Skip to main content

Set the Stars Alight by Amanda Dykes

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.

This is the sophomore release from Amanda Dykes and she weaves an intricate story. I read her first book and enjoyed it quite a bit, so I was excited to see what he next book would bring. She does a great job of weaving the past with the present and pulling all of the characters together. I did feel like some of the background that needed to be built into the characters felt a bit rushed and maybe not all that necessary. I enjoyed the modern time line much more than the historic one and would have loved to have the whole story told through that lens. Lucy and Dash were my favorite and I want to know so much more about Dash. It felt like there were a few too many things the author was trying to do with this story.  I did love the connections to faith and the higher story she strove to tell, which is what really makes this a book worth reading. 

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

 

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the Corn

Mataya got to go with her daddy to check on the corn. It will be ready to harvest soon! They decided to take some pictures. Mataya was so excited, she forgot to let daddy be in the picture. There we go. I thought this was sweet picture of a girl and her daddy.
1 comment
Read more

American Thanksgiving

One nice thing about being from two different countries is that we can celebrate more holidays. And since there are a few more people from the states here, last night we had our own American Thanksgiving feast. There were six couples and all of the wives and two of the husbands were from the States. So the Americans out numbered the Canadians, which doesn't happen very often. And we had a feast. There was turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread, stuffing and three different kinds of pies for dessert and a pumpkin cake. It was wonderful. And the fellowship was great too. The hosts said there was no assigned seating, so the ladies all sat together at one of the table and guys at the other. It was funny how it worked out, but we had great conversations full of laughter. It was a great way to celebrate a holiday. Hopefully we have started our own tradition here.
1 comment
Read more

A Perspective

I have already mentioned my "Word of the Day" screen saver that I have on my laptop that is hooked up to the projector in my room. I am learning that the words go in cycles a bit, so the same word will pop up in several classes during the day. Today's popular word was "entitlement." A fantastic word to share with teenagers who often think they are entitled to a whole lot of stuff. In fact, we as humans often think we are entitled to a whole lot of stuff when really we are fallen people who deserve nothing but death. We so often miss how wonderful and blessed our life really is and we get caught up on the little things. This video sort of puts that in perspective in a rather humorous way. I am by no means promoting this comedian, but if you take what he says to heart, it is so true. We live in an amazing world, created by an amazing God. We really should be happy with the blessing we have been given.
2 comments
Read more