D-Day Girls was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the narration and found it to be very informative. But the pacing was a little off for me. I also struggled to connect with the individuals highlighted as the author spent time focusing on broader background information. In the end I struggled through. I am glad I read the story, and think it was a good one to highlight. But it is not necessarily a book I would revisit.

This book covers several SOE (British) spies supporting the French Resistance--a topic I read a lot about. It started slow for me and I almost gave up, but I'm glad I kept going just to hear a bit more about how the separate spy operations ran parallel to each other, mostly without knowing.

A terrific read a time in history that teaches us so much.A group of amazing women who accomplished so much true heroines.Read in two days was so involved.#netgalley#crown

Terrific book. Absolutely loved it. Compelling characters and story line. Kept me interested the entire time.

I actually DNFed this book after about 50 pages or so. It just didn't pull me in and the size of the print in the ARC made it nearly impossible to read. I did get a copy of the book upon release, but by then my interest in the history had waned. (I seem to go in phases with my WWII history so I hope to get back to it some time.)

On the plus side, I did recommend purchasing copies of this book for the bookstore I work at we and we sold those copies. There is an interest in knowing more about womens' war efforts!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Girl power! Brave and young and fighting strong. I finished this book over the course of two days, but it could easily have been a read from cover to cover in one day book!

I thought this was historical fiction when I requested it. It turned out to be a non-fiction book that told the story of the female agents who sabotaged the Nazi's and helped the US win WWII.

It was interesting but it would make a great historical fiction book!

Thanks to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a exceptional nonfiction book that tells the important story of brave women who joined the war in WWII. This book is set in 1942 when the Allies were losing World War II. All the men of Britain are fighting the war . Winston Churchill creates the Special Operations Executive (SOE), training spies in skills necessary to help win the war. The only problem was the SOE had no men to recruit so they chose thirty nine women and trained them . They left their families and lives behind as they joined and were sent to France.

As the fighting progressed half of the women were killed in the fighting. Some were caught by the Germans and killed. The author tells the personal story of three brave women , Odette, Andree and Lise all from opposite backgrounds . These amazing women work together as spies and have many successful ventures. As the war proceeds they prepare for D Day. Reading this book there is no doubt of their critical contributions to the war effort .

This is beautifully told and well researched. I loved this story of such strong capable women that changed the course of history. This is a important read for all who enjoy stories of the contributions of women to history as women as often overlooked. .

I received a ARC from the publisher and Net Galley. My opinions are my own.

well written and very well researched story based on true lives. I enjoyed this book and thank Net galley for the advance copy!

I honestly wasn't able to finish this book. I felt that it was sort of all over the place, jumping from one story to the next. Having read many WW2 novels before this one, it did not captivate me as the others did. I do hope to give this book another chance and go back and try to finish this book as I hate to leave books unread.

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin's First to Read and Crown Publishing for a copy of this book for my honest review.

This book made me rethink about history and the possibility of the many untold stories out there. However I found it hard to stick with it. It was not written well enough to keep my interest. I did not find it rewarding to my mind and felt it was a waste of my time. I just couldn't get into it and find enjoyment or enough interest.

When I requested a review copy of this book, I thought I was going to get a historical fiction novel. It turns out this is a nonfiction book. I was a little upset with myself as I love historical fiction, but do not read many nonfiction titles. Having an intense interest in reading a book about D-Day, I decided to read it anyway.

This book has mixed reader reviews so far. My review is mixed as well, but certainly more positive than negative. In general I really liked it, mainly because I learned more from this book than the average amount I learn from at least a half dozen historical fiction novels. The narrative is centered on the French Resistance and particularly focuses on five of the thirty-nine women who made up first SOE (Special Operations Executive)-administered training class for women agents in Great Britain. Of these thirty-nine individuals, half were caught, and a third never made it home. The author has done a Tremendous (yes, with a capital T) amount of research to put his book together. I was very impressed! I also loved the fact that there was an epilogue, letting us in on what ultimately happened to the major players. I must say the courage, the heroics, and the humanity of our main characters while under constant threat from the Nazis is mind-boggling. It bothers me that I’m not sure I could be as brave as they were or willing to sacrifice like they did.

My main criticism is that this was a long read for me. Not because the book is long, because it’s not—particularly since the last 30% is made up by footnotes. It was long to me because there is no dialogue and it is almost strictly “tell, not show.” There are also so many facts and words that I wanted to absorb and expand by googling details and definitions, which always slows things down (but, I admit, in a good way). It is therefore what I would call a concentrated read, not something to whiz through quickly. I also missed not really being able to get into the heads of the main characters as is so often the case in nonfiction reads—that blunts some of the emotional aspects that I like in a book.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and recommend it for a well researched overview of some of the ins and outs of D-Day and an excellent depiction of the lives of some of the incredible women who helped France regain it’s freedom. It also opened me up to the possibility of reading more nonfiction. I will just have to go in with the mindset that it will not likely be a speedy read, at least for me.

Thank you Net Galley, Crown Publishing, and author Sarah Rose for an advanced copy. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Churchill believed Britain was locked in an existential battle and created a secret agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharp-shooting. Their job, he declared, was "to set Europe ablaze!" But with most men on the frontlines, the SOE did something unprecedented: it recruited women. Thirty-nine women answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France. Half were caught, and a third did not make it home alive.

In D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose draws on recently declassified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the story of three of these women. There's Odette Sansom, a young mother who feels suffocated by domestic life and sees the war as her ticket out; Lise de Baissac, an unflappable aristocrat with the mind of a natural leader; and Andrée Borrel, the streetwise organizer of the Paris Resistance. Together, they derailed trains, blew up weapons caches, destroyed power and phone lines, and gathered crucial intelligence—laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war. Stylishly written and rigorously researched, this is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance, in which women continue to play a vital role.

I'm in love with this book! I'm so glad women's roles in history are being recognized now.

*Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I'm a sucker for a historical fiction and non-fiction especially when the focus is on phenomenal women. So many women were involved in WWII yet their stories aren't often told so I appreciate these women's stories and the extraordinary research that went into writing this book. Very well done.

If you love history, details, and more details this is the book for you. An extraordinary story of women who were spies during a time when not much was expected of them. The courage, determination and grit these women displayed was phenomenal for the time.
However, I found the book a slog. Although I could admire the characteristics of the characters, there were many times I felt that I should have felt more. The writing left me disappointed (as I am obviously not a historian), confused with the jumping around of point-of-view, and discouraged with my lack of understanding. I had hoped more of a perspective from the women's eyes and fewer numbers and dates.
I wish I could say that I would recommend this book to my friends and readers on my blog, but I am not convinced that most are up to the "study".

Unlike several of the other reviewers, I have not read many of the recent spate of books (fiction and non-) about the role of women in World War II, so I found this one marvelous without qualification. The writing was crisp and paced as though it were a novel. The characters leapt off the pages - as did the drama and action surrounding them. I thought the level of detail was spot-on. I thoroughly enjoyed this one - both for entertainment value and for the historical information!

D-Day Girls by Sarah Rose is honestly one of the top reads for me so far this year.

The amount of research that was required and used for this book is astronomical and its result is just stunning.

I have read a large amount of WWI and WWII nonfiction, history, biography, and nonfiction, and yet I was impressed with the amount of fascinating information and knowledge I gained from reading this gem in regards to the types of Resistance groups (British and French led), their networks, the type of guerrilla tactics that were implemented, and the type of harrowing and guttural mental and physical strength that it took for these female and male heroes to not only survive, but thrive in this atmosphere.
I learned so much about female operatives, and all of the adversities that they had to overcome from the known enemy, as well as the “covert enemies” of sexism and the inability to garner equal respect, acknowledgement, rights, and rewards.
These women are true heroes and make me so proud to be part of this gender. Though these women were human and flawed as the rest of us, we can use this picture of strength and heroism as a template to help overcome the adversities and problems that face us today in the modern world.

Well Done!

5/5 stars enthusiastically

Thank you NetGalley and Crown Publishing Group for this ARC (and what should be one of the best books of the year) and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

This account of women chosen for a clandestine mission is a non-fiction account, which reads like a long news story. It is so spot-on, that I can almost hear Edward R. Murrow's voice relating the harrowing adventures of this group of female spies behind enemy lines.

I read this EARC courtesy of Crown Publications and Edelweiss. pub date 04/23/19

A true account of extraordinary women recruited by Britain who helped change the course of WWII and ultimately, to win the day on June 6, 1944 and pave the way for Allied victory. The book also gives one a great deal of information on the British Special Operations of the war.

Sarah Rose did extensive research, using declassified files, diaries and oral histories, on five remarkable women. These courageous women are Andrée Borrel, Odette Sansom, Lise de Baissan, Yvonne Rudellat and Mary Herbert. It is also the story of men who worked by their side. Working together, they slipped into France, destroyed train lines, ambushed Nazis, plotted prison breaks, and gathered crucial intelligence. Some never made it home. Others were imprisoned by Hitler's forces.

It was a hard book to read, as the story jumped from person to person, sometimes using their real names, sometimes their code names. There was little cohesion. The notes section at the end is extensive, as well as the bibliography. There may be maps and/or photographs in the final edition; I was reading an e-galley.

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D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II by Sarah Rose is several short historical accounts of women spies, tied into a single narrative. Ms. Rose is an author and journalist whose work appeared in such publications as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and The Saturday Evening Post, among others.

This book sounded very interesting to me as I enjoy the many narratives and stories World War II has produced. D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II by Sarah Rose tells of these stories, focusing on women who spied for the Allies.

The book follows three women as they were recruited as spies and sent behind enemy lines, and unheard of act back then. They had to be tough, smart, have a good head on their shoulders, and thing quick on their feet.

To be fair, I knew most of what is written in this book from other books I’ve read. This is the first book though, that I’ve read, that tried to fit them all into a single narrative. I do commend the effort, but the author jumped around in time in places which, to me, seem out of order.

Ms. Rose took three women, each of them deserves her own book (At least one of them does, Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII’s Most Highly Decorated Spy by Larry Loftis ) and tried to narrow three lifetimes into 400 pages. This had the effect of creating a wonderful introduction to the subject, but I do suggest that those who liked this book go out and find more comprehensive biographies.

This book does provide an effective springboard to learn about these amazing women.