A Distant Melody, Wings of Glory Series #1

I truly enjoyed this book with really human characters and WWII setting! Looking forward to more in the series!

This book totally exceeded my expectations! I could hardly put it down and the story touched my heart. Eventhough it's a fictional story, you get a little insight into life during WWII. I'm looking forward to read the second and third book of the series.

Even though I did not buy this book from CBD, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sarah Sundin has a way of drawing her reader in and making them feel like they are part of the story. As I was reading, it burned me up the way that Allie's family trumped her wishes and even though she broke the engagement to Baxter, they still tried to make her go through with the wedding even after she cancelled everything. Mrs. Sundin made me feel like I was actually there, experiencing everything with Allie and Walter.

P.S. I wish there was a present-day war effort like there was back then. It would give me something constructive to do with my time and it would be a very worthy cause.

This is one of the best Christian historical romances I've read lately. I wasn't sure I wanted to read it because it was supposed to involve a correspondence between the hero & heroine for much of the story, which meant they'd be apart a good while (a no-no in a romance). But the author made up for this by having such a good development to their friendship/relationship in the first third of the book. One of Sundin's strengths is excellent dialogue between the hero and heroine. Their wit was so catching, you could just feel the growing chemistry between two shy people. When they were apart, there was such interesting stuff going on and good interactions among the secondary characters, which made up for the separation of the two main characters. The World War II details, especially about flying, were so well done and authentic-sounding. There were quite a few laugh-out-loud moments for me, and one tear jerking one (reading Walt's grandfather's letter to him). I look forward to reading the other two books in this series.

A Distant Melody is set during World War II.

Allie Miller is the daughter of wealthy parents. They arranged a marriage with a man she doesn't love. She hopes to get the approval of her mother with this marriage. So far she could never please her mother.

When Allie is on her best friend's wedding, she meets Walter Novak. He is the first person who seems to understand her.

Walter Novak is a pilot in the Army Air Force and flies a bomber plane B17. Shortly he has to leave for England.

Walt is hopeless with women. But Allie is the first woman he can talk to and have fun with. Allie stays for a week with her friend and after the marriage she's going home again. Walt has fallen hard for Allie and when she returns home they share addresses and promise to write each other.

Walt leaves for England and is fighting against the Germans. His crew respects him, but he told a little white lie to earn their respect.

Through their letters Walt and Allie get to know each other and fall in love. But Allie still has her boyfriend and soon is engaged to him. But Allie is unhappy. She's willing to marry Baxter, but the Lord shows her that she can't marry an unbeliever. Will she obey the Lord, or will she please her parents?

Allie is praying for Walt and his crew. When they are in trouble the Lord wakes her at night to pray.

Walt is falling more for Allie with every letter he receives from her. He decides he can't love a woman who is soon to marry another man. It's best to stop writing and Walt tells another lie in his last letter to Allie. Allie is devastated by Walt's news. Soon she wakes up again in the middle of the night and must pray for Walt. It's the last time that the Lord awakens her to pray. What happened that night to Walt? Can Walt tell Allie about his lie before it's too late?

This book was a nice surprise! Never before have I read a WWII book so very well written. I loved the historical accuracy, the growing love between Walt and Allie, to read about the normal life in the US during the war and the hard life for Walt and his crew in Europe. I learned rich lessons from reading about sacrifice and obedience.

I simply fell in love with this book and I'm looking forward to read the other books in this series: A Memory Between Us and Blue Skies Tomorrow.