idea that might fit in with Barbour’s Heroines of WWII series, I had to tell her I didn’t. At the time, I was writing book 4 in a series set in 1894 and proofing audio chapters for book 3 in that series. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tackle war, but I told my agent I would think on it and pray. If the Lord wanted me to write a WWII era story, He would give me an idea. So I prayed.
I knew women had done some military flying but didn’t know the details, so I jump into some quick research. I couldn’t take too much time away from my current novel and its rapidly approaching deadline. When an idea started forming with a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots), I wrote a brief one-page outline of my rough idea. I knew I couldn’t take too much time away from my other project to write a whole proposal if I was going to be told the publisher already had a story in the series about a WASP, which I assumed they had. Because who wouldn’t want to write about lady pilots?
My idea about a WASP, who flies an unsanctioned secret mission to rescue three US soldiers held captive in Cuba, now needed a title. No sooner had I thought that I needed a title than one—which I thought would be nothing more than a placeholder—popped into my flakey little head: Mrs. Witherspoon Goes To War. Well, now my heroine, at least, had a last name. My critique partners seemed to like this title, so I added it to my outline and sent it off to my agent, then I got right back to work on my novel with the looming deadline.
Since the publishing industry typically moves very slow, I figured I had a good chunk of time before I would find out if I needed to write a full proposal. So back to work on my contracted novel. Surprisingly, the publisher came back immediately with strong interest in the idea and wanted a full proposal in a week. Fortunately, this editor knew my writing, so I didn’t have to include three sample chapters, but my synopsis needed to be strong in details.
So now, I had a full, detailed proposal to write with historical notes ASAP, a novel I needed to finish writing, and audio chapters to listen to and give feedback on. Bouncing between two different eras isn’t easy and to keeping things straight. With God grace, I got the proposal written and submitted, the audio chapters checked, as well as completing my contracted novel, which I managed to turn in on time. Barely.
Since the publisher seemed very interested in my WWII premise and I had book 5 in my Quilting Circle series to get started on soon, I needed to pick up the pace on my writing. With the idea still fresh in my head and the WWII novel would be due first (if contracted), I decided to use NaNoWriMo in November to write a 50,000 word rough draft of Mrs. Witherspoon Goes To War, which would eventually be around 80,000.
As November progressed and my word count grew, I fell more and more in love with my characters in Mrs. Witherspoon Goes To War. I obviously received and signed a contract. I continued to enjoy my characters as I finished writing and editing this novel.
I would have to say that Mrs. Witherspoon Goes To War is in my top five of the books I have written. My prayer is that this story ministers to others as it did to me as I wrote it.
Blog Stops
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, February 24
An Author’s Take, February 24
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, February 25
Labor Not in Vain, February 25
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, February 25
Texas Book-aholic, February 26
Jeanette’s Thoughts, February 26
Inklings and notions, February 27
Bizwings Blog, February 27
Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, February 28
Southern Gal Loves to Read, February 28
For Him and My Family, February 28
Sodbuster Living, March 1
deb’s Book Review, March 1
She Lives to Read, March 2
Remembrancy, March 2
Betti Mace, March 3
Locks, Hooks and Books, March 3
Older & Smarter?, March 3
Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, March 4
Blossoms and Blessings, March 4
Rebecca Tews, March 5
Connie’s History Classroom, March 5
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, March 6 (Spotlight)
Through the Fire Blogs, March 6
Pause for Tales, March 6
Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, March 7
Genesis 5020, March 7
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, March 8
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 8
Reflections From My Bookshelves, March 9
A Good Book and Cup of Tea, March 9
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Mary is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
I got a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own and given voluntarily. No compensation was received for my review.
