Between the Sound and Sea by Amanda Cox - REVIEWED

 About the Book:

Every family has its secrets. Josephina "Joey" Harris wouldn't mind if her family still had a few of their own after a lawsuit tarnishes their name. When an opportunity opens to become a temporary keeper of a decommissioned lighthouse on a North Carolina island, she takes the opportunity to escape the scrutiny of her small town to oversee its restoration.  
 
Soon Joey discovers strange notes tucked deep in the crevices of the lighthouse's old stone walls--pages torn from a keeper's log recounting harrowing rescues at sea. When things start to go amiss on the island, locals are convinced that it is the ghost of the lighthouse keeper and his daughter who were lost at sea during World War II.

As Joey sifts through decades of rumors and legends and puts together the pieces of the past, a love story emerges--one that's clearly not over yet.

My Thoughts:

“I’m not sure going backward is ever the answer.  We learn what we can from the hard tame and keep moving forward.” (Joey pg. 263)

Joey encapsulates the heart of the matter every single character in this novel wrestle with throughout the entire narrative.  What appears to be a questionable and seemingly pointless pursuit to elderly Walt, to his grandson, Finn, questioning life foals and relationships to Joey’s u-turn in her career and family dynamics – Amanda Cox has built a story on the universal truth of everyone’s search for purpose and meaning.  Cox vividly illustrates the forward march of time in spite of the willingness to receive the gift offered to us through circumstances – chosen or forced upon us.

Choosing an historic lighthouse restoration project a literary and spiritual focal point for the reader to embrace.  The two families on the main stage of the novel are similar in their dysfunction and throw Joey and Finn together to navigate Walt’s literal and physical restoration. The uncertainty that thrums through the storyline rolls back through decades and includes myth, legend and a world war that played itself out along the East Coast of the U.S in the 40’s.  Cox uses an unexpected source of chaos on the worksite to tie all the threads of the story together and enables multiple mysteries to be solved as the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

There are many moments along the journey where the reader will be both encouraged and challenged to examine their own responses to hardship and consider the possibilities that lie ahead if honesty and forgiveness are given and invitation to blossom.  Cox’s writing will draw you in quickly and create character you will really love.  Recorded history is rich in revealing the best and worst of the human condition, and Amanda Cox offers an honest, hope-filled and redemptive story! I am so grateful to all this beautiful story to my bookshelf!!

About the Author:

Amanda Cox is the Christy Award-winning author of The Edge of Belonging, The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery, and He Should Have Told the Bees. She holds a bachelor's degree in Bible and theology and a master's degree in professional counseling, but her first love is communicating through story. Her studies and her interactions with hurting families over a decade have allowed her to create multidimensional characters that connect emotionally with readers. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with her husband and their three children. Learn more at AmandaCoxWrites.com.

Until Our Time Comes by Nicole M. Miller REVIEWED

 About the Book:

When her hopes are shattered by war, one woman will risk everything to save those she loves.

American horse trainer Adia Kensington is living her dream of working at the famous Janów Podlaski stables in Poland, where the best Arabian horses in the world are bred. But her plans to bring a priceless stallion to the US are derailed when the German army storms into her adopted country in 1939. Little does she know this is just the beginning of six long years of occupation that will threaten her beloved horses at every turn.

 Bret Conway is at Janów Podlaski under the guise of a news reporter, but his true mission is intelligence gathering for the British. That and keeping Adia safe, which is harder and harder to do as she insists they must evacuate two hundred and fifty horses to save them from being stolen, sold, or eaten by the invading forces. What follows will test Bret's and Adia's physical, mental, and emotional strength, as well as their faith in God, humankind, and each other. 

This epic story of escape, capture, resistance, and love is based on true events of the uncommon heroes in World War II Poland.

My Thoughts:

"The guilt of survival.  The disbelief of the loss.  The sliver of hope that it was all just a bad dream." (p.135)

Bret Conway is a spy gathering intel just prior to Germany's invasion of Poland, and the thoughts he expresses at this point in the novel, capture the essence of everyone's struggle. To be in Poland as both Germany and Russia are invading and fighting for territory was unbelievable volatile! The last thing Bret ever anticipated was to meet American horse trainer Adia Kinsington! Talk about bad timing! To be tasked with getting her safely out of Poland seemed like a huge inconvenience! 

The introduction of Adia into Bret's life was more than an inconvenience, and, over time, it became evident to both of them that there was a much broader and significant purpose to their relationship.  Adia is breeding and training pure bred horses she hopes to bring back to America, and she is solely focused on the outcome of the years of hard work she has poured into her program.  She can't begin to comprehend the chaos breaking out across the world.  Bret encounters the full strength of her resistance when their attempts to move the horses to safety showcases Adia's willingness to do whatever it takes to protect her horses.  In his effort to save her life, he begins to be drawn to her passionate, headstrong way of navigating impossible circumstances.

It's had not to admire Adia's passion to protect what she loves, especially in tandem with Brent's love of his native Europe.  As the story unfolds, it is this specific combination of gifts and talents that not only draw them to each other, but onward toward a much farther-reaching, life-threatening and long-term commitment to the world around them.

Nicole Miller takes the reader through six war-torn years in the most unexpected and intriguing way imaginable! I don't know what astounds me more - the fact that this story was planted in her mind 20 years before it came to fruition or the astounding way she presents the historic preservation of the Janlow horses! She spares no details of the hardship of war, the painful loss of life, and the fact that people on both sides of the conflict were able to retain their humanity and feel deeply for their country and each other.  

I could go on for pages about the spy network among the local partisans, the efforts made to save the children....every page of this story taught me something new and interesting about the characters and the history surrounding this fascinating time in world history. I can't recommend this book enough! You won't be able to stop reading, and you'll be left hungry for more!

About the Author:

Nicole M. Miller lives in Washington State with her husband and two sons, along with her Arabian horses, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, and guinea pigs. As a longtime horse owner, she's been involved in many horse organizations, including serving on the Clark County Fair Court and as Miss Teen Rodeo Washington. She's received national and regional awards for her nonfiction from American Horse Publications and the Society of Professional Journalists. See her stories in The Horse of My Heart, The Horse of My Dreams, The Dog Who Came to Christmas, and Second-Chance Horses. Learn more at NicoleMillerWriter.com.

The Song of Sourwood Mountain by Ann H Gabhart - REVIEWED

 About the Book:

The doors she thought were closed forever are starting to open up . . . just a crack

Though the century began with such promise, it is 1910 when Mira Dean's hopes of being a wife and mother are dashed to pieces. Her fiancé dead from tuberculosis, Mira resigns herself to being a spinster schoolteacher--until Gordon Covington shows up.

 No longer the boy she knew from school, Gordon is now a preacher who is full of surprises. First, he asks Mira to come to Sourwood in Eastern Kentucky to teach at his mission school. Second, he asks her to marry him. Just like that. 

With much trepidation, Mira steps out in faith into a life she never imagined, in a place filled with its own special challenges, to serve a people who just might end up becoming the family she always yearned for.

My Thoughts:

“Sometimes sorrow and joy could shoe up at the same time in a person’s life.” (p 282)

Ann Gabhart’s character, Mira Dean, gets introduces into your heart already struggling with this emotional dichotomy.  In 1910, if you weren’t married young, had a job you loved you were old-maid material still subject to second-class treatment by men.  Mira had suffered an untimely loss, was settled into her only life-choice, teaching  - until she wasn’t.  A series of events over a period of a few short days finds her seemingly impossible circumstances!

Mira finds herself taking marriage vows to a complete stranger in a town with a stranger name – Sourwood.  Just like that, she’s married to a preacher of a mission in the middle of the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.  I have to say, right off the bat, that I’d never have been strong enough to make that move! After her wedding night, I’d have been on the first train or buggy out of there!!

However, Ann Gabhart’s characters are so believably real and brave, I found myself reading faster and faster to discover what would happen next!  Mira turns out to be one of a host of characters to open up your heart in this tender story.  Like the quote I opened with, these characters weave their days together through both joy and sorrow, and I experienced it all – right alongside them!

I’m pretty sure I loved Gordon long before Mira, and the folks of Sourwood won my heart soon after!  I love a book that literally takes me away for hours! If you enjoy historical fiction, you will love The Song of Sourwood Mountain!

About the Author:

Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling author of many novels, including In the Shadow of the River, When the Meadow Blooms, Along a Storied Trail, An Appalachian Summer, River to Redemption, These Healing Hills, and Angel Sister. She and her husband live on a farm a mile from where she was born in rural Kentucky. Ann enjoys discovering the everyday wonders of nature while hiking in her farm's fields and woods with her grandchildren and her dogs, Frankie and Marley. Learn more at AnnHGabhart.com.