Sarah Loudin Thomas

Sarah Loudin Thomas has wowed me again! I absolutely loved These Empty Places. Two women who chose very different paths are brought together by the Great Depression & form a unique friendship that carries them through the tragedies & triumphs of love & life. Part mystery & part second-chance romance, this touching story had me eagerly turning the pages.

After a whirlwind courtship, Lena Hawkins gave up her lavish life as a socialite to marry Preston, a wealthy upstart who rose from rags to show more riches. But his reckless stock market speculations cost them everything when the Great Depression hits. Penniless & rejected by her family, Lena & Preston are forced to rely on his brother near Lake Toxaway.

Forty-seven-year-old Claire Roth sacrificed passionate love for the safety & security of a comfortable life. Though she loved her recently deceased husband, she still wonders what might have been if she’d chosen differently. Now living where Lake Toxaway once stood before the dam broke & destroyed everything, Claire dreams of restoring the lake. When she meets Lena, she sees the woman she once was & offers her both guidance & the opportunity to help organize a library & classes for local women. But when Claire is offered a second chance at love, will she have the courage to take it?

I loved Lena & Claire so much. They truly felt like two sides of the same coin. Lena chose love but questions all she sacrificed, while Claire wonders what life would’ve been like if she’d followed her heart. I loved the way Lena made the best out of her circumstances & pursued education. I also admired Claire’s generosity & kindness. I loved their friendship, as Claire offers Lena wisdom, Lena inspires Claire to finally follow her heart.

I also loved John who unexpectedly comes courting Claire despite the questions surrounding his motivations. Add in the mystery involving a key & missing safe deposit box tied to Claire’s former love, & I was completely hooked. I also enjoyed Preston’s arc too. At first, he believes happiness only comes through money, & I kept wondering how he & Lena would survive some of the choices he made. The historical elements were expertly woven in as well.

It’s an inspiring story of friendship, forgiveness, generosity, & love. Highly recommend to historical fiction fans! I received an advanced copy with no expectation of a positive review. All opinions are my own & provided voluntarily. show less

A beautiful story that is woven together with flawed characters that have endured childhood trauma like the cloth that Vivian wove with an intentional flaw, but the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I loved everything about this book from the way it is stitched together with three different POV’s and different years to the history of the Biltmore estates and the creativity of the weavers and woodworking. It sparked my interest into wishing I knew how to work the complexity of a loom to show more create beautiful cloth that inspired people. I can visualize the beauty of it and how Vivian looked over the mountains with the sunset and sunrise and used the talent within her to create her designs. The characters were each so unique and carried pain but each handled it in such different ways. I could identify with them as my mother endured childhood trauma that God used to create beauty. The Faith element is subtle but is woven in seamlessly. Some scenes are so touching that I recommend having a tissue nearby as I had tears flowing down my cheeks. This story shows that family isn’t always blood but can be stitched together in time and come out being strong with bonds that can withstand when the storms of life come. As always with this author I will place this book on my favorites shelf to revisit like an old friend especially since it mentions my hometown and the train that my grandfather was an engineer on.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher. The honest review and opinions are my own and were not required. show less

You know how when you go to a favorite restaurant and occasionally something other than your favorite dish on the menu, and while it's good, it just doesn't live up to your favorite? That's kind of the way I feel about These Blue Mountains; it's good, but it is hard to live up to The Finder of Forgotten Things and These Tangled Threads, my two favorite Sarah Loudin Thomas books. Sometimes it is important for me to be aware of the lens I am looking through when reviewing a book, and in this show more case to realize when past experiences cloud that lens. If Thomas was a new-to-me author I know my reaction to this book would have been a great deal more enthusiastic. It does have a lot going for it. Most of the characters are people who are easy to care about and to empathize with; some of the ones who aren't become so; and the antagonist (even if deceased) does his job well, setting a whole series of events in motion. While I have read a lot of WWII books lately, this one takes a different approach. Rather than have the characters in the thick of things, this book allows readers to experience how those in Germany and America viewed and responded to the changes they saw coming, and to realize how the experiences of WWI and the Depression impacted the lens through which they looked. These Blue Mountains may provide new knowledge for those, including me, that were unaware of WWI enemy alien internment camps in the United States. The information provided about Black Mountain College had me searching the internet to learn more. The themes of forgiveness and reconciliation and of moving forward following adversity are well-written within an original plot. So preconceived notions set aside, I do highly recommend These Blue Mountains and am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Bethany House via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own. show less

I didn’t expect such character depth when I got into this book, but wow—what a lovely surprise! I especially loved how the deaf character in here interacted with the world—it never felt fake or forced, but very realistic. Yet the story kept going just fine through his point of view, which I was astounded with!

The mystery, too, was fascinating—and I appreciate how that ended up. It was quite involved and not straightforward, which I enjoyed. I rarely manage to guess the ending to a show more mystery anyway, but this one was very well done.

This is a story of rejection and healing, distance and understanding, grief and forgiveness. Overall, it was a lovely read, and well worth the time! Recommended.

I was given a review copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it. show less