Hearts of Resistance by Soraya M. Lane

Hearts of Resistance, by Soraya M. Lane, follows three women through the devastation of WWII as they fight against the Nazi’s across Europe. The first third of the book is one long extended recruiting montage (in a good way, as we get to know the characters and their motivations). Sophia is in love with a Jewish man, Alex, but that won’t go over well with her Nazi father. When Alex’s family is taken away, Sophia hides him in her Berlin apartment and helps ferry other Jews out of the city for months until she’s almost found out. She and Alex have to flee, and she vows to continue fighting the evil regime in any way she can. Rose lost her husband Peter to the war in France, and heads out to their house in Brest to find some comfort, but instead finds wounded Allied soldiers and the Resistance. Hazel is feeling confined by the expectations for women in Britain, and the desire to do more than just sit at a desk translating French documents. She signs up for a covert mission, and soon finds herself fighting alongside Rose and Sophia in France in the lead up to D-Day.

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale. The pacing was fast and exciting, and it was interesting to experience the war from a woman’s point of view. So many of the books and movies about WWII involve the men fighting (naturally), or the women pining back home and dealing with loss. It was refreshing to read about some ladies who were out there trying to make a difference, and interesting to learn that there really were woman doing all this, and more probably, in that time.