I liked the story and the characters. I think would be loved by WW2 novel fans which I was one of in the past. But, I read so many of them. Maybe a bit too slow and a list of characters would improve it more. Good for WW2 novel fans

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Overall this was a good book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in WW2 & Spy / Mystery Fiction as the story is captivating and interesting. The “making of a spy” concept was fun, you definitely teeter on believability but it was enjoyable to read nonetheless.
I did enjoy the “ah-ha” moment in the last few chapters that really does tie it all together, and while I was able to predict some of it - I didn’t predict it all, which is always appreciated.

The reasons I didn’t love this book:
- the FMC didn’t fight are argue to not do the mission, and that seemed very out of character based on what we knew about her and how she described herself.
- A lot of repeating. I understand the story is complex but I feel like exact paragraphs were just copied from pages earlier. (This wasn’t too frequent but it happened enough)
- A lot of “background” / or a story that furthered a view point or relationship between people. (I understand story building and relationship development but it felt unnecessarily drawn out)
- Slow pace, you don’t get to the actual “moment” until halfway through the book and the ending felt rushed.
- The ending wasn’t satisfying to me personally, without spoiling I had hoped for a reunion of sorts.
- the interchanging of names. We would be introduced a character with first and last name and then some of the characters would be referenced as one or the other and at times I would forget who was who. I wish the author would stick to just last names or just first names when referencing (I understand military calls for last names but there was a paragraph where the name kept changing in reference to the same person)

I want to thank Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op for providing this ARC!