"The Sea Before Us" by Sarah Sundin

It's a great day when I can open up a new Sarah Sundin book! For some reason, though, I'm always a bit nervous when her new book is the first in a series—maybe because I've loved her previous series so much that I'm afraid the new one won't measure up. Well, that's not a problem with her new Sunrise at Normandy series—I absolutely loved The Sea Before Us!

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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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Compelling romance mixed with captivating history: that's what you know you'll get with a Sarah Sundin book, and The Sea Before Us is no exception!

This is one of those books that I loved and I hated, all at the same time. Let me explain 🙂. I loved the characters, especially Wyatt and Dorothy, yet I hated some of the decisions they made. But it's because I was so invested in these characters that I had such strong reactions to their decisions! (Especially with Dorothy. Oh, how I wanted to shake some sense into her for probably 3/4 of the novel!)

I absolutely flew through the pages as the story developed, and I loved the conclusion—one that I didn't anticipate but that was absolute perfection.

Each book in this series will look at D-Day from a different perspective. The Sea Before Us focuses on the Navy's Operation Neptune, which I knew nothing about previously and found so incredibly interesting. The coming books will be about Wyatt's brothers—one in the Air Force and the other an Army Ranger. The prologue in The Sea Before Us, which features the three brothers, compellingly sets up the entire series, and I can't wait to read the other Paxtons' stories! 5 stars.

Buy the book.
Read my reviews of Sundin's Waves of Freedom novels Anchor in the Storm (5 stars), Through Waters Deep (5 stars), and When Tides Turn (5 stars); her Wings of the Nightingale series With Every Letter (5 stars), On Distant Shores (5 stars), In Perfect Time (5 stars); and her Wings of Glory book Blue Skies Tomorrow (5 stars).

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Sarah Sundin is the author of the Waves of Freedom, the Wings of the Nightingale, and the Wings of Glory series. A graduate of UC San Francisco School of Pharmacy, she works on call as a hospital pharmacist. During WWII, her grandfather served as a pharmacist's mate (medic) in the Navy and her great-uncle flew with the US Eighth Air Force. Sarah lives in California.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell through the Revell Reads program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."