BORN OF GILDED MOUNTAINS by Amanda Dykes ~ Captivating! 5-star review

Posted on July 9, 2024 by marykaymoody

A lost treasure. A riddled quest. The healing power of friendship.

Legends are tucked into every fold of the Colorado mountains surrounding the quaint town of Mercy Peak, where residents are the stuff of tall tales, the peaks are taller still, and a lost treasure has etched mystery into the very terrain.

In 1948, when outsider Mercy Windsor arrives after a scandal shatters her gilded world as Hollywood’s beloved leading lady, she is determined to forge a new life in obscurity in this time-forgotten Colorado haven. She purchases Wildwood, an abandoned estate with a haunting history, and begins to restore it to its former glory.

But as she does, her every move tugs at the threads of the mountain’s lore, unearthing what became of her long-lost pen pal Rusty Bright, and the whereabouts of the infamous Galloping Goose Railcar No. 8, which vanished years ago–along with the mailbag it carried, whose contents could change the course of countless lives. Not to mention the fabled treasure that–if found–could right so many wrongs.

Among the towering mountains that stand as silent witnesses, the ghosts of the past entangle with the courage of the present to find a place where healing, friendship, and hope can abide amid a world forever changed. [back cover copy]

From the opening lines of Born of Gilded Mountains, Amanda Dykes drew me into her Rocky Mountain hamlet. No. In all honesty, I have to say she accomplished that with the light-sparked cover!

Meeting four boys “orbiting 10 years old” was like a reunion with cousins I knew well. And meeting the rest of the characters was as just as smooth and comfortable. As pages turned I joined old friends, and we walked paths to new places with expansive woodland vistas. Encountered new challenges and old roadblocks. Heartrending loss. Heartwarming sacrifice. Boundless gifts. And the pathway is strewn with glimmering surprises and beautiful turns of phrase.

We meet Mercy Windsor on the downhill slope of her Hollywood career. I find it remarkable how, in only a few pages of prologue, Amanda introduces Mercy to us. This excerpt from a newspaper account is an example:

“She arrived on a train and was on her first Hollywood set three hours later. In a world where aspiring actresses give up by the dozens each day … Mercy Windsor’s rags-to-riches … is the stuff of legends. ,,, Who would take on a 10-minute black-and-white scene in the last silent film? … [Owen Haskell] the famously severe film critic was moved until words evaded him. ‘Go and see it,’ he said simply.

‘The single tear that flooded the world.’ they called it. This unknown actress with the face of a waif … Dared to be understated [rather] than the overwrought twisting hands she was urged to employ. To let a single tear splash upon her hand, so empty of her child’s grip….

Soon, the film was everywhere…. The people’s message ‘Give us more of her!’ …and a star was born…. They loved her … The spotlight grew. Roles followed as Cinderella, Guinevere … She didn’t just live on their screens—she lived in their hearts….

Pinnacle Studios … to the press. ‘Mercy Windsor was a gem … but after an unpleasant set of circumstances, Pinnacle has found it unavoidable to prematurely end its relationship with Miss Windsor, who is, in fact, in breach of contract.’ The Mighty Mercy has fallen … and there does not seem to be anyone to catch her.”

In this marvelous tale characters forge unbreakable bonds as we accompany them through various adventures, explorations, and celebrations, all as we wend our way thru a setting as unique, engrossing, and wonder-filled as Oz, Middle-earth, or Narnia.

I ache to tell you detail of the physical adventures or adventures of the soul ~ but fear I cannot without spoiling some of Amanda’s clever surprises—which are glittering gemstones tucked in every fold of this tale.

But I can say I loved the characters and their relationships; the settings are beautifully rendered and real. I felt queasy at the heights, refreshed by cool breezes whispering through pines and over sparkling streams. I loved the journey. I love the heart in this story. It is packed with beauty, humor, kindness, light, compassion, faith, hope, and is a delight to savor!

ABOUT AMANDA: Amanda Dykes is a spinner of hope-filled tales who spends most days chasing wonder and words with her family. She’s the winner of the 2020 Christy Award Book of the Year, a Booklist 2019 Top Ten title, and the winner of an INSPY award for her debut novel, Whose Waves These Are. She’s also the author of Set the Stars Alight (a Christy Award finalist), Yours is the Night (recipient of the Kipp Award, Christy Award finalist), All the Lost Places (Christy Award finalist, starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Foreword), and three novellas. Find her online at amandadykes.com. Or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authoramandadykes or on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amanda_spins_stories/.

Photo credit: Boys – section of Snap the Whip by Winslow Homer, 1872. Woman with Tear – from Photoplay Magazine, September 1915, Woodland gallery – Mary K. Moody.

EMBERS IN THE LONDON SKY by Sarah Sundin ~ compelling, powerful, riveting. 5 stars!

Posted on May 22, 2024 by marykaymoody

EMBERS IN THE LONDON SKY is a superb story from an author who delights us with every book.

As the German army invades the Netherlands in 1940, Aleida van der Zee Martens escapes to London to wait out the Occupation. Separated from her three-year-old son, Theo, in the process, the young widow desperately searches for her little boy even as she works for an agency responsible for evacuating children to the countryside.

When German bombs set London ablaze, BBC radio correspondent Hugh Collingwood reports on the Blitz, eager to boost morale while walking the fine line between truth and censorship. But the Germans are not the only ones Londoners have to fear as a series of murders flame up amid the ashes.

The deaths hit close to home for Hugh, and Aleida needs his help to locate her missing son. As they work together, they grow closer and closer, both to each other and the answers they seek. But time is running short—and the worst is yet to come. [back cover copy]

EMBERS IN THE LONDON SKY is jammed with drama and hard choices—even before factoring in the war!

Sundin is a marvelous storyteller, skilled at creating a sense of place. We feel as if we’re there, whether on a road through the low countries teeming with frightened people fleeing before the German invasion, walking in London over wet cobblestones below a fleet of barrage balloons or heels sinking in muddy parkland, or through smoke-filled streets amid noise of planes, bombs, sirens, cries. And the roar of a fire.

Sundin’s characters, achingly real, appealed to me immediately. Aleida, despite losing her son and arriving in England with very little, has gumption, grit, and hope. And Hugh, despite his upper-class status is working for the BBC, broadcasting from Dunkirk and among the ravaged buildings and populace of London, has warmth, equanimity … and a secret. A cast of vibrant and interesting secondary characters are also very involved.

Weaving these vivid locations and vibrant characters into the inherent drama of war — bombings, people living on top of one another, families separated, danger, illness, politics, espionage—would be a good story. But Sundin, with great skill, goes well beyond, creating a plot that twists and turns like a living thing, giving readers a satisfying story on every level.

But pointing to the various elements Sundin provides to give us a great story falls short of revealing how good this powerful story of love, courage, and sacrifice is. I think one aspect I love about Sundin’s writing is her ability to reveal something about a character in a tiny detail. A small action. A concise bit of prose.

On page 91, for example: Hugh and Aleida have become acquainted and Hugh goes to her apartment unexpectedly to give her a list, promised her by Hugh’s uncle, of homes and institutions to check in her search for Theo. Aleida isn’t home so he waits for her on the street and takes glee in surprising her when she returns. They go inside.

“Hugh paused inside the door, and his smile collapsed. On the coatrack hung Theo’s little gray cap and blue coat.

‘When I find him,’ she said, ‘I’ll be ready.’”

We learn so much about Hugh’s sensitivity and Aleida’s love, hope, and determination despite already searching 6 months for Theo. If Sundin can pack that into just 29 words, imagine the story packed into 369 pages!

Photo credit: Barrage balloons, London damaged bldg- Wikipedia, London Blitz; plane-wallup.net; Building with flowers: Ray Bullen; Elephant-World Wildlife Fund

Overflowing Faith: Lettie Cowman and Streams in the Desert: A Biography by Michelle Ule. 5-stars!

Posted on February 22, 2024 by marykaymoody

Most people familiar with the 1924 devotional Streams in the Desert know little about the author Lettie Cowman. Overflowing Faith describes how personal heartbreak and a need to fill her thirsty soul led to Lettie penning the devotional.

Still in print 100 years later, with untold millions of copies sold, Streams in the Desert continues to speak to weary hearts, particularly to those dealing with personal grief and despair in a world gone mad.

Biographer Michelle Ule traces how a girl from Iowa grew up to prompt the final gospel crusade through Eastern Europe before WWII. Using Streams in the Desert as an opening, Lettie Cowman worked tirelessly to share the gospel before the Iron Curtain sealed off believers from the western world for 50 years.

This story of a remarkable woman’s earnest desire to share the gospel provides insight and encouragement for modern Christians facing a hostile, unbelieving society. [back cover copy]

Do you find peeking into the lives of people from another era interesting?

Well Michelle Ule’s Overflowing Faith: Lettie Cowman and Streams in the Desert is beyond a peek and beyond interesting.

Ule explores and shares Lettie’s life from her early days in Iowa to her world travels as transportation went from buggy to train, ship to plane. And what a ride! I learned so much about Lettie ~ but even more about God, Who seemed to have his hand on Lettie’s life from the beginning. (Doesn’t Scripture tells us that He does for every one of us. But do we often see it so magnificently?)

Lettie was raised as a pampered daughter of a well-to-do farm owner and at 15 met Charlie Cowman, the young man who would become her husband. Or she thought she met him at 15. It turned out that they’d met about 12 years earlier when Charlie’s family was traveling west and had stopped for the night to camp on the farm of Lettie’s parents.

Ule’s unfurling of Lettie’s story is packed with such “coincidences,” such as how God used health challenges Lettie faced to position the Cowman’s for the next step in their ministry.

Early in the Cowman’s marriage, they had moved to Chicago because Charlie received a promotion. Lettie’s unusual attendance at a revival meeting led to her soon being saved and purposing to follow God’s guidance. Throughout the Cowman’s ministry together and her eventual 40+ years of leading ministry as a widow, Lettie was diligent about waiting for guidance and backing it up with Scripture. She expected God to guide His work. And He did.

Their ministry was bold, The Cowman’s traveled to Japan and with Juji Nakada started Oriental Missionary Society (OMS), a Bible Training Institute, and began an outreach campaign called the “The Great Village Campaign wherein teams of Western teachers and Japanese trainees systematically visited EVERY home in Japan (10.2 million!), sharing the Gospel and leaving a tract and/or portion of Scripture with the family. One missionary said they wore out a pair of shoes every month!

Charles died in 1924, and though Lettie grieved terribly, she soldiered on, eventually shepherding the OMS to reach new countries, new groups of people, even expanding to new continents.

Following Lettie’s life captured me. Seeing (Hearing, really. It was an audiobook!) her simple faith and the powerful consequences presented so clearly struck me. Lettie’s life, this book recounting it, tapped me on the shoulder time after time as God whispered, “You can trust Me like that too.” Ule related numerous instances that caused my jaw to drop. Let me share just one with you:

WW II interrupted most of OMS official business in the Far East, missionaries were interred or left the country, etc. Lettie traveled to many places in Europe. During a trip to Wales, she met a Finnish couple who asked her to help them evangelize Finland, which she did. After WW II, OMS was being rebuilt in China and in Oct. 1948 Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek requested 1.1 million New Testaments written in Chinese. OMS desired to provide them, but there was a worldwide paper shortage, and OMS still struggled at times to pay the bills.

Ule tells us, “Finish Christian farmers donated enough trees for paper pulp to make 15 tons of paper. TREES! If I’d relied on my reasoning, I’d have tried for extra funds to buy rare paper to print resources. God went to tree farmers. The paper was turned into tracts and Scriptures for Europe, Asia, and South America.” Imagine that! I can hardly.

Some of Lettie’s travels, at the time, seemed to make no sense. Some said she stretched herself too thin, beginning outreach to South America, England & Wales, Finland, Eastern Europe. But all the while God was weaving a tapestry.

I consumed Overflowing Faith in audio form, the story read by the author. Typically I don’t find an audio book the best form for me, especially for texts with lots of dates or numbers. I like to read, highlight certain passages. But this story kept my interest and had very few spots with numbers that pulled me out of the story. Ule’s reading was superb. Her tone and pitch varied. She even changed voices a bit for characters’ speech (But have the volume a tad louder because sometimes Lettie’s voice is whispery and needs a bit of volume.). She also did something that made the story relevant in another way. When speaking about money, she also converted it into 2022 amounts.

Overflowing Faith is a powerful telling of the compelling life of a partnership of Lettie Cowman and God. I highly recommend it.

Visit Michelle’s website to learn more about her and her books.

THE SEAMSTRESS OF ACADIE ~ a stellar story by Laura Frantz! 5-star review

Posted on February 1, 2024 by marykaymoody

THE SEAMSTRESS OF ACADIE is yet another of the stellar works by Laura Frantz.

As 1754 is drawing to a close, tensions between the French and the British on Canada’s Acadian shore are reaching a fever pitch. Seamstress Sylvie Galant and her family–French-speaking Acadians wishing to remain neutral–are caught in the middle, their land positioned between two forts flying rival flags. Amid preparations for the celebration of Noël, the talk is of unrest, coming war, and William Blackburn, the British Army Ranger raising havoc across North America’s borderlands.

As summer takes hold in 1755 and British ships appear on the horizon, Sylvie encounters Blackburn, who warns her of the coming invasion. Rather than participate in the forced removal of the Acadians from their land, he resigns his commission. But that cannot save Sylvie or her kin. Relocated on a ramshackle ship to Virginia, Sylvie struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. When her path crosses once more with William’s, they must work through the complex tangle of their shared, shattered past to navigate the present and forge an enduring future. [back cover copy]

The Acadian expulsion from Nova Scotia is an event that is seldom used as novel settings. It’s a sad chapter in history, and Frantz makes great use of every opportunity for drama in this engaging story. And while the true events are tragic, Frantz in her typical way creates a story worth reading and easy to stick with. (I have started some books that were so disturbing, I could not make myself finish them. This is not such a book.)

Frantz gives us characters we root for, who grow and change through their trials, and are so appealing and interesting we just have to keep reading.

The settings come alive such that you may shiver in the cold, slip your shoes off thinking they are sopping wet, mop the sweat from your brow, or startle at a creak thinking it is a twig snapping as someone creeps up on you. I admire how well Frantz depicts her settings. I am drawn in every time.

We meet the Acadian families in their natural setting and enjoy their lives and celebrations.

But as British ships amass in the bay, the people who, for over a century, have lived simply, worked the land, fished the waters, and found ways to live peaceably with their neighbors sense their way of life is being threatened. Deceit and treachery abound and we are shocked along with them when they are piled aboard dilapidated vessels, forced to leave almost everything behind, then find families are broken apart.

Hardships multiply—filth, disease, storms, Disaster strikes—even to sinking ships. And we hope that those who survive will find peace and wholeness in the new land.

But humanity is there and humanity brings its own kind of wickedness, and hanging on to integrity and hope can be a very long battle. Add the clash of cultures, few friends and new foes—discerning who is friend or foe becomes critically important.

After reading a Frantz tale, I often try to figure out what it is that makes her novels superior quality. She gives us intriguing plots with many surprises, characters who, though flawed, possess integrity, honor, and kindly ways; and settings that come alive. But something beyond that makes her stories ones where I pause and re-read a scene because it’s so compelling. She has a way of imbuing characters with significance—especially those from less valued echelons of society—children, minorities, the elderly.

Another admirable skill Frantz demonstrates is her ability to choose the perfect, tiny action to focus on to elicit powerful emotional responses from her characters and thus from readers. For example, how often have you been brought to tears watching someone wash a shirt? Or from noticing the wallpaper in a new room you enter? Tiny, almost inconsequential actions that have a profound impact in the story as she tells it.

I suspect there are many other skills Frantz employs that I have not yet identified. But identifying them is not necessary to enjoying this captivating story. And we can be assured that Laura Frantz will always end on a hope-filled note.

You can purchase THE SEAMSTRESS OF ACADIE anywhere books are sold. And meet Laura online at her website or from there on social media.

Another Masterpiece by Davis Bunn ~ THE CHRISTMAS HUMMINGBIRD. 5-star review

Posted on January 18, 2024 by marykaymoody

Ryan Eames is a policewoman and single mother dedicated most of all to her lonely, uniquely gifted son. Stretched thin by double shifts and grappling with an out-of-season coastal wildfire, Christmas cheer feels as far away as a distant carol on a winter night. Until duty draws her into the life of a stranger.

Ethan Lange is alive because Ryan reached his canyon home before the blaze. Christmas is only days away, and Ethan has lost everything. A man reckoning with a painful past, it’s not the first time he’s been forced to start over. At least now it’s in the redeeming embrace of Miramar Bay.

Forging an animal rescue operation, Ryan and Ethan first unite by their cause and the rally of a close-knit community. But it’s Ryan’s extraordinary child who draws them into something deeper and surprising. Something to be thankful for. Now with every beat of their hearts, Christmas in Miramar Bay looks to be a season of love, healing, and sweet mercies that will be remembered for a lifetime. [back cover copy]

Davis Bunn’s writing usually grabs me and THE CHRISTMAS HUMMINGBIRD is no exception. From the beginning when Ryan Eames rescues Ethan Lange from a wildfire licking at his canyon home I was in the story.

Having lived through a nearby wildfire and worked on a team assisting those who’d lost their homes and/or businesses recover, everything about the setting resonated. Like the way the color of the sky tells you that fire is consuming your world, or ash flutters out of a blue sky like snow for weeks

depending on the way the wind blows. And the smell of “burned” comes and goes on the wind currents. The moonscape aftermath. And the yearning of everyone for dew, rain, or an ocean breeze. But this story captivated me for so much more.

The tentative romance developing between two hurt people is a thing of beauty. Here’s a snippet:

“As [Ryan] stowed her groceries in the trunk and settled in beside her son, she was tempted to call and cancel. Not have to go through the process of introducing another strange man into their home life. It would be so easy to tell Ethan they needed to keep their relationship totally professional.

But the truth was, it felt so good. She liked him. She liked the way others saw him. She liked the flavor of hope. It tasted like a spice from some long-forgotten dream. “

The characters are well-drawn, relatable, and flawed, but a joy to get to know. And Bunn’s descriptions are superb—as this one where Ethan sees Ryan across the room:

“Ethan guessed her age at early thirties …. She held herself very erect, very aware. Like a bird of prey waiting for the reason to launch herself into flight.”

I liked also the storyline where the rescued becomes a rescuer—and a hummingbird is just one of those rescued. Hummingbirds are vulnerable to heat and smoke. (Did you know their hearts beat 1000+ times per minute?) The details of what goes into rescuing the hummingbird population from the fire zone are fascinating, and offer an opportunity for Ethan to bond with Liam, Ryan’s remarkable son. Liam is an interesting character—he marches to the beat of his own drummer which involves a lot of drawing and a lot of silence. Unusual for an eleven-year-old.

These three become a powerful triumvirate who work to resolve numerous issues for each other and the larger community. THE CHRISTMAS HUMMINGBIRD is a marvelous depiction of something I often write about—help from unlikely places. Add in mysteries solved, bonds formed, and Christmas and you have a keeper of a storyI highly recommend.

Davis Bunn is Writer-in-Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University. He has won 4 Christy Awards and his books have sold in excess of eight million copies. You can learn more about his at his website.

Story GOLD by master storyteller Amanda Dykes ~ ALL THE LOST PLACES. 5 STAR review

Posted on December 15, 2022 by marykaymoody

When all of Venice is unmasked, one man’s identity remains a mystery . . .

1807
When a baby is discovered floating in a basket along the quiet canals of Venice, a guild of artisans takes him in and raises him as a son, skilled in each of their trades. Although the boy, Sebastien Trovato, has wrestled with questions of his origins, it isn’t until a woman washes ashore on his lagoon island that answers begin to emerge. In hunting down his story, Sebastien must make a choice that could alter not just his own future, but also that of the beloved floating city.

**Examples of the Venetian guilds: seafoam satin, printers, lace, Murano glass.**

1904
Daniel Goodman is given a fresh start in life as the century turns. Hoping to redeem a past laden with regrets, he is sent on an assignment from California to Venice to procure and translate a rare book. There, he discovers a city of colliding hope and decay, much like his own life, and a mystery wrapped in the pages of that filigree-covered volume. With the help of Vittoria, a bookshop keeper, Daniel finds himself in a web of shadows, secrets, and discoveries carefully kept within the stones and canals of the ancient city . . . and in the mystery of the man whose story the book does not finish: Sebastien Trovato. [back cover copy]

ALL THE LOST PLACES comes alive under Amanda’s hands, skilled at spinning history and imagination into magical gold like old fairy-tale Rumpelstiltskin.

The characters are captivating and took immediate residence in my heart and mind. (Well, one only in my mind, not heart! But he has so much to tell.) They are flawed and real and resonate as the shimmering story unfurls like a spool of satin ribbon wending its way through the implausible islands, the mirroring rivers, the unyielding social order.

The tale begins with a dilemma to be solved, but each step toward resolution leads to another conundrum. And like all good puzzles, pieces and clues gathered must be turned this way and that to discern where they fit. IF they fit. Or we must simply be patient and let the story emerge. And like sunshine beaming upon a foggy mist ~ this story will reveal hidden longings and questions. And the great love of The One Who Made You.

Umbrellas. Have to read the story. 🙂 Mosaic. Torcello Cathedral, Venice Murano Glass Chandelier

Amanda’s storytelling is poetic and powerful such that one cannot turn pages fast enough to satisfy the desire to know what happens next. Yet as the end drew nearer, I ached at leaving it behind. I highly recommend this book to all those who love stories laced with history, intrigue, romance, and hope.

The flags on the book pictured below indicate spots that touched me, shimmered in a special way. The 60 pages early and late unbedecked reflect the reading done before I found flags and after I ran out of the colorful heralds.

You can get a peek at the first chapter on your computer by clicking this link: http://cdn.bakerpublishinggroup.com/processed/book-resources/files/Excerpt_9780764239502.pdf?1663881818 Happy reading!

And if it touches you like it did me, you can purchase ALL THE LOST PLACES where ever books are sold, but often the best deal is from Baker Book House: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/431757

Amanda Dykes is a drinker of tea, dweller of redemption, and spinner of hope-filled tales who spends most days chasing wonder and words with her family. She’s the winner of the 2020 Christy Award Book of the Year, a Booklist 2019 Top Ten title, and the winner of an INSPY award for her debut novel, Whose Waves These Are. She’s also the author of Set the Stars Alight (a Christy Award finalist), Yours is the Night (recipient of the Kipp Award, Christy Award finalist), All the Lost Places (starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Foreword), and three novellas. Find her online at amandadykes.com.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and was not required to provide a positive review. All opinions are my own.

YOURS IS THE NIGHT by Amanda Dykes ~ a stellar read. 5-star review

Posted on July 26, 2021 by marykaymoody

A mysterious song in the forest . . .
A discovery in war-torn France . . .
A journey toward hope.
The trenches of the Great War are a shadowed place. Though Platoon Sergeant Matthew Petticrew arrived there with a past long marked by shadow, the realities of battle bring new wounds–carving within him a longing for light, and a resolve to fight for it.

One night, Matthew and his comrades are enraptured by a sound so pure, a voice so ethereal, it offers reprieve–even if only for a moment. Soon, rumors sweep the trenches from others who have heard the lullaby too. “The Angel of Argonne,” they call the voice: a mysterious presence who leaves behind wreaths on unmarked graves.

Raised in the wild depths of the Forest of Argonne, Mireilles finds her reclusive world rocked when war crashes into her idyllic home, taking much from her. When Matthew and his two unlikely companions discover Mireilles, they must embark on a journey that will change each of them forever . . . and perhaps, at long last, spark light into the dark.

[back cover copy]

Trench Art of WW I

Yours is the Night, latest book by Amanda Dykes, is set against the dark days of World War I but it’s an amazing book that shimmers with courageous souls, generous hearts, noble spirits, and the fight for light. A reader might have concern about reading a tale set during World War I, especially since Amanda is known for bringing characters and settings to life. I’ve read many books set in wartime. A few I’ve stopped reading. Some I gritted my way through but felt assaulted in the reading. Amanda is almost unique in her ability to keep the story real while finding and focusing on glints of light and life that not only balance out intense images of battle but make the tale a thing of hope and beauty.

She fills her cast with characters from diverse backgrounds ~ a New York horse farm, Oxford University, a woodland cabin. And I’ve fallen in love with every one of our band of travelers. Each is unique, totally likeable, and has no intention of joining the war. But as we journey with them, each is impacted by some aspect of the conflict and must deal with it or be crushed by it.

As I’ve mentioned in reviewing Amanda’s previous books, she writes delightful, lyrical tales with beauty and tender understanding of the broken places in a person. She writes of the impact of choices and how consequences echo into the future. And always, the fight for light and The Light. This book continues that lovely, powerful writing filled with imagery, symbolism, and surprises. I’ll share just a sample.

…a flock of sheep bleated, eating grass like all was as normal as could be …. The scene sliced clean away when I blinked, that green grass flashing into colorless dirt, the blue sky swallowed up by dark. How long, I wondered, would memory keep doing this? Showing up and slashing into the present? [p 141]

This country so deeply scarred by trenches and terror is beginning to feel its wounds stitched together by Allied forces … victory by victory. [p. 174]

The sticks and curves and letters arranged themselves into words that shattered my world. [p. 205]

… Characteristics that stuck out like odd limbs on a person bumbling through the corridors of life, until he found that they weren’t odd limbs at all, but rather the carefully crafted shape of himself, molded to fit like a puzzle piece into this moment. [p. 257]

At times, writing a book review is difficult because a so-so story or cliché characters don’t inspire. But writing a review for this one is difficult because the story is so good that my words fall so very short of conveying the beauty, the power…the light & joy the author has infused into it. I heartily recommend Yours is the Night for a stellar read (and re-read). Join the journey through fear and fog of war, yearning for life and love and peace, and most of all discovery. Who knows? You may, like me, even want to begin carrying a box of matches with you.

Trench Art photo credit: http://www.trenchartofww1.co.uk/images/Lights_Out_Candle_2014.JPG?298

Some links to sources for a copy of Yours is the Night if you’re so inclined:

Baker Book House (pre-order special through 8/2/21: 40% off + free shipping + free gift while supplies) last): https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/260758

Christianbook.com: https://www.christianbook.com/…/9780764232688/pd/232681…

Bookshop.org (Supports independent bookstores) https://bookshop.org/books/yours-is-the-night/9780764232688

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/…/yours-is…/1137897809…

Wal-Mart: https://www.walmart.com/…/Yours-is-the-Night…/683442923

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764232681

Books-a-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/…/Amanda-Dykes/9780764232688

Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780764232688

SET THE STARS ALIGHT by Amanda Dykes~Prepare to be Carried Away! 5-star Review

Posted on June 22, 2020 by marykaymoody

In an aged brick cottage in London, the magic of the past comes alive each night for the family of a humble watchmaker. In her father’s fireside stories, Lucy Claremont’s fascination with the high seas begins, leading her to devote her life’s work to discovering the whereabouts of a legendary lost ship. But when tragedy strikes, it’s childhood friend Dashel and his knowledge of the stars that may help her solve the puzzle.

Two hundred years earlier, three young lives are altered forever when a shepherd rescues the privileged son of a powerful admiral. As the children grow, war leads to unthinkable heartbreak, deep love, and a story of betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption that fades into obscurity as centuries pass.

As Lucy and Dash explore mysterious ruins on the East Sussex coast, their search leads them to a community of souls and a long-hidden tale that may hold the answers–and the healing–they so desperately seek. [back cover]

In SET THE STARS ALIGHT Amanda Dykes has penned a story that captivates completely from page one. I couldn’t have been more absorbed if I watched the tale unfurl while flying over it with Peter Pan.

Settings come alive with Amanda’s use of specific, sensory details. Whether an ancient, sooty match factory or a wireless, fairy-tale-like farm ~ the reader is there, hearing the song of the bells and feeling the breeze, tasting the flavors it carries. Amanda’s poetic, lyrical writing evokes memories of fables and fairy tales, enticing readers to ignore the thrum of our frenetic planet, and fall into life with Lucy and Dash.

Characters are so well developed, that it takes no time at all to bond with them. To feel the excitement when Papa begins a riddle or a story. Or the breath-stealing, carved-out realization that a loved one is … gone.

And though this book is only the second of Amanda’s published novels, she’s already a master not only at spinning stories, but balancing the mechanics of producing a dual-time book. Like the storytellers in this yarn, Amanda sprinkles clues to links between the two timelines. And the story flows unimpeded even when she switches between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. I dare say, no reader will have to flip back to an earlier chapter to reconnect with a storyline in order to move ahead.

Amanda displays great skill in story craft, but SET THE STARS ALIGHT is so much more than the sum of these skills. This story is art. Magic. Delightful. Full of imagery, symbolism, and surprises! The intriguing characters—on quests for belonging, truth, love, forgiveness, lost things, or answers to mysteries—deliver us to wonder and light. And to the reward of learning that everyone’s actions reverberate through time. That every single life matters. The journey introduces us to The Maker of Wonder, Light Himself.

I could fill pages with favorite quotes. (I nearly wore out the yellow marker!) But lest I rob you of the joy of discovering your own, I include below just a few. An appetizer if you will. This gem of a story will satisfy on every level.

“When things seem dark, Lucy, that’s when you fight for the light.” p 21

For who were they to one another now? A shadow. An outline. A question mark. p 67

The woman … gave the impression that she’d been born and raised in a confectioner’s shop and trailed a dusting of sweetness wherever she went. p 73

“Looks as if he ate anger for breakfast.” p 79

“I wonder if it’s even possible to overestimate the significance of a single life … Words spoken, hearts changed, a meal provided to a hungry sojourner, who knows? Who knows how far everyday actions reach?” p 196

As if every moment between then and now had been leading up to this, the homecoming of their hands. p 178

[image credit: Peter Pan, disney; couple by Vecteezy]

SET THE STARS ALIGHT releases June 30, 2020. I’m blessed to have read an early copy from NetGalley for review. Usually I don’t find the e-versions of a book nearly as engaging as paper. But STARS knocked that problem to the curb! This is a 5-star recommendation. I feel my words don’t to this fabulous story justice!

You can meet Amanda on social media, where she likes to hang out and talk about wondrous things. So visit her on Instagram or Facebook if you want to learn more about this amazing author.

Links to some places you can purchase SET THE STARS ALIGHT if you’re so inclined. And a word from Amanda: Available in Paperback, Audiobook, and Hardcover. May we encourage you to support an independent and/or local bookstore with this purchase? Even one book can help these cherished stores regain their footing amid the COVID-19 circumstances. Thank you, fellow bookstore lovers!

Baker Book House

Indiebound (Find a bookstore local to you.)

Christianbook

Powell’s

Barnes & Noble

Walmart (paperback link)

Captivating Story ~ WHOSE WAVES THESE ARE By Amanda Dykes Book Review

Posted on April 30, 2019 by marykaymoody

In the wake of WWII, a grieving fisherman submits a poem to a local newspaper: a rallying cry for hope, purpose . . . and rocks. Send me a rock for the person you lost, and I will build something life-giving. When the poem spreads farther than he ever intended, Robert Bliss’s humble words change the tide of a nation. Boxes of rocks inundate the tiny, coastal Maine town, and he sets his calloused hands to work, but the building halts when tragedy strikes.

Decades later, Annie Bliss is summoned back to Ansel-by-the-Sea when she learns her Great-Uncle Robert, the man who became her refuge during the hardest summer of her youth, is now the one in need of help. What she didn’t anticipate was finding a wall of heavy boxes hiding in his home. Long-ago memories of stone ruins on a nearby island trigger her curiosity, igniting a fire in her anthropologist soul to uncover answers.

She joins forces with the handsome and mysterious harbor postman, and all her hopes of mending the decades-old chasm in her family seem to point back to the ruins. But with Robert failing fast, her search for answers battles against time, a foe as relentless as the ever-crashing waves upon the sea. [from back cover]

In Whose Waves These Are Amanda Dykes has constructed the woodsy seaside village of Ansel-by-the-Sea so clearly we can see the wind-pushed ripples and waves, smell the wood smoke, and hear the silvery sound of DIY wind chimes.

Ansel is a place where God’s presence and provision hovers over the residents like the fog hovers over the coast, and gossip is shunned but residents are not. Each one’s well-being is valued by the townsfolk who see beyond behavior and into a person’s heart, needs, and broken spots—which are handled respectfully and tenderly. Ansel residents help each other find ways to stitch together the rent pieces. In short, it’s a place anyone would like to live in.

The characters ring true as we accompany them on the journey of living and losing, finding and forgiving, heartbreak and reconciliation; learning the importance of each decision made, each step taken, and the impact of the consequences. Because a person chooses his actions but not his consequences. And make no mistake—there will be consequences.

Whose Waves These Are is a dual-time story. For those put off by dual-time stories, there’s no need to avoid this one. Dykes has mastered the techniques, and this story slips from World War II era and contemporary smoothly. It’s the easiest to follow of the many dual-time stories I’ve read.

Dykes tells this tale in a lovely, lyrical style. And displays a keen understanding of loss, pain, grief, guilt; and the courage required to make peace with them and move into hope and living again. A few quotes serve to prove my point—and whet your appetite.

“If everything around you is broken, it’s time to unbreak something.” [p 75]

[Annie arrives at her uncle’s home after a twenty-year absence] “A step inside feels like she’s trespassing, the house assessing her every step as if to say Who … are you …?” [p 60]

“She’s learning that this guy is never in a hurry. Whatever he’s thinking, he gives it time to be thought.” [p 92]

[conversation Robert observes about a man missing after World War II]“Your husband,” Eva says gently. “He hasn’t returned … yet?” Her wording is hopeful but gentle and Robert wants to kiss her for it. He would have blundered that question a thousand ways. [p240]

“Fire dimming … He drops to his knees, grips earth, grips jagged hope.” [p 348]

Themes of brokenness and mending, hope, purpose, and light are woven through the stories of these realistic, flawed characters as they struggle and prevail. The journey through this story is thought-provoking and light-filled; a trip you’ll want to repeat with a second and third read. Whose Waves These Are is a captivating story that is sure to become a classic. I heartily recommend this glorious story.

You can meet Amanda on her website here and share all sorts of beauty and bookish things. You’ll also find links to her other cyber-spaces.

I thank Baker Publishing Group for a free review copy of this book. I was under no requirement to write a positive review.

Photo credits: Mary Kay Moody

Hope & Beauty ~ THE BUTTERFLY AND THE VIOLIN by Kristy Cambron

Posted on August 4, 2016 by marykaymoody

A Mysterious painting breathes hope and beauty into the darkest corners of Auschwitz–and the loneliest hearts of Manhattan.

BUTTERFLY & VIOLIN K Cambron

“…As Sera untangles the secrets behind the painting, she finds beauty in the most unlikely of places.”

THE BUTTERFLY AND THE VIOLIN is a powerful story, well told … beautifully told. ‘Tis a gifted writer who can not only open a window for a reader to peer into a different world, but transport the reader there. Kristy Cambron transported me to another world ~ and I don’t feel as if I’ve quite returned yet.

On finishing the story, I closed the cover and felt strangely untethered from my overly hot summer home. Also bereft at leaving behind this place Cambron had so thoroughly delivered me to. I still haven’t analyzed the why. I’m not certain I want to. But I do know that this tale displays our urge to create beauty and the power of beauty to infuse hope. That message resonated with me. I suspect it will with you. (I’ve posted about creativity before. You can read my encouragement here.)

ED n Karl + redwood copy crp The quiet, reverent awe this book provoked reminds me of walking among the giant redwoods in John Muir Woods.

Below, the blurb from THE BUTTERFLY AND THE VIOLIN ~ which I highly recommend.

“Manhattan art dealer Sera James watched her world crumble at the altar two years ago, and her heart is still fragile. Her desire for distraction reignites a passion for a mysterious portrait she first saw as a young girl–a painting of a young violinist with piercing blue eyes. In her search for the painting, Sera crosses paths with William Hanover–the grandson of a wealthy California real estate mogul–who may be the key to uncovering the hidden masterpiece. Together Sera and William slowly unravel the story behind the painting’s subject: Austrian violinist Adele Von Bron.

A darling of the Austrian aristocracy of 1942, talented violinist, and daughter to a high-ranking member of the Third Reich, Adele risks everything when she begins smuggling Jews out of Vienna. In a heartbeat, her life of prosperity and privilege dissolves into a world of starvation and barbed wire. As Sera untangles the secrets behind the painting, she finds beauty in the most unlikely of places: the grim camps of Auschwitz and the inner recesses of her own troubled heart.”

Mary Kay Moody

Writing at the Intersection of Our Plans and God's Purpose

Tag Archives: hope