Enjoyed the story - based on history - a lot ...
922418
Enjoyed the story - based on history - a lot of research and a very moving story.  I enjoyed all of these characteristics.
2406622
Felt that this book was was sort of a History-tainment vehicle. Even though clearly everything wasn't factual it just gave that sense.
The characterisation was good and the story built nicely to a good end. Looking forward to the 3rd book and will buy it.
911503
Great Story! Loved the story and the historical information in it. Is there a series connected with this book? I would purchse if there is.
2252444
Great story  based on a historical review.  An excellent read.
1690901
Good story with plenty of twists and turns.  I enjoyed the history, I even checked out Hagia Sofia for more info and found that Dan Brown was very accurate in his description.  Enjoyed the book.
1710307
Modern day story based on history - one of my favorite genres! Started reading this morning and just finished (3pm). This book was interesting as well as fun to read!
456474
I enjoyed this historical, romantic fiction story that takes place during WWI time period in France and Germany. This story is rich with history! You can tell that the author spent alot of time with her research and details before releasing this book.

The Spider and the Sparrow follows 4 main characters- Evette, Claire, Julian and Warren. They each have a big part of the story and its interesting how different their upbringings and lives are.

The story has a steady plot with some twists and turns. If you enjoy historical fiction, you will definitely enjoy this one!

There is war violence and death in this book-not suitable for young adult readers.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review on my blog and social media-all opinions are my own.
3686104
I like this book because it contained a lot of history along with a very layered very good story. I have already purchased the next in the series. That is usually something I don't do.....read books that are written in series. But this book made me hungry for the rest of the story!
1619111
Complex characters, story moved along at a good pace, and I enjoyed the back and forth between history and present day locations. Well written, will read more books by Glenn Cooper!
1027022
I was uncertain when trying to categorize this book on my Kindle to classify it as biography or as historical fiction, knowing that it was a true story based on the lives of real people.  I went with biography (as that way I didn't have to create a new category), but I think probably historical fiction is actually a better match.  The basics of the story actually happened, but of course after all this time I suspect that much of the dialog has been invented.

This is the story of Lois Cutler who was a WASP during WWII and a handful of her friends.  The book tells how they came to get into the program and some about their training in Sweetwater Texas.  There is also some romantic interest, both for Lois before the war and for some of her bunkmates during the training.

I especially liked the parts about Lois's early life in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, and her courtship days.  These are times and places I have not encountered so much in my other reading.  The little background pieces on the other girls in the program are interesting as well, showing the different backgrounds of the young women who signed up to be WASPs during the war.

I do feel the book could have benefitted from more stringent editing beforehand - there are a couple of places in the middle where it appears that the intent was to move a passage from one place to another but it was not deleted from the first place.  Also I occasionally got lost in the dialog during some of the arguments; there were not a lot of "he said - she said" indicators, (probably just as well) so in some of the fast-paced discussions I was not sure which party was talking some of the time.  Of course, some of this may have been due to the font size I was using on my Kindle Touch, which is mainly where I read this book; when I looked at some of the same passages on the Kindle Fire they were formatted a little better and it was easier to tell where one argument left off and the next one began.

All in all though this was a fun read and I recommend it.
2246343
I enjoyed the story very much and even more so knowing that it strove to be historically accurate and was based on the lives on real people -
3372022
There is a lot of history in this story. I am not sure how factual it is but it does give a great deal  of background to build from. The characters grow throughout the book giving a depth to the book that makes you feel like you know these people personally.  Their is a chemistry between the characters that leaps off the pages.  This story has dynamic and complex scenes, which will drag your emotions along for the ride.

A great read!
1487680
I thought the historical aspect of this story was fascinating and the mystery kept me guessing until the end. Fun read!
776120
I enjoyed the story and the history woven into the storyline. Some of the characters were one dimensional. I loved going back and forth between present and past, but there wasn't enough character development to get me invested in their stories. The ending was a bit predictable and seemed to wrap up leaving me wanting more as I didn't buy the love story. It needed more development. The best part of this book was the history woven into the story.
1197986
Thoroughly enjoyed the unique premis of the book and the historical background presentation. It was well-written and flowed nicely, but unfortunately I figured out who the bad guy was very early on and was hoping to be in suspense a while longer.
2077537
I enjoyed this book, although some of the translations were a bit quirky.  I particularly liked the parallels between the differing time frames and characters.  I thought the story had interesting characters and plot twists that were not so predictable.  Faith and religion are strong undercurrents to the story - something readers may not readily comprehend.  Check into the history of the Spanish Civil War referred to throughout the story, and you'll see how the culture to this day has not fully recovered from the most brutal attempt to eliminate religion from Spain.  This book opened my eyes to one reason behind the loss of faith taking place in Europe today.
2183318
This is an interesting story built around historical events of the time and how they affected the lives of people in the various countries involved.  The characters are stereotypical, bur provide insight into how the events affected different types and classses of individuals.