While My Heart Beats by Erin McKenzie
- Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, May 12th 2020
- Genre: Romance, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ+
- Format: Paperback (eARC)
- Page Count: 242 pages
- My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
CW: war, off-page deaths of family
This is a beautiful historical romance across classes set in WWI Great Britain and France.
Ellie Winthrop is high-born, a feminist, and holds big dreams during a time women cannot even vote. Her mother is eager to marry her off at twenty-two, but Ellie enlists in Volunteer Aid Detachment. At the hospital, she meets Johanna Lennox, a working-class, twenty-four-year-old nurse with a no-nonsense attitude. As the pair gradually become friends, they can no longer resist their yearnings for each other’s bodies. But with Ellie’s mother pestering Ellie with marriage, Johanna wonders if she, being poorer and a woman, could ever be good enough for her.
I love books that incite emotions, and McKenzie’s While My Heart Beats is one of those. Throughout the read, my heart aches at every little interactions between Ellie and Johanna, and I long for them to be physically together.
It was very easy to connect with both characters. Ellie is open, friendly, energetic, and a little naïve. It is impossible not to smile when she brings happiness into a room with her. Johanna, an experienced professional nurse, is more or less an ice queen character. She is drawn to Ellie’s exuberance, friendship, and softness, and with her, Johanna is no longer distant nor snappy. But she has a tendency to run toward actual danger instead of facing her own insecurities. Honestly, that is very relatable.
Apart from the adorable mains Ellie and Johanna, I love Ellie’s younger brother Theo. I am going to assume he knows of his sister’s relationship here. Theo, who is about five years junior to Ellie, seems like an incredibly responsible, supportive, helpful young man, and also one with grand dreams. I love how he is very understanding and also fun to be with. Matron Campbell is also a wonderful character. I love that she is loving and sort of a mother figure to Johanna.
The book is set from 1915 to 1917, with the epilogue in 1919. Its writing is beautiful in a way only historical fiction can be as the two women struggle to make sense of their feelings for each other. Throughout the whole book, my heart aches for them, and their letter exchanges make my knees weak. I think I have a thing for love letters.
I am so grateful that you are safe at home, away from this place, even though your absence for me is like a wound that won’t heal.
Johanna’s letter
Though these are not forgotten side plots, I still wonder about Anna, Ellie’s dead cousin’s fiancée, and Rose, Ellie’s friend. The former drives an ambulance, and I guess that is a very impressive feat for a woman in 1915. The latter is the one who mentions intimate partnership between people of the same sex. They both seem like amazing young women, and may their futures be bright.
While My Heart Beats is a lovable story that made my heart burst with emotions. It took me two hours to read, but Ellie and Johanna’s tenderness is going to stay with me much longer than that. [9 Aug 2020]
I received an e-ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
