Choices of the Heart by Laurie Alice Eakes - REVIEWED

About the Book:  (from Revell Publishing)

She thought she had left her old life behind . . .

Esther Cherrett comes from a proud line of midwives and was trained by her mother to take over the family calling. When a terrible scandal threatens all she holds dear, Esther flees, taking a position as a teacher in the wild western mountains of Virginia. But instead of the refuge she was seeking, Esther finds herself in the midst of a deadly family feud-and courted by two men on opposite sides of the conflict. All she wants is to run away again.

Yet could it be that her past holds the key to reconciliation-and love?

In this gripping story of trust, deception, and bittersweet loss, you’ll discover the true meaning of choices of the heart.

My Thoughts:

“Mistakes or not, she would manage her future on her own.”  (p.70)

Managing her future means Esther Cherrett runs far and fast away from her troubles.  Real and imagined.  This time, she runs straight into some of the worst trouble she has ever known or will know – a family feud that has killed many people.  People died over trouble both real and imagined.

Laurie Alice Eakes writes powerful stories.  Her stories contain both conflict and pain, mercy and grace.  The journey between the two places of emotional unrest and peace is one fraught with painful choices and consequences.  Esther Cherrett learns all about consequences in this story – both in her life and in the lives of others that she comes to care about a great deal. 

Granted, Esther has been on the receiving end of some pretty painful circumstances of her own – and some of it the result of her own selfish pride.  However, she must learn not to confuse the love and forgiveness of people with the love and forgiveness that God alone offers.  What a painful lesson she must learn in this story!  But oh, what she finds at the end of the journey!

Laurie Alice Eakes – write that name down and then go to the bookstore and by every book she has ever written.  Read them.  Weep over them. Rejoice in the truth they contain.  Choices of the Heart  is a most excellent book!! What are you waiting for?  Start reading it TODAY!!

About the Author:

Laurie Alice Eakes is the author of Lady in the Mist, Heart's Safe Passage, A Necessary Deception, A Flight of Fancy, and several other novels. She won a National Readers Choice Award for Best Regency in 2007 for Family Guardian. Laurie Alice writes full-time from her home in Texas, where she lives with her husband and sundry dogs and cats.