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!

Author Interview

Author: Joy Michelle Austin

Novel: Half Agony, Half Hope: The Dear Lily Edition

Website: www.thejoyousliving.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thejoyousauthor

Facebook: www.facebook.com/joymichelleaustinauthor

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/thejoyousliving

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@joymichelleaustin

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/55120800.Joy_Michelle_Austin

What is your favorite part about writing?
My favorite part is the moment when characters begin to feel fully alive — when their voices
grow clear and their story starts unfolding in ways that feel both surprising and inevitable.
There is something quietly miraculous about watching a blank page become a place where hope,
healing, and human connection can take shape. It never stops feeling like a privilege.

What is your least favorite part about writing?
If I am honest, the editing process stretches me the most. I care deeply about crafting a story that
feels thoughtful and polished for the reader, which means I can spend a great deal of time
refining a single passage until it carries exactly the right tone.
While revision requires patience, I have come to see it as an essential part of honoring both the
story and those who will one day read it.

Where do you get your ideas?
Ideas often begin with a question — usually one rooted in the human experience.
I find inspiration in everyday life, in conversations, in moments of quiet observation, and
sometimes in historical or literary threads that refuse to let go of my imagination. Faith also
shapes the stories I am drawn to tell, continually reminding me that redemption is never out of
reach.
More than anything, I try to pay attention. Stories are often waiting in the places we might
otherwise overlook.

Do bits of yourself show up in your characters?
I think most writers leave small fingerprints throughout their stories — not as direct reflections,
but as emotional understanding.
While my characters are entirely their own, I often draw upon feelings I have known, such as
perseverance, hope, and the experience of navigating unexpected paths, so that their journeys
are written with authenticity and compassion.
For me, it is less about placing myself into the story and more about writing from a place of
empathy — allowing what I have learned about the human heart to shape the way my characters
grow, struggle, and ultimately endure.

What is your work routine when writing?
Like many writers, I balance my creative work alongside a full professional day, so writing
becomes an intentional rhythm woven throughout my schedule.
I often write in the early morning before the day begins, return to the page during breaks or
lunch when I can, and spend time with the manuscript again in the evening. It is a pattern that
requires commitment, but one that continually reminds me how grateful I am for the opportunity
to tell stories.
In many ways, writing is less about waiting for inspiration and more about faithfully showing up
— one page at a time.

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.