3.75 stars.

Rilla Blythe is Anne and Gilbert's youngest child, and this final book in the Anne of Green Gables series primarily focuses on her. The book is set during World War I, so many of the local boys are going off to war, including brothers, friends, and sweethearts. Over the course of the book, Rilla goes from 15 to 19 years old, and besides having to deal with her brothers going to fight in the war, she discovers a "war baby" - a baby whose mother has died and whose father is overseas fighting - and despite not liking babies, she vows to take care of him.

I liked this much better than the previous book, Rainbow Valley, I think in part because the "kids" are older, and also because of the time period it was set in, which was very interesting. I don't think I've read other fiction set during WWI. It's hard for me to compare with the rest of the Anne series because it was far too long ago that I read them.

I thought Rilla was very likable and charming, similar to Anne when she was younger, and I was amused to find her in a few scrapes that also reminded me of a younger Anne! I may have rated it even higher, except, in particular as I was reading the start of the book, my mind tended to be on other worries. However, once I really focused more on it, it was definitely a very good book.

Honestly, when I re-read this book in my mid-20s I was moved and surprised by the depth of emotion conveyed by the book's protagonist, Rilla Blythe (Anne and Gilbert's teenage daugther named after Marilla Cuthbert.) Anne takes a bit of a backseat in this book and her daughter moves to the forefront as we see WWI from her perspective.
One cannot help but consider Montgomery's own reactions to war because of her personal experience and this definitely comes through here. And it is as if Anne and Rilla's reactions to what is happening around them, was the most creative way for Montgomery to express her own anxiety and grief.
This is a strong anti-war novel that needs to be re-read and re-considered as probably one of the strongest novels in Montgomery's Anne Series.

Anne soars through emotions as her children grow up, and one by one her sons go off to war. Her and Gilbert are eventually left with Rilla, their youngest teenaged daughter, who helps them through the terrifying years of WWI.

We watch Rilla mature as she deals with responsibility, romance, and trauma. We take a heart-felt journey through her life, and discover her faith is kept deep in her family roots. Rilla of Ingleside reunites us once again with our lovable Anne, and concludes L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series.

I defy anyone who has children to read this book without crying.