Healing Hearts

Buried Secrets by Rachel J Good is a delightful Amish romance and one that I devoured in just two sittings.

Buried Secrets has many themes including healing. A physical healing and a healing of hearts and spirits.

Linked to the theme of healing is that of fear. Fear can consume us. “Stuck in this prison of terror.” Often “facing her fears was the last thing she wanted to do” but it is necessary for healing. Fear can affect not just our mental state but our physical body too. With love, care and compassion one can face ones fears and conquer them.

There are the themes of grace, forgiveness and guilt. Our guilt may be tied to the past. We cannot  alter the past but we need to deal with it. We need to confess our sins and receive God’s grace and forgiveness. We often find this hard to do. We believe God forgives others but not us. We disqualify ourselves but God forgives everyone. Likewise we need to forgive others because we are commanded to do so.

Trust is another theme. We need to trust others and we need to trust God. If we trust God, we do not need to worry. “I’m not trusting [God] if I’m worrying.” We can trust God because He loves us enough to die for us.

Rejection rears its head. We never need fear rejection from God but rejection from others leaves us with questions.

There is the whole idea of rebirth and new beginnings. The motif of the garden illustrates this perfectly. Our lives may become chocked with weeds which need removing for us to flourish.

There is a wonderful charm about the whole novel. The main characters are kind and caring. Kindness permeates the novel. The reader ‘feels’ its reaches from the pages of the book. I ‘felt’ the emotions emanating from the main characters, I empathised and I loved them all.

Secrets can be all consuming with the power to hurt and destroy. The truth needs to come to light and release the burden and power of secrets.

I absolutely loved Buried Secrets. The whole novel ‘spoke’ to my heart. It was a wonderful read and I cannot wait to read more by Rachel Good. I love all her novels.

I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

JULIA WILSON

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