Book Review - Between the Sound and Sea

Joy and pain, life and death are found between the sound and sea in the latest release from Amanda Cox. Fed up with her current situation and looking for a break from scandal, Joey Harris goes out on a whim and applies for a position as project manager for the restoration of a decommissioned lighthouse on a barrier island off the North Carolina coast. She is propelled to the top of the list by merit of being the only option left, a fact that does not sit well with the grumpy grandson of her new employer. Walt is determined to right the wrongs of his youth by restoring the former home of his childhood best friend; protecting Cay’s secrets from wagging tongues is his top priority, and he hopes to find out what really happened on that night when lives were lost and others irreparably damaged. The discovery of hidden journal entries begin to fill in blanks left by history and secrecy, but they come with the mysterious antics of the island’s ghost. With history, mystery, and a great deal of gratification, Cox gives us a beautifully rounded story about heartache, heartbreak, and restoration. You will be as invested as Joey in the success of their venture on the island and in the lives of those to whom it matters. 

And that grumpy grandson? Well, he might tug your heartstrings as well.

Between the Sound and Sea by Amanda Cox is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - He Should Have Told The Bees

Love and identity are timeless themes, expressed in every story in some way or another, it seems. Amanda Cox breaks these down in a tale of two women in He Should Have Told The Bees. Beckett Walsh’s father made a comfortable world for his beloved daughter on the farm they shared alone after her mother left them. She was his apprentice and was happy to carry on in his shadow until his death ripped away the security she relied on even more than she had known. Callie Peterson had no such stability in a world without a father and with a mother whose addictions stole any illusion of security. She should have been through living with the weight of her mother’s continued rejection and chaos, but the boundaries she so carefully constructed are torn down again by her mother’s pleas for help. There is no reason why Beckett or Callie should know about the other’s existence, until George Walsh’s trust divides his estate in half between them. Where each woman has struggled for a lifetime to understand who they are and why they weren’t enough for their parents to stay, this pivotal point begins a new search for understanding neither ever expected.

He Should Have Told The Bees is both heart wrenching and soul stirring, as Cox explores issues we all wrestle with, and does it in a manner that has the reader invested from the first appearance of a spunky alien waif in the Walsh Farms apiary. I have to confess that I was listening to an audiobook in which a spunky alien waif pops up in the path of an unsuspecting young woman, so I had to put He Should Have Told The Bees down for a time in order to keep the storylines from getting jumbled together. I was a bit trepidatious, then, when I resumed this book and hoped it wouldn’t be just another iteration of a storyline I had so recently explored. I worried this one might not hold its own against such a similar cast of characters. There was absolutely no cause for concern. He Should Have Told The Bees is its own story, with its own characters, and there is no confusing the two once those relationships between reader and subjects have been forged. And frankly, Katya Amadeus Cimmaron of the Vesper Galaxy is the kind of lovable, spunky alien waif you just want to scoop up and feed cupcakes. With galaxy frosting. And star sprinkles.

Without a doubt, Amanda Cox’s latest release, He Should Have Told The Bees, is a bit of a tear jerker, a bit of an emotional struggle, and a triumph.

He Should Have Told The Bees by Amanda Cox is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House            Christian Book            Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine. 

Book Review - The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery

Amanda Cox brings three generations of one family together to examine the secrets we keep and the cost of those secrets in The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery. Glory Ann, the matriarch who is struggling to keep her husband’s legacy alive and provide security for her children and grandchildren through the grocery store her Clarence used to care for his family and his community. Rosemary, who holds on to store out of duty, but also the jealousy and guilt that rob her of joy. And Sarah, the woman whose childhood dreams of carrying on the family legacy were crushed by her mother’s prodding to go farther and do more than their small town could offer. Sarah’s return to her childhood home fervor to save Old Depot Grocery is the catalyst that drags those secrets into the light, slowly but doggedly, and prods all the women of Old Depot to reveal secrets that have the power to undo them or to strengthen them as they determine their own ways of dealing with the things left in the dark for way too long.

It doesn’t take long for the reader to become completely enmeshed in the lives of these women. Cox creates a family into which one is easily and thoroughly inserted, so that their stories are our stories and their life lessons are ours as well.

The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery by Amanda Cox is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Christian Book        Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Edge of Belonging

 It's September 1994 when homeless Harvey James finds a newborn, still covered in blood and wrapped in a men's flannel shirt. The moment the tiny girl wraps her fingers around his, Harvey knows that this child cannot be thrown away the way he has been. Each would be the family the other had not had before.

It is September 2020 when The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox finds its way into my hands and doesn't leave them until I reach the end of this stirring and deeply emotional love story. You know the kind of book where you know what's coming, but the real enjoyment is in the reading? If you really wanted to shoehorn me into a literary type, that might be it. Life is full of surprises; action, adventure, twists & turns are great in a book, but sometimes I just need to know that it's all going to end up well and the most stressful plot point is that the male love interest confuses the female love interest's brother for a romantic rival. There's just the right amount of tension and misunderstanding before the confusion is unraveled and everyone lives happily ever after. 

I spent the entirety of The Edge of Belonging feeling like I had it pegged and thinking I would cruise along and enjoy this one, then shelve it along with all the other cozy books I have enjoyed. I suspect the author knew that was what would happen, because she didn't let it go so easily. Amanda Cox flat out wrestled with all the stressful plot points. Some of them hit closer to home for me than others, but they are all very real and very relevant. She handled them with care to bring about a story that needed to be told and treasured. I'm all full of book recommendations, in case you haven't noticed all the blog posts, but this one gets a special spot on my recommendation list. The Edge of Belonging is the kind of book you'll want to purchase in the physical copy, because I guarantee you will know someone else who needs to read it.

The Edge of Belonging by Amanda Cox is currently available from your favorite bookseller.

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Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/yy8llwyk

Thank you to the author and to the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book. All of the opinions in this review are my own and are completely genuine.