About the Book

Book: On My Honor

Author:Patty Smith Hall

Genre: Christian / Historical Fiction / Romance / Intrigue

Release date: January, 2023

Ginny Mathis was finished with nursing school and had no intention of staying rooted in the Outer Banks—then war broke out. With her father away, she feels duty-bound to stay and help her mother and younger sister. While working as a clerk for the Oregon Inlet ferry, naval officers ask Ginny and others to be watchful for German U-boats reportedly spotted in the area. So to help occupy her teenage sister, Ginny enlists the Girl Scout troop she leads to help watch for suspicious activity along the coast.

Timothy Elliott is no stranger to death. As a British reporter working with the M-6, he’s numb to the losses of war after two years of fighting the Germans. Maybe that’s why he volunteered for this mission—to connect with an ex-German naval officer who stole the Furor’s battle plan for the Atlantic war. When the boat giving him passage to New York is bombed near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Tim is thrown from the boat and wakes up in the care of a group of young girls.

Ginny follows her sneaky sister on a clandestine mission and discovers the shipwreck victim. Ginny knows she must take charge, but is this man the enemy, or does he hold secrets that could turn the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic in the allies’ favor?

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About the Author

Multi-published author Patty Smith Halllives near the North Georgia Mountains with her husband, Danny. When she’s not writing on her back porch, she’s spending time with her family or working in her vegetable garden.

More from Patty

Did you know that the Girl Scouts (or Girl Guides) serviced as spies on HIs Majesty’s Secret Service during World War One? I didn’t either until I picked up a book on female spies at my local Barnes and Noble. There were only two paragraphs about how the girls worked with the MI5 for the duration of the war. It was enough to get my heart pumping!

Being a former Girl Scout myself, I was amazed at what these young girls did to help our country during the war. What activities did the Girl Scouts/Girl Guides do in World War II? Anything asked of them. They organized drives for anything from fat (to make bullets) to paper, stepped into positions left vacant by men serving on the front and worked Victory gardens to provide food for their community. They did so many things, I can’t begin to name them all here. By March 1944, the Girl Scouts had provided over 15 million volunteer hours toward the war effort.

Isn’t that amazing? No wonder I had to write a book about them!

My Thoughts

On My Honor is written by Patty Smith Hall. This book is part of the Heroines of WWII series. The series is written by multiple authors - and focus on women as heroes during WWII. This story focuses on a real life event that I had no idea happened during 1942. I love when you can read a book and it's based off real life events. I went and looked the event and learned that the outer banks became known as "Torpedo Alley" during this time.

We meet Ginny Mathis and Timothy Elliot in this story. Ginny was in her last semester of nursing school when her father ordered her home. Ginny's father, had to go to Virginia to help build boats for the war effort. Ginny is not pleased with arrangement. Her sister Belle (age 13) is driving her crazy. Ginny throws herself into various projects. She leads Belle's girl scout troop, she also is a coastal watcher for the military, she volunteers at the infirmary to keep her nursing skills sharp and she works at the ferry.

Timothy, is a reporter who has been assigned to bring German Rolf Schmidt to New York for questioning. The US Government feels that what Rolf can tell them about the Nazi's can help the US win the war. While they are on the Allan Jackson heading to New York, they are hit with torpedoes by German U Boats. This causes the boat to go down and Tim loses site of Rolf. Tim washes up on shore and is found by Ginny's girl scout troop.

The adventure that our characters go on is a fun one. The girl scouts made me laugh. They are your typical 13 year old girls they like to talk and have a big heart. They take Tim on as their pet project to help get him well. Ginny and Tim join forces to try and find Rolf - but they cannot contain their growing attraction.

This book is well written. The storyline is intriguing and original. I loved learning about this era in history that I did not know about. I have been loving this series and don't want it to send.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Celebrate Lit for allowing me to read a copy of this book - all thoughts are my own.