Under The Sun by Marion Ueckermann

For thirty years, Brian and Elizabeth Dunham have served on the mission field. Unable to have children of their own, they’ve been a father and mother to countless orphans in six African countries. When an unexpected beach-house inheritance and a lung disease diagnosis coincide, they realize that perhaps God is telling them it’s time to retire.

At sixty, Elizabeth is past child-bearing age. She’d long ago given up wondering whether this would be the month she would conceive. But when her best friend and neighbor jokes that Elizabeth’s sudden fatigue and nausea are symptoms of pregnancy, Elizabeth finds herself walking that familiar and unwanted road again, wondering if God is pulling an Abraham and Sarah on her and Brian.

The mere notion has questions flooding Elizabeth’s mind. If she were miraculously pregnant, would they have the stamina to raise a child in their golden years? Especially with Brian’s health issues. And the child? Would it be healthy, or would it go through life struggling with some kind of disability? What of her own health? Could she survive giving birth?

Will what Brian and Elizabeth have dreamed of their entire married life be an old-age blessing or a curse?

Everyday life for Dr. Melanie Kerr had consisted of happy deliveries and bundles of joy…until her worst nightmare became reality. The first deaths in her OR during an emergency C-section. Both mother and child, one month before Christmas. About to perform her first Caesarean since the tragedy, Melanie loses her nerve and flees the OR. She packs her bags and catches a flight to Budapest. Perhaps time spent in the city her lost patient hailed from, can help her find the healing and peace she desperately needs to be a good doctor again.

Since the filming of Jordan’s Journeys’ hit TV serial “Life Begins at Sixty” ended earlier in the year, journalist and TV host Jordan Stanson has gone from one assignment to the next. But before he can take a break, he has a final episode to film—“Zac’s First Christmas”. Not only is he looking forward to relaxing at his parents’ seaside home, he can’t wait to see his godchild, Zac, the baby born to the aging Dunhams. His boss, however, has squeezed in another documentary for him to complete before Christmas—uncovering the tragedy surrounding the doctor the country came to love on his show, the beautiful Dr. Kerr.

In order to chronicle her journey through grief and failure, Jordan has no choice but to get close to this woman. Something he has both tried and failed at in the past. He hopes through this assignment, he’ll be able to help her realize the tragedy wasn’t her fault. But even in a city so far away from home, work once again becomes the major catalyst to hinder romance between Jordan and Melanie.

That, and a thing called honesty.

Not every woman is fortunate enough to find her soulmate.
Fewer find him twice.

JoAnn Stanson has loved and lost. Widowed a mere eighteen months ago, JoAnn is less than thrilled when her son arranges a luxury cruise around the British Isles as an early birthday gift. She’s not ready to move on and “meet new people”.
Caleb Blume has faced death and won. Had it not been for an unexpected Christmas present, he would surely have been pushing up daisies. Not that the silver-haired landscape architect was averse to those little flowers—he just wasn’t ready to become fertilizer himself.

To celebrate his sixty-fourth birthday and the nearing two-year anniversary since he’d cheated death, Caleb books a cruise and flies to London. He is instantly drawn in a way that’s never happened before to a woman he sees boarding the ship. But this woman who steals Caleb’s heart is far more guarded with her own.

For JoAnn, so many little things about Caleb remind her of her late husband. It’s like loving the same man twice. Yet different.

my point of view:

Ladies, get your tissues ready, you are going to need them…….in a good way, of course! I was excited to read a  love story for an older generation, and this story does not disappoint! So many romance novels these days are about characters in their 20’s, and don’t get me wrong, I love to read those too, but it is so nice to see that we older folks aren’t too old for love too! I was so enamored with Caleb and JoAnn, I found myself so many times at the edge of my seat unable to read this fast enough to get to the next part of this beautiful love story. This book has a lesson for all of us, from the young to the young at heart, we can all take away a new appreciation for God’s unending love!

Now, have you ever wanted to go on a European cruise? Visit Ireland, Scotland, London? Walk among the Standing Stones or cross over the Ha’penny bridge and all the other sites there are to see? My feet have never left the good ole’ USA, but I feel as though I have been on the most luxurious trip thanks Marion’s A Time to Push Daisies!  Not only did I get to set sail on an amazing cruise with my own butler, but I had the chance to fall in love…..with both the hero and the heroine in this beautiful story of love found later in life!

Another fun addition in reading this story of Marion’s – you get a to see some old friends, Caleb is of the Blume family, and JoAnn is a part of two earlier books (A Time to Laugh and A Time to Love, making this the third, any fan will remember:

PLUS – there is a recipe that I promise you will love if you like chocolate! I made them immediately after reading this story, and my hubs loved them!! 

About Marion Ueckermann