The Land Beneath Us by Sarah Sundin

Review: This book... (insert dreamy sigh here).... was amazing. I absolutely loved it and spent the entire evening swooning over the honorable Private Clay Paxton. He is the peak of perfect masculinity: honorable, kind, brave, strong, capable, tender.... Sarah Sundin couldn't have made a more perfect hero if she'd tried. To those of you who are reading this review and thinking, "Oh, so we have a 'perfect' hero...how unrealistic and stereotypical." Please, stop right there. Paxton has his fair share of relatable and believable issues. This character has been drug through hell and back, and he hasn't clambered out of his pit without  wounds to show for it. He is struggling to come to grips with forgiveness and his own future, but it is his honor that really shines bright in this novel.

I honestly couldn't put this book down. It held me from the first page to the last. The characters engrossed me so much that the setting could have honestly been anywhere. I was so caught up in the drama between Leah and Paxton that I didn't pay too much attention to everything else going on and the accuracy of the WWII details...but the war certainly served to provide some interesting and heart wrenching twists to the story.

And Leah... my goodness. What an amazing heroine. I loved how much she grew during this novel and I think Ms Sundin did an admirable job developing this character through the book. Leah goes through some really hard, heart-breaking moments in this story that will make this book too mature for young readers, but the skill with which it is written really just makes the story.

I loved this book and am sad to see this trilogy come to an end. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a romance novel - it was such a great read.

Thank-you to Graf Martin Communications and to Baker Publishing House for a complimentary copy of this book.

Back Cover:
In 1943, Private Clay Paxton trains hard with the US Army Rangers at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, determined to do his best in the upcoming Allied invasion of France. With his future stolen by his brothers' betrayal, Clay has only one thing to live for--fulfilling the recurring dream of his death.

Leah Jones works as a librarian at Camp Forrest, longing to rise above her orphanage upbringing and belong to the community, even as she uses her spare time to search for her real family--the baby sisters she was separated from so long ago.

After Clay saves Leah's life from a brutal attack, he saves her virtue with a marriage of convenience. When he ships out to train in England for D-day, their letters bind them together over the distance. But can a love strong enough to overcome death grow between them before Clay's recurring dream comes true?