The Sea Before Us by Sarah Sundin | Re:View

Yet another stunning novel by Sarah Sundin! The Sea Before Us was everything I hoped for and more. Sarah managed to weave a sweet romance between the bitterness of war and the disillusionment of misplaced expectations. With a prologue that will reel you in and many unanswered questions about the Fairfax family, this story of forgiveness, both human and Devine, as well as characters riddled with flaws and brimming with honesty and potential, will hold you captive until the end.


As we follow the stories of American naval officer Lt. Wyatt Paxton and "Wren" (Women's Royal Naval Service) officer Dorothy Fairfax, the picture of London before D-day becomes clear and vivid. Wyatt, a Texas boy at heart, finds himself working in London preparing for the "big day" alongside Dorothy who has eyes only for a handsome officer she's known since childhood.

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Tensions rise, both on the war field and off, but the thing I loved the most about this story was the realness of Sarah's characters. It's not easy to create believable issues (both past and present) without things becoming too heavy to bear or too fake to trust. Sarah uses her characters to point out fundamental truths of the heart as much as she shows the raw and honest struggle with forgiveness.

I flew through this book not only due to the easy style of Sarah's writing (something I've always admired about her books) but because the plot was well paced and the character struggles easy to believe. The setting only enhanced the experience and left me feeling like I'd walked out of my own personal experience of WWII.

Highly recommended to those who love Christian historical fiction, sweet romance, and fans of all things WWII. You will find this book chocked full of realistic detail and a sense of the time period that will transport you back in time to a lesser known aspect of D-day.

I'm already looking forward to book 2!

My rating: 5*
Purchase: The Sea Before Us (Sunrise at Normandy, Book 1)

Book Description
(from Amazon)

In 1944, American naval officer Lt. Wyatt Paxton arrives in London to prepare for the Allied invasion of France. He works closely with Dorothy Fairfax, a "Wren" in the Women's Royal Naval Service. Dorothy pieces together reconnaissance photographs with thousands of holiday snapshots of France--including those of her own family's summer home--in order to create accurate maps of Normandy. Maps that Wyatt will turn into naval bombardment plans.

As the two spend concentrated time together in the pressure cooker of war, their deepening friendship threatens to turn to love. Dorothy must resist its pull. Her bereaved father depends on her, and her heart already belongs to another man. Wyatt too has much to lose. The closer he gets to Dorothy, the more he fears his efforts to win the war will destroy everything she has ever loved.

The tense days leading up to the monumental D-Day landing blaze to life under Sarah Sundin's practiced pen with this powerful new series.

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I received this book for free but was under no obligation to post a review. I do so under my own motivation and the opinions I have expressed in this review are honest and entirely my own.