Under the Mistletoe
This World War Two story about 15-year-old runaway orphans joining the NAAFI was for me too far-fetched, too pat, with way too many fortunate coincidences, one of which even the main character Jess describes as “uncanny”. Naturally these girls are drop-dead gorgeous, as are the dishy young soldiers with whom they’re smitten in a plot of inane chat so devoid of depth and drama (any mild threat being easily side-stepped) it borders on the boring. Further, I had hoped for at least some authentic history of the NAAFI as an institution, but no such luck, lots of tea and cake but no background detail. I won’t call this lazy, but it is formulaic and mechanical. This second of three books makes you wonder what happened beforehand and how it’ll be resolved afterwards, because in this one it sadly ain’t. A ‘surprise’ is revealed (not wholly unexpectedly) but the one big mystery blatantly signposted from the off is to be solved in the next book, according to the post-script. Great.
The proofreading/editing is flawed as well. One phrase on page 244 is repeated, “…you may not like our new home, you may not like our new home…” and on page 248 the author writes that someone “had bared [sic] the brunt.”
