My Stubborn Heart

Giveaway!

WADE, BECKY
MY STUBBORN HEART

Kate Donovan is burned out on work, worn down by her dating relationships, and in need of an adventure. When her grandmother asks her to accompany her to Redbud, Pennsylvania, to restore the grand old house she grew up in, Kate jumps at the chance.

Upon her arrival in Redbud, Kate meets Matt Jarreau, the man hired to renovate the house. Kate can't help being attracted to him, drawn by both his good looks and something else she can't quite put her finger on. He's clearly wounded--hiding from people, from God, and from his past. Yet Kate sets her stubborn heart on bringing him out of the dark and back into the light... whether he likes it or not.

When the stilted, uncomfortable interactions between Kate and Matt slowly shift into something more, is God finally answering the longing of her heart? Or will Kate be required to give up more than she ever dreamed?

My Review:

What a spectacular new voice Christian Fiction has in Becky Wade! Engaging doesn't begin to describe her style. Funny and light with a touch of sarcastic wit coupled with some of the most poignant and touching moments in my fiction reading experience. I read with relish and put the book down with great reluctance and only because I'd get fired for reading at work! Word to the wise: start this one on the weekend and make no plans until you are done.

Wade has the uncanny ability to project her readers into the story from the get go. I experienced an immediate connection with Kate. Loved being party to her private and all-too-often humourous thoughts. And her exuberance is contagious. She just leaps off the page smack dab in the centre of poor Matt's carefully guarded path. He's a challenge that Kate can't seem to resist, but she pursues him with measured amounts of grace, grit and gumption. Everyone needs an advocate like Kate in their life.

Of course, Matt doesn't realize it at first. I marvel at how Wade created such an opposite to her heroine. Where Kate is joy, Matt is despair. Kate's enthusiasm is only matched by Matt's reluctance. He's frozen in time and, in a way, so is she and that's their common ground at first, I think. Because Kate has taken three months off from a stressful work situation. It's under the guise of helping her grandmother but, in her own way, she's running too. Definitely not as far or as fast as Matt, but I think her own life experience gives her the kind of empathy Matt needs.

I won't even try to describe their love story. It's magnificent -- fueled by pain, soothed by tenderness. The way Kate draws Matt out -- sigh -- I reveled in that first half smile right along with her. Wade made Kate work hard and wasn't above taking everything away from her before the wisdom of God's path shines with incredible brightness. Stunning love story -- all the fuller for the beautifully detailed ups and downs along the way.

Seriously -- don't miss this one. It's an incredible faith-stirring, heart-warming read!

Giveaway Opportunity:


If you would like a chance to win a copy of this amazing book, please leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. Please remember to put the title in the subject line so your entry is easy for me to spot. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday May 27 2012.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".