Everything Claire wants seems to be beyond her reach…

After losing her mother to cancer and suffering a miscarriage soon after, Claire Ferguson numbs the pain with alcohol and pills, and wonders if her own life is worth living.

Adopted at birth, Claire is convinced she has some unknown genetic flaw that may have been the cause of her miscarriage. She must find a way to deal with the guilt she harbors. But exoneration will come with a price. With her marriage in trouble and her father refusing to answer any questions about her adoption, Claire begins the search for her birth mother. For the first time in her life, she really wants to know where she came from. But what if the woman who gave her life doesn’t want to be found?

Hidden in the Heart has been nominated for a 2013 Grace Award and is on the long list for an INSPY award.

Purchase a copy here.

Hidden in the Heart – A Novel by Catherine West
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I liked this book almost from the beginning, and I loved it even more as I continued to read.  I was intrigued to see that the author herself was adopted which made the message of the book even more impacting.  This is a Christian book with a strong, underlying message that never comes across as being “preachy.”  There is no profanity nor sex scenes in it (yes, that should be standard for Christian books, but it is not always).

One thing the author was able to do that really stood out was the fact that this was not a happy-go-lucky Christian book that followed a formula.  I get really tired of “sappy” books like that.  I was glad to see bad things happening (because it made it more realistic–I am not a masochist.), and I appreciated the fact that not all characters readily came to faith.  In addition to that, not all wee on the same spiritual plane.  All the characters seemed “real,” and it made it so much easier to connect with the story.

I have a confession.  Claire was an incredible source of irritation to me throughout most of the book.  I found myself just wanting her to go away.  I had a hard time feeling any sympathy for her.  This makes her journey even more fascinating because I also found myself shedding tears over her later on in the book.  While there was never any real doubt about the end of the book, this book is filled with complexity of emotions and story.  It should easily keep your attention until the end.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.  I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.

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