I almost gave this book 3 stars because of the perfectly-fine (if deeply boring) writing style.

This is a "classic movie" of a novel. It reads like a cross between a Bing Crosby war film and a school history essay. It is safe for young ladies. I'm puzzled by the adult fiction labeling. It's not YA for sure because it's not as edgy or morally ambivalent as most YA. It feels like a throwback. Given the continued social and cultural legacy of the war, the Resistance, the role of De Gaulle, the US role in world affairs etc etc. I cannot give this book a pass for being such a superficial glamor treatment of its subject

There are many many works out about WWII's European theater--many new ones. Seek them out. Here's a link to a Goodreads list https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/french-resistance

An okay read, but it seemed more romance than historical fiction.

The main character really bothered me - Marysue to enth degree

I really wanted to like this book, but ended up feeling like I was just trying to get it over with. This was not the most well written book, both in phrasing and content, but also not the worst I’ve read. A lot of the conflicts seemed to be resolved through sheer luck and good timing, which seemed rather anti-climatic to me. It felt more like a YA Romance set during WWII rather than historical fiction.

I had a really hard time caring for most of the main characters, especially Anna.

There were a few other things that bugged me about the book and made it hard to finish:

1. The way the character speak more closely aligns with the speaking patterns and phrasing used today than in the 1940s.

2. The characters are supposed to be spies in occupied France, but most of the time they still use their real names. They also meet in public both to socialize and discuss their “covert” operations.

3. For working with “top secret” information everyone feels that they can share everything with each other. Coworkers at the OSS are sharing information they learned at work over drinks in the garden and discussing plans for missions at restaurants with no regard to being secretive or security clearance. The spy networks in Paris are freely sharing their intel among each other in public places.

4. The author using real people for inspiration for her characters, but in two instances changes their fate/story, to me this feel like a disservice to these actual people and the work that they did.

Overall I can’t say I regret reading the book, but I don’t think I would recommend it.

Another Page Turnee

I got a free copy of this through Kindle First Reads.

I loved Beantown Girls, and jumped at the chance to read Secret Stealers. Healey did it again, bringing you characters who you truly buy into. What I didn't like about Beantown Girls was how quickly the women moved in their new-found relationships; there is none of that in here.
I love historical fiction, and WWII is my current favourite era. I highly recommend checking this out.

This book blew my mind away. First of all, the number of hours the author must have spent on research....amazing. The characters were all fantastic and I loved how the meshed together.

At the center is Anna, who is a young widow, wants to do something meaningful to help with the resistance. She ends up working for a longtime friend of her fathers and being sent to Paris. Anna partners with some friends she met while in college and works to send intel back to the US.

I truly loved every aspect of this story. Very highly recommend. Can’t wait to read more by this author.

Rarely does it take me two full weeks to read a 430-page book. And while, overall, I enjoyed The Secret Stealers, I found it to be almost two separate books. The first 60-70% of the book I slogged through. I could not get into it, I could not get behind the characters and I found it overly detailed almost to the point of cheesiness. Then, suddenly I hit a turning point toward the last 30-40% of the book and I could not put it down. It suddenly got interesting, action picked up, the characters became interesting.

All of this is to say, if you are the type of person who needs to get into a book right away or you'll abandon ship, this is likely not the book for you. If you're a slow-burn reader, always willing to wait to the end, then pick this one up!

Excellent spy story. Enjoyable characters with edge of my seat plot. Writing was ok.

I very much enjoyed The Secret Stealers by Jane Healey. I appreciate well-researched historical fiction novels and you can tell how much research the author put into this. The book reminded me of the The Paris Library, which is another book about WWII and the inspirational heroes that kept Paris afloat while it was occupied by Germany. Like The Paris Library, this book is based on actual people although the story is fictional. One difference is that Healey likes to highlight strong women in her books - and I'm all for it!

The characters are well-developed and I found the main character, Anna Cavanaugh, very likable relatable. I've never experienced what she experienced, as I was not alive during WWII, but I could see myself in her shoes. Her bravery is admirable and I'd like to think that I would choose the same path that she did. She is head-strong and ambitious - much like myself.

Being from DC, I am familiar with the Intelligence Community and it was fascinating to see how the CIA was created and how it operated at that time (via the OSS).

Healey did a great job with character development but I would've liked to read more about the actual missions. The book seemed a bit anti-climatic until it got to the missions, but these parts felt short and left me wanting more. The ending also seemed rushed - I would've liked to hear more about Anna and Phillip after their reunion.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a love letter to the real heroes working undercover during WW2. I really enjoyed it!

Such a good story!

This is such a great story for a group of WW2 heroes that we don’t hear enough about. It was enough romance involved but too much that it overpowered the real story. So good!