Wanted to love this book but it fell flat the inconsistency in history I wanted to love it maybe I’ll try again laterp

I adored the characters in this book! Each of them possessed distinct personalities, complete with their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, I found them relatable because they grappled with choices that resonated with the things we are facing today.

While I appreciated the various viewpoints on the pivotal day of WWII, I found the storytelling execution to be a hindrance to my full enjoyment. Five different points of view proved challenging, especially as only Flora and Emilia’s narratives intersected, essentially presenting five distinct storylines. Some plotlines captured my interest more than others. Nonetheless, I got some valuable insights from the book and am in awe of the resilience demonstrated by these women amid their harrowing experiences.

At the end of the book, it lists real events and people mentioned in the story. Overall, I really recommend this book. The writing is great, easy to read, and creates vivid pictures, making it a fascinating read, especially for people who like historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

This book was okay for me. I don’t regret picking it and reading it. The story was different from what I had been reading in fiction based around the war. The writing is great. I just found myself wishing there was more to each of these girls’ stories, like each should have been a story unto itself. But as this genre is my current favorite I am still happy to have read it.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Alcove Press for allowing me to read this book and give an honest opinion. This book was amazing. I grew up hearing stories of my uncles who fought on D-Day but I loved to hear a females perspective. I bought this book after reading it here!

My favorite types of stories from World War II are the untold or behind-the-scenes stories of the women who helped shape the outcome. When I saw All the Lights Above Us and read the description I knew I had to read it. While it definitely spotlights women in World War II who made different decisions for personal reasons I was a little disappointed in the delivery of the story. Let me explain.


The story follows multiple women in different places as they face D-Day during World War II. What I love is that these are just ordinary women. They aren’t even necessarily women in secret spy positions, but just ordinary women doing ordinary things to survive. There’s a grandmother trying to reach her daughter and grandchildren, a radio host convincing herself she is not spewing Nazi propaganda against her home country, a beautiful girl trying not to become a breeding woman for the Nazis, and more. These women in different ways did what they had to do to survive and to live with themselves at the end of the day. I liked how not everything they did was good. Usually we are solely focused on those who helped the resistance or were anti-nazi, but in this story we got a little glimpse at someone unwilling to admit they were actually helping the Germans. That was a take I hadn’t read before and was interesting to see how they justified things to themselves. Henry wrote an array of women of different ages and upbringings with a lot of different skills and stories to share. It’s not an easy feat to do.

My biggest issue with this is that I feel each of these stories could have been a stand-alone story and putting all of them into one story made it a bit confusing at times seeing as it jumped from one person to another throughout and even had flashbacks at times. There was a bit too much jumping around for me. I’d have been happier with maybe 2 or 3 people’s P.O.V’s at any given time and found this to be a little overwhelming and confusing trying to keep up.


With that said I think these stories are great and Henry has a way of building engaging characters that we want to cheer for or keep flipping pages to see what comes of their choices. I would love to read these stories if I could piece each individuals story into short stories and read them separate without the jumping. Overall it was a good story and not all outcomes were great, which is also realistic. I will definitely pick up M.B. Henry’s next book.

This was an absolutely fascinating look at D-Day from the perspective of several female characters. I greatly enjoyed the variety of settings explored, especially the fact that a fictional American ex-pat in Nazi Germany and her experiences were shared.

I love this cover, and the writing was fantastic! Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this!

All The Lights Above Us is one those books you don’t want to put down. Told in the voices of five different women who experienced the battle of Normandy all in their own way. A must read for those who enjoy novels set in this time period, with strong female leads. Can’t wait to read her next book!

I thought that was quite an interesting historical fiction novel. We followed 5 women from different countries who are affected by D-Day. I didn't care for how the stories kept bouncing around and the writing felt rushed. But I did enjoy the details that the author had used within the story.




Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for this ebook for an honest review.

A novel centered around “Operation Overlord” (D-Day) and the five women it affected. These women were from different countries and backgrounds, but this story follows their lives and this horrible night. The story was set in three different cities, following five women.

I am not a fan of multiple POVs in a story. I struggle to keep facts and people straight. A good story that my brain just can’t quite get into because of a personal preference.

A tale told of the days leading up to D-Day from the view point of five different women. Mildred in Berlin is a star radio personality. Theda, 26 yr old, in Portsmouth , England is part of the Voluntary Aid Detachment [nurse] and wants to answer only to herself. Flora, 31 yr old, in Caen, France which is occupied by the Germans. She is a messenger for the Resistance. Adelaide in Sainte-Mere-Eglish, France is a mother who only wants to be the best mother ever. She goes searching through the bullet riddled grounds for her daughter and granddaughter. Emilia in Caen, France is a German typist for the highest Gestapo/intelligience office.
A fascinating story told like no other from each of the women's point of view; how this invasion was affecting them. Read this well told story.

This book was incredible. It is written about 4 women who live separate lives but who are embroiled in the same D-Day invasion on Ju e 6th, 1944, when the allies stormed the beaches of Normandy. This book brought me to a place where I could feel the deep hurt, emotional turmoil and absolute heavy choices that each woman had to make in order to survive under Hitler’s fascist regime. M.B Henry is an incredibly talented writer..

Thank you NetGalley and The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC for the opportunity to read an early release of this book.

**** I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts and opinions are true to my honest thoughts and have not been encouraged by NetGalley or the publisher in any way.****

What an incredible debut! I will be keeping my eyes peeled for any upcoming books by this author.

All the Lights Above us was simply unputdownable for me. This story follows five courageous women through 24 hours surrounding D-Day. All of these women come from different countries, loyalties, and backgrounds, and they what connects them is the sacrifice, courage, and bravery they bring forth on this day that changes the course of history. There was so much to love here but what especially worked for me was the multiple POV’s, rich historical details, and strong sense of place within each storyline. I genuinely enjoyed each and every POV. It’s a nod to the incredible writing and storytelling here.

This book truly checked all of the boxes that I would consider make a perfect historical fiction read. It felt so unique and fresh within the genre and I just can’t sing its praises enough! I highly recommend getting your hands on this book.

Many thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the gifted e-copy.

I liked this book. It kept me interested and reading. The characters were great, and the setting was described really well! Absolutely grab a copy of this book.

This book is slightly different than many of the World War 2 novels I have read, as it offers the perspectives of Allies, Germans, and German sympathizers. I appreaciated reading the different perspectives.

This book is about five women at different stages in their life during WWII as the Allies are invading the French Coast. Three of the women are in Germany, one in England, and one in France which gives an all-around perspective of women during the war.
I loved the characters in this book! They all had different personalities that included their strengths and weaknesses. I also think the characters were easy to relate to because they all had to make choices that we face today. My favorite character was Adelaide. I think I related to her the most because I am a mother with grown children. At the end is a summary of actual events and real people mentioned in the book.
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Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This is a multi-POV story about D-Day during WWII following several women across France, England, and Germany.

- Flora aids the french resistance
- Mildred is a radio host that’s helping the Germans spread propaganda
- Adelaide risks her life to find her daughter
- Theda is supporting the medical staff in England
- Emilia is trying to survive after climbing the ranks within the Gestapo

First off, I don’t think the title of this book helps it in any way. All The Light Above Us is similar to All The Light We Cannot See, not only in title but it’s also about WWII with a dual-POV writing style. It’s impossible not to make comparisons if you’re familiar with the two, and unfortunately this book is not anywhere near as good.

Secondly, for the first half of this book I found myself just trying to get everyone straight & remember their stories. I felt it had too many characters and bounced around too much. I was able to get into a little more into it around 60% of the way through but the book lost me again towards the end.

All in all, I felt this could have been executed better if we spent more time with each character (maybe less characters all together).

*thank you NetGalley for this book in return for my honest review*

Often when we think of D-Day, we imagine the storming of the beaches. But it was so much more than that. This is the view of this day through the eyes of five women. A compelling story from M. B. Henry.

“Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley in exchange of an honest review. “

I'm a big reader of WWII fiction and I love finding unique perspectives on the era. All the Lights Above had a great premise. I've read other stories that include D-Day but it is usually from the perspective of military people - either the allies landing at Normandy or the French Resistance in France eagerly awaiting the invasion. This book told the story from the perspective of 5 women in different places and roles.

I've read multiple books that are told by alternating characters, but I'm not sure I've ever read one with points of view from 5 characters, particularly as each is given about equal amounts of attention.

Mildred Gillars is an unsuccessful American actress living in Germany and gets a job on the national radio. Though she doesn't agree with everything the Nazi party is doing, as she says it is hard to argue with clean streets and plenty of food to eat. Mildred was a real person. You may better know her as Axis Sally - the famed announcer of Nazi Propaganda.
Theda is a volunteer nurse at a portside hospital in England. She hopes to get on a combat nurses team, but all her skills and stamina are put to the test as the hospital is overrun with D-Day casualties.
Flora is a courier for the French Resistance whose parents (who also worked with the Resistance) have gone missing. She has moxie and a determination to find out what happened to her parents.
Emilia, who lives in the same French town as Flora, has chosen the other side in an effort to survive. She has worked her way up the ranks of the Gestapo.
Adelaide is a French woman who has been forced to house German soldiers. When the invasion starts her only thought is to get to her daughter and granddaughter who live on the coast.
With so many main characters it was difficult to connect with anyone of them. I struggled to remember their backstory as there would be too many chapters between each character's POV. Mildred interested me the most because she is a real person and I did some Googling to learn more about her. Theda was probably the most sympathetic character. The other 3 just kind of got lost for me.

I did like the different perspectives on the most infamous day of WWII. However, the execution of the story hindered my enjoyment. I think 5 POVs were just too many to keep straight. Flora and Emilia are the only characters to overlap so it was really like keeping 5 separate stories straight. While I might read multiple books at a time, my limit is 3 (I've recently had 4 books on the go at the same time and I found myself having trouble keeping them all straight).

Perhaps if you have large chunks of time to devote to reading this book, you wouldn't have the same problems with remembering the characters' backstories. This is my only real complaint. I think each character's story if taken on its own, was well-written and interesting. I loved that the story focused on the women and how D-Day affected them.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Friday, July 1 - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2022/07/all-lights-above-us-by-m-b-henry-review.html