The Sea Before Us By Sarah Sundin

Most of us, in one way or another, have heard of D-Day.

Wyatt Paxton and Dorothy Fairfax are living it.

Wyatt is running from his past. Or rather, trying to earn enough money to go back to it. To make right the things he wronged in the name of protection.

Dorothy is trying to catch her future. A future away from her distant father. A future she believes lies in Lawrence Eaton, if she can only catch his eye.

All while trying to prepare for one of the most influential battles of the Second World War.

The emotion Sarah Sundin packed into this story is incredible. Wyatt's guilt, and the feeling that he has to measure up, especially as an oldest. Dorothy, trying to measure up to her father, to Lawrence, to anyone who might love her. Even though Dorothy can be a bit on the naive side, I could still find myself resonating with the reasons why, even if I wanted to shake some sense into her from time to time.

I loved learning more about the WRENS, the women of England who banded together to help plan for D-Day. I knew nothing of them before reading this book. They were an intriguing addition.

Sarah Sundin also uses symbolism and metaphors well to pack that emotion in there and paint vivid images. All of it tunnels up to strong Christian messages sown throughout the book.

She is also quite knowledgeable on her topic. While very accurate, from time to time, I got a little lost in the battle maneuvers, technology, terminology, and such. She would tell me they were moving into position x, but I would still be at a loss as to why that was important. Likely after a couple more times of reading it, I will get a clearer picture, but a little more description or explanation would have been helpful. (Believe it or not, I was not in Normandy on D-Day.) However, it doesn't diminish the plot.

The conclusion? The Sea Before Us is certainly worth diving into.