This is a heartwarming read. Historical fiction is my favorite genre, and paired with lesfic (second favorite), I'm wonderfully satiated. Lily and Helen's journey is beautifully written. I found myself envious of the bond they shared with the other pilots in the program. And Lily and Helen's tale at the end,...

Don't pass this one up! ( )

When in 1942, twenty-five-year-old Lily Rivera is widowed, she finally feels able to step out of the shadows of an unhappy marriage. Her love of flying leads her to join the Womens Airforce Service Pilots, determined to regain her passion and spread her wings, no suspecting that she would experience more than just flying. Helen Richmond, a Hollywood stunt pilot, has never experienced a love that lifted her as high as the aircraft she flew...until she meets Lily. Both women join the W.A.S.P. program to serve their country and instead find that they are on a collision course towards each other, but can it last?

Very enjoyable, feel good read about 1940s women pilots. While this is fiction, it feels well-researched. Thankfully, no boring technical discourses on flying, planes and such. The day to day duties of flying must have been pretty mundane, as they were never in the war, but they are no less dangerous. (Their services were used mainly as support--to test and deliver sometimes rickety planes, to tow targets for fighter pilot practice and sometimes be targeted themselves! and get this--demonstrate to male pilots how bombers are so easy to fly, even women can do it, lol.) But, the author managed to inject an entertaining love story, frequent and oftentimes humorous struggles for acceptance and against discrimination, and all the little anecdotes that make pilot life so memorable for the women.

4.5 stars ( )