I picked up The Girl Who Could Read Hearts by Sherry Maysonave from Netgalley because the description of someone reading hearts instead of minds intrigued me. I thought it would a nice change of pace. The story is told in the third person but the perspective changes between a six year old child and several adults.

Kate is preparing to celebrate her sixth birthday. She has an angel figurine, Etta Elba, given to her the day she was born by her grandmother. The figurine communicates with her through wing movement and eye flashes. It seems as though there is a telepathic link also. The adults who surround Kate range from caring like her parents to evil like her uncle by marriage.

The concept of the book, that one's heart/soul can be visible has potential but I had a few problems with the book. Every character in Kate's family has names that are double initials, for example Terrence Ted or TT. Some of the minor characters had similar naming, for example Virginia Vettlehurst. I found that to be distracting after the first few chapters. My second problem was the characters were two dimensional. The "villian" Vaynem Moxsin reminded me (showing my age here) of the old cartoon character Snidley Whiplash. I found all the characters light or dark with very little in between.

The book contains Christian themes. Jesus and The Great Angel Mother are mentioned often. If religious themes are not your cup of tea, you may want to give this one a pass. Overall I enjoyed it. It was different. I see potential in the writing of Ms. Maysonaye and look forward to checking into her next book.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for honest review. ( )

The Girl Who Could Read Hearts is an engaging novel with many twists and turns. It is thought-provoking while making making you laugh and smile. Yes, I am Sherry's husband and have watched the gestation of this incredible novel over the past 7 years. As an avid reader, and hopefully objective, I can say that Sherry's novel is unique and memorable. ( )