Saving Mrs. Roosevelt

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book. These are my honest thoughts.

This book caught my eye because of the title and genre (WWII). The premise was intriguing too, so I thought the story would be right up my alley.

It was not.

Not-so-subtle feminism remarks were threaded throughout the early chapters, and those rubbed me the wrong way. Despite that, I continued reading, hoping for the best.

The leading lady stared in awe at the leading man every time she saw him through at least page 70. I wasn't sure why she was struck so dumb by a handsome face. Had she never seen a man with good-looking features before? Despite that, I continued reading, hoping for the best.

On page 74, a male officer referred to a female officer as “sir.” According to the military research I have done over the years, this is simply not done. Male officers are referred to as “sir,” while female officers are referred to by “ma'am.” One of my sources even said, “Despite its use in many fictional works, [‘sir'] is not a term used for female superiors, who are addressed as ‘ma'am.'”

At that point, I looked ahead at the author's note to see if this “mistake” was mentioned as having purposely been made as a part of research or something. It was not mentioned at all.

However, the author's note did make it very clear that this story was “purely fictional,” including altering historical facts, such as changing who did the training of the SPARs, the fact that former WAVES turned SPARs were trained separately and in a completely different state than the rest of the SPARs (in the book, they were trained at the same facility in the same state), dates and ship names were “altered to fit the timeline and mood of the story,” including the dates of the Doolittle Raid and a newspaper column written by Eleanor Roosevelt.

Upon seeing how much history was altered to create this fictional story, my interest in said story was immediately terminated.

History has and will always mean something to me. It's something to learn from and accurately teach to future generations so that we won't repeat mistakes that have been made before us. Having history altered like the abovementioned ways irks me, and I cannot support such blatant disregard for facts of what really happened in the past.

I wish I had liked this story or been able to make it past page 74.

I liked that proper 1940s attire and hairstyle, as well as a flock of birds, were highlighted on the cover. The introduction to the leading lady was good, and I liked that she was on a journey to find where she could best use her talents in society. It was great to see that the leading man had some past regret to work at overcoming, as this was reflective of the human condition. If not for the altered history, I likely would have enjoyed his story.

Content: alcohol, tobacco