Surrender Bay by Denise Hunter

 

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

SURRENDER BAY

(Thomas Nelson November 6, 2007)

by

Denise Hunter

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Denise lives in Indiana with her husband Kevin and their three sons. In 1996, Denise began her first book, a Christian romance novel, writing while her children napped.



Two years later it was published, and she's been writing ever since. Her books often contain a strong romantic element, and her husband Kevin says he provides all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!



In addition to Surrender Bay, the second Nantucket book releases in April 2008. The title is The Convenient Groom and features Kate Lawrence, a relationship advice columnist, whose groom dumps her on her wedding day. Denise is currently at work on the third Nantucket book (Oct 2008) which is untitled so far.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

When Sam's estranged step-father dies, she inherits his ocean-front cottage in Nantucket--not because he kindly bequeathed it to her, but because he neglected to ever create a will. Sam returns to the island she left 11 years ago with her daughter Caden to fix up the house and sell it, but she isn't counting on is the fact that Landon Reed still lives two doors down from her childhood home.



As their long-dormant romance begins to bud again, Sam must face the fact that Landon still doesn't know why she really left the island. Will the secrets she's hidden all these years tear them apart? Or is Landon's love really as unconditional as he claims?

MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS:

I really enjoyed Surrender Bay.  It's a good, clean love story.  Though there is no blatant Christianity proclaimed throughout the book, as I was reading it I was constantly reminded of the story of the prophet Hosea and his wife Gomer, and how she continued to pull and run away from him, yet he continued to love her with an everlasting love.  The character of Sam reminded me so much of Gomer~ she carried so much baggage from her past, that she refused to think that someone might possibly be able to love her.  Landon though, much like Hosea, continued to pursue Sam and proclaim his love for her, no matter how many times she turned away. 

At the end of the story, in an author interview, Denise explained that she wrote the story as an allegory, to represent Christ's love for the church.  Aren't we just that way?  Continuing to pull and run away, questioning our worth, etc. while Christ is always so patient with us, always ready to accept us  back and love us with an everlasting love.  In the same way that Christ loves his church, Hosea loved Gomer and Landon loved Sam.  Surrender Bay was definitely worth reading! 

I'd like to end my review by sharing the video for a song by Barlow Girl called "I Need You to Love Me".  Denise said this song inspired her time and time again during the writing of Surrender Bay.  Enjoy!