About the Book

Book: Half Agony, Half Hope: Dear Lily Edition

Author: Joy Michelle Austin

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Release Date: March 17, 2026

Lily
Days before her wedding, Lily Wentworth’s carefully planned future is shaken by an unexpected turn. Unsure how to move forward, she turns to the one person she has always trusted—her father.

Rick
Determined not to let their darkest years define her, Rick Wentworth offers Lily the journals he wrote during the season he fought to keep her safe and survive one day at a time.

As Lily reads, she begins to uncover not only the truth of what they endured, but also the fierce, steady love that carried her through—and the strength she may need now.

Half Agony, Half Hope: The Dear Lily Edition is a clean, closed-door story of resilience, family, and the love that shaped two lives.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Joy Michelle Austin is an award-winning novelist writing contemporary fiction. Her debut found an immediate audience among readers drawn to heartfelt stories of healing and second chances, launching the Jane Austen’s Men series. She also wrote The Seaside Sleuths and the Bridal Batter Blunder, a cozy mystery tie-in project for young readers.

Joy draws inspiration from real stories of courage, grace, and the quiet heroes found in everyday life, crafting fiction for readers who seek hope, honesty, and heart in contemporary storytelling.

She is the recipient of the West Coast Christian Writers Encourager Award and the Walt Disney Legacy Award—an honor given to fewer than 1% of Cast Members worldwide for embodying Disney’s “Dream, Create, Inspire” legacy.

Through her blog, The Joyous Living, she connects with thousands of readers who share her love of culture, storytelling, and meaningful living. She lives in Southern California with her dog, Captain Hastings.

More from Joy

Half Agony, Half Hope was not a story I set out to write lightly.
It was an answer to a call God placed on my heart as a survivor of sexual assault—a call to tell the truth without exploiting it, and to create hope without diminishing the pain. From the beginning, I knew this would be a heavy debut novel. I also knew I wanted it to be clean, faith-centered, and redemptive.
The decision to tell this story through the eyes of a man was intentional. So few novels explore male survivors with compassion and dignity, yet one in six men are sexually assaulted. Their stories are often hidden, misunderstood, or minimized. Rick Wentworth’s journey exists to say plainly: healing is possible, faith is not erased by trauma, and masculinity is not diminished by suffering.
Because of the weight of Rick’s past, much of the abuse in Half Agony, Half Hope is veiled. I wanted readers to feel the truth of what he endured without being retraumatized themselves. Still, after the book released, readers told me they longed for more gentleness—more space to breathe inside the story.
That is how the Dear Lily Edition was born.
Lily was Rick’s hope and grace during the darkest years of his captivity. In the cellar, she was the reminder that love could still exist, that innocence could survive, and that God was not absent—even there. Their bond became the quiet heartbeat of the story: a wounded man learning how to hope again through the steady, healing love of a child.
At its core, Half Agony, Half Hope: Dear Lily Edition is a story of survival and faith—but it is also a story of a father and daughter choosing trust and hope despite hardship, and building a family where brokenness does not get the final word.

Blog Stop

Simple Harvest Reads, March 21 (Author Interview)

Artistic Nobody, March 22 (Author Interview)

Guild Master, March 23 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 24

Fiction Book Lover, March 25 (Author Interview)

Vicky Sluiter, March 26 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 26

For the Love of Literature, March 27 (Author Interview)

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 28

Tell Tale Book Reviews, March 29 (Author Interview)

Blossoms and Blessings, March 30 (Author Interview)

Fruitfully Planted, March 30

Stories By Gina, March 31 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, April 1

Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, April 2 (Author Interview)

Books, Books, & More Books, April 3 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Joy is giving away the grand prize of a $20 Amazon Gift Card and a Kindle copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://gleam.io/DEiCR/half-agony-half-hope-dear-lily-edition-celebration-tour-giveaway

I have been deeply grateful for the encouragement my work has received. Half Agony, Half Hope was honored with Second Place in Christian Suspense by Reader’s Favorite, and my poem The Cost of Sensibility received First Place at the West Coast Christian Writers conference.

Yet the recognition that remains closest to my heart is the Encourager Award from West Coast Christian Writers. To be known as someone who uplifts others is a meaningful reminder that writing is not only about the stories we tell, but also about the way we serve the community around us.

Each of these moments has strengthened my desire to continue writing with both purpose and care.

My process usually begins with a central idea — often a question about the human heart — followed by the creation of characters whose journeys feel worth exploring.

From there, I write steadily, chapter by chapter, allowing the story to unfold with a balance of intention and openness. While I value structure, I have learned that my stories do not always thrive under a rigid outline. Characters tend to reveal themselves gradually, and I try to remain attentive enough to follow where they lead.

It has steadied me in uncertain seasons and continually reminds me that God is present even when the path ahead is not fully visible. I do not approach faith as something to be shouted from the mountaintop, but as something to be lived — shaping how I see others, how I extend compassion, and how I tell stories.

When I write, my hope is not to preach, but to reflect the truth that grace meets us in real places. Scripture reassures us that no part of our story is beyond God’s reach, and that promise informs every narrative I create.

Yes — I find myself continually drawn to themes of endurance, redemption, belonging, and the quiet courage it takes to begin again.

Life rarely unfolds as we expect, yet I believe some of the most beautiful growth emerges from those unexpected turns. My stories explore how hope can take root even in difficult soil and how love often reveals itself through steadfast presence rather than grand gestures.

Again and again, I return to the reminder that restoration is always possible.

I am currently in the early stages of developing a new series centered on female friendship. After writing the Jane Austen’s Men series about male friendship, this new story follows a group of women in their late thirties and early forties — each in a different season of life (married, single, widowed, divorced, etc.) — who reconnect during a journey through Europe.

It is a narrative about shared history, second chances, and the ways friendship can steady us as we continue to grow. I am excited to explore these relationships and the richness that comes from walking alongside one another through life’s changing chapters.