I was really excited to read Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman as I love historical fiction, especially with female main characters. Ackerman starts readers out on a beautiful Hawaiian beach where Daisy Wilder is digging her toes in the sand moments before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. What follows is a beautifully written story of friendship, family, and love, as Daisy joins the Women’s Air Raid Defense (W.A.R.D.) team guiding the US flyboys to safety.

Ackerman’s loveable characters lure you into new friendships and the bonds created during that difficult time. The romance involves not only the main characters but also those looking for love and those trying to maintain their love during time of war. It’s all told with a splash of nail-biting excitement as the women work to protect the Hawaiian Islands.

Although I really liked this book, I did feel that the title is a little misleading. I felt like the W.A.R.D was nothing more than the backdrop for a story about love and friendship. I would have liked to see a greater tribute to these amazing women. One thing I did find difficult was the use of Hawaiian words that I was not familiar with. I wish there was a little more context provided to help us mainlanders. ( )

Daisy has been working at the Montgomery farm. When she takes Moon out for a ride, he bolts when a dogfight breaks out over him. Mr. Montgomery blames Daisy for theft and fires her. As she is leaving the farm, General Danielson is there looking for women to help the work effort by working as radar watchers and bringing in pilots as the men are sent to war. Although Daisy does not believe she has the aptitude for it, she agrees to do it. The women are taught how to do the work and told not to tell anyone what they do. As the war in the Pacific heats up, the women are relied on to bring the pilots home and help guides pilots and boats to rescue those shot down. Daisy also falls in love with Walker Montgomery, her ex-employer's son. Can anything come of it? Will they ever find Moon?

I loved this story. I had never heard of WARD, so I learned something new. I liked the characters a lot. There were a few that were jerks but, on the whole, these were hard working people who wanted to win the work. There is heartbreak. There is humor. There is learning about the past so you can move onto the future. There is love and friendship. Everything I want in a novel was there including romance.

The story was good. It was easy enough to understand what the women did and how they learned it as well as the different jobs there were in the radar corps. I appreciate that the book Ms. Ackerman used was referenced so I can get it and read it. I like WWII stories and how the people lived day by day--from dealing with worry over their soldiers being overseas, dealing with rationing, worrying about attacks on their homes.

I look forward to reading more of this author. She's good. ( )

Daisy Wilder loves horses and is an exceptional trainer, like her father. But when Pearl Harbor is bombed, Daisy leaves the male-dominated pastures of Oahu to do her part by joining the island's newly created WARD (Women's Air Raid Defense) program. She finds herself living and working in close quarters with women from all walks of life in stressful situations. The WARDs are trained to use one of the newest technologies of the war, radar, to act as a warning system in the event of another invasion and to guide pilots when they are in trouble or flying blind. Daisy is determined to succeed for reasons both patriotic and personal.

I like reading about WWII and I knew little about the WARDs, so I was looking forward to this novel. It was a little light for my taste, but it's not badly written; more entertaining than enlightening. ( )

I listened to this on audio which for me made the romantic parts a little queasy. I wanted to read about the women taking over the newly developed radar system after Pearl Harbor was bombed which I found fascinating but I didn't know the is more of a romance novel. If you're a fan then you will definitely love it! ( )

This takes place in Hawaii, in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Twenty-three year old Daisy Wilder has just lost one of her employer’s horses -- and thus, lost her job -- when she’s recruited to join the Women’s Air Raid Defence.

This isn’t as harrowing as the WWII fiction of Kate Quinn, whose recommendation adorns the cover, and while I certainly don’t want everything I read to be harrowing, I do think a more poignant, less tidy, ending could have been more powerful. But even though this isn’t in the running for Favourite Book of the Year, I enjoyed it a lot! It was so interesting to read about wartime Hawaii (actually, it was interesting just to read a book set in Hawaii, full stop) and about Daisy’s experiences as a WARD. I liked seeing Daisy develop supportive friendships, and I particularly liked how her knowledge of horses influences her perspective in other situations -- that made being a horse girl something that’s unique, rather than generic, about Daisy.

Her father had taught her at a young age to pay attention not only to a horse's eyes, but postures and gestures and subtle cues they sent off. Humans were no different from horses. In that respect at least. She imagined herself in a room full of horses. Nixon would be the stallion with twitchy ears and tension around his eyes while Dunn would be the one flehmening and sniffing for pheromones. The girls would all be in various states of relaxation, with some, like Thelma, having their heads high and ears turned back, keenly listening in on others’ conversations. ( )