Today for Fiction Friday I am reviewing Stronger Than the Storm by Deena Adams released on Tuesday.
Book Description:
A runaway teen. A wife’s devastating secret. A family’s reckoning.
Beth Holbrook has spent years building a life centered on faith and family. As a pastor’s wife, mother of three, and respected parenting coach, she’s devoted herself to helping families raise godly children. Now, with a publishing contract within reach, Beth stands on the verge of realizing a lifelong dream.
Then her daughter runs away.
Eighteen-year-old Leesa is tired of living under expectations she feels she can never meet. One impulsive decision sends her fleeing to Myrtle Beach, determined to take control of her life. But when she returns home weeks later with shocking news, the fragile peace inside the Holbrook family fractures.
As tensions rise, Beth struggles with growing conflict in her marriage, painful criticism from her mother, and the crushing realization that the advice she’s given other parents may not save her own family. Worse still, the secret she’s hidden for nearly two decades threatens to destroy the very foundation of her life.
When a powerful hurricane barrels toward their Virginia Beach home, the Holbrooks must confront the storm raging inside their hearts.
Can grace and forgiveness rebuild what secrets and betrayal have broken—or will the truth tear their family apart?
My Review
Thanks to the Author for my review copy.
I gave this book a 4 star but it’s really a 4.5. Women’s fiction isn’t my favourite genre, but when the book sounds good, I will read it and the blurb had me hooked. The book is about the Holbrook family with the main characters Mother Beth, Father Kevin and daughter Leese. Kevin is a youth pastor at the church and Beth is hoping to become a published author. Leese is the middle daughter now 18 and feels at odds with her mother.
Leese feels she can’t measure up to her mother’s expectations and with a friend decides to leave home and live her own life. She finds things are not as simple as she expected and is caught between living on her own or going back to the same issues that drove her away.
Back at home Beth is beside herself with worry for Leese but also about how people will react when they know Leese ran away. Kevin is dealing with the same issues but is more proactive, talking with the senior pastor. We can see how Leese leaving affects not only her parents but her siblings and also herself.
Beth also has been hiding something that happened in her early marriage which also threatens the family. Then with Leese own news things come to a head. The book is in the POV of these 3 characters which helps seeing how each one is thinking. We often wonder why someone would do something or what motivates them to stay away or in a dangerous situation. This book gives an insight into the characters thinking and we can see how low self-esteem or thinking you deserve to be treated poorly makes sense to them.
This book deals with family dynamics and some heavy subjects in a well written book. It doesn’t sugar coat the issues, but it does show how with prayer and counselling things can change. We also have a couple of strong side characters that really add to the story. This book is very much a redemption and restoration story.
The last half of the book I didn’t want to put down so much was happening and I just couldn’t stop. If you enjoy books with read issues dealt with in a sensitive way, give this book a go. The redemption arc is very well done, and the ending is very satisfying.