Cover Image: Summer Secrets at Bletchley Park

Summer Secrets at Bletchley Park

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Member Reviews

Praise where praise is due, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Dale’s experiences during wartime. I love historical fiction and if there’s some romance as well as adventure, heartache and strife, even better, and here is where Molly Green excelled. I’d recommend this without hesitation and can’t wait for more from Molly Green. Im grateful to NetGalley and publisher for granting me a copy in exchange for my review.

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Bletchley Park is such a fascinating part of WWII history. The work done there was essential. This story was a general idea of the mystique and romance of the era and interesting for someone with a general knowledge wanting to get an idea of the people involved. I would have enjoyed more action and greater depth of character.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Summer Secrets at Bletchley Park is a light but involving read covering the first few years of World War two. As the title suggests, it is largely set at Bletchley Park, the base for the secret codebreakers in the war. It begins immediately before war is declared and the opening section is particularly strong, capturing the apprehension and mixed responses of Londoners at the time as well as setting up the romantic thread which runs through the book. Woven around Dulcie and Glenn’s relationship, the story introduces the recruitment process for Bletchley and highlights the daily monotony of working under harsh conditions on such vital but top-secret work. There is also an interesting element which sheds light on the lives of women in a range of situations in this era. A thoroughly enjoyable book.

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A brilliant read and one I really enjoyed. The characters are loveable and varied, the plot is one that is engaging and medium paced. I found myself completely drawn into the story and enjoyed the writing style.

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Having read Molly Green's previous serious of the Victory Sisters, I was excited to dive into The Bletchley Park Girls. However, I went to read the second book before realising I hadn't yet read the first one so I quickly sought out this one to enjoy. And enjoy I did. Though I have tired of many wartime reads, there are still the odd few that I enjoy, particularly those that are more sagas involving stories within with the war as a backdrop. And SUMMER SECRETS AT BLETCHLEY PARK is something of a heartwarming romance amidst wartime.

We meet Dulcie (Dale) Treadwell, a junior reporter on a local newspaper, as she meets American broadcaster Glen Reeves at Westminster Bridge the day war is declared and London is plunged into darkness as blackout begins. It's love at first sight and the couple plan to meet the following day. But Glenn is then posted overseas to Berlin without a word of goodbye and is unable to let her know and so Dale thinks he was a just a chancer and is left heartbroken.

After entering a crossword competition, her unique skills see her recruited to Bletchley Park where she signs the Offical Secrets Act and begins work on the enigma machines. She finds the work exciting and soon hopes to gain a promotion as a cryptographer. But no amount of work stops the nagging questions of why Glenn stood her up. Will they ever be reunited?

There's a lot more I could say about the story but I won't. Let's just say it's an enjoyable and entertaining read, though the market is similarly flooded with similar tales. But Molly Green's style is easy to read making it an enjoyable read. The story did move along at a steady pace and I was pleasantly surprised to find its focus was more on Dale and her romance rather than the wartime regime which many a book has been written so this made a pleasant change and an easy read. Too much factual accounts tend to bog readers down in history rather than a light read.

The ending was a little abrupt but I look forward to catching up the characters in the next book which I intend to read next.

I would like to thank #MollyGreen, #Netgalley and #AvonBooksUK for an ARC of #SummerSecretsAtBletchleyPark in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

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I loved this book! Bletchley Park, and those who worked there during WWII, has always fascinated me. The story was gripping, but with a good mix of romance and drama.
I'd definitely recommend this. Molly is a great author - one I've only recently discovered, so I'll be sure to look out for more of her work now!

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This book is so good! Whenever I picked up "Summer Secrets at Bletchley Park", I was whisked back in time, and simply could not put this book down.

This is the first book I have read by Molly Green, and it certainly won't be my last. Her writing style is detailed, visceral, and she pays such incredible detail to history. I can only imagine the amount of research Ms. Green must have done, as I felt fully immersed in the time period while reading this novel.

Dulcie is such a strong and motivated young woman. She is a code breaker at Bletchley Park, and I feel like I learned so much about many of the woman who worked here during this time period in history. I definitely plan to do more research on my own as well. I do not want to say too much about the plot of this book due to spoilers, but, I will say, this book has so much in it. With heartbreaking moments, intrigue, romance, hope, and moments that will have you on the edge of you seat, this book is incredible.

If you enjoy historical fiction novels, I highly recommend this book. I found myself turning the pages into the early hours of the morning to see what was going to happen next, and I look forward to reading what Ms. Green writes next.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

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I really enjoyed Molly Green first series sisters war and was hoping I'd enjoy this as muxh. I did and really interesting to see a story based on the women who worked on the engima machine. Dulcimer is such a character who knows who own mind and isn't a afraid to follow it. Can't wait for the next one!

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This is the second book that I have read about the code breakers during WWII. I have a hard time imagining how tedious this job must have been but also how rewarding when a code was broken.
The connection between Dale and Glenn was a good part of the story but I did feel bad for Eddie. I was glad that Eddie was a good friend to Dale when she needed him.
I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

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A brilliant book about one of my favourite places .The attention to detail regarding the history was second to none.

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I am always fascinated by books which feature Bletchley Park as a backdrop or setting and this book was no exception. Molly Green is a new author to me and one I will be going back to for sure.

Dulcie Treadwell works as a newspaper reporter in London, but she is not taken seriously despite her ability. On the eve of the war and the lights going out over London she decides she will write about that. There she meets an American, also a reporter, Glenn Reeves. A spark is ignited but when Glenn is posted to Berlin suddenly and he cannot get to tell Dulcie in time, she finds that love lost hurts.

Dulcie finds herself at Bletchley Park, thanks to her skill solving cryptic crosswords. She is thrust into a world full of clues and secrets. It is hard going, long shifts and with little time to oneself. However she is thrilled to be doing her ‘bit’ and she takes her role seriously.

Dulcie starts to make friends as well as enemy’s who seem to want to know what is going on at the park. All the time this is going on, she pines for Glenn and hopes that one day he will find happiness. Could that happiness involve Dulcie? The war displaces many people and breaks many hearts, but it also brings together the most unlikely people too.

When it looks like Dulcie has made a big mistake, will she be able to defend herself ands how how true she is to breaking the codes and keeping all secrets close to her heart.

This is a lovely start to what I can see will be a series of novels. If you enjoy Second World War sagas with romance and a dollop of intrigue then this book will be for you. It was for me and I look forward to returning to Bletchley Park later in the year.

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This is a wwII summer read that I think people will enjoy. If you are not a fan of historical fiction then I do not think this book will be for you. But this was a good book and I would suggest it.

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A lovely read set in a location I know well. Excellently researched and good characters you can care about and, yes, hate too. I see there is at least one sequel coming...put me down!

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Good read about Bletchley Park. I liked the character Dulcie but felt her mother, father and home life to be rather slanted and in parts too convenient.
However, the book did pick up when she met and fell in love with an American correspondent working in Germany. There were some intriguing areas of the book however I was dismayed when the book just ended – it felt as if the final chapters had been left out by mistake. Maybe there will be another book!!

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A gripping story about Bletchley Park which gives some details of what happened there.

Dale lives in London she is a reporter but as it is an man’s world is not treated well by her editor. War is declared and she decides she needs to be in the right place for the blackout in London happens this is where she meets Glen. Over the next few days they spend time together and feel there is a strong connection between them.

Glen moves to Berlin to cover what is happening there. Dale ends up working at Bletchley Park which was interesting to read what went on there.

I thought the book was very good but felt the ending was a bit rushed and would have liked to know what happens to Dale & Glenn in the intervening years as the next book isn’t an sequel to it.

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The war years at Bletchley Park, what is there not to like about all of this. It is lovely that we are now able to learn more about how the girls spent the war years there as it had been a great mystery until recent years. The working girls and their private lives are interwoven within the storyline making a great read for all. Well worth 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

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I love most books featuring Bletchley Park as I have been in many occasions and love to hear it being described during wartime. This is a wartime romance between Dulce (Dale) a local reporter who enters a crossword competition and finds herself being recruited to the decoding department at BP.
Prior to this she meets Glenn, an American reporter who she then can’t get out of her mind.
Lots of good description of the war and the effects on people and the hardships at the time.
A good romance set in an interesting time and location.

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September 1939 and twenty-one-year-old Dulcie (“Dale”) Treadwell is a junior reporter on a local newspaper struggling to get taken seriously. On the day that war is declared she goes to Westminster Bridge to watch London being plunged into darkness as the blackout commences. It is here she meets American radio broadcaster Glenn Reeves and for Dale is is a case of love at first sight, but when Glenn is abruptly posted to Berlin and is unable to get a message to her she fears she has been taken for a fool. When success in a cryptic crossword competition and her German language skills see Dale selected to perform vital war work at Bletchley Park it is the start of an experience of a lifetime. However channelling her heartbreak into cracking codes on Enigma machines doesn’t do anything to quieten the persistent questions about why Glenn stood her up and his fate in Berlin.. will they ever be reunited?

There seems to have been a spate of recent historical fiction releases centred around Bletchley Park and unfortunately this means that much of the colour and content seems to be regurgitated in every book, with only the characters changing. Whilst it is obviously hard for to add anything new to the Bletchley Park story, especially given details about the wartime operations there were classified until the mid-1970s, I found this book disappointingly unilluminating and didn’t glean any new snippets of information. Alongside this I was dismayed to find that this was more of a historical romance novel and basically a case of insta-love between protagonist Dale and American Glenn which is difficult to invest in. In fact Dale’s time at Bletchley Park seemed like convenient filler material to add ‘drama’ to the story along the way to the lovers inevitable reunion.

I didn’t find the plot compelling or the writing particularly engaging but alongside Dale’s story her parents marital issues and her mother’s growing independence are both explored and do add a bit more substance to an otherwise lightweight story. The book didn’t do itself any favours with Dale falling head over heels in love in a matter of hours and I found it difficult to realistically equate this with someone who otherwise seemed quite sensible. Glenn was rather a schmaltzy
caricature and frankly I found him insipid and pretty difficult to stomach! I know that this book is the start of a new series and will be continued, but even with that in mind I felt it ended oddly abruptly and was unevenly paced throughout. Ultimately I found the book quite a slog to push through and won’t be continuing with the series.

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This book has all the things i expect from a ww2 saga a lovestory, betrayal, misunderstandings, friendships. So it is a good start to a New series, but i wanted More "action" from it. But in my opinion it was a quiet book. Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this e arc in exchange for an honest opinion

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Another winner from Molly Green. I have been privileged to read her last three books from #Netgalley, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Bletchley Park was such an important part of the war, and much has been written about it. This book has been well researched and deserves to stand up at the top with the best ones. Looking forward to her next book - I have read them all!

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