For Me and My Gal [Paperback]

Robbi McCoy does not disappoint as she produces yet another good read! The characters were endearing and multi-dimensional and I had a difficult time letting go of them once I finished reading the book. I particularly liked the historical portions of the story that described the contributions of women to the war effort in the 1940's. Robbi will have a difficult time topping this one!For Me and My Gal

Shelby Pratt is having a really bad day, this comes at the end of a really bad week. First of all her grandmother trips over her dog and breaks her hip. Followed by Shelby receiving numerous hysterical calls from her mother. She gets fired from her job as a waitress and as if this isn't enough, she has now locked her keys in her car. In despair, she sits on the edge of the kerb and bursts into tears. Gwen Lawford, one of the women responsible for getting Shelby fired, stops to help her out. Gwen is the director of a Naval Museum on San Francisco Bay. She is working hard to save the museum from being closed down by the city council. Gwen stumbles across a journal written in 1944 while she is sifting through some old papers. The journal tells the story of a love affair between a Rosie-the-Riveter shipyard worker and a Navy WAVES recruit during WW11. When Gwen and Shelby begin to get to know one another it's obvious they are going to be more than just friends. Unfortunately as Gwen and Shelby unravel the secret of the journal, the truth may be enough to split them apart. Add Shelby's hysterical mother to the mix and their budding relationship may be doomed before it really begins.
This book is written about the love affairs of two couples. One couple from 1944, their story is told entirely form the journal and one couple form the present. The book is so well written, absorbing and intriguing. I read it almost in one sitting. I couldn't bear to put it down. I loved the descriptions of the war years. So accurate. Also having visited San Francisco, I felt right at home with the vivid descriptions of the bay area. A really well researched book. I can't wait for Robbi's next book now.

"It was very hard to be a lesbian back then. You had to lead a double life, a life full of lies and hypocrisy.... It seemed easier. There was so much secrecy and shame too. I know we're all proud now, but you can't really be proud in a climate like that. I mean, you kept it to yourself. You had to...."

Gwen and Shelby Pratt are going to discover that their lives are entwined in more than one way. Gwen is the director of a naval museum on San Francisco Bay and first meets Shelby when she unintentionally gets Shelby fired from her waitressing job. After making amends for that, the women become friends. When Gwen finds the journal of a Navy WAVE written in World War II, she and Shelby begin to unravel the mystery of who the woman was. Shelby is in for a surprise she never expects, beside the fact that she's falling in love with Gwen.

This is a romance, both old and new, but the real story is about women during the war. McCoy does an excellent job of showing how the war changed the lives of women, the jobs they were allowed to hold, the change of their positions in households and the expectations they held for themselves. World War II would alter many people's ideas about the possibilities for various minorities in the United States and McCoy shows how women tried to cope with those changing beliefs. Then she runs that plot simultaneously with one about lesbians in the military and how they were forced to hide an important part of themselves. By bringing the story into current time, she makes a nice contrast with the period now following the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

The problem with history is that it is so easy to forget. If something is not going on at that very moment, it tends to be shoved to the side and forgotten. People who live in the present have a tendency not to understand how different or difficult things were before them and to judge things only by what they have experienced. Many women today do not realize that women were ever segregated into their own units in the military. Books like For Me and My Gal remind us of where we came from and how we got here. That is an important service in giving the reader a chance to reflect and think.

For Me and My Gal has two romances, a bit of history and current topics. Robbi McCoy is a masterful writer and she delivers more than one great story in this book. The reader can feel confident in buying it and know that she's going to have a satisfying experience.