Allies by Alan Gratz

From Goodreads,

"Alan Gratz, the bestselling author of Refugee, weaves a stunning array of voices and stories into an epic tale of teamwork in the face of tyranny -- and how just one day can change the world.
June 6, 1944: The Nazis are terrorizing Europe, on their evil quest to conquer the world. The only way to stop them? The biggest, most top-secret operation ever, with the Allied nations coming together to storm German-occupied France.

Welcome to D-Day.

Dee, a young U.S. soldier, is on a boat racing toward the French coast. And Dee -- along with his brothers-in-arms -- is terrified. He feels the weight of World War II on his shoulders.

But Dee is not alone. Behind enemy lines in France, a girl named Samira works as a spy, trying to sabotage the German army. Meanwhile, paratrooper James leaps from his plane to join a daring midnight raid. And in the thick of battle, Henry, a medic, searches for lives to save.

In a breathtaking race against time, they all must fight to complete their high-stakes missions. But with betrayals and deadly risks at every turn, can the Allies do what it takes to win?"

Goodreads - Allies

War stories have always fascinated me to some extent because I am from a military family with my brother, my dad, and my grandfather all having served.  My paternal grandparents have a very interesting story considering during WWII my grandfather was fighting for the Allies, while my grandmother was born and living in Nazi Germany.  They met and the rest is pretty much history.  I have been told by my grandmother that my grandfather stormed the beaches on D-Day.  While I don't know the truth in this (I am searching historical records to try to find out), this book definitely felt like a personal connection nonetheless. 

Allies is the story of D-Day told from various perspectives.  The stories vary from young boys seeing war for the first time to paratroopers being dropped in the middle of nowhere to a girl who was just trying to get her bathing suit off of the beach.  The stories are pieced together to give a complete view of D-Day.

I sat down and tore through this book as quickly as I could.  I started it a few minutes after midnight and read until 3:30 in the morning.  I forced myself to go to sleep and ended up waking up at 8:00 the next morning and finished reading it.  This book was absolutely amazing.  I loved the different perspectives from D-Day and feeling their pain and struggles on that day.  I also loved the history and time that went into making this book.  Most of this I already knew just from being in school and coming from a military family.  However, I was really intrigued by the If Day that James spoke about in his section of the book.   I thought it was the strangest thing to include in this book until I stopped and researched it.  I had no idea that in Winnipeg, Manitoba there was a thing called If Day where the entire town basically pretended that they were under Nazi regime.  The entire thing was to bring awareness to the war and to encourage people to purchase Victory Bonds.  While I was researching this my boyfriend came in to share something with me.  I told him about If Day and even he had no knowledge of it.  This book was packed with information and it was pieced together in a way that kept the story action-packed and interesting. 

The only things I didn't like were that I didn't feel Samira and James got a fair share of their story.  Samira's story was at the beginning and she was never mentioned again until the very end of the book.  James had his story, but I don't recall him being present in the final chapters when everyone was in Bayeux.  I will say that Gratz did write a short story for Samira and it was published through Scholastic.  I was able to get copies for all of my students.  I have yet to read it but I plan to drop a review once I finish.  I'm hoping that Samira's story will be filled in and completed. 

This book was absolutely amazing.  It was packed with adventure and suspense.  I literally could not put it down.  I give this an easy 5 stars.  Anyone interested in WWII books or books about D-Day will absolutely love this.