The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar is yet another great female-lead WWII historical fiction novel, fitting somewhere between Lilac Girls and The Huntress.

The story features Audrey Coltrane, a young aviatrix. She dreams of owning an airfield while teaching flying at a Hawaii army base. When Pearl Harbor is attacked by Japan and the United States finally joins the war effort, her world is turned upside down.

Audrey is independent and ambitious and I quickly grew to like the main character, chiefly because she stays steady to her dream throughout the book. I like that she knew what she wanted, no matter what was thrown her way. The story is written in first person, my personal favorite POV. The secondary characters are quite likeable too, especially her silly friend Carol Ann.

The story includes themes of friendship, hardship, triumph and romance and there’s a good chance this book might make you cry. (I did.) The only flaw of this book is that it was a bit… repetitive in its plot? I can’t go into detail without spoilers but I think the plot could have used a tad more variation in the middle.

Overall, a really good WWII historical fiction novel that I highly recommend.

RATING: 4/5 stars

• The Flight Girls on Goodreads
• The Flight Girls on Amazon
• Noelle Salazar’s website