While My Heart Beats

McKenzie (Taking Chances) fails to deliver on the promising premise of this WWI-era lesbian romance. In October 1915, wealthy 22-year-old Ellie Winthrop is content to squabble with her family and sashay between meetings of socialite suffragists with little thought spared for the war. Not until her cousins are killed in action does the reality of wartime impinge on Ellie’s privileged bubble. Grieving and determined to do her part, she volunteers for the Red Cross and is shipped from Surrey, England, to Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, under the supervision of the formidable Johanna Lennox, a working-class nurse who refuses to suffer fools. The two women’s path to love is paint-by-numbers and hits all the typical plot beats of an enemies-to-lovers and boss-and-subordinate romance without fleshing them out or examining the effect class differences might have on the relationship. The period detail is sketchy at best, and often sacrificed for the sake of sanitized romantic moments. The result is a flat romance that is neither realistic nor escapist. Though it’s refreshing to see historical lesbians find a happy ending, for many readers this won’t be enough. (May)