Captive Dreams Window

  • The Solace of Water by Elizabeth Byler Younts

    Publisher’s Summary

    A glimpse into the turbulent 1950s. Two grieving women and a heartbroken child. And unlikely friendships that rise above religion, race, and custom with the power to transform souls from the inside out.

    After leaving her son’s grave behind in Montgomery, Alabama, Delilah Evans has little faith that moving to her husband’s hometown in Pennsylvania will bring a fresh start. Enveloped by grief and doubt, the last thing Delilah imagines is becoming friends with her reclusive Amish neighbor, Emma Mullet—yet the secrets that keep Emma isolated from her own community bond her to Delilah in delicate and unexpected ways.

    Delilah’s eldest daughter, Sparrow, bears the brunt of her mother’s pain, never allowed for a moment to forget she is responsible for her brother’s death. When tensions at home become unbearable for her, she seeks peace at Emma’s house and becomes the daughter Emma has always wanted. Sparrow, however, is hiding secrets of her own—secrets that could devastate them all.

    With the white, black, and Amish communities of Sinking Creek at their most divided, there seems to be little hope for reconciliation. But long-buried hurts have their way of surfacing, and Delilah and Emma find themselves facing their own self-deceptions. Together they must learn how to face the future through the healing power of forgiveness.

    The Solace of Water, by Elizabeth Byler Younts, focuses on three women, two black and one Amish, who have suffered from tragedies that one would never recover from. Each chapter projects one woman’s point of view in order to delve into each character and give us more insight into their anguished souls.

    Younts has crafted a novel of grief and life in general during the 50s, a very volatile time in our nation’s history. She pulls you in and doesn’t let you go, even after you have finished reading the story.

    Reading The Solace of Water isn’t easy. However, it is more than worth the momentary discomfort for the beauty and power invoked in the novel.

    It is truly unforgettable and unputdownable.

    Additional Information

    Currently, Amazon has The Solace of Water on Kindle Unlimited for a limited time for only 99¢. (I am not an affiliate of Amazon.)

    The Solace of Water was printed in 2018.

    I received a review copy of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own, and I am voluntarily leaving this review.

  • Happy Thanksgiving!

  • Wednesday’s Wise Words

  • The Road Unveiled By Tim Bishop

    Publisher’s Summary

    Two wounded hearts. Long, winding roads. And second chances neither saw coming.
    Lauren Baumgartner pedals toward Yellowstone National Park, anticipating a grand celebration when she reaches the Atlantic Ocean. But when her wedding plans collapse, old wounds resurface—and a haunting secret still holds her heart hostage.
    Traveling alone with bear spray and a one-woman tent, she shares the highway with motorcyclists bound for a massive rally, including gang members who eye her as theirs for the taking.
    Doug Zimmer, another lone cyclist, is grappling with loss and wondering if anyone will be alongside him when he figures out what’s next. He isn’t the only one drawn to Lauren’s vitality and spirit.
    But Lauren may already be in too deep. What she faces on the Golden Prairie Indian Reservation tests her courage—and her faith—more than anything she encountered as a missionary in Uganda.
    A woman with a secret and a man healing from loss pedal the rugged roads of the American West on a quest for love and purpose that leads to unexpected horizons.

    The story is like a bicycle ride. As it starts out, you take your time getting to know the terrain, then you gradually settle in for the ride.

    The book catches your attention and doesn’t let go! I stayed up all night reading it.

    I felt the emotions of each character and reveled in the descriptions of the gorgeous vistas—feeling as if I were right there.

    In the case of The Road Unveiled, by Tim Bishop, the ride furnishes plenty of roller coaster highs and excitement. There are nail-biting moments brought on by rugged ground, dizzying heights, wildlife and people, too.

    Bishop’s book reintroduces us to Douglas “Doug” Zimmerman and Lauren Baumgartner. Each is wrestling with anxieties in their lives and contending with issues from their past.
    The spiritual aspects of this book mirror those in real life—the struggles, the questioning and the pursuit of God in both believers and non-believers.

    Like his first book, (my review) The Persistent Road, you don’t want to miss Bishop’s newest book, The Road Unveiled! Tim Bishop is a master at writing heart-tugging, true-to-life stories that will leave an indelible mark on your heart!

    ****************************************DISCLAIMERS**************************************

    Some people may be triggered by the subject matter. Although the content may not be explicit or graphic, it can be frightening. In addition, there are instances of adult situations that may not be appropriate for readers under the age of 18.

    I received a review copy of this book from the author. All opinions are my own, and I am voluntarily leaving this review.

  • Thursday’s Thoughts

    Thursday’s Thoughts are sometimes known as Wise Words Wednesdays that are late.

  • Revisiting The Persistent Road by Tim Bishop

    Publisher’s Summary

    There’s always an escape. Sometimes you need to search long and hard for the right one.

    After losing all he once cherished, Doug Zimmer follows his wife’s parting bread crumbs and rides up the Pacific coast—on a bicycle. Armed with a revolver and only a vague plan to get through the months ahead, he aims to end his depression one way or the other.

    As spiritual forces wrangle for his soul, he pedals eastward across America. He meets Lauren Baumgartner—a younger adventurer with a vibrant spirit—and a band of zealots who confront his aversion to religion. Accompanying Doug are not only sunny days and the beauty of nature but also the perils of the road, fellow travelers with their own stories, and the hollow silence of solitary campsites playing host to unseen creatures of the night.

    A jarring episode on a climb through a treacherous pass brings Doug face-to-face with life and death. Will Doug’s adventure deliver him from loneliness and lament . . . or hurtle him to an abrupt end?

    Tim Bishop’s debut novel, The Persistent Road, highlights the persistence of God’s love for us. We are privileged to have a front row seat to his peregrination.

    The oft-heard saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” commonly attributed to Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, aptly illustrates Douglas “Doug” Zimmer’s adventure of two thousand miles of bicycling.

    Bishop sets up the story with anger and frustration followed by heartbreak, depression and hopelessness in such a way that the reader is drawn into the narrative and is unwilling to abandon it.

    The vividly written portraiture pulls us in and completely engrosses us in the story. You will use every scintilla of conceivable sensory stimulation available to follow Doug’s journey—the weather, the smells, the physical burn. . . Due to the incredibly vivid rendering it appears as though you are right there beside him as he pedals his way through breathtaking scenery, around heart-stopping, adrenaline-pumping twists and turns, across stunning, breathtaking landscape and up and down challenging mountains.

    Doug’s journey is one of heartbreaking realization and dilatory self reflection, which culminates in the freedom of forgiveness and redemption.

    The Persistent Road is a story so rich in detail and so hope fulfilled that you don’t want to miss it.

    ***************DISCLAIMER*******************

    Though not explicit or graphic, there are a few allusions to adult material that might not be suitable for readers under the age of 18.

    I received a review copy of this book from the author. All opinions are my own, and I am voluntarily leaving this review.

    This is a reblog from March of 2024, of the first book in a series. Next Monday, I will review the follow-up book, The Road Unveiled.

    I’ll leave you all with the message I sent the author after reading The Persistent Road— I enjoyed the story. It’s one of the best debut novels I have ever read!

  • Wise Words Wednesday

  • Big Freeze

    We had a big freeze last night, and today is going to be COLD!

    I guess the shock of it all caused me to have a brain freeze, because I really had a hard time with trying to change the background on my blog. Ultimately, I was unable to change it.

    Somehow, in the process, I ended up pretty much erasing everything I had already done. I was able to restore the majority of it, but in the process, changes WP has made won’t allow me to customize like I could before. I’m guessing that some of the loss of dashboard updates, customizations, etc., is a way to force those with free blogs to upgrade to a paid blog in order to have more options (plus restore the ones they had before!).

    A lot of things have changed on WP since my hiatus. It’s going to take a while to get accustomed to it. As it is, it took me a little while to figure out how to post my blog since the changes to publishing were made.

    In the meantime, if things look strange, it’s just me trying to figure this out!

  • The Trials of Nellie Belle by Sydney Avey

    The Trials of Nellie Belle is a riveting, semi-biographical, fictionalized story based on the author’s great-grandmother’s diary and stories she wrote. The content briefly covers four generations and includes the author’s Aunt Leone’s story as well. The main focus is on Nellie Belle and her struggles as she lives an unorthodox life and becomes one of America’s first female court reporters.

    The story is replete with self-discovery, hard choices, doubts and endurance. Through it all, Nellie Belle perseveres and supports her family.

    The story ebbs and flows with the hardships she encountered as she broke through the glass ceiling.

    I enjoyed this story so much, and it was so well written, you felt yourself right there beside Nellie Belle. If you are a fan of historical fiction based on a person’s life events, you will love The Trials of Nellie Belle, by Sydney Avey.

    I received a review copy of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own, and I am voluntarily leaving this review.

  • Wise Words Wednesday

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