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A Heart Revealed by Julie Lessman

Finally I have this second book in the “Winds of Change” series in my hot little hands.  I’d basically been blog stalking Julie at all her giveaways until I won a copy.  Whilst I’m waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail, Jess calls me, “Oh I bought ‘A Heart Revealed’ today”.

Me: “Huh? Why?”
Jess: “Because I want to read it.”
Me: “You do realise that’s the book I’m waiting to arrive – the one I’d been trying to win for weeks.”
Jess: “Oh.  Oh well, now we both have a copy!”

Luckily my copy arrived not long after Jess bought hers.  So we read it at the same time, though Jess finished it about a day ahead of me since I lost a day travelling.  Both of us are going to be reviewing this book for you today!

I can’t read a Julie Lessman’s book quietly.  There’s always exclamations of outrage, gasps of shock and cries of indignation.  And this time, I shed some quiet tears as well – of sadness and happiness.

The tempo of “A Heart Revealed” is more like what I’m used to, and so I settled into it immediately.  I didn’t feel like I’d been winded as I did with “A Hope Undaunted”, where it took me a couple of chapters to catch my breath!

I have been quite desperate to discover the mysteries behind both Emma Malloy and Sean O’Connor after reading “A Hope Undaunted”.  Julie has lovingly revealed and unravelled their tale throughout this book.  Particularly at the end when we finally discover the true depths of guilt and sorrow that Emma has been living with. I think the pain that she has gone through and her struggle to be freed from the guilt is something many of us can empathise with. There was no avoiding the tears there!

Now, just because the general tone of this book is not as dramatic as Julie’s other books, does not mean it is void of drama! There’s still plenty to be had, largely courtesy of Charity.  Let’s just say I wouldn’t advise going after Charity’s husband! And as always, there’s twists in the plot that you wouldn’t be able to see coming.  For a large portion of the book I kept wondering, “How is Julie going to fix this mess they’re in?”

Fix it, she does! If you like a satisfied ending, then this certainly has that.  The dependable Sean is just the kind of hero I like, and to see him throw off the shackles of his own past and open his arms to a future he had been running from touches my heart.  Emma has more sass than we realise and the banter between her and Sean is very entertaining.  Loved this book!

Now I’ll hand it over to Jess.

I agree wholeheartedly with Helen when she said the tempo of this book is much more low key.  I too felt like I had been winded with the sheer pace of “A Hope Undaunted”. I always liked Sean and Emma from the previous book and was eager to see what happened to them. I really enjoyed seeing the progression of their friendship as they really are best friends. Watching them encourage, inspire and cheer each other on through the big and little stuff of life and faith was just awesome. They really are best friends first and that is how it should be.

How Julie dealt with Emma’s marriage situation was not what I expected and it kept me is suspense the whole time and yes watching Charity “fight” for her husband was funny. I would have done something similar I think!

Great read Julie! Looking forward to more from you!