Saturday, August 27, 2011

Winners and My Review of Blue Skies Tomorrow

First of all, let me say a huge "thank you" to the wonderful authors who let me host them here for the "End of Summer Bash"!! And thank you to all of my readers (and new friends) who stopped by to chat with the authors and enter the drawings!!

Without further ado, here are the winners:
  • Melissa won her choice of one of Julie Lessman's books!
  • Michelle Chapman won a copy of Blue Skies Tomorrow!
  • Wendy won a copy of The Colonel's Lady!
  • Renee Ann won a copy of Out of Control!
  • Renee C. won a copy of Plain Fear: Forsaken!
  • Anonymous (chellb) won a copy of Surrender the Dawn!
Congratulations to all of the winners! Be looking for my e-mail, and please respond by Wednesday (August 31st) or another winner will be announced. And thank you again to all the authors for these great giveaways!

And now I have the pleasure of sharing my thoughts on Blue Skies Tomorrow by Sarah Sundin (our guest this past Monday) as part of the Revell Blog Tour!

Here's a description of the book from Revell:

"In a time of peril, can they find the courage to confront their fears and embrace a love that lasts?

When her husband becomes a casualty of the war in the Pacific, Helen Carlisle throws herself into volunteering for the war effort to conceal her feelings. But keeping up appearances as the grieving widow of a hometown hero is taking its toll. Soon something is going to give.

Lt. Raymond Novak prefers the pulpit to the cockpit. His stateside job training B-17 pilots allows him the luxury of a personal life--and a convenient excuse to ignore his deepest fear. When the beautiful Helen catches his eye and captures his heart, he is determined to win her hand.

But when Ray and Helen are called upon to step out in faith and put their reputations and their lives on the line, can they meet the challenges that face them? And can their young love survive until blue skies return?

Filled with drama, daring, and all the romance of the WWII era, Blue Skies Tomorrow is the captivating final book in the popular Wings of Glory series."

My Rating: Summer

My Review:

With A Memory Between Us (the second book in the "Wings of Glory" series) Sarah Sundin caught my attention as a talented author who can take broken characters and compose a beautiful, heart-breaking, fascinating story. Blue Skies Tomorrow continues this legacy with great writing, great characters, and great research.

With danger at every turn - either to someone's heart or life - this book captured my interest and kept it happily ensnared until the very end. Helen and Ray grow so much throughout the novel, and it's both difficult and wonderful to join them in their journey. There is a lot of suffering, but because of that suffering there is a call to be courageous and claim life.

I love Sundin's imagery throughout this story, including her theme of dragon-slaying. This is such a well-written book with a sweet romance and a strong message of hope and bravery in all hardships through the Lord. For engaging WWII fiction, look no farther than Blue Skies Tomorrow!

*With thanks to Revell Publishing for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.*

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

14 comments:

Kav said...

Congratulations to the winners. Great end of summer bash, Amber. And thanks for the review. I've yet to read a Sundin book but you've convinced me that I need to remedy that!

Elyssa said...

Congratulations to all of the winners! Amber, I love reading your blog (even though I don't comment on it all that often... my bad!), and enjoyed your review of Blue Skies Tomorrow! I have a copy on its way to me right now, and I'm so excited to read it! I'm a huge fan of Sarah's, so I'm glad to hear it's a great read. =)

God bless!

P.S.
Feel free to stop by my blog that I just started! I'd love to see you there. =)

Amber Holcomb said...

Kav,

Thank you! So glad you enjoyed the week - and this review! :) I think you would love Sundin's work, Kav!!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Elyssa,

You are so sweet! :) I love getting comments from readers, but please don't feel bad if you don't comment frequently - I know we all keep busy! It means so much to me that you stopped by today to share your thoughts on my blog and my review, so thank you!!

If you're a fan of Sundin's work, I think there's no question you'll love her latest release! :)

Also, I'd love to check out your new blog! :) Just let me know where I can find it, and I'll plan on stopping in soon!

~Amber

Catherine West said...

Hey Amber! I have just awarded you The Liebster Award! Stop by my blog for the details!

Elyssa said...

Amber, thanks for the kind words! I'm feeling much better about being a "silent follower"... lol!

And I'm really looking forward to reading Sarah's latest book! =)

here's the link to my blog:

http://youaremore92.blogspot.com/

Michelle said...

Wonderful review, Amber! And thank you for hosting a great "bash" this week! You always do such an awesome job with your interviews, giveaways, and inspirational posts. : )

Congrats to the winners!!

Blessings,
Michelle

:::waving hi to my friend, Elyssa!:::

Amber Holcomb said...

Catherine,

Aww, thank you! :D

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Elyssa,

Hahaha, no problem! ;) It makes me happy to think that there are "silent followers" out there who still enjoy my blog. :)

I'm now a follower of your blog, as well!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Michelle,

Thank you so much, and you're welcome! :) I really appreciate your kind and encouraging words!

~Amber

Sarah Sundin said...

Amber - thank you so much for the lovely review. I'm so glad you enjoyed Ray & Helen's story. I had great fun watching the dragon-slaying theme develop, especially since my youngest son (13) is majorly into dragons. When he finished reading BST, he came up to me with a big grin and said, "Did you put in the dragons just for me?" Well, no, I put them in for Ray, but my son's dragon-love sure helped feed the (pardon the pun) flames.

Elyssa - Hi there! I'm heading to the post office tomorrow! And congrats on your new blog. I'm following too :)

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

Wow thanks so much Amber for the awesome party! I'm SO excited to read Leanna's book, I'm sure it's going to be awesome!!!! THANK YOU!

XOXO~ Renee

Amber Holcomb said...

Sarah,

You're very welcome! I really enjoyed the book - I love your work! :)

And how fun about your son and the dragon-slaying theme! I just read a book recently that included dragons (Heartless), and it was very good, different, and powerful. :)

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Renee,

Aww, you're welcome! I think you'll love Leanna's book, and I'm glad you have the chance to read it! :)

~Amber