The premise of this had me SO eager to read it! I absolutely LOVE books that revolve around the ocean and add in a lighthouse and some romance? I'm hooked... Generally.
But this one just was SOOOOO slow. I had so much trouble being invested in the story when I felt like the first part went nowhere.

I didn't mind the Bible quotes and whatnot, knowing ahead of time that it was Christian fiction, but I just felt unconnected to the plot and characters. It's really too bad as I was so looking forward to this one.

I loved this book! It's set on a barrier island in the Outer Banks and it's a beautiful setting!

The story revolves in two parts - current day with Joey restoring an old lighthouse for Walt, who is there with his grandson, Finn. Walt grew up in the Outer Banks and spent time with the lightkeeper's daughter until war tore them apart and Cay and her father disappeared one night. Rumor has her ghost haunts the island and the lighthouse. Walt wants to restore the lighthouse back to when Cay lived there and took care of her ailing father. Joey starts the restoration and finds keeper logs in the walls of the lighthouse and starts piecing together what really happened that last night Cay and her dad were on the island. This mystery pulls Joey and Finn closer together and leads them where they need to be. It's a beautiful story - I loved the setting, the mystery and love.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

An enjoyable, multilayered story with a dash of romance and mystery. I really liked all of the main characters: Joey and Finn, Walt and Cathleen. It’s a story of second chances and forgiveness.

I really enjoyed the setting of this story. Over a quarter of a century ago, my husband took me to the Outer Banks for our honeymoon. We never got away from the touristy parts of the islands, but I loved the way Amanda Cox brought that area to life in this story.
I was somewhat disappointed with Between the Sound and Sea overall. It did not feel like it came up to quite the same standard of excellence that I found in her other three books. Those three books were all split-time fiction, and I loved the way Amanda Cox slowly revealed bits and pieces of the story through the earlier lives of the various characters. In this book, however, she kept everyone in the present and the mystery was revealed by someone explaining what happened. To me, that was not nearly as engrossing as the split-time stories.

This is an entertaining novel that combines some WW II east coast history with a contemporary Christian romance. The focus centers around the restoration of a lighthouse and I appreciated learning a bit about it with respect to the German submarines along the east coast.

There are several issues included in the plot, such as regret, family estrangement and second chances at life. The pace of the novel was such that I would not call it a page turner. I liked the characters involved, some hurting from past pain, some a bit quirky, and my favorite, a teen needing a good dose of mentoring love. There is a good faith message included. The plot was predictable, as is often the case with romance, but it is an entertaining novel with interesting historical asides and contemporary character growth.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an honest and independent review.

Happy Publication Day to Between the Sound and Sea written by auto-buy author Amanda Cox! As its lovely cover hints, this story is set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and features a (fictional) lighthouse, its imagined history, and the people of several generations who are drawn to it.

Told in dual timeline format with a strong sense of place, its complex characters deal with a host of issues including fractured family relationships, loss of reputation, dementia, and grief. The author is a professional counselor which enables her to craft their interactions realistically yet compassionately. I especially appreciated how she included one character’s decades of regret about a relationship in his youth even after a long and happy marriage.

The search for home, both literal and philosophical, is a theme throughout, and the ways the title’s symbolism is woven into the novel united the storylines. The subplots of faith, mystery, intrigue, and romance added interest and meaning. Just when I thought I knew where the plot was headed, the author surprised me in the best ways. I keep almost no novels after reading them, but Ms. Cox’s books have a place of honor on my keeper shelf, and I’m thrilled to add Between the Sound and Sea to my collection.

Several times while reading this story, I was reminded of Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes. These novels are each unique but also in conversation in meaningful ways.

Thank you to Revell and NetGalley for the review copy of this novel perfect for summer reading.

This was an enjoyable read. The plot was interesting and the characters were interesting and dynamic. I would recommend this book to others.

Amanda Cox has easily become a favorite author for me. This novel included The Outer Banks, and that has also been a favorite for me, dealing with a lighthouse made it very special as well as the historical mystery that gave depth to the story. I really appreciate the times I have visited several different maritime museums, so I felt immersed in things I knew and enjoy. And Amanda has a way of adding layer upon layer to her characters that keeps me coming back to read all she has written. There was just a dash of romance, done in the manner I like, not the main focus. If you enjoy depth of character, delightful settings, bits of historical interest mixed in with romance you will enjoy this novel. Write on Amanda! Thanks to Net Galley for an advance copy. And many thanks to Amanda Cox and Revell for this opportunity.

This book was so good and easy to get lost in. I loved the characters, they felt to real and the people I would like to know in real life.

I highly recommend this book to anyone.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own*

I was worried that there would be too much religion and faith in this book for me, I was definitely concerned for no reason. While there is an element of faith, it is light, and definitely not overwhelming.

This book takes place in a remote lighthouse, away from society. There is a love story, but the relationship between granddaughter and grandfather is central. The grandfather wants to see the lighthouse restored before he dies, seeing it as a penance for past mistakes. This is the story of what those mistakes are, and what redemption really means.

Between the Sound and Sea becomes a dual timeline story mostly through the memories of octogenarian Finnegan Walter O'Hare, AKA Walt. In the early 1940s sixteen-year-old Walt left his best friend, Cay, behind as he left to join the merchant marines. It was the last time he saw her because she was reported to have disappeared the same night his ship was blown out of the water. Her father was found dead not long after, and so rumors about the father and daughter began. In 2007, Walt is still looking for ways to make things right.

Both story lines are interesting and well-thought-out. Each has its share of love, tragedy, and loss. The overall theme of restoration is well-done. The characters are ones that readers will come to care about. I highly recommend all of Amanda Cox's books. They are rich in excellent writing and deep themes. I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of Between the Sound and Sea from Revell via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Between the Sound and Sea is another captivating read by Amanda Cox. The story has a sweet romance, lost friendships, mystery, family relationships, and wonderful historical details wrapped up into a wonderful storyline. Taking place on the Outer Banks of North Carolina involving a lighthouse, had me glued to the pages from the beginning. The vivid descriptions of the area and the charm made me feel like I was there.

The story unfolds as Joey, Finn, and Wally work together to restore the lighthouse and house. The story has some suspense that had me on the edge of my seat, but then the work of God's intervention shined through the pages bringing more layers to the story. It was balanced perfectly. This one will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher; a positive review is not required. All opinions are my own.





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Between the Sound and Sea is another engrossing, multilayered story by master storyteller Amanda Cox. The setting is on the Outer Banks of North Carolina where we meet Walt, an eighty plus year old, his grandson Finn, and Joey, an event planner who worked with her father and brother with their construction company. The three come together to restore an old non-working lighthouse on a barrier island between Pimlico Sound and the ocean. Walt has carried regrets for over sixty years, feelings of failing to help his friend when they were teenagers. Cay's father was the light keeper at the time of World War II. He was killed and Cay's body was never found the night of a merchant ship's explosion. Finn has some regrets of his own as a young man. Joey wants to restore her family's name in her hometown in Tennessee. The characters are wonderful, likable, and relatable; the setting was easy to visualize. This emotional story is one rich in history with a touch of mystery, romance, faith, second chances, and surprises.
I received a copy for the purpose of an honest review. These are my thoughts.

This is the best of Amanda Cox, and her books are always amazing in plot and writing style. Last year I wanted a dual storyline novel including a lighthouse and Between the Sound and Sea fit this perfectly!
Joey is not thriving in business in her hometown due to her family name being soured in the community when she hears about a lighthouse needed renovation on the Outer Banks. When she gets the job and start working for the owner Walt and his grandson Finn, they start discovering journal entries about the young lighthouse keeper who saved many from drowning. They three work together to solve the lighthouse keeper's mystery and what became of her as she's Walt's first love.
So many elements to this story that I loved-light romance, historical journal entries and mystery. I hated to see this story end. It will be one of my top three for the year.
I received a complimentary copy of Between the Sound and the Sea, but all opinions are my own.

A beautiful, romantic, faith filled mystery! Between the Sound and Sea completely grabbed hold of my imagination and didn’t let go. Full of secrets, legends, history, and restoration, this dual time line romance takes place on North Carolina’s Outer Banks in 2007 & the 1940’s. I enjoyed both timelines and how the past & present were woven together with plenty of twists along the way. It’s a lovely story about regrets, fear, and moving forward with romance & a touch of humor.

Josephina “Joey” Harris is struggling to find work in the town she adored and grew up in after a lawsuit tarnished her family name. Needing to get away, she decides to take a job restoring an old light house on Bleakpoint Island. When she arrives, she’s welcomed by the 81 year old owner, Finnegan “Walt” O’Hare however his grandson Finn is not so enthusiastic. He decides to give her a chance at his grandfather’s bequest and as she begins working on the lighthouse, she uncovers secret documents hidden in the walls.

As past and present collide, Joey becomes invested in finding out what happened to the light keeper and his daughter and the reason why Walt is so obsessed with restoring the lighthouse. With rumors of ghosts, legends, and a German invasion, restoring peace to Walt’s life becomes an all consuming task. But Joey and Finn have their own pasts they’re trying to overcome and as their once antagonistic relationship becomes more friendly, will they have a chance to restore their own lives as well?

I loved the beautiful prose and imagery in this story. I could easily picture the dilapidated lighthouse and the sandy beaches. Walt is such an endearing character and I loved his matchmaking. I also loved Joey and Finn and their slow-burn frenemies to more relationship. Both of them have reasons to be cautious about falling in love and I enjoyed watching them learn to overcome fears. The side characters will were delightful as well. I enjoyed the teenager Peter whose life takes a turn for the better.

The mysterious disappearance of Cay, Walt’s first love, is teased out throughout the story as letters, logbooks, and secrets are uncovered. I enjoyed finding out what happened all those years ago and seeing the regrets finally being put to rest. It’s a heartwarming story of second chances & restoration that inspirational historical fiction fans will adore.

Highly recommend! I received an advanced complimentary copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own and voluntarily provided. 4.5-5 stars!

‼️World War 2 dual time line
⚓️ Boats in danger
💡dilapidation and decommissioned lighthouse on the Outer Banks
💔 lost friendship
👷event planner turned construction manager
💕 Second Chance at love

There is not a page in this book that did not pull me into the story. Amanda Cox has written another masterpiece that has me hooked from page 1.

The dual timeline is well written and you will find yourself traveling back in time to when the lighthouses of the US Atlantic Coast played crucial roles in WWII. Then just as easily you flow back into present day as Joey (female MC) faces hard times and embraces change by risking everything to oversee the restoration of a lighthouse in the Outer Banks.

The lighthouse has been the hot topic of the local small island gossip for years. The mystery unfolds as Joey tries to restore the lighthouse to it former glory. As she oversees this project, she begins to understand why Walt has taken on the project.

The story weaves in forgiveness, real family issues, and second chance love that begins with friendship.

There could be some triggers for those who have experienced miscarriages, divorce, death, and Daniel division. However, the story is focused on the healing process from those issues more than anything.

I received an advance copy of this book through NetGalley and Revell Publishing. This review is my honest opinion.

#newrelease #netgalley #netgalleyreads #betweenthesoundandsea #amandacox #whattoreadnext #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks

-Positive Content-
-There were some good quotes I REALLY liked from the book.

(#1)“Because God meets us right where we’re at. And maybe things in our lives get broken down and beaten up along the way. The good news is restoration work is kind of His specialty.”-Joey Harris

(#2)“I feel like I’ve slipped and fallen into an episode of Scooby-Doo. Send help.” -Joey Harris

(#3)“The best gifts are the ones you can share with someone, you know.” -Joey Harris

(#4) "But that’s the beauty of love and grace, Cay. The real kind. We don’t have to earn it.” -Walt O'Hare

-My favorite characters were the historian couple Jerry and Renee, and a spunky elderly woman named Kit.

-I also liked the mention of the band Casting Crowns. I love their music!

Negative Content
-While a great-grandmother tells her great-grandson a story about a girl lightkeeper and she says: " 'she stripped out of her sodden clothes and wrapped a wool blanket around her shoulders.' She winced. Oops. That was probably more detail than a fifteen-year-old boy needed to hear about a fifteen-year -old girl. She continued, more mindful of the particulars she shared."

-A grandfather says that his grandson's sentence contained, "S*xism and ageism all in one breath." Which his granson replies with: "And you might call me s*xist, but I call it calling a spade a spade."

-an elderly man's heart pounding loudly reminded him of "that horrible boxed-up heart under the floor in Edgar Allan Poe’s dreadful story."

-mention of "A siren's song"

-Before the MFC (main female character) puts out a fire it mentions "She stripped off her shirt and soaked it through before pulling it back on."

-A character gets injured and another says "And you’ve been busting your tail in therapy...”

-a grandfather mentions to his grandson about him "being a royal pain in the rear.”

-an elderly man thinks to himself that, "His ancient rear end was alone in a wildlife sanctuary with about four hours of daylight left."

-The MFC's best friend Sophie says to her over the phone, “Now, park that snazzy truck of yours, march your rear end over to those men..." When the MFC goes to preview a job with her clients.
-Sophie says to the MFC once she agrees to try an idea of hers, “So you’re not ready to cuss me a blue streak for sending the wild idea your way?”
-When the MFC tells her best friend Sophie about a guy it says, "Sophie sighed like a lovesick teen."  She also kept insisting for her to send a pic of the guy. Sophie also says, “He’s hot, isn’t he?”
Overall she acted way more giddy than a married woman and mother such as herself should be when discussing another man.
Sophie ended up being my least favorite character for the 4 reasons above.

-A man says "my old man" when referring to his father.

-The MMC (main male character) let the MFC (main female character) stay the night in his vacant hotel room, while he stayed the night at the hospital with his grandfather.
(This was not wise because if nobody knew it was vacant when she entered his hotel room, it would look like she stayed the night with him, even though she didn't. Which could ruin both their reputations.)

-While staying in the hotel room the MMC let her use: "Joey towel-dried her hair and put on the oversized North Carolina T-shirt she’d found on sale at the pharmacy, wearing it like a nightgown." (There is no mention of what else she is wearing, which makes an indecent mental image for a male reader.)

-The MMC in his past, had a girlfriend his family warned him about. He stubbornly failed to heed their warnings and kept seeing her anyway, and he ended up getting her pregnant. He sometime after proposes to her, and she says 'yes', and so they get married.

At 30 weeks pregnant, she unexplainably lost the baby. Doctors could not explain why. Soon after, they went their separate ways, she went to live with her parents and he went to live with his grandparents.
(I guess they divorced? It didn't say other than that.)

After explaining this to another character he says, “Pops and Gramma were by my side when my matchstick life toppled, even though I’d spent the past six months acting like the north end of a southbound donkey."

-Earlier in the book it mentions the MFC's dad and brother having had an argument, and her brother leaving angry.
Later the subject of the argument was somewhat explained: " ' Trey looked away. “I can’t deal with it if he starts in on me. Criticizing my every move.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I know Dad didn’t handle things in the best way, but I don’t think calling you out for not showing up for work because you’d been out barhopping with your friends all night and hooking up with any girl that would have you is quite the same thing as criticizing your every move.” '

(If this was the case, their dad had every reason to try to correct and guide his son, instead of leaving him to his sin.)

-mention of "nasty" and "ugly" rainy weather. (It's not good to complain about the weather God creates.)

-Though the MMC changed later, I didn't like how even though he was concerned about his grandfather's mental state (which was better than he first thought), was bossy and overbearing when talking to him.

-When a male and female character is talking about getting married she says, "You’re the chance I want to take..."

When you're highly considering marrying someone it needs to be a person you are absolutely sure is the right one for you, not a chance or a guess you're taking.

-A man remarries after having already split up with his first wife.
Biblically (in the KJV), you're not supposed to remarry after being divorced because it keeps from being able to mend things if it is possible with your first spouse. (It also calls remarrying after divorce adultery.)


Language
-dur* ×1
-h*ck used ×1
-Fool/fools is used a few times, mainly talking/thinking about oneself, a bit to others.

Triggers-
-a few mentions of dead bodies washed up onshore after a torpedo had hit a ship. (Very brief, no details.)

-brief mention of someone having lost a lot of blood after being wounded in shipwreck. (No details.)

-brief mention of 2 couples both having had a miscarriage. (No details other than how far along one mother was.)
-mention of a character losing his parents in a car wreck.

-Some Thoughts-
I really missed the clean romance, characters with manners, heart-warming stories, and innocence from the other novel ("The Edge Of Belonging") and novella ("Where We Belong") I've read by this author. That's what I loved most about those stories and rated them 5 stars.

If I had to say what lowered the rating, it would be because the negative content just added up to be so much.
Due to my personal convictions as a Christian I cannot with a clear conscience recommend this book.

I received a complimentary e-book copy from Revell Books to review through Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review, and the thoughts above are my own.

When the Harris family name has been drug through the mud, Josephina “Joey” Harris contemplates her future. Stick around Copper Creek, Tennessee, and watch her once-successful event planning company dissolve into next to nothing? Or apply for a lighthouse restoration project in North Carolina that her best friend begrudgingly convinces her to apply for? Joey applies and surprisingly gets the job of project manager for the lighthouse project.

Will Joey return to Copper Creek ready to save her fledging business once the lighthouse project is complete? Or will she stick around the North Carolina island, living out a dream she didn’t even know she possessed in a place that she never thought she’d call home?

Sometimes you pick up a book with uncertainty, unsure of what you’ll find because the author is new to you. Then, pretty soon, you find yourself up past your bedtime and thinking of the book even when it’s not open in your lap. Such is the case for me.

This was my first Amanda Cox novel and oh how I marvel as the brilliant writing of this piece of book art! A good mix of history, mystery, and some light romance (“light” as in romance wasn’t a predominant theme of the book), both the characters and the plot just left me in awe! This book was like getting a warm and gentle hug from a long-lost friend whom you are deeply grateful to spend time with. I didn’t want this one to end AT ALL, and I could’ve kept reading it another 100 pages. The character development was incredibly shaped, and Joey, the main female character, was endearing, strong, and sweet. I think she could be my friend in real life. And Walt? This precious man reminded me a lot of my own grandpa.

This story of hope, restoration, and second chances will certainly not be forgotten anytime soon, and I will be recommending this one for a long while! I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to read and review this one!

This was another really good book by this author.
It’s a romance and a mystery wrapped up in one heartwarming story. I really enjoyed the book and had a hard time putting it down. Definitely recommend

Told with several twists and turns, and rich with banker history, this story tells the misfortunes of Walt and Cat, who lived through an Outer Banks WW2, struggling with things that are openly discussed today but were swept silently away in earlier times. The lighthouse becomes a character of its own, and we watch it develop, then waste away, then become restored in the present-day storyline. Finn and Joey have an interesting, slow-burn-style relationship, and one of my favorite characters is the youngster they happen upon. Just when it seems like you, the reader, have everything pulled together in your mind, there's another twist! With a satisfying ending, you'll walk away feeling both entertained and educated.