★★★★★ Born of Gilded Mountains by Amanda Dykes - A lost treasure. A riddled quest. The healing power of friendship.
*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.
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A lost treasure. A riddled quest. The healing power of friendship.
Legends are tucked into every fold of the Colorado mountains surrounding the quaint town of Mercy Peak, where residents are the stuff of tall tales, the peaks are taller still, and a lost treasure has etched mystery into the very terrain.
In 1948, when outsider Mercy Windsor arrives after a scandal shatters her gilded world as Hollywood's beloved leading lady, she is determined to forge a new life in obscurity in this time-forgotten Colorado haven. She purchases Wildwood, an abandoned estate with a haunting history, and begins to restore it to its former glory.
But as she does, her every move tugs at the threads of the mountain's lore, unearthing what became of her long-lost pen pal Rusty Bright, and the whereabouts of the infamous Galloping Goose Railcar No. 8, which vanished years ago--along with the mailbag it carried, whose contents could change the course of countless lives. Not to mention the fabled treasure that--if found--could right so many wrongs.
Among the towering mountains that stand as silent witnesses, the ghosts of the past entangle with the courage of the present to find a place where healing, friendship, and hope can abide amid a world forever changed.
MY REVIEW: ★★★★★ 5/5
A story to savor, a story to cherish… A new, beloved favorite from author, Amanda Dykes, a masterful storyteller who has again delivered a beautiful, deeply rewarding tale of friendship, grief and perseverance in the face of loss.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Gold Mining in the Colorado Mountains
Rustic, Mountain Community
A Pact Between Four Boys Leads to Mysterious Riddles, Codebreaking and Restoration
Vintage Trains, Forests and Treasure Hunts
A Friendship for the Ages - Letters Exchanged Across the Miles
Waterfalls, Caves, Thunderstorms and First Love
I loved everything about this book and expected nothing less. A new, delightful tale with a story so spellbinding, I was wholly captivated - mind, body and spirit. Between a creative medley of narrative, screenwriting, epistolary correspondence, telegrams and field notes, I found myself immersed in mining the majestic Colorado mountains, caught up in the glamor of 1940’s Hollywood and deeply felt the characters’ joy, heartache and triumphs. There is heart, there is humor and there is wonder… With the magic of mysterious riddles, codes, breathtaking waterfalls, trains, forest gardens, kindred spirits and a friendly, rustic community of mountain dwellers, I had the feeling of being wrapped up in the pages of this story, much like snuggling in a cozy blanket beside a warm, crackling fire on a blustery winter day (or perhaps, sitting in a treetop beneath a canopy of remnant parachutes with the late afternoon sun glistening overhead).
Rusty Bright and Mercy Windsor are magnetic characters with a friendship as strong and as kindred as L.M. Montgomery's Anne and Diana. Amanda Dykes has expertly woven two resilient characters who both together, and separately, face the hardship of loss, grief and pain while giving readers an independent, single heroine who is comfortable in her path and another heroine whose story touches the heart of the romantic with first love, life after loss and a hint of something new.
Born of Gilded Mountains is not just a story to be read, it is a story to be felt.
A beloved favorite, one to return to time and again. This is not the type of book you cannot put down. No, it is the type of book that you hold close instead. A story of wonder that will resonate through time, something joyful and rich… A tenderly crafted story of friendship, hope, healing and love.
Simply put, a must read.
About the Author:
Image courtesy of Baker Publishing Group
Amanda Dykes's debut novel, Whose Waves These Are, is the winner of the prestigious 2020 Christy Award Book of the Year, a Booklist 2019 Top Ten Romance debut, and the winner of an INSPY Award. She's also the author of Christy Award-finalists All the Lost Places, Yours Is the Night, and Set the Stars Alight. Find her online at AmandaDykes.com.
