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.