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kitkatkick's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow, I loved this book. It’s rare that I fall so strongly for a story I just stumbled across, but Lauren Willig has spun such an incredible story and created such dynamic characters that I felt as though I grew into their unlikely sisterhood right alongside them.
Fictional novels based on real people are usually hard for me. Making such big assumptions about the thoughts and feelings of an actual person feels like it borders on disrespectful, but Willig did such a good job of it that I didn’t even question which characters were real or imagined until the author’s note at the end of the book. She takes the original women’s accounts into consideration and weaves them into supporting characters, but creates the three main characters through whom we watch the story unfold. Kate, Emmie, and Julia are each wonderfully unique, and their relationships and stories are captivating. Watching all fifteen major characters navigate their places within the group and feelings about each other, and then further their roles in the efforts of the entire war, was never forced or boring. When adding all of this to Willig’s skill for describing a war zone setting without either romanticizing it or making it off-puttingly gory, you end up with this wonderfully heartfelt novel that I will be recommending to anyone with a soul for the rest of forever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, and War
Moderate: Sexual assault, Classism, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Violence
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