My Stubborn Heart, by Becky Wade

From the Publisher:
Kate Donovan is burned out on work, worn down by her dating relationships, and in need of an adventure. When her grandmother
asks Kate to accompany her to Redbud, Pennsylvania, to restore the grand old house she grew up in, Kate jumps at the chance,
takes a leave of absence from her job as a social worker, and the two of them set off.

Upon her arrival in Redbud, Kate meets Matt Jarreau, the man her grandmother has hired to renovate the house. From the first moment
she meets Matt, Kate can't help but be attracted to him--he's got a combination of good looks and charisma that draw and tug at her. But she knows there's zero chance of a romance between them. Matt's in love with his dead wife, and even if he weren't, Kate realizes that she's way too ordinary for him. For Matt Jarreau is no ordinary guy. Kate discovers that he was once a great NHL hockey player who left the sport when his wife--an honest-to-goodness former Miss America--was diagnosed with brain cancer. Matt's been hiding from people, from God, and from his past ever since. Yet Kate is absolutely determined to befriend him, to try to reach him, to help him in some small way.

No, Kate's not looking for love. She knows better than that by now. But when the stilted, uncomfortable interactions between Kate and
Matt slowly shift into something more, is God finally answering the longing of her heart? Or will Kate be required to give up more than she ever dreamed?

My Review:
I hated this book. No, I loved this book. I don't know!! It was a great book, it just hit too close to home.

Matt has this brooding thing going on that makes you want to love him to release him from his inner turmoil. Kate has this need to rescue him from himself. They were both fairly well-developed characters and the supporting characters were awesome as well. Each character in this book was unique and had their own personality and set of quirks. Becky wade does an amazing job with this.

I probably related to Kate more than I've ever related to any character in a book, ever. Kate is 31 and still single and very much struggling to reconcile that fact to God's will and her desires. "The hardest and the truest thing was the supremacy of God's will, which meant that no matter how much she had prayed for a husband and a family, she wasn't guaranteed that she'd ever receive what she asked for." Ouch. See why I hated this book?

But there were some valuable gems in there like this quote from one of the old ladies,

"'Women who've made peace with living alone,' she stared, counting off one finger, 'and women with healthy self-confidence....' She counted off a second finger, then cocked her head at Kate. 'Are you getting this?'

"Kate nodded. 'Women who've made peace with living alone and women who have a healthy self-confidence...'

'Can always, but always, afford to be picky.'"

One thing that I did not like about the book was the lack of spiritual depth. Kate heard God's voice and followed, but then she basically quits talking to God after she does? Yet she's still hearing his voice? She rarely seems to pick up her Bible and spend any real quality time with God. Matt has virtually no relationship with God, but then something changes but it seems like that is never really acknowledged between he and Kate. So Kate is falling in love with the "perfect guy" who has nothing to do with God and... the only problem is that he's not playing hockey? Not that he doesn't have any relationship with God, to speak of, but that he isn't playing hockey. Alrighty then. As someone who probably could be in a relationship if I were willing to settle for someone without a relationship with God... this really bothers me. I've met a lot of "perfect" guys, but you know... if they don't have an active relationship with God, they aren't quite as perfect as I thought they were. And it seems like this was never an issue for Kate when, in a Christian novel, it should have been. In fact, God shouldn't have been telling Kate to wait for the sake of Matt's hockey career in this book, God should have been telling Kate to wait for the sake of Matt's relationship with Him.


This was another good book by Becky Wade. I do recommend it, but in my opinion, it is not her best   book so if it's the first of hers that you ever read, don't be afraid to read more of hers, because the others are much better.

I was under no obligation to review this book.