Book Review: The One True Love of Alice-Ann by Eva Marie Everson

Living in rural Georgia in 1941, sixteen-year-old Alice-Ann has her heart set on her brother’s friend Mack; despite their five-year age gap, Alice-Ann knows she can make Mack see her for the woman she’ll become. But when they receive news of the attack on Pearl Harbor and Mack decides to enlist, Alice-Ann realizes she must declare her love before he leaves.
Though promising to write, Mack leaves without confirmation that her love is returned. But Alice-Ann is determined to wear the wedding dress her maiden aunt never had a chance to wear—having lost her fiancé in the Great War. As their correspondence continues over the next three years, Mack and Alice-Ann are drawn closer together. But then Mack’s letters cease altogether, leaving Alice-Ann to fear history repeating itself.
Dreading the war will leave her with a beautiful dress and no happily ever after, Alice-Ann fills her days with work and caring for her best friend’s war-torn brother, Carlton. As time passes and their friendship develops into something more, Alice-Ann wonders if she’ll ever be prepared to say good-bye to her one true love and embrace the future God has in store with a newfound love. Or will a sudden call from overseas change everything?

What I Loved: This was my first Everson novel so I didn’t know what to expect. From the very beginning, I was struck by how warm and welcoming her writing style is. It’s as inviting as peach pie fresh from the oven! Not heavy. Not fluffy. Just cozy.
I really loved the small town setting, and Alice-Ann was easy to relate to and cheer for. It’s interesting to see the cares of the world during a time of war through the eyes of a girl on the brink of womanhood. Everson had outdone herself with this realistic setting. You’ll certainly feel like you have just walked in the back door of the Alice-Ann’s farmhouse. All of her characters were wonderfully crafted. The story moved steadily. And the love story was beautifully done.
This was a great book from start to finish, and it’ll be a highlight of my reading year.

Rating and Recommendation: I highly recommend The One True Love of Alice-Ann to anyone who enjoys Christian romance or Christian historical. I’m giving it 5 stars.

~I received a copy from Tyndale. All thoughts are my own. I was not compensated for this review or required to give a favorable one.

Question and Answers with Eva Marie Everson: 
How do you expect this story to resonate with your audience? What are you most excited for your readers to experience through reading this novel? We have all had to make life choices. I heard a line in a movie (just this morning) that went like this: Every time you make a decision, you take a gamble. Maybe it’s the right choice. Maybe it’s not. How do you know? This is Alice-Ann’s dilemma. Does she have one true love . . . or two? We’ve all been there. We’ve all made decisions and then wondered if we made the right one. Sometimes those choices follow us for years. Sometimes we know the answer right away. I’m most excited for readers to experience life in the States during WWII. So often we read of what happened in Europe or in the Pacific, but we don’t usually read about how our citizens who stayed back home sacrificed for the greater good. I’m also excited for them to experience Alice-Ann’s love story and maturity as she grows from a starry-eyed 16-year-old to a grown woman.

What role does faith play in the story? Alice-Ann has a major life decision to make, and she can only make it with God’s help. But also, I think faith was much more of a natural reality in the ’40s. People went to Kristen Schumacher | kristenschumacher@tyndale.com | 630.784.5126 church. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night . . . They prayed for the troops. Actively. Sincerely. This was a different time in America (and one I wouldn’t mind seeing us go back to—as far as faith is concerned!).

What lessons or truths do you hope readers will take away from The One True Love of Alice-Ann? That when we take our distresses to God, he not only hears our cries, but he and he alone can wrap us up in his great big arms and show us the right path to take. He alone can ease our pain. You know, he loves us so much . . . he sent his Son to die for us. He won’t let us down now. 5. As an author, what did you particularly enjoy about crafting this story? The entire thing! I love this story so much. I loved researching the era. I loved creating