She Flew Bombers by Jeane Slone

This is a good, entertaining read, rich in women's history. The heroine, Violet, starts her story as a young girl going up with barnstormers with her dad. Then, against her mother's wishes, she takes flying lessons and finds love with a fellow barnstormer.


But then WWII breaks out. She goes to join the WASP. The book tells the life of a WASP, the daily life, struggles, types of adventures they faced. It mentions lots of real women, such as Jackie Cochran, the attempts to be officially accepted in the military, etc. Had I not ready 25 WASP historicals already, I would have learned a ton. As it was, nothing was new to me, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Wait, I did learn of Mabel Cody and the White Rose of Stalingrad. Never heard of those ladies before and I was prompted to Google more.

There's a romance...it's very, very  mild, a minor part of the story and comes with some heartbreak. What I liked about this book was it was real life, not skipping through the flowers fluff that is so darned popular nowadays. It contains loss, grief, discrimination, strong women, a mother/daughter relationship filled with strife, and even touches on racism.


It also has some cool pictures. They were a wee hard to see on my Kindle, but I imagine they show up quite well on the fancier models.

There's one problem..it works for and against this type of book. It comes down to what you're in the mood for, I guess.

You could look at this way, as though you are sitting at your grandmother's feet and she's telling you the story of her life...cause that is what is: telling. Lots of telling, no showing. I saw many opportunities to really expand and fix that.

Example: The heroine literally reminisces with a copilot later in the book: "Remember when I was in the outhouse on the base and that damn Texas wind knocked it over and I was caught with my pants down?"

Why the heck wasn't that a real scene? And the locusts? So very much was TOLD, not shown. :( But it could be the way the author intended it: at your grandma's knee being told a story.

Three bikes. I bought this on Amazon.