These three master storytellers came together to give all of us this exquisite piece of literature, and I, for one, am very happy about that!! I love my historical fiction, and with this book I was able to learn so much more than the typical WW2/Pearl Harbor drama. We're taken to the Philippines and are given a very close up look into what it looked like for Army nurses at that time (my dad's rank and profession, coincidentally enough - which is part of the reason I requested this egalley). The nurses on this team are all female and we're shown all the ins and outs of being captured by the Japanese Imperial Army and held in several different POW camps, a very harsh reality indeed.

I like that the romance didn't drown out the plot, which was very essential to the storyline, but it was still given enough of a presence for an element of happiness in a time and place where there were very few things to be happy about. Sort of like a light at the end of a long, dreary tunnel.

A few things that made me subtract a star from this otherwise fantastic book... The relationship between the three women. We're not given much of a backstory on their bond/friendship. Just that they worry about each other immensely while held at different/separate prison camps. Was it that they went through Basic together? Met at parties after graduation? But even then that doesn't really work because 1 of the girls is Navy. And at least 1 is Army. So their Basic/Boot Camp would have been separate. Did they meet at Tech/Training school? When they were being trained on how to be a military nurse? I'm still wondering about this after reading the last page and it's bothering me.

Thanks netgalley for giving me the advanced audiobook so that I can listen then share my thoughts and opinions with y'all 💛

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stamperlady50
When We Had Wings
By: Kristina McMorris, Susan Meissner, Ariel Lawhon

5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am always amazed how multiple authors can write a book together and these three did such a fabulous job.

This novel is about the friendship of three women during war.

August 1941- U.S Navy nurse Eleanor Lindstrom goes to the Philippines. She meets two other women who strike up a friendship when they meet at the Army Navy Club.

They bond and each have had a difficult past. Eleanor meets Penny and Lila. Bonding over the loss of a husband, lost love and promises, yet their future remains unclear.

At first the are enjoying life in the South Pacific and dealing with light nursing duties, but then Pearl Harbor is bombed. Next the Philippines is attacked and the three are sent to different internment camps.

This novel tackles so many topics and things that happened during that time in history. I enjoyed that the novel follows up with the ladies after the war.