It is New Years Eve, 1940 and Evie Chase is determined to make a difference in the war effort. On January 5th, 1941 she enlists in the ATA to ferry across WWII Britain. Her father is a wealthy RAF commander and is not happy with her decision and takes away her allowance, but Evie sticks to her principals and moves into a mice infested cottage with two other new members of the ATA, Stella and Megan.
Stella is the mother of a baby boy but has left him with her parents in law. She is trying to sort out her feelings regarding her “dead” husband. Megan is a teenagers from a Welsh village, who has left for the first time.
Together the three woman train together and live together and become fast friends and allies. Once they start ferrying planes, Evie meets a pilot from the U.S.A. and falls in love. They are engaged to be married when tragedy strikes and her fiancé is killed in combat. Stella and Megan also find love.
Beau is the trainer of the three woman and one of their commanders. He and Evie mix together like cats and dogs most of the time. He is also engages to a rich girl that he grew up with but the relationship is quite rocky. He was burned badly in combat and she called off the engagement. She abandoned him when he needed her most and then when he was better, came back and begged forgiveness. Can he forgive and does he want to?
Despite the fact that just about everything that happened in this book was totally predictable, I did enjoy it. I knew nothing about the ATA and learned about its history. The characters were well thought out and three dimensional. You could call this book a character study. That is it’s true strength. I would have liked a bit more plot and surprise. I knew what was going to happen with each character well before it happened with only a couple of exceptions.
This is Kate Lord Browns first book and a good attempt. I am looking forward to seeing how she grows with her writing. If you like character studies and want to learn more about the ATA in WWII, this is a book for you.
3/5
Thanks to Devon Pool of McArthur and Company and to Net Galley for this book. Please watch for a guest post from Kate Lord Brown tomorrow.
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It sounds like Brown is an author to watch for.
This sounds like a real good read – what a great way to learn about ATA and WWII! Predictable story can be a good thing – especially when the characters and/or writing make up for it! Thanks for the review!
Sounds like an OK read, definitely interested in the WWII and ATA aspects of the book.
Kathy, she certainly is.
Epic Rat, the characters were amazing as was the writing.
Wanda, it is a very worthwhile book. I enjoyed learning about the ATA and the characters were so well developed.
On my TBR list.
I’m definitely interested in learning more about the ATA and my grandfather’s family is from Wales, so anything to do with Wales always appeals to me. Thanks for the review.