Your Words Your Heart by Louise Bélanger is a collection of Christian poetry that celebrates God’s gifts to humankind. It is composed of twenty-six poems complemented by forty spring and summer pictures of nature and flowers taken by the author in her hometown in Canada. Each poem is dated and they range from 2 December 2021 to 17 August 2022. The poems are written in free verse, with the first poem paying tribute to the place we call home. This effectively establishes the theme for the rest of the book. Most of the poems in this collection are filled with insight into the moral dilemmas that society faces, with religious themes that center on faith and doubt, love, trust, times, and seasons. The colorful and stunning pictures enhance the universal appeal.

Louise Bélanger’s Your Words Your Heart is her third work of inspirational poetry. What I like most about this collection is not only how the poet skillfully uses the elements of simile, metaphor, and personification, but the spirit of worship that is on every page reminding us of God’s love. Most of the poems give meaning and stability to our lives and make us aware of spiritual realities. My favorite poem in this collection is Petals Like Heart where the author laments an unattended heart when its edges are turning into ice, like petals. However, the poem ends on a positive note with: “The sun can warm one/The Son can heal the other/Petals Like hearts Are subject to frost.”

5-STARS Reviewed by Maria Victoria Beltran for Readers’ Favorite.