Book ~ "Goodnight from London" (2017) Jennifer Robson

From Goodreads ~ In the summer of 1940, ambitious young American journalist Ruby Sutton gets her big break: the chance to report on the European war as a staff writer for Picture Weekly newsmagazine in London. She jumps at the chance, for it's an opportunity not only to prove herself, but also to start fresh in a city and country that know nothing of her humble origins. But life in besieged Britain tests Ruby in ways she never imagined.

Although most of Ruby's new colleagues welcome her, a few resent her presence, not only as an American but also as a woman. She is just beginning to find her feet, to feel at home in a country that is so familiar yet so foreign, when the bombs begin to fall.

As the nightly horror of the Blitz stretches unbroken into weeks and months, Ruby must set aside her determination to remain an objective observer. When she loses everything but her life and must depend upon the kindness of strangers, she learns for the first time the depth and measure of true friendship - and what it is to love a man who is burdened by secrets that aren’t his to share.

Goodnight from London, inspired in part by the wartime experiences of the author’s own grandmother, is a captivating, heartfelt, and historically immersive story that readers are sure to embrace.

Ruby is a young woman living in New York in the early 1940s.  She's working as a writer for a newspaper and moves to London to work on a newsmagazine, quite an opportunity given the times.  This is during World War II when London is getting bombed on a regular basis, residents must carry around gas masks and nights are spent in bomb shelters.   Working as a writer, Ruby gets to see first hand the horrors of the war.

Ruby meets and falls for Bennett, a friend of her boss.  He is a soldier who tends to disappear and pop back into her life often.  When her boarding house is destroyed, Bennett moves her in to live with his godmother.

The premise of this story sounded interesting, especially because it was inspired by the author's own grandmother.  I thought the accounts of the war was interesting, reading about the destruction of London and England during World War II.  I found the writing and the characters rather bland, though, and it got worse as I progressed into the book.  I couldn't get into any of the characters and found them boring.  I got a little past halfway and I finally gave up.  I skipped ahead to the last chapter to see whether Ruby and Bennett finally got together in the end.  This author's writing style just wasn't for me, I guess.  That's too bad because I really wanted to like it because it was an interesting story to tell.