Yours Cheerfully by A. J. Pearce is a feel good historical fiction filled to the brim with charm. Yours Cheerfully is the sequel to the charming Dear Mrs. Bird. This novel is predictable from the very start but the character’s are delightful and the scenarios do evoke an emotion from me. Yours Cheerfully picks up 6 days after the events that happened in Dear Mrs. Bird. You do not have to read Dear Mrs. Bird to understand Yours Cheerfully, but there’s a lot of events that keep getting referenced like how Bunty lost Bill and got her limp, but being vague abut how they happened and other nuances, which is the reason I would recommend you read Dear Mrs. Bird first. Yours Cheerfully is a well paced book that adds humor, romance, and good moments of female empowerment to move the story along. The Climax is predictable but with one really sweet surprise that just melted my heart. I liked Dear Mrs. Bird more than Yours Cheerfully but all the elements that I liked from Dear Mrs. Bird are in Yours Cheerfully, the biggest difference is predictability in storytelling. I read Yours Cheerfully thanks to Netgalley and Scribner publishing. Yours Cheerfully by A. J. Pearse was published on 10-29 21.

Plot Summary: Emmyline has just been busted by answering unpublished pretending to be advice columnist Mrs. Bird. Emmyline felt compelled to answer since Mrs. Bird did not want messy question about the impending war she only wanted domestic questions. Mrs Bird quits leaving the paper in the lurch and starts a Yours Cheerfully section with Emmyline answering those difficult questions. The War Ministry reaches out to Woman’s Friend magazine to create articles to promote women joining the war effort. On a chance occurrence she meets Anne a mother with 2 kids who has joined a new factory for the military, and wants to do a piece on a real person working in the factory. Trouble arises when the factory isn’t benefitting it’s single and widowed mother. Emmyline wants to help but will she risk her career and her newspapers integrity to help.

What I Liked: Just how charming this little story is. I feel this is a Hallmark movie in the making or very well could be one. Bunty was my favorite character from Dear Mrs. Bird and remains so in this book as well, she is so fun and happy even though she could be bitter at life and everything it has taken from her. I love the reveal for Bunty’s character toward the end that put a tear to my eye. The little moment of humor were great and for the most part all worked to give me a chuckle. I loved some of the moments of confrontation and how it was dealt with at the time in polite society.

What I Disliked: Just how predictable the story was, and I get that some might not see this as a negative, but I want to be surprised at where the narrative was going. This book does have one or two nice reveals that I did not see coming, so it was not without any surprises, but I knew every beat of this story 30 pages in.

Recommendations: Yours Cheerfully despite it predictable storyline will win you over in pleasantness and charm. Those who enjoy predictable plot lines will enjoy it more. If you were a fan of Dear Mrs. Bird then you have to read it’s charming sequel. I rated Yours Cheerfully by A. J. Pearce 4 out of 5 stars. If there is a third Emmyline Lake book I will gladly take another trip.