I have to tell you up front that over the last year Tricia Goyer has become a dear writing friend. The crazy thing is we’ve never met, but I feel like we’re connected. Amazing what happens when you read each others works as they develop. Fortunately for me, I didn’t get to know Tricia until after she wrote Arms of Deliverance. That means I got to enjoy it all at one time. And I LOVED it. INHALED it. COULDN’T put it down.

Arms of Deliverance is a delightful book. Set during World War Two, it focuses on two women newspaper reporters, Mary Kelley and Lee O’Donnelly, who both want to get sent to the European front as war correspondents. They’re rivals who get paired together as roommates on the ship and in England. You really couldn’t pick women from more different backgrounds. Mary grew up in a single parent home, while Lee grew up in privilege with endless benefits as a result of her last name. They are similar in their passion to tell the stories from the war.

Then there’s the plotline with Katrine, a Jewess who hides in plain sight in Belguim as the girlfriend of a German officer. When she becomes pregnant he sends her to Lebensborn, one of the homes maintained by the Germans for breeding perfect Aryan children. Another great focus of the book is the crew flying a B-17, Destiny’s Child.

When Mary gets assigned to go with the Destiny’s Child crew on a bombing raid, the multiple plots begin to intersect and weave together into a beautiful plot. I won’t tell you more, because I want you to uncover this great story on your own.

Tricia’s meticulous research shows in the details she incorporates into the story. As a lover of World War Two history, I can enjoy Tricia’s books without worrying that she’ll get key details wrong. Instead, the stories aren’t disrupted by the history, but the history adds a richness and detail to the plots.

The characters are far from cardboard cutouts. Instead they stand in relief to each other and make the book more realistic as the sparks fly. Particularly

I thouroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it!

You can read chapter one here.