Therapeutic Review and Giveaway of Julie Lessman's A Heart Revealed

*sigh*

Julie Lessman's newest release made it to my doorstep a few weeks ago and that was my reaction: *sigh*

I love that Julie's books are thick...I know I've got hours of reading pleasure ahead of me. A Heart Revealed was no exception. I joined my old friends, the O'Connor's, and all the drama that each of their lives have...and just smiled and sighed. Smiled and sighed.

Here's a blurb from Julie's website:

The ring on her hand belongs to one man …

but her heart belongs to another.

As a battered woman, Emma Malloy fled Dublin for Boston ten years ago, seeking shelter for a heart badly bruised by both her husband and guilt. But when she falls in love with Sean O’Connor, a man who wrestles with demons of his own, fear and shame almost destroy her … until she is finally set free by a heart revealed.


Julie brings her signature passionate love scenes to this book, though due to Emma being married, the reader has to wait a really long time to see some actual sparks between her and Sean! (Julie, if I could change anything...it would have been that long wait!!) But it was oh-so-worth the wait.

The thing I like about Julie's writing is that she truly digs deep into the issues that couples face, and she does so with a brazen boldness that I truly admire and respect. The issues facing Charity and Mitch, Marcy and Patrick, Katie and Luke....issues like the woman wanting a career when the man wants her home raising babies (remember, story set in 1931, but this is still applicable!), a woman worried about her husband's fidelity...these are the types of everyday issues that plague couples across cultures, across decades.

Julie has a priest in the book that might as well be a marriage and family therapist. (Seriously...you should consider Father Mac getting a license to practice.) I read those scenes with the most intense interest...as Father Mac helps several characters connect to and overcome the soul-deep traumas that have seized their hearts and minds for years. This wasn't done in any cliche way, either, and I love that! No church scenes or sermons!

I hope to offer one lucky commenter the chance to win this book for your own reading enjoyment. It can be read as a stand alone novel, but I assure you...you're going to want to read the first book in this Winds of Change series, A Hope Undaunted (which is available as a free download from Amazon right now!), as well as Julie's Daughters of Boston series.

Julie, I ever remain one of your biggest fans.

Leave a comment to be entered to win. As I truly desire for these books to be something special for my readership, please click "Follow" on the left of the screen to become a follower of my blog if you haven't already done so. :)