I am a sucker for ANYTHING WWII and I'm a huge history buff, so I really appreciate a good story where I can tell the author has done his/her homework . I think books that tackle the years preceding Hitler's invasion and the start of WWII especially interesting and thought provoking - and so I really enjoyed the premise of this novel. The two characters' evolving relationship, and the main message that there is always hope, no matter how dark the times, is especially poignant and relevant for this day. Another great addition to the WWII repertoire that keeps expanding! Highly recommended

Sarah Sundin, in her latest historical fiction novel, “When Twilight Breaks,” explores the rise of the Nazi Party and the Jewish persecution through the eyes of Evelyn Brand, an American Foreign Correspondent.

Evelyn is struggling to report in a male dominated field with a boss who constantly edits her work. When she meets Peter Lang, a fellow American teaching in Germany, she convinces him to rethink his political views. Helped by Nazi attacks on Jewish synagogues and businesses, Peter’s outlook changes and he aligns himself with Evelyn. Peter shares information from meetings with Evelyn, who in turn writes to expose Hitler’s tyranny. As you can expect, when risks are taken there is sometimes a price to pay. Peter and Evelyn’s lives are in danger and they desperately search for an exit route. Can she trust Peter?

Sundin is to be commended for her historical masterpiece! Set in 1938, not only was this novel well-researched, well-paced, and extremely well-written, the characters were fantastic. Evelyn was a force to be reckoned with and Peter was naïve. As the plot progressed, they transformed as they struggled to find a role they were comfortable supporting. Sundin capably engages her readers and leaves them thoroughly invested in the story. My heart was pounding and I couldn’t set the book down. I had to finish it in one sitting. It has something for everyone; thriller, romance and history. Sundin is a gifted writer and this book, with a unique protagonist and perspective, is to be published February 2, 2021.

Thank you to Sarah Sundin, Revell and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

WW 2 historical fiction was one of my favorite genres growing up. I have read the Brock and Bodie Thoene Zion series several times. Reading this book made me want to read them again!

While I liked this book, I didn't like it as much as the Thoene series. First, many of the themes seemed very referential to the Thoene series, especially the first book. The end was referential to another well-known story. Second, I just thought that the author was trying to accomplish too much. Each main character had his/her own personal issues, there were the political issues, there were racial issues, gender issues, etc. It seemed like too much to cover. To me it made the book drag on. I still cared about the characters and wanted to know what would happen, but it was a lot to follow.

Despite this critique, I suspect that lovers of this genre will enjoy this book.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Set in 1938 Germany, two Americans watch the world around them shift drastically, colliding with their values and beliefs.

Evelyn is an American reporter, fighting for equality in a primarily male profession. Peter is a professor teaching linguistics at the university. They become friends and begin a long journey toward understanding each other. When sentiments shift drastically and they don’t know who to trust, they work together to escape the danger that hunts them.

It’s a great read for those who enjoy historical fiction. It was the first novel I’ve read by the author and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

I am always honored to be chosen to read a Revell Publishing book, but never so honored as when it is a book by Sarah Sundin. She is the epitome of a World War II writer. She is fascinating in her style, intriguing in her plot development, and masterful in her characterizations. When Twilight Breaks has something for everyone, a bit of romance, a bit of history, a bit of undercover escape, skullduggery, naivete, and most importantly, awakening to truth.

Evelyn Brand is a reporter working for the American News Services assigned to cover the news in Munich. George Norwood, her supervisor, has been taking her articles and editing them into oblivion. When she is assigned to interview American students who were in Munich for a year abroad study, she meets Peter Lang, the PhD candidate who is teaching the students to speak fluent German, and to speak it without an accent. His dissertation will encompass his methods of teaching German to Americans and English to Germans. Peter's ideology is based on a naïve assumption that order is the key to prosperity, but Evelyn has to open Peter's eyes to see what the order is doing to the German people.

The best way to describe the situations that Peter and Evelyn find themselves in is that things went sideways. Evelyn is ratted out to the Gestapo by a cleaning lady hired by George Norwood, Peter is ratted out to the Hitler Youth by George Norwood, and that necessitates both of them running for their lives and wondering whom to trust.

This is one of Sarah's best books because her research is spot on to the lives and times of German people in the late 1930s, her characters are robust people who dare to take chances even when the chips are down, and her descriptions are incomparable. This is a five star book with two thumbs up and a coffee and pastry at the local coffee shop.

Revell Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Sarah, if you read this, hats off to you for a stellar book.

I had only intended to sit down a read an hour or so because I had other things I wanted to do. However, what actually happened was, I sat down and kept reading until I finished the book - I was engrossed.

This book contains history, a thriller element and romance. It was easy to read (although because it contained nazi Germany not always). I have read others of the author's books and found them equally gripping.

I do recommend reading this. Even if I had it was not free in exchange for an honest review, I would have brought it. Just be sure to read it with time up your sleeve, you won't want to put it down.

Thank you very much to Revell and to NetGalley for giving me a copy of one of my most favourite author's literary works, in exchange for an honest review. After enjoying Sarah Sundin's 4 WWII series, I immensely looked forward to reading her latest, standalone novel, and as usual, it never disappointed. Two Americans meet in 1938 in the heart of Nazi Germany. Their efforts to expose oppression attract unwanted attention, pulling them deeper into danger as the world marches toward war. This electric standalone novel puts you right at the intersection of pulse-pounding suspense and heart-stopping romance.

Munich, 1938. Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent as determined to prove her worth in a male-dominated profession as she is 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 fails to truthfully report on major stories, she’ll never be able to give a voice to the oppressed—and wake up the folks back home. Evelyn wants to write about the real issues occurring, such as the persecution of Jews, except her sexist editor, George Norwood, heavily edits them, and sends her out to only cover softballs or puff pieces. There are vested interests surrounding everyone.

In another part of the city, American graduate student Peter Lang is 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. Peter is a friend of George Norwood's and it is through him, that he and Evelyn meet. Peter and Evelyn initially clash over how they view Nazi Germany, but eventually, when push comes to shove and Nazi atrocities start to really and brutally show, Peter Lang eventually begins to work to bring the regime down, and helps Evelyn with her articles by giving her influential leads due to his associations within the Nazi Party, drawing them closer together into the world of espionage and danger, as Evelyn's investigative journalism brands her an official enemy, when her American passport is stolen and replaced with one that is stamped with a 'J' (Juden for Jewish), names like Israel and Sara branded someone as Jewish, can Peter help her out of Germany, and ultimately save her?They made a very good couple, willing to listen to one another, and see the gifts that the other brings into the partnership, and to the world at large. There are broad and deep influences.

Even before World War Two was said to have begun in September 1939, violence existed well before it, and it all culminated into another world war. Spain was going through a civil war and the Japan and China were warring with each other. There was a lot to unpack here in terms of the events and groups that occurred and existed in 1938, especially in Germany. The National Socialist German Students' Union or League, was founded in 1926 as a division of the Nazi Party with the mission of integrating University-level education and academic life within the framework of the Nazi worldview. Organized (as with other departments of the Nazi Party) strictly in accord with the Führerprinzip (or "leader principle") as well as the principle of Machtdistanz (or "power distance"), the NSDStB housed its members in so-called Kameradschaftshäusern (or "Fellowship Houses"), and (from 1930) had its members decked out in classic brown shirts and its own distinctive Swastika emblems.

And who can forget Kristallnacht? or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November Pogrom(s)against Jews carried out by SA paramilitary forces and civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938. The German authorities looked on without intervening. he name Kristallnacht ("Crystal Night") comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings and synagogues were smashed. The pretext for the attacks was the assassination of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old German-born Polish Jew living in Paris. Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked as attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers. Rioters destroyed 267 synagogues throughout Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland. Over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed, and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps. Historians view Kristallnacht as a prelude to the Final Solution and the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.

The Nuremberg Laws were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour, which forbade marriages and extramarital intercourse between Jews and Germans and the employment of German females under 45 in Jewish households, and the Reich Citizenship Law, which declared that only those of German or related blood were eligible to be Reich citizens. The remainder were classed as state subjects without any citizenship rights. A supplementary decree outlining the definition of who was Jewish was passed on 14 November, and the Reich Citizenship Law officially came into force on that date. The laws were expanded on 26 November 1935 to include Romani and Black people. This supplementary decree defined Romanis as "enemies of the race-based state", the same category as Jews. Out of foreign policy concerns, prosecutions under the two laws did not commence until after the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, they began to implement their policies, which included the formation of a Volksgemeinschaft (people's community) based on race. Chancellor and Führer (leader) Adolf Hitler declared a national boycott of Jewish businesses on 1 April 1933, and the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, passed on 7 April, excluded non-Aryans from the legal profession and civil service. Books considered un-German, including those by Jewish authors, were destroyed in a nationwide book burning on 10 May. Jewish citizens were harassed and subjected to violent attacks. They were actively suppressed, stripped of their citizenship and civil rights, and eventually completely removed from German society. The Nuremberg Laws had a crippling economic and social impact on the Jewish community. Persons convicted of violating the marriage laws were imprisoned, and (subsequent to 8 March 1938) upon completing their sentences were re-arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Nazi concentration camps. Non-Jews gradually stopped socialising with Jews or shopping in Jewish-owned stores, many of which closed due to lack of customers. As Jews were no longer permitted to work in the civil service or government-regulated professions such as medicine and education, many middle class business owners and professionals were forced to take menial employment. Emigration was problematic, as Jews were required to remit up to 90% of their wealth as a tax upon leaving the country. By 1938 it was almost impossible for potential Jewish emigrants to find a country willing to take them. America had strict immigration quotas imposed, and England controlled Palestine, and did not want to displease Arabs. It seemed as if a lot of doors were closing. Some Jewish people, with the help of family, some friends, and their workplace if they were fortunate, immigrated to the US, South America, Australia, Britain, Lithuania, Shanghai etc.

The German American Bund, or German American Federation, was a German-American Nazi organization established in 1936 to succeed Friends of New Germany, the new name being chosen to emphasize the group's American credentials after press criticism that the organization was unpatriotic. The Bund was to consist only of American citizens of German descent. Its main goal was to promote a favourable view of Nazi Germany.
The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the master race, the purest branch of the Aryan race.Jews and others deemed undesirable like liberals, socialists, and communists were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. So too were Christian churches and citizens that opposed Hitler's rule being oppressed as well.The government controlled artistic expression and the press, promoting specific forms and banning or discouraging others. The Nazi regime dominated neighbours through military threats in the years leading up to war. They made increasingly aggressive territorial demands, threatening war if these weren't met. It seized Austria and almost all of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy. Using deficit spending, the regime undertook a massive secret rearmament program.

The main things I garnered from this novel in terms of lessons are that democracy can only flourish when people are able to govern themselves. In the absence of such self-governance, without the collective willingness to live virtuously, participate intelligently in the public sphere, perpetuate the greatest good for the greatest number, and serve each other and our communities, more and more regulations and laws must be passed to compel behaviour and maintain order, curtailing liberty. Freedom paradoxically cannot endure without constraints. Democracy is thus a two-way partnership: citizens receive certain rights, services, and protections from the government, and in turn offer their money, time, knowledge, and commitment towards maintaining these privileges. Individual rights must always be matched with individual responsibilities; one cannot hope to have a healthy democracy if citizens are solely focused on what they can get, to the exclusion of what they can give. The right to protection of life and liberty./The responsibility to stay ready to defend that right and the willingness to serve when called. The right to free speech and protest./The responsibility to offer informed opinions and constructive criticism, and to uphold the free speech of others. The right to equality under the law./The responsibility to stand for the equal rights and opportunities of others. The right to vote./The responsibility to be fully informed as to candidates, issues, and parties. The right to publish anything short of sedition and slander./The responsibility to vet and examine published information. The right to effective, intelligent, just representation by elected officials./The responsibility to be an active, engaged, informed citizen.

And Peter Lang was right in the end: "Even in the darkest night, the stars always shine." Reminds me of Sarah's first novel in the Sunrise at Normandy Series, spoken by naval officer Lt. Wyatt Paxton to Wren Second Officer Dorothy Fairfax: "“When times are dark, it’s hard to see the light, but it doesn’t mean the light is less real."

Overall, an awe-inspiring novel. The title does it justice, as we always hear these phrases of "the twilight hours". "day breaking", and the "twilight years", "the darkest hour is just before dawn" being thrown around. When things seem to be at their worst they are about to start improving. I cannot wait for Sarah Sundin's new standalone novel after reading the teaser chapter.

When Twilight Breaks by Sarah Sundin is a great WWII era historical fiction that was gripping, suspenseful, and kept me engaged from beginning to end.

This book takes place mostly in Germany late 1930s where the instability and horrific events of WWII were just beginning to come to light. There was intrigue, political instability, espionage, and it was fascinating to see the process of the German government's attempts at suppressing the press and their ability to write about the truths that were occurring, and the suppression of freedom of speech. It was a potent subject that at times seemed to reflect some of the current struggles that are occurring now.

I really enjoyed the main characters: Evelyn Brand and Peter Lang. The character development of their respective personalities, their flaws, strengths, and how they adapted and modified their initial beliefs, alliances, and their moral compasses respectively really added to the narrative. I enjoyed seeing the transformations of the characters after seeing the revelations of some of the atrocities that were occurring to the German Jewish population. It was quite thought-provoking to consider the concept of adaptation and questioning one's initially held beliefs and modifying one's thoughts instead of stubbornly sticking to them. Not everyone was willing to remove the wool from their eyes. I also enjoyed the sprinkling of hope, honor, faith, and romance that helped add another layer to this great story.

Evelyn is strong, independent, sometimes headstrong getting herself into hot water occasionally with her quest to uncover the dark undercurrent that was broiling under the surface. I admire her strength, her bravery, and I really enjoyed the gripping story that surrounded her.

This is an excellent historical fiction that sets itself apart from the group of WWII era novels that are available today.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Revell Publishing for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR, Bookbub, and Instagram accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 2/2/21.