Name: Ani Velasquez's review of The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar
Item: The Flight Girls
Rating: 5
Author: Ani Velasquez

Noelle Salazar

A stunning debut novel about friendship and its power to make us soar Audrey Coltrane has always wanted to fly. It's why she implored her father to teach her at the little airfield back home in Texas. It's why she signed up to train military pilots in Hawaii when the war in Europe began. And it's why she insists she is not interested in any dream-derailing romantic involvements, even with the disarming Lieutenant James Hart, who fast becomes a friend as dear as the women she flies with. Then one fateful day, she gets caught in the air over Pearl Harbor just as the bombs begin to fall, and suddenly, nowhere feels safe. Following the attack, Audrey struggles to reconcile her devastating losses--colleagues, friends and the piece of her heart she left in the air. She seizes the opportunity to join the Women Airforce Service Pilots, hoping to make everything she's lost count for something. The fast friendships she forms with her fellow WASP women reignites a spark of hope in the face of a war that moves closer to home every day. When James goes missing in action, those bonds help her summon the courage to cross the front lines and give her the faith that they will return stateside--together.

The Flight Girls

Ani Velasquez

I hope you are grieving, my dear. Not because I wish you pain, but because it is through pain that you will find healing.

 Bruna Acioly Leão

A heartbreaking but great story. It’s WWII, I wasn’t expecting anything different! The story is very well written, divided in three parts: it felt like reading three different stories, three different moments in life that had to happen for the conclusion. 

The conclusion was good. It made me believe something that I had accepted and made peace with, and then things ended up being different. Although it is great when you’re not expecting something in a story and it catches you by surprise. 

Really great learning about the role of Women’s Airforce Service Pilots in the US during the war.

A heartbreaking but great story. It’s WWII, I wasn’t expecting anything different! The story is very well written, divided in three parts: it felt like reading three different stories, three different moments in life that had to happen for the conclusion. 

The conclusion was good. It made me believe something that I had accepted and made peace with, and then things ended up being different. Although it is great when you’re not expecting something in a story and it catches you by surprise. 

Really great learning about the role of Women’s Airforce Service Pilots in the US during the war.

Rachel Kanyid

Really enjoyed this, though it was a little more light than it could have been. It was very lighthearted in overall feel, but since it is technically a romance novel, that didn't deter me from finishing it.

Skye Sherman

I liked this book but didn’t love it. Listened on audiobook. I don’t really like romance novels and this definitely had aspects of that (a bit cloying for my tastes) but I also appreciated the learning to be found in this piece of historical fiction—loved reading about the lives of the unsung women pilots of WWII! So loved the aviation aspect but not crazy about the rest.

Bridget Buckley 

This is the best book I have read in long time. With strong powerful women that make up so much of our history it’s shame it was never spoken about for so long. Please please read this book and learn new history and fall in love with these amazing strong powerful women.

Kaylee Z

This book was such a treat! Considering that this is a debut novel, Salazar was able to give such a heartfelt and unique take on the sub-genre which is World War II Historical Fiction. I can honestly, and somewhat shamefully, say that I had no idea about the female pilots during this time. 

I can feel the genuine interest and love that Salazar has for these women and what they went through during WWII and it has opened up my eyes to a whole other part of this time in history and how the genre has surprisingly overlooked it. This book was so fresh and unique in terms of the the overall story, the parts that were focused on for the time and there is no mistaking how meaningful this story was to tell for Salazar.

I could not get enough of these characters and their lives. I laughed, I cried and I NEEDED to know what was coming next. I felt completely engrossed in the setting and really felt like I was living alongside Audrey and her friends. Everything about the story felt so lived in and genuine from the joys to the devastating losses and I want more. This story encompasses so much time and major events but I never felt like it went too slow or too fast as some novels can seem when there are time jumps or, at the very least, need to cover a lot in one book.

The characters were well flushed out and I truly felt for Audrey with what her goals are and what her life gave her or took from her. I think I can safely say that I look up to Audrey for being such a strong and self sufficient woman in a time of strife for women during the backdrop of a world war. Even the other women of the story were perfectly individualistic and leave their mark. The only sort of downside about the character of Audrey is that she is the obsession of any man she seems to come into contact with and conveniently doesn’t notice/realize it. This is somewhat addressed in a playful way by her friends but I don’t think the Mary Sue type of attraction was necessary.

Even the overarching love story had its ebbs and flows which got me from the start. The burgeoning relationship interest was definitely NOT subtle but I will happily overlook it because there was so much time to cover that we really just had to jump into and hold on to the time they have together. I don’t think I’ve been so invested in a relationship in any book I’ve read so far this year as I have with Audrey and James.

I am so happy to have read this novel and cannot wait to see what Noelle Salazar does next and I do hope she keeps up with this genre because I really think she found her place in literature. I also recommend reading her Author’s Note and Questions for Discussion at the end (if your copy includes them) because they just put even more focus on her research and obvious love for these women in history.

Bruna Acioly Leão &
The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar

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Bruna Acioly Leão &The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar

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Bruna Acioly Leão &
The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar