To be honest, history is not that interesting to me, unless it is a book-worthy story. I am more of a fantasy and fiction type of girl who will occasionally read historical fiction.

I don’t want to read something that could be in a textbook; I already have one of those. Give me something that will make my hands cramp from reading for too long. Give me something that will make me lose track of time.

Recently, I bought a new book called The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff. It is a historical fiction that is set in WWII. Jenoff meticulously researched for this book. There are so many details in it that are accurate to the actual history of WWII.

Because of this, I was a little worried it would be dull or dark. I have read very few war books because I am not big on killing, torture, and pretty much anything that would make me happy that I have never experienced a war.

This book is different though.

The Lost Girls of Paris is about a young woman named Grace Healey who finds a suitcase with twelve pictures of young women in it. Her curiosity takes over, and she steals the pictures to find out who these girls are.

Grace learns that they, along with many others, were hired by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to be agents. They went through arduous training and traveled all over Europe to try and stop the Germans during the war.

The story is told from the point of view of three characters, which is a great addition. One of them is Grace. She is a strong and curious young woman whose soldier fiance just died in an accident. During her chapters, she searches for information on the girls in the pictures. Grace breaks many rules to expand her knowledge on them.

I would have to say that Grace’s chapters are the most uninteresting. They are definitely not boring, just a little flat. Her character is pretty much a normal person, so nothing truly crazy happens.

Another narrator is a woman named Eleanor Trigg. She was the leader of the women’s division in SOE. She is a courageous woman who does not like to show her emotions. Throughout her chapters, she does all that she can to keep her girls safe from the Germans.

The last character point of view is Marie Roux’s. She is one of the agents hired by Eleanor. The only reason she became an agent was to make the world a better place for her young daughter. Most of her stories involve the life-threatening missions she is a part of.

Marie’s chapters are the most intriguing chapters out of them all. They have the most hold-your-breath type of stories.

The Lost Girls of Paris starts a little slow; there is not much more going on other than background information and explaining how everything got started. The book stays a bit humdrum until around the fifth chapter.

Once it sped up, I had a tough time getting it out of my head. The story was not able to escape the cage my brain put it in.

Jenoff included an abundance of elements and genres into this book. There was romance, coming-of-age, mystery, action, and crime. I love that she did this; it added so much more excitement and buzz to the story.

Although it is about a war, The Lost Girls of Paris is not that gory. Occasionally, there is a death or a beating, but that is unavoidable. It was not too much that I couldn’t handle it.

The character development in this book is truly astounding. They grow like flower buds bloom in the spring. So many characteristics and past experiences are uncovered throughout the book.

From the moment I opened my Amazon package, I knew I would love the book. The cover is simple yet intriguing, and the edges of the pages are meant to look old and worn. The details on the outside showed that the story would be just as incredible if not more.

The Lost Girls of Paris is an excellent book; I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good story.