End of Summer Bash: Welcome Sarah Sundin!

Sarah Sundin is no stranger here, as I had the pleasure of hosting her back in March for a Monday for the Military feature. Sarah is such a great person, and a great author, as well! It's wonderful to have her back with us to celebrate the end of one season and the beginning of another!

Amber: Thank you so much for joining us today!

Could you share with us one of your favorite memories from this past summer?

Sarah: How appropriate—I’m doing this interview on the plane home from two weeks in southern France and Italy! In addition to seeing the usual tourist sites, I got to research my next World War II series. And my children consented! I got sand in my shoes from the landing beaches at Salerno, strolled through Greek ruins at Paestum where an evacuation hospital was based, watched my kids frolic in the surf at Anzio, and got surprisingly close to the Istres airfield near Marseilles—which is an active French military base. I took lots of notes, pictures, and video.

Amber: Gotta love when you can combine work and play in such a grand way! ;)

If you could choose one of the characters from your latest novel to join you for an “end-of-summer” party, who would you want to celebrate with in person and where would you go?

Sarah: Just one? I’d really like to have a back yard barbecue with the three Novak brothers and the women they love. They’re a lot of fun when they’re all together, and I’d just serve up food and listen to them interact. And they deserve a relaxing evening after what I put them through!

Amber: Sounds like a good time! (And yes, I'm sure some relaxation is in order!)

Please tell us more about your latest release. If you could share a scene from the book to whet our appetites, that would be fabulous!

Sarah: Blue Skies Tomorrow is the third book in the Wings of Glory series, which follows the three Novak brothers, B-17 bomber pilots with the US Eighth Air Force stationed in England during World War II. Each book stands alone.

"Lt. Raymond Novak prefers the pulpit to the cockpit, but at least his stateside job training B-17 pilots allows him the luxury of a personal life. As he courts Helen Carlisle, a young war widow and mother who conceals her pain under a frenzy of volunteer work, the sparks of their romance set a fire that flings them both into peril. After Ray leaves to fly a combat mission at the peak of the air war over Europe, Helen takes a job in a dangerous munitions yard and confronts an even graver menace in her own home. Will they find the courage to face their challenges? And can their young love survive until blue skies return?"

As for a scene, how about the first page…?

~ Excerpt from Blue Skies Tomorrow ~

Helen Carlisle strolled up G Street, careful to keep a pained expression. Some days the performance of grief was easier than others, but it was always necessary for her son’s sake.
She shifted two-year-old Jay-Jay higher on her hip and inhaled the Delta breeze, flowing fresh from the San Francisco Bay into the Sacramento River Delta, rain-scrubbed and scented by new grass on the hills.

With a bump of her hip, Helen opened the door of Della’s Dress Shop and set her notebooks on the table by the door.

From a picture frame on the table, Jim Carlisle smiled up at her—long, lean, and handsome in his Navy blues. The hometown hero. Was he wearing that uniform when a Japanese torpedo slammed into his destroyer off Guadalcanal?

She pressed her fingers to her lips and then to the cold glass over Jim’s cold face. But a scan of the shop revealed no sign of her in-laws. Footsteps came from the back room and the curtain swished open, so Helen repeated the performance, laid another kiss on the portrait, and lifted it for her son. “Give Daddy a kiss.”

Jay-Jay mashed his palm over his mouth, making a crunching sound, and passed the kiss to the father he couldn’t remember.

A crunching sound? Jay-Jay’s cheeks stretched rounder than usual. “Sweetie, what do you have in your mouth?”

He shook his blond curls, his mouth clamped shut.

“Let Mama see.” Helen dropped to her knees, pinned the boy on her lap, and pried open his mouth. He howled and flapped his arms at her.

“Please, sweetie?” Nausea billowed through her. Chunks of slimy gray shell lay in her son’s mouth. She’d set him down for a minute, only a minute while she hung the thermometer poster in the window of the Red Cross Branch Office to monitor the War Fund Campaign.

~ End of Excerpt ~

Amber: I recently started the book, and I can't wait to find out more!! (Readers, be looking for my review later this week!)

What do you look forward to most about the coming autumn season?

Sarah: Autumn’s my favorite season. I love the stores full of school supplies. I love the crisp weather and the colors—we get a bit of that in northern California! I love college football and rooting for my Alma Mater. (Go Bruins!) And I love sending my children away to school and dancing in the silent house. The only thing I don’t like so much is sending my oldest son away to college. But hey, he’s going to UCLA, so that makes it a bit easier. (Go Bruins!)

Amber: Autumn sure is a great season! Thank you for reminding us that we have a lot to look forward to in the coming months. (Although I understand what you mean about the sadness of college farewells...) So glad you could visit with us today!

Readers, Sarah has generously set aside a book for one of you! So if you would like a chance to win a copy of Blue Skies Tomorrow, just leave a comment with your e-mail address. All winners this week will be announced on Saturday, August 27th.

*This drawing is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only.*

Tomorrow's guest is Laura Frantz, so I hope you'll join us again tomorrow for another great interview and giveaway!