Book Review for Mrs. Porter Calling by A.J. Pearce

 The Emmy Lake Chronicles #3

Mrs. Porter Calling by A.J. Pearce

Genre:  Historical Fiction, WWII, British Literature

Published August 8, 2023 by Scribner

Taken from Goodreads:  London, April 1943. A little over a year since she married Captain Charles Mayhew and he went away to war, Emmy Lake is now in charge of “Yours Cheerfully,” the hugely popular advice column in Woman’s Friend magazine. Cheered on by her best friend Bunty, Emmy is dedicated to helping readers face the increasing challenges brought about by over three years of war. The postbags are full and Woman’s Friend is thriving.

But Emmy’s world is turned upside down when glamorous socialite, the Honorable Mrs. Cressida Porter, becomes the new publisher of the magazine, and wants to change everything the readers love. Aided by Mrs. Pye, a Paris-obsessed fashion editor with delusions of grandeur, and Small Winston, the grumpiest dog in London, Mrs. Porter fills the pages with expensive clothes and frivolous articles about her friends. Worst of all, she announces that she is cutting the “Yours Cheerfully” column and her vision for the publication’s future seems dire. With the stakes higher than ever, Emmy and her friends must find a way to save the magazine that they love.

 

My Thoughts: Mrs. Porter Calling is a unique look at a society woman’s plan to take a successful magazine and turn into a high society magazine.   Every decision she makes affects the entire staff and changes the dynamic of the magazine. 

Mrs. Porter was not a likable character.   She did not even try to be likable.   She made decisions without any thought of anyone else’s opinion and without care of the consequences.     She was fake to the person who tried to talk to her about anything and just did what she wanted.  I felt sorry for the people who were stuck working for her.  Jobs during WWII were not easy to come by and everyone there needed and wanted their jobs.  

Mrs. Porter Calling was a fun book to read.   The storyline moved at a slow pace.  I was never really pulled to keep reading but I did enjoy reading it. I have not read the other books in this series to see if it would have made a difference, but I did not feel like I was missing anything. 

Thank you Scribner for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. 

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Meet AJ Pearce (taken from her website):  AJ Pearce was born in Hampshire, UK. Her favourite subjects at school were English and History, which now (finally) makes sense.

She majored in American History at the University of Sussex, spending her Junior Year at Northwestern University in Illinois, USA.

Her debut novel Dear Mrs Bird was a Sunday Times Bestseller and has been published in the USA, Canada and Australia and in translation in over fifteen languages.

AJ has appeared at literary events and festivals across the UK, including Cheltenham, Henley, Ilkley, Chipping Norton, Durham, Guildford, and The British Library.

Her second novel, the sequel Yours Cheerfully, was published in 2021 and was a Times Top 10 hit. Her new novel, Mrs Porter Calling is the third in The Emmy Lake Chronicles series and has just been published in hardback, ebook and audio in the UK, Eire, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

When not talking about, researching, or writing books, AJ enjoys being fairly rubbish at a variety of hobbies, and has recently started to learn to paint.  Should anyone have alerted members of the Royal Academy of Arts, it is more than likely that no one is holding their breath.

If you’d like to keep up with what AJ is up to, scroll down to sign up for her newsletter via the form at the foot of this page.

You can also find her on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook when really should she be writing.