Book review - My Foolish Heart by Susan May Warren

I don't read romance very often. See I have this terrible problem with Christian romances - they make me cry. I know, I know! A tenderhearted story is one of the draws to Christian romance, but I could do without it! Seriously!

I wrote a song several years ago that starts out "I long for heaven and no more tears." This crying thing isn't just a little issue with me.  I'm not joking when I tell people that a good McDonald's commercial can leave me teary-eyed. I never saw Titanic, or the Notebook, and don't plan to.



I blame my dad.  He had a tender heart and would get all blubbery, shoulders shaking, over the smallest of things. It wasn't a joke in the family because it really bugged him, but my brother and I didn't understand what his problem was. Well, that was then. I still don't know what his problem was, but he left it as part of my inheritance!

So when it comes to the intensive emotion of a good Christian romance, like the ones on my e-reader that I'm putting off, I'm tempted to pass.

But I'm glad I didn't give in to temptation with My Foolish Heart by Susan May Warren. I had read Undercover Pursuit and loved it, so I was ready to take a chance again with Ms. Warren. I'm so glad I did!

My Foolish Heart tells the stories of 4 people, and how God touches their lives, bringing beauty from ashes, giving them a hope and a future.

• Issy who pretends to be what she is not, hoping someday to overcome her deep-set anxiety issues.
• Lucy who dons a daily facade while hiding a humiliating secret that has destroyed her sense of self-worth.
• Seb who lives with the guilt of selfish mistakes and the utter failure stemming from his pride.
• Caleb who insists on leaning entirely on himself even when he has no strength of his own left.

This story is beautifully written with a poignant message of God's unfailing love. The characters are like friends. No I mean it. I think they live down the street from me! Their quirks and failures are endearing. They aren't perfect, gorgeous, brilliant, pasty-faced little starlets. They're flawed, with pride, failure, deception. It's their flaws that make them real and reachable, giving me the opportunity to understand them where they are. To crawl inside them and experience this story along with them as it unfolds.

Updated 9-18-11 I didn't do this story justice! It is so much better than I let on, but I felt unsure about writing reviews when I first started out. This book is more than poignant, it reaches people where they are. The characters, all four of them, are badly broken, desperately leaning on God, bound to fail, yet determined to try. They are inspiring, and any reader can find herself in at least one of them.

Did I cry? Well yeah, DUH! About every 5 pages; okay, maybe 10. Will you? I double-dog dare ya to read this book with a dry eye! Okay, I triple-dog dare ya!