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    While You Were Mine
    While You Were Mine
    While You Were Mine
    Audiobook9 hours

    While You Were Mine

    Written by Ann Howard Creel

    Narrated by Carly Robins

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Everything she loved could so easily be lost.

    The end of World War II should have brought joy to Gwen Mullen. But on V-J Day, her worst fear is realized. As celebrating crowds gather in Times Square, a soldier appears on her doorstep to claim Mary, the baby abandoned to Gwen one year earlier. Suddenly Gwen is on the verge of losing the child she has nurtured and loves dearly.

    With no legal claim to Mary, Gwen begins to teach Lieutenant John McKee how to care for his child, knowing that he will ultimately take Mary away. What starts as a contentious relationship, however, turns into something more, and Gwen must open her heart to learn that love means taking chances.

    While You Were Mine paints a vivid portrait of 1940s New York and tells an enchanting tale of the nature of love and trust.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateApr 1, 2016
    ISBN9781511342896
    While You Were Mine
    Author

    Ann Howard Creel

    Ann Howard Creel was born in Austin, Texas, and worked as a registered nurse before becoming a full-time writer. She is the author of seven books for children and young adults as well as four adult novels, including The Whiskey Sea and While You Were Mine. Her children’s books have won several awards, and her novel The Magic of Ordinary Days was made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie for CBS. Creel currently lives and writes in Paris, Kentucky, where she is renovating an older house. Follow her at www.annhowardcreel.com.

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    Reviews for While You Were Mine

    4/5

    54 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I loved the characters, story line and the ending!! I literally cried tears of sadness and joy throughout the book because of empathy for the characters. Very good read!!
    • 5/5
      While You Were Mine was a sweet historical romance with a bit of a dark edge.The characters were all so strong in some ways and yet so naïve and weak in others. They made mistakes and bad decisions -- some of them monumentally bad. Two characters suffered from severe mental illness. Overall, however, it was an uplifting story about a young nurse doing her best to handle a tough situation: her roommate, Alice, disappears and leaves her six-week-old baby behind in the apartment.Over the course of the story, we see Gwen ride an emotional roller coaster, but she always returns to a level-headed center. She is supposed to be the woman in the famous “V-J Day in Times Square” photo, and at one point she explains that while she was happy to have been in Life magazine, she was also glad to have appeared anonymously. She had no desire to take credit for her appearance in the photo or to capitalize on it. Alice, on the other hand, was grasping for fame and always had to be the center of attention. Gwen’s rational acceptance of random happenings in her life, whether it was a sailor grabbing her on the street and inadvertently making her famous, or a baby being abandoned in her lap, underscored her pragmatism and, I thought, explained why she handled certain events in the story as calmly she did. I liked that John’s POV was inserted in a few places, just enough to give us a little insight into his thoughts. It might seem strange and unexpected in a book that is otherwise written in first person, but I like strange and unexpected. Keeps things interesting :). I’ll read more by Creel in the future.
    • 4/5
      I love reading books set in thisv time period and this one does not disappoint! I like how it gives the point of view of John for some important events but it's mostly Gwen. The book covers many issues that people deal with during war and handles them nicely.
    • 4/5
      The story starts with a nurse getting off her shift and walking through Times Square on VJ day and hearing President Truman saying “Japan has surrendered.” A sailor grabs, dips her backward and kisses her. When she returns to her apartment, her story begins. She has an abandoned baby from her previous roommate who left believing that her soldier husband was killed in action. The POW returns for his wife and baby and the story begins.
    • 1/5
      I selected this book for the historical fiction which I love and as the book started I wasn't disappointed and quickly got sucked in. New York City at the tail end of WWII, overhead rails, the old stores, the smells on the streets, housing, women working and holding down the country, etc. But after maybe 50 pages Ms Creel forgot all that and turned the book into a simple, very predictable but unrealistic love story. I mean how does anyone go from caring for a baby for 18 months (on your own) to meeting a guy for 3 months and suddenly where the story line was "I can't lose this child" to "I can't lose this man and oh yes the child too". I guess that was the unpredictable part. The rest was so easily predictable, and the characters so unrealistic. Example, John loves Gwen more than any woman he's known, but not only takes back his ex-wife (ok, because of the baby) but runs the whole new romance right in front of his true love and leaves her with his kid while he tries to reignite the flame. All the while knowing he is tearing her heart apart because she only is acting as mother until Christmas so he and his Ex can get reacquainted. Would any human do that? Would anyone who supposedly love someone so much do that? And of course in the end it turns out so beautiful with absolutely no surprises. I only finished it because I vowed to finish every book I start. I seriously need to rethink that vow.
    • 4/5
      Title: While You Were MineAuthor: Ann Howard CreelPublisher: Lake Union PublishingReviewed By: Arlena DeanRating: FourReview:"While You Were Mine" By Ann Howard CreelMy Thoughts...I enjoyed reading this historical fiction 'While You Were Mine' was really a love story. This read caught my attention and I couldn't put it down until the end. The characters...Gwen, Mary, Dot, Dennis, John, Lisen, and Georff to name a few were off the chart well developed, defined, portrayed and believable giving the reader a interesting read. Yes, some of the story was somewhat predictable, however to me it didn't take anything away from this well told story that took place after WW II in New Year during the 1940's. especially with a few sailors dealing with PTSD ...an abandoned baby...and this story takes off.I liked how this author was able to use that part of 'Gwen being kissed by an unknown sailor, being photographed and put on the cover of Life Magazine which became a well know photos in our American history.' Now, I don't want to tell you too much about the read other than to find out what this novel is all about you will need to pick up 'While You Were Mine' to see how well it is presented to the readers. The gust to the whole story will have some twist and turns that will take the reader to a reassuring end. Thanks to Amazon for providing a kindle copy for Prime members for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Historical fiction is a tricky genre. Sometimes the work stresses real events and persons. Sometimes it’s a work of fiction with an historical backdrop. The latter is truer of While You Were Mine, yet the book provides a few insights into the alleged glamor of post World War II New York City.Gwen tells the story. She’s one of many young women who came to the big city due to war necessity. In her case, she became a nurse at an unnamed New York hospital. Her work is only peripherally important to the story. Housing was tight, so Gwen took on a roommate, not realizing that in addition to her newborn baby Alice brought a massive case of depression. The driving point of the plot is Baby Mary who is abandoned by her mother shortly after her arrival, and Gwen’s decision to take care of the child. For over a year, as it turned out. Gwen takes on another roommate and life goes on.At war’s end, the baby’s father returns. Predictably, as John learns about parenting a romance ensues with Gwen. Meanwhile, the new roommate falls for a veteran named Dennis. These men are interesting because they both suffer from PTSD. One is able to come to terms with it; one is not. PTSD was not a diagnosis in 1945. Real men didn’t suffer self-doubt, or guilt, or any debilitating effects from war. In the movies, Robert Mitchem, Clark Gable, and John Wayne portrayed “real” men who didn’t share their feelings and held their liquor. Even now we seldom talk about the “Greatest Generation” and PTSD in the same context.Creel’s decision to depict the on-going affects of war on her male characters is a welcome departure from the norm. The women also suffered conflicts of self, and Creel demonstrates that the two female characters that were trained nurses had the advantage of being able to support themselves when needed.The story is sympathetic and deftly written, perhaps a little predictable in the romance category. We don’t have many stories from the late 1940s, and I’m glad I stumbled across this one. I received this book as part of Amazon’s monthly free book for Prime members.