Book Review: Until Leaves Fall in Paris by Sarah Sundin

As the Nazis march toward Paris in 1940, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. Lucie struggles to run Green Leaf Books due to oppressive German laws and harsh conditions, but she finds a way to aid the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books.

Widower Paul Aubrey wants nothing more than to return to the States with his little girl, but the US Army convinces him to keep his factory running and obtain military information from his German customers. As the war rages on, Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory. After they meet in the bookstore, Paul and Lucie are drawn to each other, but she rejects him when she discovers he sells to the Germans. And for Paul to win her trust would mean betraying his mission.

Master of WWII-era fiction Sarah Sundin invites you onto the streets of occupied Paris to discover whether love or duty will prevail.

My Thoughts:

There’s a reason why Sundin is on my must-read list, and When Leaves Fall in Paris was a prime example.

She always crafts enduring characters that easily become my new favorite book people. Couple that with a solid spiritual message, and it was fiction perfection. As usual.

But one of my favorite elements in this novel was the historical setting of an occupied France. Most of the books I’ve read so far have focused more on the American military in France but not on the homefront in France, particularly those working to aid the resistance.

This one didn’t focus on the military like her novels typically do, but I was okay with that. I really enjoyed France from the homefront.

If you’re a WWII fiction fan and not reading Sundin yet, then you’re really missing out.

Rating and Recommendations: I’m giving When Leaves Fall in Paris 5 stars. I recommend it to those looking for Christian WWII fiction or Christian Historical Romance.

~ I received a copy from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own. I was not compensated for this review or required to give a favorable one.