FALLING IN LOVE IN THE HELSINKI SUNRISE (& BOOK REVIEW)

Helsinki Sunrise, a Passport to Romance, blog tour follows on from yesterday’s return stop in Zambia where Beauty for Ashes host, Aldyth Thomson, posted a book review on Helsinki Sunrise.

 What do you get when you cross a devout ( hot!) missionary fasting before going on the mission field, a bitter missionary kid whose parents died in their service to God, and a small island with one house and sauna? You get a great love story! God woos Eveliina back from her stressful, bitter life using Adam as a lure. In an ironic struggle involving a sauna, blueberry pie, paint, and prayer, Eveliina falls in love with Adam even as she tries to make him break his fast and leave the island.

The island retreat belongs to Mikko and Eveliina’s grandparents. Mikko promised Adam a three week, solitary retreat for his preparation for the mission field. However, Eveliina decides to escape her stressful job, relationship, and life without knowing the cabin is occupied. Mayhem ensues in the war of who gets to stay on the island.

Eveliina has been running from God since the death of her parents on the mission field. She is living the glamorous city life, loving her boss, and thinking she has it all. Without God in her life, she finds little pleasure in any of it. Adam represents everything from which she has tried to run away. Her brother Mikko has followed in his parents’ footsteps into mission work. Adam is a friend of Mikko who continues to ask others to pray for Eveliina and her relationship with God. Eveliina takes delight is torturing Adam offering coffee, pie, home-cooking, and even herself to him to try to break his devotion to God.

Adam tries to bring her words from God. He has often prayed for her when Mikko had asked for prayer. He feels he has been given an opportunity to be God’s ambassador and bring her back into relationship with God. However, her temptations become more and more difficult to resist. He finds himself attracted to Mikko’s worldly sister, even as he is attempting to focus on God and his mission. Eveliina becomes God’s mission for him.

I was blessed to read this story as a part of ACFW’s Scribes. In submission after submission, Marion created the drama and Christian passion for God as well as for each other in Eveliina and Adam. I was sorry to finish the story.

Spoiler Alert! God wins, as He always does.

Be sure to follow this blog across to the UK tomorrow at Clare Revell for an interview with Helsinki Sunrise heroine, Eveliina Mikkola.

Helsinki Sunrise release-day half-price special tomorrow, 22 August—only $1.99 from Pelican Book Group.

There will be an eBook of Helsinki Sunrise up for grabs on this blog. To be entered into the draw, please leave a comment with your email address.

To increase your chances of winning one of the many copies of Helsinki Sunrise that will be given away, take a journey to each of the stops on this three-week blog tour and leave a comment. Don’t forget to include your email address.

Watch the Helsinki Sunrise book trailer on YouTube.

Watch the Passport to Romance book trailer on YouTube.

Marion Ueckermann’s passion for writing was sparked in 2001 when she moved to Ireland with her husband and two sons. Since then she has published devotional articles and stories in Winners, The One Year Devotional of Joy and Laughter (Tyndale House Publishers), and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miraculous Messages from Heaven. Her debut novelette, Helsinki Sunrise, releases August 22, 2014 by White Rose Publishing, a Pelican Book Group imprint, Passport to Romance series.

Marion blogs for International Christian Fiction Writers and Beauty for Ashes. She belongs to Christian Writers of South Africa and American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives in Pretoria East, South Africa in an empty nest with her husband and their crazy black Scottie, Wally.

Connect with Marion Ueckermann: Website / Amazon / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest

Blogs: A Pebble in my Pocket / Foreign Affaire

* Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

Permission to use images obtained.