Just Read: Waves of Freedom Series by Sarah Sundin

I don’t often come out of my nineteenth century bubble when reading historical fiction, but Through Waters Deep had been recommended to me by someone on Goodreads, so I thought I’d give it a try. The next thing I knew, I was scrambling to get my hands on the next two books in the series. And it was well worth it.

Through Waters Deep is set shortly before America’s involvement in WWII. Mary Stirling and Jim Avery went to high school together in Vermillion, Ohio, but now Mary works at the Boston Navy Yard, and Jim is a Navy officer. The two reunite unexpectedly and renew their friendship. As their friendship deepens, a saboteur strikes at the shipyard, and tensions run high as people begin pointing fingers. The mystery deepens when Jim’s ship is in danger, and Mary begins investigating.

The mystery has a resolution I wasn’t expecting, although when I thought back, I saw the hints Sundin had dropped throughout the book. The romance was sweet, although at some moments I began getting a bit frustrated. Jim let things pass him by without taking action, and Mary played a martyr at one point, which I found annoying. I felt like if they were both just honest, the whole mess could’ve been avoided. However, I admit that people in real life rarely take the simple route, and I think the fact that I wanted to shake Jim and Mary before it was all over showed just how well Sundin characterizes them and made them real to me.

Anchors in the Storm features Jim’s best friend Arch Vandeburg and Jim’s sister, Lillian Avery. These were yet two more characters I wanted to shake several times before the novel was even over. Then again, Arch’s flaws were revealed in the first book. He has this obsession about his wealth, but instead of loving it and lording it over people, he despises it and expects others to despise it, too. Once again, I felt like the conflict between Arch and Lillian could have been avoided if they had just had an honest discussion, but once again, I must admit that Sundin’s characters are as real as can be because not many people take the simple route.

And once again, the mystery’s solution took me by surprise. I loved how Sundin had Lillian take charge of the situation and persevere despite her handicap. In fact, I loved Lillian’s arc period. By the end of the novel, she’s able to lightly joke about her leg, and she finally realizes it doesn’t define her. And Arch definitely got some brownie points when he told Jim he cared about Lillian because of her leg, not despite it, because of how Lillian had worked past it. It was perhaps the sweetest scene I’ve ever read.

The last book, When Tides Turn, features Mary’s best friend Quintessa and Jim and Lillian’s brother Dan. I’ll admit I didn’t like Quintessa very much in the first novel. I felt like she was selfish and it wasn’t fair what she did to Mary. Of course, I thought Mary had a bit of hero worship that was unwarranted where Quintessa was concerned. She grew on me a bit in the second book, and I could tell she was beginning to change, which was comforting.

Her growth continues in this novel when she decides she wants to do something good with her life and signs up for the WAVES program, even though Dan Avery doesn’t seem convinced that glamour girl Quintessa can make it in the Navy.

And that makes her want to do it even more.

The name change was fitting, I think. When Quintessa decided she wanted to be known as Tess, it reminded me of the times in the Bible when God changed people’s names to reflect a change in their lives, a new purpose. And Tess does now have a new purpose, helping her country instead of just helping herself. And she grows a lot, especially when Dan expresses his frustration with her tendency to run from her problems.

Dan goes through his own change. When we meet him in the first novel, he’s very career-minded. And now we finally see why. Seeing him with his family really helped me get a full picture of who Dan is and why he has acted the way he has in previous books.

I liked the way Sundin fleshes out Dan’s relationship with his mentor. The admiral influences a lot of Dan’s decisions, and knowing the admiral helped me better understand Dan.

And once again, there’s an intriguing mystery woven into the novel that kept me guessing until the very end. I couldn’t finish the book fast enough. There was a great resolution to the trilogy, and I loved knowing what happened to the characters.

Whether you’re a WWII buff or you just like a good romantic suspense, I highly recommend this series. Click on the pictures to go to Amazon, or you can find the series at Christian Book Distributors.