Their Guilty Pleasures - Softcover

June Tate was born in Southampton, where many of her novels are set. After leaving school she became a hairdresser on the cruise ships the Queen Mary and the Mauritania, meeting many Hollywood film stars and VIPs on her travels. After her marriage to an airline pilot, she lived briefly in Portugal. June, who has two adult daughters, now lives in Sussex.

Jenny, Rusty, and Sarah might never have met had they not engaged in affairs with some of the soldiers quartered in their midst at Southampton, England. When Jenny Procter's very controlling husband enters the English army, she gradually begins to pursue her own interests, forming strong friendships with several of the American officers on the nearby base, including a Colorado doctor and a Wyoming horse whisperer. When Rusty meets Brad, who treats her like a lady, she pretends to be a typist, rather than the prostitute she has become, in order to retain his respect and affection. And 17-year-old Sarah is fascinated by a young German prisoner of war, whom she meets in the park, and their tentative conversations deepen into love. As WWII progresses, circumstances unite the three women as they each face hard choices, sacrificing much to achieve their dreams. Tate's trademark complement of emotional interludes, nicely counterbalanced by intimate domestic detail, is on display in this pleasurable historical romance, which also offers a popular military setting in which even the antagonists are portrayed sympathetically. -- Booklist, November 1, 2011