When Tides Turn --- Book Review

It's been a while since I did a book review on here, so lets remedy that! ;) This is my new favorite book, and my review might be a bit long. You've been warned.

Synopsis:

The last thing naval officer Dan Avery wants to see on his radar is glamour girl Quintessa Beaumont—even if she has joined the WAVES.

When fun-loving glamour girl Quintessa Beaumont learns the Navy has established the WAVES program for women, she enlists, determined to throw off her frivolous ways and contribute to the war effort. No-nonsense and hoping to make admiral, Lt. Dan Avery has been using his skills to fight German U-boats. The last thing he wants to see on his radar is a girl like Tess.

 For her part, Tess works hard to prove her worth in the Anti-Submarine Warfare Unit in Boston—both to her commanding officers and to the man with whom she is smitten. When Dan is assigned to a new escort carrier at the peak of the Battle of the Atlantic, he’s torn between his lifelong career goals and his desire to help Tess root out a possible spy on shore. The Germans put up quite a fight, but he wages a deeper battle within his heart. Could Tess be the one for him?

My Review: 5 Stars

Okay, full review. And I'm just going to point out at the beginning that while I'm doing my best to keep this review to a moderate length . . . that may not actually work. xD

Well, Mrs. Sundin has done it again. And this is by far my favorite of ALL her books! (Followed closely, of course, by "Blue Skies Tomorrow" ;)) Since I could ramble on and on about it, I'm gonna focus my review on three different areas. Characters, Content, and historical info. 

So, characters. Dan is, by far, one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. And yes, while I understand this may sound a bit weird, I related to him so well. The things he struggled with, the way he looked at life, his being the oldest brother in the family . . . I related to him more than I have any fictional character in a long while. I always appreciate the the depth there is in Sarah Sundin's characters, and he was no exception. He had real life struggles, and I learned a lot and was encouraged in my walk with Christ by reading his story. 

Tess was awesome, too! She's quite a bit different than Dan, but I loved the energy and enthusiasm she added to the story. Her struggles and flaws were also so, so real. I love how Mrs. Sundin deals with some difficult issues in life, instead of skirting around them like so many christian fiction authors do.

The supporting characters were, as always, spectacular. But I'll refrain from further comment on them. ;) 

The content was very light! There was no swearing, cursing, or excessive violence of any kind. As for romance, there were two kisses at the end, and a wedding . . . but other than that, there really wasn't much at all. I think this actually was quite a bit lighter on the romance than her other books, and I really enjoyed and appreciated that!

Historical info was fascinating! I've never studied much about the Navy in the Atlantic, so this was a fresh look at a whole new part of the war for me. I loved reading about all the equipment, ships, planes, etc. Also, reading about the Battle of the Atlantic and the first U-boat sinking by the Americans was really interesting!

Sooo, yeah. I loved the book. can you tell? ;P This is the first book in a while that I've actually not found anything I disliked in . . . the writing style fit, the history was astounding, and the spiritual message extremely relevant.

5 out of 5 stars!

*I received a free copy from Revell in exchange for my honest review*