Contemporary Authors

• Wait for Me ( novel) HarperTeen (New York, NY), 2017

1. Wait for me LCCN 2017287426 Type of material Book Personal name Leech, Caroline, author. Main title Wait for me / Caroline Leech. Edition First edition. Published/Produced New York : HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2017] Description 361 pages ; 22 cm ISBN 9780062459886 (trade bdg.) 0062459880 (trade bdg.) CALL NUMBER PZ7.1.L442 Wa 2017 Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms

• Tuesday Writers - http://www.tuesdaywriters.com/?p=2181

  Tuesday Writers
  The Tuesdays. 6 writers. 1 dream. Follow our story.

  Interview with Caroline Leech, Author of Wait for Me
  Leave a comment January 16, 2017 Jonathan Rosen
  Hello Tuesdays!

  Today, I’m pleased to be joined by a fellow 2017 Debut Author, Caroline Leech, whose debut, Wait for Me, is scheduled to come out January 31, 2017 from Harper Teen

  Hi, Caroline and thanks for joining us today.

  JR: Before we begin, can you tell us a little bit about Wait for Me and the impetus behind writing it?

  CL: WAIT FOR ME is set in Scotland in the closing months of World War Two when a German prisoner of war is sent to a farm to work. The farmer’s daughter is furious that an enemy soldier is safe on her family farm when her two older brothers are both away at war. But as Lorna reluctantly spends time with Paul, she feels herself changing. The more she learns about him—from his time in the war to his life back home in Germany—the more she sees the boy behind the soldier. But as the war draws to a close, will the events that bring peace to Europe tear Lorna and Paul apart?

  I have always loved reading books and watching movies set in World War Two. When a friend told me a story about something that happened to her father when he was a child in Wales, when a German prisoner of war came to work on his family’s farm, I had a lightbulb moment as a new story idea hit me. I immediately scurried off to do more research into POW camps in Scotland and the more I looked the more I knew I had my next story.

  JR: I read on your website, www.CarolineLeech.com, that you’re originally from Scotland, a place where I loved visiting by the way, How has that transition gone, from Scotland to Houston?

  CL: I am very proudly Scottish, so I’m delighted you’ve been made to feel welcome as a visitor. But I’ve lived away from home for a long time, first in London and then Wales, and I’ve been in Houston for almost ten years. I can’t say the transition to Texas life was an easy one – even now the heat of the summer is not something I find fun – but people here are so friendly and welcoming, it felt like home quite quickly. You wouldn’t even know my kids aren’t American if you heard them speak. My accent, however, has changed very little. I still get asked to repeat things I say – ‘a bottle of water’ is the one that Americans really struggle to understand when I say it, even now.

  JR: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing journey getting to this point?

  CL: I worked in the performing arts in the UK, but soon after we arrived in the US, I took a couple of creative writing courses and one of those led to me writing my first full YA manuscript (which is still biding its time in a drawer!). It was while I was finishing off that one that I discovered National Novel Writing Month – NaNoWriMo – and decided to take part. That was in 2010 and WAIT FOR ME is the book I drafted in just over a month, though it sat in the drawer for a few years after that while I went back the first one again. Long story short, I entered the first 20 pages of my (much-revised) NaNo book into a Romance Writers of America contest in late 2014. Not only did I win the YA category, but one of the judges, Alice Jerman at Harper Teen, asked for my full manuscript and then (amazingly!) offered me a two book deal. I then had to find myself an agent, and was very lucky to secure representation at New Leaf Literary & Media, where I have Jackie Lindert guiding me through the swamp that is publishing. And then the real revision process began… So all in all, from my first plotting out the story of WAIT FOR ME to publication will be six years, four months. It’s been a long slow journey, but in hindsight, I think I really needed that time to help me develop my craft and deal with everything the publication process can throw at a debut author. I spent that time writing other things, working on my other book, blogging, writing articles etc, so I never stopped writing in all that time.

  JR: What’s your writing process like?

  CL: Chaotic! I have three very busy teenagers and a husband who works long hours and travels a lot, so I have to grab whatever time I can – my Sunday 6am-10am slot at our local Starbucks has been one of my most productive habits, and while the kids are at school you’ll find me writing in our local Barnes & Noble café. I am a planner though. The idea of opening up a blank page just to see where it takes me brings me out in a cold sweat. I am drafting my second Harper Teen book right now, and I created a 10,000-word chapter outline before I felt organized enough to start writing. Having said that, I do tend to jump around the story a bit to avoid the soggy bits where I lose focus or can’t get past a problem. If I jump a chapter or two to a scene I can’t wait to write, it seems to keep me energized, and later I can go back and fill in the bit I left out, or perhaps not, because perhaps the soggy bit wasn’t meant be in the story at all.

  JR: What’s your favorite book and who’s your favorite author?

  CL: How can you make me choose? I could happily read Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility over and over again (and I have!), but I suppose my favorite author would be JK Rowling. Not only did she create some of the most amazing characters, places and storylines I’ve ever read, but she is hugely inspiring to me as a writer. She had an idea and worked so hard to bring it to reality. Even now, when she could just sit back and count her millions, she is still writing great books and developing new ideas, and is still campaigning to make life better for other people.

  JR: What’s your favorite movie?

  CL: White Christmas! For years it’s been a part of my build up to the festivities, though more recently I’ve found that my determination to watch that movie every Christmas has had competition from The Holiday, another cheesy double romance, though without the song and dance routines. Either one is a great late-night-wrapping-presents movie!

  JR: Something people would be surprised to learn about you?

  CL: Once upon a time, I desperately wanted to be an opera singer, but in the end I had neither the talent nor the musicality. I am in awe of these amazing artists who can create such beautiful music from within their own bodies, a gift which requires intelligence and artistry. But I did get my happy ending because I’m married to a guy who works in opera, and so I spend lots of time with opera singers, directors, designers, technicians and conductors, and that’s almost as good, isn’t it? And I still sing in the car or the shower, or anywhere I’m sure no one can hear me.

  JR: Do you do a lot of research when you write?

  I was very lucky with this book – and perhaps this is why I wanted to write it in the first place – because I grew up hearing about World War Two from my parents. My mother had been a child evacuee, sent away to the countryside to avoid the Blitz in London, and my father and his four elder brothers all served in the Army. My teenage reading included a lot of war stories, about prisoner of war escapes and daredevil pilots, and I loved watching old black and white war movies on the BBC on a Saturday afternoon. So by the time I came to plan and draft this particular story, I already had a good knowledge of the background history and lifestyles of that era, such as rationing, dance-halls, clothing, military call-ups etc. All the fine details I researched after that felt like layers of paint added onto the solid wall I had already built. It does make me nervous to think about moving on to another historical era that I know less about, but luckily my second book is also a WW2 story, so I’m fine for the time being.

  JR: Here at the Tuesdays, a big part of our success and the purpose of this site, has been being involved in a critique group. Are you involved in one and if so, how has it helped you?

  CL: I am part of a lovely critique group, though to be honest, we realized after the first year or so that sharing everything among everyone for critiquing was quite hard. Because we were all writing very different genres and were at different stages on the publishing path, we found it easier to ask for help from one or two of the others at whatever point we needed it, and save our meet-ups for having lunch, which is always a round-table catch up on what everyone is doing, and lots of cheerleading!

  JR: What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received and is there any advice you can give to writers looking to break in?

  CL: The obvious one is if you want to be a writer, you have to write, not just talk about writing! And the one I’m struggling with right now – you can’t revise a manuscript you haven’t written yet. It’s been hard after several years of working almost solely on revising to go back to a completely blank page for a brand new draft, but even so, I keep telling myself to get each word down on the page, even if I know it’s not the best word and will likely change later. It still needs to be written down first.

  JR: What are you working on next?

  CL: Harper Teen will be publishing my second novel in early 2018, and that’s what I’m working on now. It’s not a sequel to WAIT FOR ME, but I hope it will attract the same audience. I can’t say much more than that just now, but I will soon, I promise.

  JR: Is there anything else you want to share with our readers or perhaps tell them how they can follow you on social media?

  CL: I love talking books with anyone who wants to, so I’d love readers to follow me on Goodreads or any of my social media pages. I have a new website at www.carolineleech.com which will also lead you to my blog, and I’ll be launching my first newsletter very soon with an ARC giveaway contest. Here are my links:

  Web/blog: www.carolineleech.com

  Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/3118654.Caroline_Leech

  Twitter: twitter.com/Carolinesblurb

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/carolineleech

  Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/carolineleechYA

  And you can pre-order WAIT FOR ME at:

  Amazon www.amazon.com/Wait-Me-Caroline-Leech/dp/0062459880

  Brazos Books www.brazosbookstore.com/book/9780062459886

  Barnes & Noble www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wait-for-me-caroline-leech/1123722314

  JR: Before we go, I always like to ask, who’s your favorite member of The Tuesdays, and I’m seriously begging you not to pick Faran! I mean it, ANYONE but Faran! I will do bodily harm to myself if you pick Faran!

  CL: It’s so hard to pick between such a great crew of writers, but if you are forcing me, I’ll go for Faran!

  JR: Seriously? I threaten bodily harm and you say Faran? Forget it. I’d ask the editor to delete the question, but she never listens to me anyway.

• Intellectual Recreation - http://www.intellectualrecreation.com/2017/01/interview-with-caroline-leech-author-of.html

  Wednesday, January 25, 2017
  Interview with Caroline Leech, author of WAIT FOR ME + A Giveaway

  Wait for Me by Caroline Leech
  Publisher / Year: HarperTeen - January 31, 2017
  Genre: Historical Fiction
  Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

  Today I'm so excited to bring you an interview with Caroline Leech for World War II Wednesday. Caroline's debut novel, Wait for Me, is set in Scotland during World War II. It's about a girl named Lorna who works on her father's farm and waits for her brothers to return home from the war. With farming essential to the war effort and farmhands scarce, German POWs from the nearby camp are assigned to help on the farms. Lorna is horrified by the thought of working alongside the enemy, but it turns out that Paul Vogel, scarred and battered, is not at all what she expected. Beyond its great setting and forbidden romance, Wait for Me is a book of humanity and healing. I read it in November and absolutely loved it. We featured it in our most recent World War II Wednesday, and I even sneaked it onto my Favorite Debuts of the Year list! I'm so thrilled to be able to bring you some behind-the-scenes details today!

  Author Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

  Wait for Me is a book about Lorna’s life on the home front in Scotland during World War II. I loved the Scottish setting and hoped you could share a little more about how you came to write a book set in 1945 Scotland.

  First of all, I should declare that I am Scottish, even though I live in Texas these days, so when I first started working on this story, it seemed an obvious place to set it. The village of Aberlady is about 20 miles from where I grew up in Edinburgh, and I loved daytrips as a child along that stretch of coastline, with its picturesque towns, old harbors and gorgeous beaches (and yes, I liked the ice-cream cones too). My parents have a watercolor of the sands of Aberlady Bay at low tide in their home, but other than that, there was no real reason to choose Aberlady, other than it seemed like the perfect place for a fictional farm. There are two golf courses side by side on the edge of the village, and I decided that their land should become Lorna’s home, Craigielaw Farm. I swear it was only later that I discovered that one of the golf courses would have been a farm in 1945, and that Aberlady’s local stately home, Gosford House, had actually had a POW camp in its grounds from where men were sent to work on the local farms and nurseries, just like in my story. Even later, after the book was finished, I found out about several romances between Gosford POWs and local Aberlady girls. Some things, I suppose, were just meant to be.

  One of my favorite things about reading Wait for Me was learning about the factual background that inspired the book. Can you share with the readers some of the research you uncovered in the process of writing the book that led to the creation of the story?

  A friend of mine told me, in passing, that her father had grown up on a farm on which German prisoners of war had worked. Until then, although I had read a lot about World War Two, I had never heard of such a practice, so I immediately began to research it. For the first few years of the war, as the men were called up to fight, the hard labor on British farms had mostly been done by men too old or too young to join the military (although farming was a reserved occupation, so any farmer could apply to be exempt from conscription) and also by members of the Women’s Land Army. These were young women, often without any farming experience, who were sent far from home to do tasks which until then had been regarded as “man’s work”. Many of these Land Girls – like my character, Nellie – were from the major cities like London, and had never have even seen a cow before they were expected to milk one.

  However, after the invasion of France on D-Day in June 1944, Britain faced the problem of ever-increasing numbers of German and Italian soldiers, airmen and sailors who had been captured, and who had to be held prisoner until the end of the war. The prisoners were first held at detention centers like that at Kempton Park race course and Hampden Park soccer stadium, where they were deloused, interrogated and graded on their loyalty to the Nazi regime. Many men, some as young as 17, had been conscripted into the military under threat of execution for themselves and their families, so bore no loyalty to Hitler. They were therefore separated from the committed Nazis, and were sent to different lower-security camps. It quickly became apparent, however, that leaving fit and healthy men cooped up was helping nobody, so from the fall of 1944 onward, those prisoners were sent out to work on local farms and in nurseries, though most were taken back to the camps at night. They also worked on road repair and on building sites. “Fraternization with the local population” was strictly forbidden, but not strictly enforced, and many life-long friendships began during those difficult days.

  When I told friends about my book, and the history which inspired it, I started to hear stories about their own family members who had known (or even fallen in love with) German prisoners. One friend’s engagement ring was one which had been made for her grandmother by a German POW. Her grandmother had treasured the ring, even after he had been repatriated back to his wife and children in Germany after the war, and her own English sweetheart returned from the Army to become her husband. The family believes the friendship which led to the gift of the ring was simply platonic, but I can’t help but wonder . . . Perhaps that’s just the writer in me, always searching for the most romantic story, even one with an unhappy ending.

  Wait for Me is such a great addition to a genre that is just full of terrific books. I always love reading novels about World War II and am always amazed at how many stories there are to tell about that time in history. What are some of your favorite World War II novels and what aspects of the war have they opened your eyes to?

  You are so right. I grew up reading classic wartime ‘military adventure’ novels like Colditz, Reach for the Sky and 633 Squadron, as well as stories from the Holocaust such as The Diary of Anne Frank and Fania Fénelon’s The Musicians of Auschwitz. More recently, there have been some truly wonderful books which have featured stories from all the theaters of World War Two, particularly the war in Europe. Here are some of my absolute favorites:

  Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman – this book, and its sequel, are actually set in pre-war Germany, the main characters witnessing first-hand Hitler’s rise to power, showing how he persuaded, inspired or terrorized a whole nation into supporting his Nazi beliefs, leading to the invasions of other European countries, and ultimately the Holocaust.
  All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – a truly brilliant, Pulitzer-winning story of a blind French girl and a German boy soldier whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of the war.
  Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein – an incredibly moving YA novel which tells the stories of two young women, one a secret agent and one a pilot, and cleverly interweaves their friendship into their devastating experiences.
  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne – a short but perfectly formed novel told in the voice of a small boy whose family is forced to leave Berlin in 1942 because his father has been given a promotion. We are led through his new world in the countryside gradually, understanding the horror of what's happening around him only by reading between the lines of the story as seen by his own very innocent eyes.
  Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys – a gripping and heart-rending story of a young Lithuanian refugee and her family, arrested by Soviet soldiers and transported to a work camp in Siberia.

  There are also some fantastic new novels coming out this year telling stories of those who lived through WW2. My favorites include:

  That Burning Summer by Lydia Syson (Sky Pony Press, January 24th) -- Set in the south of England in 1940, Peggy’s life is turned upside down by the crash landing of a young Polish pilot, who is injured and distressed, and who desperately needs Peggy’s help.

  Cold Summer by Gwen Cole (Sky Pony Press, May 2nd) -- A contemporary high school dropout is increasingly unable to prevent the intense time-travel episodes which take him back to the battlefields of Europe in 1945 and leave him with wounds, both physical and mental, even as he returns to his modern life.

  Among the Red Stars by Gwen C. Katz (HarperTeen, Fall 2017) -- Inspired by the true story of the Russian airwomen the Nazis called Night Witches, this story follows Valka, one of these young pilots, from the thrills of learning to fly to the trauma of dropping bombs on German cities. Valka must decide how much she is willing to risk to defent the skies she once called home.

  I know that you plan to visit the World War II era again in your writing. Can you give us any (tiny) hints about what other aspects of the war you will be exploring?

  I am currently working on a second novel for Harper Teen which is due out in 2018. It’s also set in Scotland during World War Two, though it’s not a sequel to WAIT FOR ME. I can’t say too much about it yet, but it follows a teenage girl who is determined to do her bit for the war effort, though the work she ends up doing is something quite unexpected.

  Wait for Me by Caroline Leech
  Publisher / Year: HarperTeen - January 31, 2017
  Genre: Historical Fiction
  Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

  A breathtaking WW2 romance for fans of Elizabeth Wein’s CODE NAME VERITY and Ruta Sepetys’s BETWEEN SHADES OF GREY.

  Can their love survive a war? It’s 1945, and Lorna Anderson’s life on her father’s farm in Scotland consists of endless chores and rationing, knitting Red Cross scarves, and praying for an Allied victory. So when Paul Vogel, a German prisoner of war, is assigned as the new farmhand, Lorna is appalled. How can she possibly work alongside the enemy when her own brothers are risking their lives for their country?

  But as Lorna reluctantly spends time with Paul, she feels herself changing. The more she learns about him—from his time in the war to his life back home in Germany—the more she sees the boy behind the soldier. Soon Lorna is battling her own warring heart. Loving Paul could mean losing her family and the life she’s always known. With tensions rising all around them, Lorna must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice before the end of the war determines their fate.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  Caroline Leech is a Scottish writer who moved to Texas for an adventure ten years ago. Her debut novel for young adults, WAIT FOR ME, will be published in the USA by Harper Teen on January 31st. Set in Scotland towards the end of World War Two, the book tells the story of a girl’s friendship with a German prisoner of war who is sent to work on her father’s farm. Harper Teen will also publish Caroline's second YA novel in early 2018. Caroline lives in Houston TX with her husband and three teenage children, and she can be found online at www.carolineleech.com and @carolinesblurb.

  Author Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

  You might also like:
  The Ruby Prince Blog Tour: Interview with Beth Brower + ...
  Reading on a Theme: Mythologies in the Modern World
  Interview with Sarah Creviston Lee
  Linkwithin
  Posted by JoLee at 7:00 AM

• Caroline Leech - https://www.carolineleech.com/

  The fun one:
  Caroline Leech is a Scottish writer who moved to Texas for an adventure ten years ago. In addition to writing YA fiction, she blogs a lot, reads a lot, and almost always has an audiobook playing through her headphones. She lives in Houston with her husband and three teenage children.
  WAIT FOR ME is her debut novel and she can be found online at www.carolineleech.com and @carolinesblurb.
  The Serious One:
  Caroline Leech is a Scottish writer who has lived in Houston TX since 2007. She writes novels for teenagers, and her debut novel, WAIT FOR ME, will be published in the USA by Harper Collins' Harper Teen imprint in early 2017. Set in Scotland towards the end of World War Two, the book won the 2014 Joan Lowery Nixon Award at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in Houston, as well as the YA categories of both the Romance Writers of America Emily and Lone Star competitions. Harper Teen will also publish Caroline's second, as yet untitled, novel in 2018.
  Caroline’s career in public relations with performing arts companies in the United Kingdom culminated with her editing a glossy photographic book, WELSH NATIONAL OPERA – THE FIRST SIXTY YEARS. She has written numerous feature articles on the performing arts in a number of newspapers and magazines here and in the UK. As well as her personal blog at www.carolineleech.com, Caroline writes a blog – www.inspiringhoustonwomen.com – for which she interviews some of Houston’s remarkable women, each of whom nominates their own inspirational woman for Caroline to interview. She also serves on the advisory board of Inprint, Houston’s leading literary non-profit organization.
  Caroline is married with three teenage children.

Caroline Leech: WAIT FOR ME
Kirkus Reviews.
(Oct. 1, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Caroline Leech WAIT FOR ME HarperTeen (Adult Fiction) 17.99 ISBN: 978-0-06-245988-6
With a workforce decimated by World War II, farms throughout the United Kingdom begin relying on Land
Girls and prisoners of war for help, but when a German soldier arrives at Lornas family farm, he ends up
being both an answer to prayer and a source of trouble for the Anderson family.Seventeen-year-old Lorna
dreams of seeing the world, but until the war is over and her brothers return, she is stuck working at
Craigielaw. Her prospects for romance look equally bleak. At least until the army truck arrives delivering
Paul, the quiet son of a German clockmaker. The two begin an uneasy friendship, which slowly morphs into
something more. However, even if her father grudgingly approves of their relationship, the same cannot be
said of the local villagers. Clandestine meetings and stolen kisses will satisfy die-hard romantics, while
history buffs will be drawn in by the details of war-torn (and unsurprisingly largely white) Scotland.
Further, the themes of prejudice, anger, and violence will resonate with readers familiar with current events.
A few missteps, such as one-dimensional characters and a simplistic resolution, are not enough to destroy
the magic of first love. Sweet romance at its (nearly) best. (Historical fiction. 12-16)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Caroline Leech: WAIT FOR ME." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2016. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA465181942&it=r&asid=c0bfea474825af10ae96e3c6f483f727.
Accessed 2 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A465181942

"Caroline Leech: WAIT FOR ME." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA465181942&it=r. Accessed 2 July 2017.

• Teen Reads
  http://www.teenreads.com/reviews/wait-for-me-0
  Word count: 452

  Review
  Wait for Me
  by Caroline Leech
  Buy this book at IndieBound
  Buy this book at Amazon
  Buy this for Amazon Kindle
  Buy this book at Barnes and Noble
  Scottish writer Caroline Leech pens a debut young adult love story in WAIT FOR ME, set in the countryside of Scotland during World War II. It’s 1945, and 17-year-old Lorna Anderson’s daily life consists of farming, going to school, knitting Red Cross scarves and praying every day for an Allied victory. When Paul Vogel, a German prisoner of war is sent to help her father with the farm, Lorna is repulsed and angry. But as she gets to know the boy behind the soldier --- including learning the backstory to the horrible injury on his face --- Lorna finds herself conflicted over what society expects of her, and her own heart.

  "This book is perfect for middle-grade/the younger range of YA readers who enjoy slow romances, female friendships and whimsical historical fiction."
  The premise of this story had a lot of potential, but the pacing was a bit slow for me. The attraction between Lorna and Paul is almost immediate, but their romance stays innocent throughout the novel, consisting of a few kisses, hand-holding and minor flirtation. Nothing major happens between them until the last third of the book.

  Outside of the romance, there was minor characterization and plot development. Although the characters were likable, Leech does very little to help readers empathize with them. Lorna is the typical storybook heroine: hardworking, brave and kind. It was a pleasure to see her mature --- if only slightly. She realizes that war is not always black and white, and the horrors her brothers experienced in the trenches can be matched by Paul’s own experiences fighting on the side of the Germans. Leech does add in a few other storylines involving Lorna’s friends, father and older brothers, but they lacked substance. Despite a few conflicts with villagers who were prejudiced against Paul, and an unexpected aerial bomb on the farm, the stakes were not high or realistic enough to hold my interest.

  This book is perfect for middle-grade/the younger range of YA readers who enjoy slow romances, female friendships and whimsical historical fiction. It’s similar to Michael Morpurgo’s AN ELEPHANT IN THE GARDEN, which features a young German girl and Canadian navigator who cross paths after the bombing of Dresden in World War II. Like WAIT FOR ME, this book illustrates the importance of love, forgiveness and hope, but with slightly more nuanced characters.

  Reviewed by Erin Siu on January 25, 2017

• YA Books Central
  http://www.yabookscentral.com/blog/featured-review-wait-for-me-by-caroline-leech
  Word count: 596

  Featured Review: Wait For Me by Caroline Leech
  Thursday, 05 January 2017 Kayla King, Blog Manager News & Updates Latest Staff Reviews 549 Hits 0 Comment
  Featured Review: Wait For Me by Caroline Leech
  About this book:

  The perfect blend of sweet romance and historical flavor, Wait for Me, from debut author Caroline Leech, brings a fresh new voice to a much-loved genre. It’s 1945, and Lorna Anderson’s life on her father’s farm in Scotland consists of endless chores and rationing, knitting Red Cross scarves, and praying for an Allied victory. So when Paul Vogel, a German prisoner of war, is assigned as the new farmhand, Lorna is appalled. How can she possibly work alongside the enemy when her own brothers are risking their lives for their country? But as Lorna reluctantly spends time with Paul, she feels herself changing. The more she learns about him—from his time in the war to his life back home in Germany—the more she sees the boy behind the soldier. Soon Lorna is battling her own warring heart. Loving Paul could mean losing her family and the life she’s always known. With tensions rising all around them, Lorna must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice before the end of the war determines their fate.

  *Review Contributed by Elisha Jachetti, Staff

  Reviewer*

  Wait for Me

  WAIT FOR ME by Caroline Leech is an historical fiction set during World War II. The book follows Lorna, a young Scottish girl who lives and works on her father’s farm. When her dad accepts a German prisoner of war as an extra farmhand, Lorna must confront all of her prejudices regarding Germans, the “enemy” of her people during this time. Lorna, ultimately, comes to learn that above all else, Paul, the German soldier, is a human first; a human who has family and needs like anyone else, including Lorna. Consequently, though the story takes place in the past, the themes and subjects of this novel are incredibly topical and relevant to present situations unfolding in the world. Interestingly enough, though the book may have some political undertones, it certainly is not about politics. Instead, the story is about humanity, and the way Leech decides to portray her characters feels so utterly relatable. Lorna’s internal battle over Paul, John Jo’s attitude when he visits home, Jock’s silent acceptance of his daughter’s choice, Iris’ decision to date William; all of these moments add up to create a vibrant, realistic world. Additionally, Leech constantly reminds the audience to empathize with these people rather than judge them, which is a message that could be applied to real life. I especially enjoyed the romantic parts of this novel as they made me remember what falling in love for the first time feels like. Leech writes so beautifully and really builds up the tension between Lorna and Paul, which culminates in a gratifying pay off for the emotional investment in these characters. I was honestly terrified that the story would have a sad ending, as most books like this do, but I was relieved that Leech chose to go a different route. Overall, WAIT FOR ME is a dynamically written tale of love, heartbreak, friendship, and life. It is one of those books that will grab you by the soul and never let go. Caroline Leech has certainly set the bar high for herself with this debut novel, and I cannot wait to see what she will do next.

• New York Journal of Books
  http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/wait-me
  Word count: 690

  Wait for Me

  Image of Wait for Me
  Author(s):
  Caroline Leech
  Release Date:
  January 30, 2017
  Publisher/Imprint:
  HarperTeen
  Pages:
  384
  Buy on Amazon

  Reviewed by:
  Carolyn Haley
  “The story setting and historical era are well researched and believably conveyed in a coming-of-age romance that presents the lessons of war and peace, love and hate, in bold block letters.”

  Romeo and Juliet had it easier than Lorna and Paul. Their forbidden love was up against only a family feud, not two nations at war. But Scottish Lorna and German Paul fall in love during the closing days of World War II, and their people are mortal enemies who’ve been slaughtering each other for years.

  Lorna’s brothers are in Europe fighting the Germans, and Paul’s home and family have been destroyed by Allied bombs. He ends up in Scotland as a prisoner of war, held in a camp not far from Lorna’s farm. In a program to replace Scottish laborers away in combat, the government distributes POWs around the country to help work the land. These supplement the “land girls”—women recruited from across Britain to fill in the holes while their menfolk fight and die. One of those girls is already installed at Lorna’s farm.

  Then comes Paul, a watchmaker’s son turned into a disfigured soldier, forced to work among the enemy on their own turf. Lorna, like everyone in her village (and the country), is appalled and frightened to have their own enemy suddenly underfoot while her countrymen are fighting them overseas.

  She soon discovers that not all Germans are Nazis and begins to understand that good people and bad people come from all nations. Fortunately, her family gets that, too, and they welcome Paul while friends, church members, and villagers hostilely reject both him and the family. Lorna gets to see hypocrisy in action, in a dramatic tale for young adults about how the war was sustained by the people left at home.

  Emotionally yanked in many directions, Lorna reacts in as many ways. Often she seems to think and feel more like a twelve year old than the almost-eighteen year old she is. This may ring wrong for adult readers, who might expect someone raised on a farm, who lived her formative years during the hardships of wartime, to grow up fast and sensible.

  But the author captures the whole wobbly balance of being stuck between childhood and adulthood, and the YA readers the book is aimed at will be able to relate to Lorna’s emotional reversals, missteps, and insecurities.

  The narrative pace is snappy; something always happening, sometimes for better but often for worse. Lorna must handle hatred and bigotry among her peers and community, desperate soldiers preying on innocent girls, air raids and food shortages, self-righteous troublemakers and bullies, strange and disturbing behavior within her family—all while attending school, helping keep the farm going, and suffering the heartaches of first love.

  Her story is part of an oft-ignored wartime reality. While heroes are off shedding blood, the home crew must carry on in agonizing uncertainty, stark privation, and government-manipulated ignorance, leaving them ill-prepared to handle their men who come home. Lorna, throughout such trials, learns and grows, keeping her core goodness while toughening into a woman of her times.

  The story setting and historical era are well researched and believably conveyed in a coming-of-age romance that presents the lessons of war and peace, love and hate, in bold block letters. Although World War II is long over, many of its lessons weren’t learned and still plague us today, making this a timely story in a vintage guise.

  Carolyn Haley is a broadly experienced writer and editor who operates DocuMania, providing production support for editors, writers, and designers. She is also the author of four books: The Möbius Striptease, Open Your Heart with Gardens, Into the Sunrise, and The Aurora Affair.

• San Francisco Book Review
  https://sanfranciscobookreview.com/product/wait-for-me/
  Word count: 363

  Wait for Me
  We rated this book:
  $17.99

  Wait For Me presents the beautiful tale of a forbidden romance set during the World War II era. When English Lorna finds out her father has hired a German prisoner to work on their farm, she’s full of hatred and disgust for the enemy living on her land. With her own two brothers fighting in the war, how could her father even think to welcome this repulsive boy of German blood and a half-burned face into their farm? Slowly, however, Lorna begins to see past his burns and nationality and finds herself viewing him as just another human, one who shows her more kindness and care than her own kind. She finds herself asking questions about his family, learning that he is just as scared and affected by the terrible war as her own kin, and at last seeing him as a friend–but when the community soon finds out about this secret relationship, Lorna learns that her feelings could land her, and her love, in big trouble. She faces the challenge of showing everyone that Paul is not the monster they think a German would be, a task especially difficult as she navigates the hardships of the war itself.

  Caroline Leech’s intricate novel is such a sweet tale, slightly mirroring the cherished story of Romeo and Juliet. Full of surprise, adversity, and love, Wait For Me is the ideal read for anyone who can appreciate a sweet story line. Perfect for a rainy afternoon, a relaxing evening, or a calm read by the fireplace, the novel offers an engaging plot and lovable characters. Readers will sympathize with Lorna as they go through her emotions, from betrayal to anger to woeful regret as she learns how to accept herself and the boy and how to eventually stand for what is right. Important themes of family and societal expectations weave themselves throughout Wait For Me, which can unhesitatingly be recommended with full confidence. It now sits proudly on my nightstand, a beloved novel that I’m sure to open again soon.

  Reviewed By: Sarah Guller

• My Weekly
  https://www.myweekly.co.uk/2017/03/13/a-wartime-romance-wait-for-me-by-caroline-leech/
  Word count: 453

  A Wartime Romance: Wait For Me by Caroline Leech
  BY KAREN BYROM · MARCH 13, 2017

  Wait for Me cover feature
  karenspickxxx-1

  Wait For Me By Caroline Leech (HarperTeen £7.99)
  Reviewed by Karen Byrom

  Wait For Me book cover

  Seventeen-year-old Lorna Anderson can’t wait to escape the endless chores on her family’s East Lothian farm. But between the farm, schoolwork, rationing and knitting Red Cross scarves, it’s a wonder Lorna has time to dream at all!

  True, in the absence of Lorna’s brothers John Jo and Sandy, landgirl Nellie is there to help. But when lambing time comes round, Lorna’s father realises he needs more hands and drafts in Paul Vogel, a young German from the nearby prisoner-of-war camp.

  At first Lorna is repulsed by Paul. He’s the enemy, one of the men who might one day kill her brothers. And one side of his face is horribly disfigured by war injuries. But his eyes are twinkly, his lips soft, and his nature kind and gentle. Gradually Lorna warms to him.

  Fraternizing with the enemy

  But what will those around her have to say about fraternizing with the enemy? Kindly housekeeper Mrs Mack might accept their friendship but Lorna’s schoolchum Iris and her pompous boyfriend William have plenty to say. And when John Jo comes home on leave, Paul and Lorna find their fledgling relationship may be over before it has properly begun.

  A love story for everyone to enjoy

  Wait For Me has everything you could ask for in a wartime romance. There are American GIs – overpaid, oversexed and over here – bomb raids and Anderson shelters, dances and romances, and of course the sense of a community that pulls together in troubled times.

  Caroline Leech has a real flair for characters. Lorna is strong, sharp-tongued and loyal, a girl anyone would want as a friend. Paul is sensitive but never weak, immediately likeable. Like Lorna, the reader soon forgets his disfigurement. Nellie is fun, a typical Cockney in the countryside, out for a good time. And in Iris, the author has made a girl we should dislike into one of the most sympathetic characters in the story … even if we will never warm to her boyfriend William!

  While Wait For Me has been marketed for the teenage market, don’t let that put you off. It is a love story that anyone of any age can enjoy, a page-turner with a gripping plot and satisfying conclusion that leaves you hoping this debut from Caroline Leech is the first of many.

• Booklist
  https://www.booklistonline.com/Wait-for-Me/pid=8480903
  Word count: 199

  Wait for Me.
  Leech, Caroline (author).
  Jan. 2017. 384p. HarperTeen, hardcover, $17.99 (9780062459886). Grades 9-12.
  REVIEW.
  First published December 9, 2016 (Booklist Online).

  When a German prisoner of war, Paul, is assigned to be a farmhand on Lorna’s farm in Scotland, she is initially disgusted by everything about him. She resents that he’s needed because her brothers are at war fighting men just like him, that her father seems to accept the help so readily, and that half his face has been burned and disfigured. But as she and Paul spend more time together, she finds herself grateful for a friend who will listen. Then suddenly, and to her horror, Lorna realizes what she and Paul have is more than friendship. Set in 1945, this is a solid piece of historical fiction; Leech effectively evokes the time period, from the talk of rationing to the general air of tension that came from a very unsure fate. Lorna’s fear of her forbidden romance seems realistic, though the development from disgust to passion is a little rushed. Give this to romance fans who like the stakes for love and rejection to be high.
  — Molly Horan

Word Count