"Love Comes Calling" by Siri Mitchell

This book was such a delight! I've been a Siri Mitchell fan for several years, but my favorites of her historicals tend to be ones on the more serious side, such as "The Messenger" or "Love's Pursuit". "Love Comes Calling" stars a heroine who reminded me very much of Amelia Bedelia, because even with the best intentions she ends up in one scrape after another, with no idea how she got there or how to fix it!

Ellis Eton feels like she has been a disappointment her whole life. All she hears from her parents, friends, and professors is "Oh, Ellis." Expectations are so high for the daughter of one of Boston's elite in the Prohibition Era, but Ellis just can't measure up. She longs to run away and be an actress in Hollywood, and she knows she'd be a good one because she's been putting on an act for years trying to hide her real scatterbrained self. As soon as she can save up for a ticket to California, which is awfully hard because she enjoys spending money, Ellis plans to make an escape.

All of her problems seem solved when her friend Janie has a family emergency and asks Ellis to pose at her job for two weeks. Surely pretending to be a switchboard operator at a phone company would be easier than the economics class she just flunked! If only Ellis can remember everything she needs to, and not draw attention from any of the supervisors, then at the end of two weeks she'll have the funds needed to head to Hollywood.

Things change dramatically on the first day at work, when Ellis accidentally stays on the line after transferring a call and overhears two Irish men discussing her friend Griffin Phillips. They said that if Griff didn't cooperate with what they wanted, they were planning to take him "out of the picture." Griff is the star of the Harvard football team and he is spending the summer working at the commissioner's office investigating Boston's unscrupulous mayor. Greatly disturbed at what she believes to be a plot to murder her friend, Ellis begins an investigation to save his life. It's a little tricky, though, because she's certain Griff wants to pin her with his fraternity pin, and she doesn't want to have any regrets when she leaves. Oh well, she'll just be careful not to spend too much time with him, even as she tries to spend extra time with him to protect him from unknown bad guys.

Ellis is stepping into more danger than she knows as she tries to track down the Irish callers. Still using Janie's identity, she's whisked into the underground world of speakeasies, police officers who look the other way, and all kinds of double standards. What really is right and wrong? If there is a law, shouldn't it be upheld and enforced? Meanwhile her days are running short to save Griff before she leaves for Hollywood.

One of my favorite things about this book was Griff's love for Ellis. Having known her for all his life, he has a very mature love for her, the kind born out of friendship. He knows her limitations and he loves her exactly the way she is. Ellis was a comical and endearing character, and I feared that she'd come to harm in her quest to protect Griff. I can't tell you how this ends, but I can tell you that I enjoyed every page, and highly encourage you to check out all of Mitchell's releases. This one earned its place among my favorite of her novels!

I received my copy from the publisher in exchange for this honest review. All opinions are my own.