A Wing and a Prayer:

The action, suspense and emotions that surround the bomber crew of the Full House and the Eighth Air Force doesn’t let up in this fourth book of the series. Cheryl continues to create the feeling that we are there with these brave WWII bomber crews. The vivid descriptions of combat and the emotions that go with it are riveting. It is hard to remember that the average age of a crew member was under 24 years of age, and that the average life expectancy of a B-17 bomber crew was no more than six missions. And yet, knowing this, these brave young men flew daylight missions, knowing that the odds were against them, but they knew what their duty was, and they did it. Readers come to love these characters and root for their survival.
BOOK REVIEW: A WING AND A PRAYER is the fourth book in Cheryl Pula's Eighth Air Force Series and I found it just as enjoyable as previous three volumes. For those unfamiliar with the series, Pula's focus is on the very real and very young American heroes of the Eighth Air Force, 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy) based at Bassingbourn England.

While the English pulled off night time bombing during WWII, Pula's series looks at the Americans who flew the iconic B-17 Heavy Bombers on regular suicidal DAYLIGHT bombing missions right into the heart of Axis territory during WWII. Missions where the odds were often doubtful that the men would ever make it back home. Yes, they often dealt the Germans a good shellacking but always at a deadly cost. Pula did YEARS of thorough research and was fortunate enough to be able to interview surviving airmen who performed those amazing missions on the B-17s so long ago. Yes. Pula's characters may be fictional but the missions and what happened most certainly AREN'T.

Book Four of Pula's series continues the lives and missions of the airmen of the B-17, "Full House". She keeps with the tradition of her earlier books by resolving the previous volume's cliffhanger. A WING AND A PRAYER picks up the action in September 1943 as First Lieutenant Matthew Moore, the half Native-American co-pilot of the B-17 bomber , "Full House" struggles in a US Military Hospital in London to recover from near fatal wounds he suffered in July while on a deadly mission bombing ordnance factories in Ocherslaben, Germany.

The early part of this book details Matt's battle to recover from wounds he feared would cripple him. His commander and best friend on FULL HOUSE, Major Jack Harrington, manages to rebuild his crew and get his plane air worthy again. As expected, the war continues and the death toll climbs. Does Matt recover? Who gets to command a new crew and a new B-17 called SECOND CHANCE? Read this book and find out!

While Pula begins her books by resolving a cliffhanger, she also ends the books with a cliffhanger as the FULL HOUSE endures a brutal mission and tries to return home with its tail section nearly blown off. Yes, the crew makes it home but it's a fantastic piece of battle writing and it's all TRUE as such an incident really did happen to a B-17. The book ends with FULL HOUSE's young bombardier, Jesse Nowakowski, a Medal of Honor recipient, trying to save a child while the Germans bomb London. Yes, I plan to start reading book five soon!

The heroes who flew bombing missions on B-17s have been a neglected part of WWII history and Pula does a fine job saluting the brave men who were there. While I found the battle sequences gripping and I've learned more about B-17s in these four books than I ever thought possible, the romantic/dramatic portions come across as a little "forced" hence my four star only rating. This is still a great book and I recommend it to all looking for a good piece of historical fiction. Check it out!
By Dennis
First, my apologies for the delay in posting a review of this fine book...it was a combination of laziness and being really busy. However, as it is a new year, I wanted to start it off by catching up on my book reviewing, so here goes: