Enjoyed reading this historical fiction account of the Shell Plant in Charlotte during WW2. The captivating style of writing draws you in very quickly and holds your interest until the end This story touches on friendships, love, and family, all centered around how each deals with managing war. Great insights into what it must have been like as a woman working at the plant. Better yet, one gets direct insight into what it was like for Kora, as an African American woman during this time. This was masterfully done through rich dialogue shared between Kora and Maggie as they grew their personal and professional relationship over the course of the story. This novel shows the enduring strength of women. What a good book...highly recommended!

This was a wonderful novel. A vividly told story of diverse women creating a bond while working in a munitions factory during World War II. You will want to continually cheer them on!
Many thanks to Warren Publishing and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Description
After an unwanted southern migration, an upside-down world in 1943 offers military wife and mother, Maggie Slone, a job at Charlotte's largest wartime employer-the massive and dangerous Shell Assembly Plant.

Meanwhile, military wife and Alabama native, Kora Bell's steadfast determination enables her to navigate the challenges she faces as a Black woman seeking employment under Jim Crow.

A shared love of literature begins an unlikely friendship between Kora and Maggie, and the two work together to unify the plant's workforce. Stringent rules are necessary when the air is charged with gun powder and polite society, until Maggie and Kora must break them in order to support their families, end the war, and bring their husbands home.

Told from two perspectives, Poster Girls is driven by the true but forgotten events and accomplishments of a diverse group of American women, both relevant and necessary to stop modern cycles of misunderstanding.

If you like historical fiction from a Black American standpoint, please give this read a try.

Loved this book. Great WWII historical fiction, It sucked me in right from the begining and didn't let me go until the end. would highly reccommend.

Great example of how strong women can be in the face of adversity. Great depiction of life as a military spouse. Overall wonderful example of historical fiction.

This book was heart-warming and truly took you back in time. I felt like I was in the book with Maggie and Kora. The emotions that followed with the book between the injustices that were part of society at the time and the longing for things to change yet stay the same. I highly recommend this book as an insight to WWII from the view at home.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I found this book hidden in the Read Now section and I have always loved historical fiction! I downloaded it and started to read it right away. I saw that there were a lot of four and five star reviews which has left me very confused.

I had to stop reading this book because every time I put it down, I dreaded picking it back up. It is very slow moving and spends so much time on details that I didn't care for. Pages about pictures in a wallet when I wanted to know more about the history during this time.

I want my historical fiction to teach me something and move me at the same time. I want the book to suck me in and make me forget that I'm actually living in 2023. This book had the right idea but was bogged down with other unnecessary details.

1943, wartime and two women who bond over a shared love of literature. Kora and Maggie are great characters and make this book what it is.

This is a book that will make your heart warm and will make you smile. Yet is a book that you will learn from as well. I love the women, their lives, their joys and heartaches. They are women you know and women you can relate to and that is what I love about this book and its story.

A great length and pace for this book made it so easy to read and I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC. 3.5 out of 5
Would recommend this to fans of Fried Green Tomatoes, Bomb Girls
Overall a good read, but the plot wanders and the focus of the story seems to shift for reasons I didn't get.
The book is set in the middle of WWII. Maggie has moved with her little girls from Boston to Charlotte as her husband enlisted and he sent her to be with his parents. She meets Kora, an African-American woman, whose husband is also in the army. They become somewhat awkward friends through a mutual love of reading.
Maggie gets a job in a munitions factory (and eventually helps Kora get a job there too) contrary to the wishes of her mother-in-law. She runs into an old flame, who is one of the factory admins.
Watching the two characters navigate the challenges in their lives is interesting, and they do learn things from each other. The details of everyday life were interesting, and the relationship between Maggie and her overbearing mother-in-law was pretty true to life. Kora was a much deeper character than Maggie, and I was disappointed that she became a lot less prominent as the novel went on.
I found the ending a bit abrupt, and I think a lot of the racist and sexist issues weren't really resolved at all after being introduced pretty pointedly - maybe this is the author's way of being realistic?

First confession, I didn’t realize this was fiction when I picked it up. Two, it’s got a lot of great things about it but it was just way too slow for my liking. And too many plot points seemed to be thrown around before something exciting did happen (way too close to the end for my liking).

That said, it’s a beautiful story of the type that I haven’t really been exposed to before and for that reason I have to recommend it.

The characters are realistic and their relationships are strained (just like in real life). Some days it feels like all they do is go to work and come home and nothing big happens. Other days they’re reporting to Washington for safety hearings and having competitions to see who can assemble shells the fastest. Do these alternate rhythms not ring true in our daily lives too?

I was though overall disappointed with it and felt like the story could/should have been told differently/with more strength.

Poster Girls was a brilliant way to understand American history through an engaging story with relatable characters. Central to the story is Maggie and Kora's friendship, the narrative told through both perspectives is enlightening and helps the reader to appreciate the impact society and WWII had on both of them.

I did really enjoy this book. I loved the friendship between Maggie and Kira. I didn’t care for the ending. There could have been so much more done with Charlie’s homecoming and still kept what was trying to be betrayed with PTSD. Overall though it was an enjoyable book.

I loved this book and the two perspectives. Excellent way to learn history but in a fun and inter way.


After an unwanted southern migration, an upside-down world in 1943 offers military wife and mother, Maggie Slone, a job at Charlotte's largest wartime employer-the massive and dangerous Shell Assembly Plant.

Meanwhile, military wife and Alabama native, Kora Bell's steadfast determination enables her to navigate the challenges she faces as a Black woman seeking employment under Jim Crow.

A shared love of literature begins an unlikely friendship between Kora and Maggie, and the two work together to unify the plant's workforce. Stringent rules are necessary when the air is charged with gun powder and polite society, until Maggie and Kora must break them in order to support their families, end the war, and bring their husbands home.

Told from two perspectives, Poster Girls is driven by the true but forgotten events and accomplishments of a diverse group of American women, both relevant and necessary to stop modern cycles of misunderstanding.