Revell blog tour stop for Blue Skies Tomorrow by Sarah Sundin with bonus review!

War Widow Fights 

The Past, 

American Pilot Fights For The Future

Award-Winning Author Delivers an 

emotion-packed, gripping tale of

 war, intrigue, and love

The country is still at war in Blue Skies Tomorrow (ISBN: 978-0-8007-3423-7, $14.99, 448 pages, August 2011) by award-winning author Sarah Sundin.

It is 1944 and America longs for the war to be over so their boys can come home. This war has taken too many lives and made too many widows, orphans, and broken hearts. However, the homeland continues to pull together and buy bonds to support the troops, and Helen Carlisle has become the town’s war widow heroine. Doing her part with her son, she faithfully appears at community events asking people to support the troops. But deep down she is troubled. How much longer can she do this? Is she living a lie? Was her dead husband a hero? How can she live with the past?  

Lt. Ray Novak prefers to follow his calling into ministry rather than the cockpit. But his current position offers him the luxury of a personal life since he is stateside training B-17 pilots. His interest in Helen, the young war widow, grows, but he knows she is hiding a painful past under a frenzy of volunteer work. Ray is called to fly a European combat mission at the peak of the air war. Their romance is tense because Helen is afraid, but Ray cannot help because he is in Europe. As Helen tries to make ends meet and confronts the past, Ray encounters a deadly enemy of his own. Will they find the courage to face their challenges? Will the truth come out? Will hope and redemption ring true for Helen? 

My review:


Sarah Sundin wraps up a fantastic series with this awesome third book. I remembered some things mentioned in the previous books when the major incident with Ray came down to the wire. I love how the author overlapped the three novels that way. That's not easy to do well, but this author makes it seamless. The setting is also well done from both stateside and Europe. I felt like I was there with them, especially the scenes where there was some flying. I was worried every time they were in the air fighting those missions!


I adored the hero, Ray, and loved his heart for God. I especially loved his heart for Helen. They had some serious chemistry going on there and their interaction was quite potent at times. I loved how Ray had to resist temptation and how needy Helen was because of her past abuse. She was operating out of fear and her desperation was totally believable. I was impressed with the way that Sarah wrote about the domestic violence that Helen had contended with and the subtle message about her having to "fake" so many things to keep the dirty little secret about her deceased husband. That was very well done as was the way the various abused women in the story acted. Most authors don't get so real with the painful truth, but Sundin doesn't hold back, making this book a favorite of mine. 


Helen was a sweetheart, too. She, like so many abused women, believed that she somehow deserved it. The abuse is a pathology of sorts and part of the sickness is getting the victims to believe they earned the abuse by being flawed. What Helen had gone through was horrible, but I've met many, many women who were abused in a similar fashion so it was very realistic. Her internal growth throughout the story was uplifting and I sensed her growing stronger as she experienced each  victory, no matter how small. I also loved how she wanted to protect her son and all of the ramifications that her tolerating the way she was treated by Jay Jay's grandparents played out. She had choices to make and they all came with consequences.


Honestly, I loved all three books in this series, so they were all special to me for different reasons. It was cool how each brother had a major character flaw that interfered with their spiritual lives and their relationships, and how they essentially killed any future happiness the brothers would have in marriage until their flaws were dealt with. It's awesome how God knows exactly what circumstances we need to find ourselves in so that we'll learn and grow despite the hardships that come our way. It wouldn't be loving for God to allow us to stay the way we are, so He guides things in our lives that cause us to deal with our weaknesses one way or the other. By not doing anything to change we're aren't helping ourselves or the ones we love. 


I really loved how the author showed how each character needed to overcome their spiritual obstacles with God and not expect other people to pull them through. In the end it's just us and God, right? Bottom line was this book was well-written, spiritually uplifting, emotionally gripping, and something I could totally related to. I think it will help women who see themselves in Helen's character and will hopefully compel them to do something to change their situation. I highly recommend this story!


Blue Skies Tomorrow was published by Revell and released in August 2011. A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for this tour. The opinion expressed above is entirely my own. 

Sarah Sundin received the 2011 Writer of the Year Award from the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, and her second novel, A Memory Between Us, is a finalist for an Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award.  She is the author of A Distant Melody and A Memory Between Us. Her great-uncle flew with the US Eighth Air Force in England during WWII. Sarah lives in California with her husband and three children. For more interesting information about Sarah visit: sarahsundin.com

Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, offers practical books that bring the Christian faith to everyday life.  They publish resources from a variety of well-known brands and authors, including their partnership with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Hungry Planet.


“Available August 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”