The crises and human emotions contained in Sally John's book Heart Echoes resound within the soul. Some of the struggles her characters deal with are cancer, the death of a loved one, broken homes, and an out of wedlock pregnancy. Her main character, Teal Morgan-Adams is a confident lawyer, mother, and wife, until an earthquake shakes up her life and almost destroys her family.

Teal's struggle with workaholism has created a void between her daughter Maiya and herself. Almost 17, Maiya is rebellious, sassy, and everything Teal was at her age. When Maiya begins to question who her biological father is, Teal knows she's going to have to give an answer eventually. But with her husband dealing with his own problems, Teal questions whether or not it would do more harm than good to reveal the name of the man she had a one night fling with.

While there are topics such as unmarried pregnancy and divorce in Heart Echoes, there is nothing that should concern adult Christians. Teal and her family look at these struggles through a Christian perspective. In the end, too, Teal gives over her worries to God and trusts that God will be faithful (Matthew 21:22).

Sally John writes in a way that readers can connect on a personal level with her characters. The same plot in a less-talented author's hands might have turned out overly dramatic and cheesy, but John has crafted her story very well. The constant mother-daughter struggle, healing sister relationship, and love between Teal and her husband River, are relationships that are depicted realistically, poignantly, and powerfully.

Heart Echoes is good reading for anyone who has ever struggled with family problems and the difficulties life brings.

Read the rest of my review at Christian Book Previews http://www.christianbookpreviews.com/christian-book-detail.php?isbn=1414327870 ( )

Sally does a great job of emotions with her books, I forget that when I don't read her for a while.

This book starts the day of a massive LA earthquakes. Teal, River and Maiya are not together and this starts their story of how the earthquakes effects them going forward.

We also deal a lot with the past of Teal and River and met Teal's sister who has a story of her own.

I liked that this book only have the characters needed and didn't bring in too many outsiders so we could stay focused on Teal and her growth, regrets and joys. ( )

Rating: Compelling, heart-wrenching and inspiring.

Teal Morgan-Adams is married to River Adams and she has a fifteen year old daughter, Maiya. They have lived in Los Angeles long enough to be used to earthquakes and crazy traffic. But there’s something different about this one, it throws everyone through a loop; causing them to question and to seek. It heightens Maiya’s desire to know her biological father, and strengthens Teal’s attempt to keep her secrets. Teal turns to the people and the place that she has run from for the past nine years. Teal’s heart echoes with the pain of her past, the lies she was told and the secrets that she’s held. But, in the end she discovers what it means to share the truth and in so doing finds a new definition of family.
It doesn’t happen often that a book compels me to read late into the night or to pick it up first thing in the morning. Or at least it hasn’t happened recently. But this one did. I like romances, not the kind that based in wishful-thinking-land. While, I wouldn’t say that this is purely a romance, I enjoyed that aspect of it, mainly because the characters were so flawed. Not in an over-the-top way, but in a way that makes them human –makes them real. I could say that this story is about family, it’s really about fathers and the roles that they play in our life. Fathers impact us whether they are present and abusive, absent and abandoning, absent and unknowing or present and loving. Heart Echoes shows examples of each in a way that is subtle as well as gentle, harsh and abrasive as well as flawed, true as well as tangibly real.
I enjoyed the dynamics of the characters. They were so well written that they jumped off the page. I felt like a fly on the wall. This was beautiful as well as heartbreaking.

Recommendation: I recommend this title for anyone who enjoys a good story, who enjoys flawed and alive characters. I will be looking to read more by this author.

What’s next: I looked at the website and didn’t see anything mentioning any upcoming books.

A copy of this novel was given to me, free, in exchange for my honest opinion.
Always Shine,
Starr K ( )

When a massive earthquake rocks the city of Los Angeles, it brings to the surface some things that Teal Morgan-Adams has kept buried for years. At the thought of almost losing her daughter Maiya and her new husband River, she is faced with a challenge to return home and confront the past she has tried to forget.

When Maiya begins to act out against her parents wishes and begins seeing a boy name Jake, her parents are at a dead end with how to deal with her. At 16 she has been forbidden to date anyone until she finishes with high school, but since Jake showed up at her house to help with yardwork, she thinks she has fallen in love. When he shows up on campus, the school is immediately placed in a lock down mode until they find him. Now Maiya faces a 5 week school suspension, even though she claims, she didn't invite him to come see her.

When tragic news arrives from home in Cedar Pointe, Oregon, Teal is faced with a decision to return home to face her past or will she once again simply close that door and try to forget that was ever her home?

In the novel, Heart Echoes by Sally John, the reader is immediately invested in the story through a tragic circumstance surrounding the earthquake that makes everyone question their own mortality. Even though River has tried to become a great father figure for Maiya, her mother Teal refuses to provide her with any information regarding her father, simply saying he didn't want anything to do with Maiya or Teal once she told him she was pregnant, but for Maiya it's a piece of her life she is desperate to know about but her mom won't budge, until the call from Cedar Pointe comes and perhaps God is answering her prayer after all.

I received this novel compliments of Tyndale House Publishers for my honest review and think this one opens the readers eyes on what hiding the truth can do even though it may be hard to admit it. As always God is the central focus and shows the characters how trust and honesty are the bases for a good family foundation that will only grow in the years ahead. It also showcases the struggles of step parenting from a unique perspective and one I personally feel the author did a great job at. It isn't an easy role at all at times. I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion and know you'll enjoy this heart-warming story. ( )