When Twilight Breaks by Sarah Sundin | Book Review
To quote Evelyn Brand, my goodness, my goodness, my goodness.
Friends, THIS BOOK! If you are looking for a book that will hook you from the start, I might have found it for you. ‘Cause I couldn’t put. it. down! Which worked out well, since this review was due a few weeks ago, but the postal service didn’t deliver this beautiful cover into my mailbox until last Friday.
I can’t believe that I have only begun reading from Sarah Sundin this year. When Twilight Breaks is one of my favorite all time stories.
Back Cover
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.
I adored so many characters in this book. Sometimes my favorites are side characters (all right, a lot of the time), but Evelyn Brand and Peter Lang were two super relatable, well-crafted, imperfect, characters with their own quirks that make me so sad to be finished reading When Twilight Breaks.
I’m pretty sure Evelyn’s middle name is adventure. Maybe not. But this gal heads straight for trouble without looking back if it gets her the story.
When Twilight Breaks is set in 1938, the year prior to World War II, and I think Sarah Sundin did a fantastic job of setting her book and plotting out this novel to reflect the difficulties leading up to the beginning of the war, which happened in September 1939. Sundin does an amazing job with her research. I would guess that she spent comparable time researching this novel to writing it. It’s just so well done.
While there are so many heavy topics and scenes in this story, Sundin breaks the tension with humor in the best ways. I just love being in one character’s point-of-view and cracking up because of the character’s way of seeing things. Especially when it’s quirky and just so Evelyn or just so Peter.
The love story was beautiful, funny, sweet . . . and suspenseful. Yes, this book has suspense on so many levels. Peter’s honor and protective nature where Evelyn was concerned was terribly sweet. And spicy, for sure. But tasteful and clean. Have I mentioned how much I loved this story?
There was adventure, suspense, mystery, history, love, faith . . . seriously, these are all my favorite things in novels and Sundin did it all with flair. And made it sweet and spice. Whoops, I said that already, didn’t I?
One thing, I wish Peter could have gotten his glasses back a lot sooner. I have since had lasik surgery, but before that my eyes were terrible. Peter clearly couldn’t have had eyes as bad as mine used to be, but goodness. I felt for him. But that certainly upped the ante in those intense scenes!
This novel had so much meat. Lots of faith elements, there were healing moments for both characters from things in their pasts, and the triumphs, and the hurdles . . . if all of Sarah Sundin’s books have characters this amazing, I just have to read more.
It’s an absolute raving 5 stars out of 5 from me. Bah! Make it 6. At least on my blog I can do that, even if I can’t on amazon.
Disclaimer: I received a copy from the publisher for my honest opinion. I realize it’s raving and glowing, but when a book is good, it’s good. I’ll be raving about this one for a long time.
You can pick up When Twilight Breaks (and you must!) on amazon.ca and amazon.com.
About the Author
Sarah Sundin is the bestselling author of several popular WWII series, including Sunrise at Normandy, Waves of Freedom, Wings of the Nightingale, and Wings of Glory. Her novels have received starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. The Sky Above Us received the Carol Award, her bestselling The Sea Before Usreceived the FHL Reader’s Choice Award, and both Through Waters Deep and When Tides Turn were named on Booklist‘s “101 Best Romance Novels of the Last 10 Years.” Sarah lives in Northern California. Visit www.sarahsundin.com for more information.
