Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 11

Mists over the Channel Islands Cover Reveal

Today I’m pleased to reveal the cover for my upcoming novel, Mists over the Channel Islands, which is scheduled to release from Revell Books on February 3, 2026. This is the third of three standalone novels, following three Dutch cousins.

Mists over the Channel Islands is now available for preorder as a paperback and an ebook at Baker Book House (40% off and free shipping!), Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, and will be available on other sites soon. Preorders for the audiobook will be available at a later date.

Today I’m giving away TEN paperback copies of Mists over the Channel Islands, to be mailed in late January 2026.

Mists over the Channel Islands

The German invasion of the British Channel Islands shatters Dr. Ivy Picot’s peaceful world, forcing her to shoulder the weight of her father’s medical practice and hold together a family unraveling under the strain of war. As conditions worsen in Jersey with the arrival of thousands of forced laborers, Ivy’s quiet allegiance to the Allies compels her to risk everything—providing medical aid to escaped workers even as danger closes in.

Dutch engineer and resistance member Gerrit van der Zee volunteers to build fortifications for the Germans so he can secretly send maps and diagrams to the Allies. On his arrival in the Channel Islands, he crosses paths with Ivy, who shows him contempt because of the uniform he wears. As tensions mount and their missions grow increasingly dangerous, Ivy and Gerrit must confront the cost of courage, the meaning of sacrifice, and whether love can survive in the shadow of war. Will their covert efforts turn the tide—or will they pay the ultimate price for defiance?

Preorder Form

If you preorder Mists over the Channel Islands, fill out my Google form, and you’ll automatically be entered in the preorder goodie giveaway that will officially open in January 2026—no need to enter twice! You can also order bookmarks, postcards, and bookplates, which will be mailed in January 2026. By preordering, you’ll receive the book first—and you create interest in bookstores that helps the book succeed.

Giveaway

To enter the giveaway, please make sure you’ve subscribed to my email newsletter, then enter the Rafflecopter below (US mailing addresses only, please). Giveaway ends Sunday, July 6, 2025, at 11 pm Pacific Time. I’ll announce the ten winners here on Monday, July 7, 2025, and by email. Winners must respond to the email within one week to receive the book.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Today in World War II History—June 30, 1940 & 1945

Map of the Philippine Campaign, October 1944-July 1945 (US Army Center of Military History)

85 Years Ago—June 30, 1940: Evacuation of European women and children from Hong Kong begins.

Havana Conference declares the transfer of territory in Americas from one country to another (ie: French territory to Germany) will not be tolerated.

US establishes Fish and Wildlife Service.

Comic “Brenda Starr, Reporter” premieres in Chicago Tribune, the first written by a woman, but it’s relegated to the Sunday comic book supplement.

80 Years Ago—June 30, 1945: In the Philippines, Luzon is declared secure, although pockets of resistance remain until the end of the war.

Organized Japanese resistance ends on Mindanao in the Philippines.

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Today in World War II History—June 29, 1940 & 1945

1935 Japanese poster promoting union of China and Manchukuo under Japanese rule (public domain via Wikipedia)

85 Years Ago—June 29, 1940: Japan announces formation of Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, with Asia under Japanese rule, and declares the South Seas to be in its sphere of influence.

President Roosevelt signs the Alien Registration Act; 5 million foreigners will register and be fingerprinted.

New song in the Top Ten in US: “Fools Rush In.”

Premiere of “Batman” solo comic book, introducing the Joker and Catwoman.

Map depicting the proposed invasion routes of Operations Olympic and Coronet, with Japanese defensive positions as of Aug 1945 (US Military Academy)

80 Years Ago—June 29, 1945: President Truman approves the invasion of Japan, with Operation Olympic, the invasion of Kyushu, to start November 1, 1945, and Operation Coronet, the invasion of Honshu, to start March 1, 1946.

US War Food Administration is abolished.

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Today in World War II History—June 28, 1940 & 1945

Governor-General Italo Balbo, 1938-40 (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

85 Years Ago—June 28, 1940: At the Republican Convention, Wendell Willkie upsets Thomas Dewey on the sixth ballot to become the party’s nominee for president.

German Luftwaffe bombs Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands (44 killed).

Italo Balbo, Governor-General of Italian Libya and Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa, is shot down and killed by Italian antiaircraft fire during an RAF raid on Tobruk.

Wendell Willkie, 3 March 1940 (Library of Congress: cph.3a38684)

80 Years Ago—June 28, 1945: Soviets form Polish Provisional Government.

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Today in World War II History—June 27, 1940 & 1945

US Sixth Army at Oriung Pass on Luzon, 14 June 1945, on way to Cagayan Valley (US Army Center of Military History)

85 Years Ago—June 27, 1940: President Roosevelt declares a national emergency and invokes the Espionage Act of 1917 to control shipping in territorial waters and the Panama Canal and to take measures against sabotage.

Roosevelt forms National Defense Research Committee under Dr. Vannevar Bush to coordinate civilian and military scientific and medical research.

80 Years Ago—June 27, 1945: US Sixth Army secures Cagayan Valley on Luzon and drives toward Aparri on the north shore.

Edward Stettinius resigns as US Secretary of State to become the first US Ambassador to the United Nations.

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Today in World War II History—June 26, 1940 & 1945

Poster commemorating the United Nations Charter

85 Years Ago—June 26, 1940: French General Charles de Gaulle forms French Volunteer Legion in London.

USSR orders 56-hr work week, imprisonment for quitting jobs, and fines for tardiness.

Britain reduces meat ration due to shipping losses from German U-boats. (Read more: “Food Rationing in Britain in World War II”)

80 Years Ago—June 26, 1945: The United Nations Charter is signed by fifty nations in San Francisco.

Former Czechoslovakian president Emil Hácha, who allowed German occupation under duress and was imprisoned in May 1945 for suspected collaboration, dies in prison.

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Today in World War II History—June 25, 1940 & 1945

Map showing the German and Italian advances in France, 13-25 Jun 1940 (US Military Academy)

85 Years Ago—June 25, 1940: French-German armistice becomes effective at 00:30.

Cease fire becomes effective in Italo-French conflict.

Hitler orders Compiègne surrender site destroyed, including the railroad car used for both the 1918 and the 1940 armistice ceremonies.

Final Allied troops are evacuated from France (Polish troops from St. Jean de Luz).

Isolationist advertising appears in New York Times, secretly funded by Germany.

Emergency Rescue Committee is organized in New York to rescue endangered intellectuals in France; members include journalist Varian Fry.

80 Years Ago—June 25, 1945: Austria is divided into four Allied occupation zones.

British Second Army (northern Europe) is stood down.

Premiere of war film Back to Bataan, starring John Wayne and Anthony Quinn.

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Today in World War II History—June 24, 1940 & 1945

US Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, Navy Department, Washington, DC, circa 1943 (US Navy photo 80-G-399009)

85 Years Ago—June 24, 1940: British government sends gold bullion and securities to Canada for safekeeping.

Charles Edison (son of Thomas) resigns as Secretary of the Navy to run for governor of New Jersey; Roosevelt appoints Republican interventionist Frank Knox, publisher of the Chicago Daily News, to replace Edison.

“Bridge over the River Kwai” by Leo Rawlings, depicting four prisoners of war building bridge on Burma Railway, 1943 (Imperial War Museum: ART LD 6035)

80 Years Ago—June 24, 1945: In a bombing raid, the RAF destroys the infamous bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand, built at great cost by slaves and prisoners of the Japanese.

Australians take Sarawak, Borneo.

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Today in World War II History—June 23, 1940 & 1945

Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler, and sculptor Arno Breker in Paris, France, 23 Jun 1940 (US National Archives: 242-HLB-5073-20)

85 Years Ago—June 23, 1940: Hitler tours occupied Paris, his only trip to Paris ever.

Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Saeculo Exeunte, honoring Portugal on its 800th birthday.

80 Years Ago—June 23, 1945: In the last airborne assault of the war, paratroopers of the US 11th Airborne Division land near Aparri in northern Luzon.

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Today in World War II History—June 22, 1940 & 1945

Gen. Wilhelm Keitel accepting the French surrender from Gen. Charles Huntziger, Compiègne, France, 22 Jun 1940 (German Federal Archive: Bild 146-1982-089-18)

85 Years Ago—June 22, 1940: France signs armistice with Germany at Compiègne, splitting into a Nazi-occupied zone in the north and a “free” zone in the south, based in Vichy.

In Japan, Prince Konoye Fumimora forms a new cabinet with Hideki Tojo as Minister of War.

Raising the US flag on Okinawa, Japan, 22 Jun 1945 (US Army photo)

80 Years Ago—June 22, 1945: Battle for Okinawa officially ends at a high cost—12,520 Americans and 110,000 Japanese were killed, plus 42,000 civilians who were killed or committed suicide. Off Okinawa, the US Navy took its heaviest losses of the war with 36 vessels sunk and 4,907 killed. In addition, the US lost 763 planes and the Japanese lost 7,800.

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