It has everything, love, romance, war, and it's based on reality. Absolutely triumphant 

This was the first book by Kate Quinn I have read, and it was beautiful. This historical fiction brought to life the true story of Lyudmila ‘Mila’ Pavlichenko, a Soviet Russian sniper from World War II. Mila experienced the challenges of becoming a young mother at 15 and living through a world war. Yet, her fierce and loyal nature became a force to be reckoned with as she developed into one of Russia’s deadliest snipers.

Quinn provides detailed recounts of her early life and the events that turned this quiet, studious librarian into a survivor of war with a lasting reputation that encouraged women to join the frontline and be celebrated for their contributions. Quinn embellishes Mila’s relationships with friends, family and lovers to balance the novel. It becomes more character-driven, which is what gave it five stars to me.

I highly recommend it if you want a book filled with action, suspense and a heartwarming ending. 

I usually dislike war and battle books but this was such a rich and riveting view of the life of a sniper and a woman in the Soviet army. It has war, hope, devastation, love, family, death, mystery, suspense, all sorts of stuff. I stayed up to 2:30am for two nights in a row to finish this as soon as possible! I couldn’t put it down.

It took me about a hundred pages to get into this book, but once I was in I was hooked! I've loved most of the other things Kate Quinn has written, so this was an auto-buy for me as soon as I saw it. I can always count on Quinn to bring me a heroic war story, and I love her focus on women and how they contributed to the War. I loved the character development Quinn put into Mila throughout the novel. It was really rewarding to watch her grow into her own and stand up to her asshole "husband" Alexei. Some of the plot was a bit unbelievable, which knocked off a few stars. Specifically, the whole "marksman" thing, especially because we all know the FDR wasn't assassinated and we know Mila makes it back to Russia, so like I knew how it would turn out? Idk, I feel like the story could have been just as good without that whole weird little plot, but I see why Quinn added it to explain Mila's creepy stalker dude on the tour. Overall, a good novel that did well tieing together historical fact and creative license/fiction.

Who doesn’t love a heroine based on a true story? Lyudmila Pavlichenko, or “Lady Death”, was a Russian sniper credited with an official count of 309 kills during WWII. 

I love how Quinn writes historical women, especially since you can tell how much research goes into each story. And this novel was no different. Mila is a single mother, marksman, and history student when war comes to Russia. Soon, life as she knew it is gone and she’s fighting against Nazis on the front lines. 

Saskia Maarleveld brought Mila’s strength and resilience to life in the audiobook. What a treat.