My review of Speak to My Heart by Stacy Hawkins Adams

From the Publisher:

Serena Jasper is a young professional woman on her way up the corporate ladder in a large advertising firm. She's always been close to her mother, especially since the death of her father. But when Serena learns of a devastating family secret, she feels betrayed by the one she trusted most. As she questions how someone as devout as her mother could have lied to her for years, Serena pulls away from both family and faith. Without the haven of hearth and home, she flounders as she tries to help a girlfriend trapped in an abusive relationship. Burying herself in her prestigious career doesn't help either. With the help of a possible new love in her life, Serena realizes that, instead of resisting the voice, she needs to listen to the One who speaks to her heart.

My review:

I read this novel in a few days. It has a different feel than most of the AA Christian fiction I've read, but I liked it. Serena is anything but serene for a good portion of the book because she can't seem to get past what happened in her immediate family. In some ways I understood that and in others I didn't. But overall it made for a believable conflict for the main character. And when she finally listened to her mother the reasoning her mother gave made sense. I found it very believable.

It would be hard to sustain an entire novel on that one conflict alone, but the author did it by adding some great secondary characters to the story. The subplot of Erika and Elliot was riveting. I have a feeling there will be a follow up story which includes this couple. The conflict seemed very real and the author had the dynamics of a DV relationship nailed. Great job.

The ending was a bit sad, but I still enjoyed the story. The thing I found most interesting about this book was how the character heard God's voice throughout her emotional suffering but chose to ignore Him. So in essense God did speak to her heart, she just wasn't listening until she realized she was making wrong choices that hurt her more than anyone else. I thought it was cool that she had a Christian boyfriend, too, and the supportive role he played. I plan to read the rest of the books in this series because I enjoyed this author's "voice."

Speak to My Heart was published by Revell and released in 2004.