Review: Speak Now by Chautona Havig

Book Title and Synopsis:

They met at a wedding and his children stole her heart. What started as a polite dance at the reception initiated a whirlwind romance. He admires her heart–not to mention her beauty. She feels more comfortable with him than anyone she’s ever met.

Their chemistry–so intense that they can’t risk affection. Their temptation threshold is simply too narrow to risk.

Cara has a unique talent for making anyone feel at ease. Jonathan prefers to listen rather than speak.

But some things must be spoken–never assumed.

My Thoughts:
Speak Now explores the subject of temptation within a relationship, as noted in the Author's Note at the beginning of the book. The attraction between Cara and Jonathan is so powerful that they scarcely touch at all; it's even too risky for them to hold hands. It's a difficult and fairly uncommon topic for a Christian novel to tackle, but I was impressed by how tactfully it was handled. The characters sort of dance around the issue, both with their actions and words, which works to keep things level and mild despite the intense attraction between them. The dialogue is kept vague when needed; what is left unsaid is sometimes just as significant as the actual spoken words.

Cara and Jonathan connect on a level that is nearly unheard of, almost to the point of reading each others thoughts. Their "wordless" conversations are charming, although a few times this made it a bit difficult for me to follow the dialogue. For the most part I enjoyed watching their interactions as they spent time together and worked to build a relationship, despite not knowing if a future together was feasible or not. The conversations often have a flirty vibe, more so than I would expect in a new relationship, but it's still fun. However, I do confess to being a bit weirded out when one of them would just stare at the other for minutes on end...I felt like it was a visual undressing. I understand it goes along with the intense attraction plot, but it still just kind of creeped me out a bit.

The main thing that I'm hesitant about came in the latter part of the story, when Cara and Jonathan's relationship starts to move quickly towards permanent commitment, despite the fact that they've only known each other for a few months. Yes, sometimes a short amount of time is all it takes, but in this case Cara and Jonathan's rush to be married stems from the difficulty of their "no-touching" policy, and their desire to be able to touch without the fear of things sinfully going too far. Even though they seemed to really connect and understand each other, I couldn't help but wonder what might happen later on in their marriage, after the intense attraction between them tones down.

Overall, I found this book to be very unique; I can't remember ever reading anything quite like it. I do prefer to see characters get to know each other for a longer period before tying the knot, but the nature of the story simply didn't allow for that....and ultimately, those circumstances are what made the story unique. It's not the way I'd want my personal life to go, however I really did enjoy the unique angle and spin on the typical romance story.

My Rating: 4 stars

Thanks to the author for providing me with an ebook review copy.