Whose Waves These Are

Whose Waves These Are is Amanda Dykes debut novel. What a debut it is! The story time hops from one generation to another and melds the two together. Get ready to ride on a wave of emotions and it begins with the opening chapter. As one twin brother is reading a letter from the local draft board, the other twin is beaming with news about a new arrival. And that is just the beginning! The characters are well developed. The setting of Ansel-By-The-Sea in Maine is breathtaking and quaint. Living by the ocean and what the sounds, smells and views do for my soul is hard to capture. But somehow the author is able to use ocean imagery and words that are deeply moving and capture your senses. You will be moved by this story and I can't promise that your eyes won't get misty. I'm always impressed when a fiction story can bring about more than just a story line but also a message filled with hope and learned lessons. Whose Waves These Are is a book that I will not soon forget. I'm looking forward to future books written by Amanda Dykes!

**I received a review copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers and this is my honest review. 

Okay, so this book is so amazing that it gets ten stars. However, the writing style is maddening at times, especially the verb tenses and the past/present hops even within the same paragraph. I almost DNFed it. So I have to cut the rating in half...and it's still.....five stars! 🤣

I've read Amanda Dykes before, and because of how well I like her novellas I was willing to push beyond the 25% mark where frankly the writing style was driving me batty. After about 30% it smooths out a bit and I was able to get in a rhythm of the present tense. I really couldn't put it down after that. The suspense of what's going on in present, the fun of watching Annie connect and find a family of sorts in the town and with the friends of her beloved Grandbob (her great-uncle Bob).

You WILL need a box of Kleenex at your elbow when you read this one. You'll be weeping over folks in the story and over all the heartache and all the hope...trust me, this book is just overflowing with emotion! Friendship, brotherhood, romance, love and loss—and that STORM at the end...WOW.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.