Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s for the chance to get an early read of Kristin Hannah’s The Women.

“Women can be hero's too”

WOW!

I want to start off by saying, this book is soul crushingly addictive in the BEST way possible. This book was the perfect blend of historical accuracy paired with Kristin’s brilliant attention to detail. Kristin has a way to captivate her readers and take them along for a journey they soon won’t forget whether you’d like to or not. I LOVE how real she made Frankie as a character. She didn’t shy away from the authentic, genuine pain that I'm sure many women silently endured who served over in Vietnam. I found myself just as downtrodden as Frankie appeared in the story when another life hurdle came her way. I felt my spirits break along hers as I experienced her less-than-warm welcome to the United States, including her downward spiral and loss of control with her addictions. I was incredibly reflective during this read, especially knowing that Frankie’s story was likely not unique to the story, and many women really experienced these, or similar situations at that time.

I commend Kristin’s careful work on making sure she got the historical accuracy just right. I didn’t feel like she was trying to re-create a history book for school while also not feeling like the story was SO outlandish that it couldn’t possibly have had true parts. It shone brightly through her careful craftsmanship and weaving of her story. I also agree with what a previous reader suggested that this book should be taught in the classrooms so more people can be exposed to the hardships that these women endured.

Even before I was selected to receive an early copy of this book, I had preordered this book and I look forward to receiving my physical copy on the release date!

The Women by Kristin Hannah is definitely one of my favorites books I’ve read this year.
I honestly don’t think she can write a bad story!
The story of women and their efforts to help with the war was inspiring. Learning about they way our military was treated after coming home from serving their country was heartbreaking. Especially for the women that sacrificed so much.
Just buy it and read it! You won’t regret it.

Wow, Kristin Hannah just does not disappoint!

This is the story of Frances “Frankie” McGrath, a 20 year-old nurse who serves in Vietnam. Frankie quickly realizes when she arrives in country that the war is nothing like what she expected. She is forced to learn to cope in difficult conditions as she tries to find just where she belongs in the world. This book spans the time Frankie spends deployed, as well as her return to the States.

This book was so moving. It really helped me to feel what Veterans must have faced returning from this war. The added perspective of being a woman whose contributions were continually downplayed or outright denied was eye-opening. As a military wife, I thought the descriptions of PTSD were very well done too. I think this book is so important in showing the significance of this group of men and women who served in Vietnam and weren’t given the respect and support they deserved by our country.

This book will suck you in and won’t let you go. I believe it will leave a lasting impression on me and my thoughts about the Vietnam war. Do not miss out on this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this story and provide my honest review.

In Kristin Hannah’s highly anticipated novel, The Women, Frankie’s brother ships out to Vietnam, and she continues to hear the words of his best friend who told her women can be heroes. After finishing nursing school and being treated like nothing more than a glorified candy striper, Frankie enlists in the Army as a nurse and finds herself off to basic training. That day becomes a day she will never forget, not only for her boldness, but by how life changing it was for her entire family. After basic training, she is flown to Vietnam where she learns from day one that her brother’s letters home were masking the harsh reality of life in a war torn country.

Hannah thrusts you back in time, into the heat sapping jungles where each day you don’t know if you will live or die. She writes with an honesty of what was happening there that those lucky enough to make it home hesitate to this day to discuss. War didn’t just tear our country apart. It tore the people fighting it apart. Limb by limb, trauma by trauma. Hannah is truly a gifted author who puts you on the front lines of the life Frankie and her host of friends she met there experienced. You will feel the relentless monsoons. You will slip in the gore and blood of the operating rooms. You will feel the gut wrenching loss that is within the camps every day. You will feel the heartbreak at what is witnessed. You also get an inside look on what happened to those who came home. The protests, the anger, the recovery, the addictions. Because the main character is a female, you also see what females who served as nurses experienced upon returning home. The lack of support and resources for their PTSD. The denial that women had seen combat. Every book of Hannah’s I read, I don’t think she can outdo her previous books. Spoiler alert: she can! Not many book bring me to tears, but she got me at the end because I am the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran. The reality of their experience definitely hit home. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy. Opinions expressed are my own. This book is set for publication on February 5, 2024.

#netgalley #arc #bookstagram #thewomen #kristinhannah #stmartinspress

Wow! As a young child at the time, I was woefully unaware of the magnitude of the Vietnam war. And somehow my education missed it, as well. I didn’t realize I had this gap, and can’t say enough about the immersive experience the author gave me. An excellent, albeit painful, indoctrination into the war that tore individuals and families in two. Kristin Hannah doesn’t sugarcoat things - but the reality should be brought into the light, and she does a great job of making you feel as if you are Frankie, and both tackling an impossible role on the ground in Vietnam, as well as years trying to recover from her service.

I was hoping for way more from this book and this author. It turned too much into romance and took away from the historical aspect

The Women is a beautifully written book by Kristin Hannah about the overlooked, forgotten, and vitally important women who served in the Vietnam War. The Women is a page turner from the beginning as you join Frankie's journey to find purpose, acceptance, and healing. Fellow nurses Barb and Ethel join Frankie during the war and they soon become friends walking the journey together.
Kristin Hannah writes this emotional story dealing with the impact war has on lives, especially when you are overlooked, pushed aside, attacked and forgotten upon your return home.
As a daughter of a Vietnam Veteran this book touched my heart and I am thankful that the postwar struggles (PTSD, mental, emotional, coping methods, reacclimation to life postwar) were a focus in this book. Kristin has written a story that is well researched, believable, and places you along on the journey through detailed descriptions and well developed characters and scenes. I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book. It will have you staying up late because you won't want to stop reading. I received an advanced copy of this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I’ve been thinking about this book since I finished it days ago. I had no idea I’d be so engrossed by a book set during the Vietnam War, but I should have known Hannah would make it happen!

Kristin Hannah writes epic stories. Here is another great one! Historical fiction usually isn't my favorite genre to read, but this book could make me change my mind. Great characters and a great story. Highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review of this book.

This book gave me all the feels. I don't know if there are words to truly describe how amazing this book was. Kristin Hannah made me feel like I was back in the time of the Vietnam War and going through it with the main character Frankie. It also made me think of my dad who's orders to Vietnam were canceled as he was about to board the plane. This story wasn't just about the time Frankie was in Vietnam, but also her struggles upon returning to America. From the loss of loved ones to mental health problems to not being respected as a Veteran and being dismissed that there weren't any "women" in Vietnam.

Without hesitation, pick up this book and read it!

Thank you NetGalley for the early copy of The Women by Kristin Hannah due out on February 6, 2024.

I will be honest I wasn’t sure I would like this novel. As any Kristin Hannah fan knows, The Four Winds, was a great novel, but one that left readers morose post read. The Great Depression is not a feel good setting. The same can be said for The Women, which is set during the Vietnam War. The plot is of army nurses posted in Vietnam hospitals, the friendships and relationships that develop in stressful settings with death and injuries are a daily occurrence.

The main character leaves home to serve, so she can earn the respect of her father. Frances, known as Frankie to her army peers, was raised to be a wife. She was trained how to run a house like so many well to do women of that era, where they would work as a nurse, secretary or teacher long enough to find a man to marry. Frankie’s parents are appalled at her choice to join the army, her father refusing to even communicate once she is in Vietnam.

As always, Hannah brings in the social conflicts of the era to help the reader understand the past. Hannah hits upon socio-economic differences, war protests, racial inequalities and misogynistic attitudes. Hannah does this without preaching, but allows the reader to get a glimpse in to different opinions of the time. A very good read and holds the readers attention throughout. I love Kristin Hannah books and can easily rate this 5/5 stars.

I think Kristin Hannah might be incapable of writing anything that isn't absolutely devastating in every way. This Vietnam-era novel fits that tradition. The novel is well written (I especially love how Hannah writes in the music of the time) and brings in so much historical context seamlessly. Frankie's friendship are beautifully grounding in a very tumultuous world. Ugly cry warning on this one for sure.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

I have loved all her recent books and this one is no exception it is well researched and puts us in the period of the Vietnam war which she presents with detail while providing us with heartfelt characters and plot .
I loved this one
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book .
This one ranks with the Four Winds and the Great Alone for me

What an amazing read by this never disappointing author. An historical fiction book NOT set in WWII always gets my attention, but the Vietnam War? That’s definitely a rarity.
With her usual skill of putting you in the scene with characters you can’t help but care about, this book is sure to be a hit.

Imagine choosing to serve your country in a war no one believes in. Imagine taking care of the wounded men in Vietnam, taking cover during raids, spending your days and nights learning how to best care for soldiers. Then imagine finally going home, the post traumatic stress from everything you’ve lived through, and no one believing you have any reason to be upset, because you’re told over and over “There are no women in Vietnam, dear.”

I’m a big fan of historical fiction and a big fan of Kristin Hannah’s novels so I was thrilled to receive an early copy of The Women. This book was everything I hoped it would be and more. I haven’t read much about the Vietnam war, and only know the basics. I was born just as the war ended. The story of nurse Frankie, her family, the men she loves and the friendships she forms hooked me from the very first chapter.

The first part is about Frankie deciding to go to Vietnam basically right out of nursing school…the fear, the horrors she faces, the men she helps and the people who taught her what she needed to know to get through it all. The second part focuses on her return home, where nothing is as she left it and no one believes she needs the help she seeks so desperately. She is told over and over that she needs to forget it all and move on…but how can she?



The Women will be up there with some of my favorites by KH. I just checked on Goodreads and this is my twelfth (!!) book by her, and half of those I rated five stars, including this one.


Thank you SO much to Netgalley and the publisher St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not one for historical fiction, but having read and enjoyed The Great Alone, I decided to put this book on my radar. I’m so glad I did.

I devoured The Women in two days, following Frankie from her first day as a combat nurse and through her journey after the war. Through friendships and love and heartbreak. I felt all her joy and pain. She became one of my favorite characters I’ve read.

This book shines a light on the forgotten women that served in the Vietnam War, as well as the challenges so many veterans faced after returning home. A very well executed work by Hannah.

Once again Kristin Hannah finds a piece of history to bring to life. This time it's women in the Vietnam War.

Others have written such wonderful summaries I won't try to repeat them. I will say that I love a book where I learn, think and feel and this book delivered.

Amazing book.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A young naive, sheltered woman goes to Vietnam as a barely trained nurse, following her brother, wanting to be a hero. It was esp hard to read the section about the war, esp now. She grew, found herself and her skills and made great friends, loved. She came home to a changing world, and a world hostile to her at best and in denial about women being in the war and nowhere to get help. She spirals and eventually finds her way after a long bout with PTSD and addiction. It was a well researched book and easy to read, though a bit unbelievable at times at the end.

Frankie McGrath is a sheltered girl raised in a wealthy California family. After getting her nursing degree and wanting to make a difference, she secretly signs up with the Army Corps to be a nurse in the Vietnam War. Kristin Hannah does a great job of telling the tragic story of war and how people banded together to get through it. As her life continues, we get a glimpse of what life after the war looks like. How do you return to real life after the horrors? She specifically focuses on how the nurses were treated as second class when they returned, even by the Vets. I was so enthralled by this tale that I read it in one day. Thanks so much for this ACR.

Kristen Hannah doesn't disappoint. This book is gripping, engaging, and another amazing historical fiction. I was saddened when the story came to an end and I was so attached to the main character that I wanted to know more about her and how she ended up. Women ARE heroes. A must-read!!!
Thank you, Net Galley and St. Martins' Press for the ARC. #KristinHannah #NetGalley