To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal

To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal is a “what if” love story that is perfect for a summer read. This is one of those kinds of novels that will hook you in and have you wanting to read the next page long past bedtime.

Book Description
“Judith Whitman always believed in the kind of love that "picks you up in Akron and sets you down in Rio." Long ago, she once experienced that love. Willy Blunt was a carpenter with a dry wit and a steadfast sense of honor. Marrying him seemed like a natural thing to promise. But Willy Blunt was not a person you could pick up in Nebraska and transport to Stanford. When Judith left home, she didn't look back.

Twenty years later, Judith's marriage is hazy with secrets. In her hand is what may be the phone number for the man who believed she meant it when she said she loved him. If she called, what would he say?

TO BE SUNG UNDERWATER is the epic love story of a woman trying to remember, and the man who could not even begin to forget.” – To Be Sung Underwater


My Thoughts
To Be Sung Underwater is a beautifully woven novel that brings together the past and present for the main character, Judith Whitman. She becomes reacquainted with memories when going through her old things she places into a storage unit, which is something we can all relate to when going through old memories of the past. She takes it a bit further though and reconstructs it to look like her old bedroom when she was a teenager. All of these memories left her wondering “what if” she had stayed in Nebraska and also with her true love Willy? What would have been?

This is a really beautiful story that was written extremely well. There are at times a few places where it drags on a bit more than needed, but this may just be me being a little too critical.

I think that this would make a great summer read. It is however, the type of book that you’ll want to keep reading so perhaps not the best book to take on a vacation unless you plan on doing a lot of reading.


* Thank you to the publisher of To Be Sung Underwater, Little, Brown and Company, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.