Book Review: As Always, Jack

 I’m hopelessly nosy.  I like to catch glimpses of homes through open windows, eavesdrop on conversations, and learn about people’s innermost thoughts.  This is one of the reasons epistolary novels are so appealing to me; they’re like snooping with permission.  As you can imagine, I was thrilled to read this book, which is actual letters from Emma Sweeney’s father, who died before she was born, to her mother, before they were married.  

Here’s the synopsis from Amazon:  At the end of World War II, a young navy pilot named Jack Sweeney fell crazy in love with a California girl named Beebe - just before he was shipped off to the Pacific with his squadron. From stations around the Pacific, he wooed her with letters full of teasing charm, hokey humour and sincere affection. When Jack returned to the States and asked her to marry him, Beebe said yes. Emma Sweeney never knew her father. He was killed in a plane crash just months before she was born and her mother remarried soon after. It was only years later, after her mother's death, that Emma found a package of letters tied in a pink ribbon. In those touching, warm letters she met her father for the first time.

This is a fun, touching, sweet glimpse into the long distance courtship of a young man in the prime of his life. His letters are funny, charming, and often silly.  They are also very real, and you almost feel a little guilty reading them, as though you’re intruding into a private conversation.  I loved that the story is true--these are real letters from her father that Emma Sweeney found in her mother’s possessions after she passed away--and that it’s a sweet reminder of the days before email, texting, and skype, back when people wrote actual paper letters.  Emma Sweeney’s intro and conclusion offer insight and help frame the story to make it that much more meaningful.  It’s a quick read but if you’re interested in World War II stories or epistolary novels, I think you’d love this book.

I also have a copy to give away, so if you’re interested leave a comment by Friday, July 13!

Disclosure: TLC Book Tours provided me with a complimentary copy of this book to review. The opinions and views are all mine.