Showing posts with label by Sarah Sundin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label by Sarah Sundin. Show all posts

Friday, February 26, 2021

"When Twilight Breaks" by Sarah Sundin

About this book:

  “Munich, 1938.
  Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent determined to prove her worth in a male-dominated profession and to expose the growing tyranny in Nazi Germany. To do so, she must walk a thin line. If she offends the government, she could be expelled from the country--or worse. If she does not report truthfully, she'll betray the oppressed and fail to wake up the folks back home.
Peter Lang is an American graduate student working on his PhD in German. Disillusioned with the chaos in the world due to the Great Depression, he is impressed with the prosperity and order of German society. But when the brutality of the regime hits close, he discovers a far better way to use his contacts within the Nazi party--to feed information to the shrewd reporter he can't get off his mind.
   As the world marches relentlessly toward war, Evelyn and Peter are on a collision course with destiny.”
 
 
Series: No, a standalone.


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned & quoted; Prayers, Thanking God, & Blessings over food; Talks about God; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; For the first part of the book, Evelyn says she loves God but doesn’t need Him for strength, only when she’s in a pinch; Church going & hymns; A Christmas service; Mentions of God & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & books of the Bible; Mentions of Christians, Jews, converting, & persecution; Mentions of churches, church going, hymns, sermons, & pastors/priests; Mentions of synagogues & rabbis; Mentions of a cross necklace; A couple mentions of sins;
             *Note: Mentions of the official German church rejecting the Old Testament and Apostle Paul while preaching about an Aryan Jesus; Mentions of a synagogue being demolished; A mention of a hairstyle like a Grecian goddess would wear.
 

Negative 
Content- Minor cussing including:  a ‘damning’, three ‘idiot’s, six ‘shut up’s, and eight ‘stupid’s; Mentions of curses (said, not written); Sarcasm & eye rolling; All about Nazis, communists, persecution, treason, pogroms, violence, fighting, weapons, deaths/murders, & concentration camps; Being held at gunpoint & threatened (up to semi-detailed); An attack, pain, fighting, killing someone (in self-defense), injuries, & blood/bleeding (semi-detailed); Recalling pain & seeing someone die (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing people being beat up & blood/bleeding (semi-detailed); Threats & Riots (semi-detailed); Lying & Deceiving for the sake of safety; Mentions of dead bodies & how they were killed (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of orders to kill Jews (including women); Mentions of executions & guillotines; Mentions of wars, fighting, & deaths; Mentions of arrests, injuries, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of beatings, injuries, pain, & watching someone be murdered (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of weapons (guns & knives); Mentions of violence, mobs, gangsters, & thugs; Mentions of prisons/jails; Mentions of Evelyn’s old boyfriends slapping her & locking her in a car trunk; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deception; Mentions of rumors; Mentions of alcohol & drunks; Mentions of cigarettes/cigars, smoking, & tobacco; A few mentions of bombs & air raids; A couple mentions of torture; A mention of divorce.
 
 
Sexual Content- a hand kiss, two nose kisses, a chin kiss, two cheek kisses, five forehead kisses, an almost kiss, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, two semi-detailed kisses, and two border-line semi-detailed // detailed kisses; Wanting to kiss & Staring at someone’s lips (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Nearness, Dancing, and Remembering all of this (semi-detailed); Sleeping next to each other (cuddling) for warmth; The Main characters have to sleep in the same room a few times; Sitting in a man’s lap (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing & Smelling (including a shirtless man’s muscles & legs, semi-detailed); A man offers Evelyn to sit in his lap (which she refuses), tries to touch her bottom with his knee, comments on her time of the month, & also fondles her bottom; Mentions of a honeymoon & the couple staying in each other’s presence; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of flirting & flirts; Mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends & dates; A few mentions of seducing a man; A few mentions of affairs & mistresses; A few mentions of crushes; *Spoiler* The main couple (after they have to get married) share a couple mentions of suggestive comments about a married couple unbuttoning or removing each other’s clothing along with a mention of a Peter taking Evelyn to bed. *End of Spoiler*; A mention of loose morals; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Mentions of women’s curves, hips, & bust lines; A few mentions of negligees; A few mentions of painting of people wearing no clothes at all or very little; A couple mentions of shirtless men; A mention of a knee to the groin; A man comments that others don’t think Evelyn is making “little Nazis” with a higher power man.
 
-Evelyn Brand, age 26
-Peter Lang, age 27
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                                Set in 1938
                                                        348 pages

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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens- 
My personal Rating-
I haven’t read many books by this author and to be frankly honest, I don’t know how many more I’ll end up reading. I found the first third not able to grab my attention, the next third interesting, and then the final third a little too kissy and suggestive. It wasn’t over the top compared to some other books I’ve read recently, but it still made me uncomfortable and I found those scenes to be unnecessary.

The main characters were fine, I suppose, but I thought Evelyn did a major switch after falling in love with Peter. Faith content was pretty decent, a bit more would have been nice, but what was there wasn’t a bad amount. It was interesting (? I don’t like using that word when it comes to brutal parts of history, but I’m at a loss for what else to call it) to see Germany just before World War II as I haven’t read much about that time. The foreign language aspects were neat and I liked seeing that, but overall this book was only okay to me.  

 
 
See y’all on Friday with a new review!


*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

"Through Waters Deep" by Sarah Sundin



About this book:

  “It is 1941 and America teeters on the brink of war. Handsome and outgoing naval officer Ensign Jim Avery escorts British convoys across the North Atlantic in a brand-new destroyer, the USS Atwood. On shore, Jim encounters Mary Stirling, a childhood friend who is now an astute and beautiful Boston Navy Yard secretary.
   When evidence of sabotage on the Atwood is discovered, Jim and Mary must work together to uncover the culprit. A bewildering maze of suspects emerges, and Mary is dismayed to find that even someone close to her is under suspicion. With the increasing pressure, Jim and Mary find that many new challenges--and dangers--await them.”


Series: Book #1 in the “Waves of Freedom” series.


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are quoted, mentioned, remembered, discussed, & talked about; Prayers & Thanking God; Church going; Hymns & Singing in a choir and a Christmas play; Talks about God, Jesus, & sin; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to God; Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of Bible reading & those and events in the Bible; Mentions of Biblical principles; Mentions of churches, church going, services, Sunday school classes, choirs, hymns, sermons, & pastors; Mentions of Christmas plays & those in it; Mentions of Jews; Mentions of sin; A few mentions of Heaven; A few mentions of Christians; A couple mentions of going to mass; A mention of being blessed.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘idiot’, a ‘pansy’, two ‘stinking’s, and nine ‘stupid’s; Many mentions of curses & cussing (said, not written); A bit of sarcasm & eye rolling; Threats; Being shot at (up to semi-detailed); A torpedo, explosion, & flames (semi-detailed); Set during a war & all about mentions of it, Nazis, fighting, & deaths (semi-detailed); Many mentions of violence, fights, sabotaging, bombs, criminals/spies, & arrests; Mentions of torpedoes, an explosion, fires, gunfire, & deaths (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of screams, blood/bleeding, & accidents that resulted in a loss of a body part (semi-detailed); Mentions of thugs, being jumped/attacked, injuries, blood, & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of past wars & fights; Mentions of jail, gasoline, & fires; Mentions of thieves & stealing; Mentions of someone addicted to pain medicine & addicts; Mentions of alcohol & drinking (Jim does drink rum at one point, but it’s for medical purposes); Mentions of tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, & smoking; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of bodies; A few mentions of threats; A couple mentions of (a rumor of) butchering babies; A couple mentions of dying from hypothermia; A couple mentions of thugs; A couple mentions of vomiting; A mention of hunting traps;
             *Note: A mention of Girl Scouts.


Sexual Content- two blown kisses, two nose kisses, two forehead kisses, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, a semi-detailed kiss, and two detailed kisses; Remembering a kiss (semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss and touch someone & be kissed (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Nearness, & Heat (semi-detailed); Noticing (semi-detailed); Mentions of kisses, kissing, & seeing others kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends, girlfriends, & breakups; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of crushes; A few mentions of a guy who cheated on his girlfriend, got another girl pregnant, and married her; A few mentions of flirting; A few mentions of Jim saying his preferred girl are bubbly blondes; A couple mentions of (a rumor of) women being ravished; A couple mentions of red-blooded men responding to a kiss; A couple mentions of a jealous lover; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: A few mentions of two-piece swimsuits & figures; A couple mentions of a girl wearing a skimpy swimsuit & doing provocative looks and poses; A mention of a girl looking like a pinup girl; A mention of girl being told not to wear a certain color because it excites men.

-Mary Stirling
-Jim Avery
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                                Set in 1941
                                                        375 pages

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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens- 
My personal Rating-
Hmmm.
…I start off too many reviews with “Hmmm”, don’t I?
Hmmm…
To be honest (as I always am in these reviews), I’m torn about my feelings on this one. Let’s do bullet points, since those help list things out well. :)
Positives: 
- Mary! I adored her. I felt like I really related to Mary in many ways. Her personality just clicked with mine well. She’s also a big Nancy Drew fan, so that was cute.
- Okay, technically still about Mary, but I loved seeing her faith and what she struggles with. I do have to point out that I’d like her to teach all the other war-time heroines I’ve read about, about faith and trust when it comes to their man being sent away. This girl had it right. *claps*
- The mystery. I thought it was really interesting even though I definitely had a hard time following who was who, it kept me fascinated in the plot.
- Jim’s big family. Kind of silly, but I like it when authors add a good family dynamic and relationships to their stories.
Not-So-Positives:
(These points affect the rating, so they’re technically worth more than “one bullet point” each.)
- His feelings came way too quick for my tastes. He was a bit too physically interested (noticing her curves) in Mary after that. (He noticed her “shapely calves” while in church…while she’s wearing a choir robe. Lord help me.)
- About halfway, Mary started noticing his nearness and there were some awkward times for this reader.
- The kisses and the desires Jim had to kiss her.
- Some of the war fighting and accidents got a bit too much at times in the details.
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So, this was my second book by this author. Like that first one, while I liked the Spiritual Content, I was disappointed by other content. I think I might still finish both of the series I’ve started by her, but I have a feeling they all will be quite romancey which I find unfortunate.


See y’all on Friday with a new review!


*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.