About the Book

Book: Stronger than the Storm

Author: Deena Adams

Genre: Christian Women’s Fiction

Release Date: April 28, 2026

A runaway teen. A wife’s devastating secret. A family’s reckoning.

Since surviving a rocky season in her marriage nineteen years earlier, Beth Holbrook has prayed and worked toward maintaining a solid marital commitment, raising godly children, and leading a thriving parenting ministry. On the cusp of realizing her publication dream and expanding her influence nationwide, her daughter, Leesa, runs away without a word.

Having recently turned eighteen and graduated from high school, Leesa is livid with her parents for not allowing her to attend a beach party, especially when the only guy who has ever shown interest in her will be there. When her best friend suggests they escape their parents’ strict rules and move to Myrtle Beach together, she makes a spontaneous decision to leave town. A mere six weeks later she returns home with shocking news that affects not only her future, but her family’s.

While grappling with a volatile blend of failure and anger, Beth’s identity as a pastor’s wife, mom, and respected parenting coach disintegrates. Amid mounting conflict in her marriage, continued criticism from her mother, and strained relationships with her children, Beth confesses a long-held secret, shattering her already splintered family.

As a hurricane bears down on the Holbrook’s house, the storm raging within the walls threatens to rip apart the fragile stitches holding their family together. When Beth’s solid foundation crumbles, will her family survive intact? Or is her contrition too little, too late?

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About the Author

As a Jesus girl for more than thirty years, Deena Adams understands how important hope is to daily life, which fuels her passion to inspire others through hope-filled fiction based on true to life stories.

She is a Certified Mental Health Coach, a multi-award-winning author, an active ACFW member, founder of the Marathon online writers group, and a six-year ACFW Virginia board member.

Deena lives with her husband near the coast in beautiful Virginia. When she’s not writing, reading, or serving in her church, you’ll find her hanging out with family and friends, playing board games, and doting on her seven grandchildren.

More from Deena

Crafting a novel from authentic life experiences is a challenging task, but it’s one I sensed God’s call to undertake. If the Lord can encourage those facing heartbreaking situations through my struggles as the mother of a prodigal twenty years ago, I’m all in.

Growing up, I tried my hardest to please my parents and teachers, but I always felt I didn’t measure up. As a Type A person, I’m sure that mindset was my doing, not theirs.

Fast forward to my season as a young mom, and my insecurities ramped up even more. When I became a Christian in my late twenties, I already had three small children and longed to be the world’s best mother and do everything right. I saw my kids’ mistakes as an indictment of my parenting abilities, leading me to believe myself a failure and to try harder to succeed.

With that attitude, you can imagine how I reacted when our teenage daughter ran away from home and returned pregnant—especially since my husband is the pastor of our church. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

The emotional upheaval I endured while watching our child make one poor decision after another revealed my many shortcomings. Among the important lessons God taught me was what a shallow person I’d been and how much I wanted others’ respect and for them to find me acceptable—no, exceptional. Sadly, I was at a place in life where other people’s opinions seemed to carry more weight than my children’s feelings, but I was blind to my faults.

As I walked through the deep valley with a prodigal, God, in His great mercy, opened my eyes and showed me the truth about myself.

My journey of healing and restoration with our daughter was the catalyst for my debut novel, Stronger than the Storm. I pray that the challenging themes I address will uplift those going through extreme difficulty and that the embedded truths inspire hope in Jesus.

In my book, the Holbrook’s crisis begins as ours did, with a teen runaway getting pregnant by a guy she barely knew. I incorporated some factual events from our lives and drew many of the characters’ raw emotions from personal history. Although I gave Beth Holbrook, the mother in the story, a few of my personality traits, including the passion to be a supermom and failing miserably, the bulk of this family’s journey is fictional.

My experience as an adult daughter inspired the revelation of a long-kept secret in the latter part of the book. To avoid spoilers, I’ll simply state that nothing prepares anyone for such devastating news.

Yet, amid turmoil and unexpected adversity, God is still on the throne and has a perfect plan for our good and His glory. When we surrender everything to Him, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus through life’s storms, we can gain true peace and cling to the truth that God is stronger than anything we face.

In Stronger than the Storm, the Holbrook family must come to this understanding as well. As you read the book, I trust that this family’s journey, and mine, will provide you with encouragement and hope.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28 (NLT)

Interview with Deena

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve had thoughts about being a writer throughout my entire adult life but didn’t follow through on the desire. In the early 90s, when my three children were young, I applied for a through-the-mail children’s writing course. When I was accepted, I convinced myself I had no talent and the company just wanted my money.

Ten to twelve years later, when my kids were teenagers, the writing bug bit again. I investigated taking creative writing courses at the local community college, but when I found out I also had to take basic courses like math and history, that was a hard no. LOL

After a devastating relationship break with our best friends and ministry partners in 2016, I struggled with depression and grief for two years. I finally went to counseling, and my therapist wisely encouraged me to do something for myself that I would enjoy. That’s when I took the plunge into writing novels. It started out as therapy but quickly became my passion.

When did you write your first book and how old were you?

As I mentioned already, I didn’t start writing seriously until 2018. I wrote the first 50,000 words of my first manuscript in November that year, during Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). I wrote “the end” on that messy, rough draft at the end of February 2019. I was fifty-five years old.

What would you say is the most difficult part of writing a book?

Since finishing that first manuscript in four months and spending so long fixing the story, I now have a hard time getting the first draft on the page. I struggle to turn off my editor brain, so I’m constantly going back over what I’ve written, which means getting to “the end” takes way too long. Also, it’s a challenge to nail the pacing and character arc. Oh, yeah, and researching a zillion little details to make sure the story is believable. Basically, every part of writing a book is hard. LOL

Do you base your characters on real people?

Yes! Since I write stories based on true life experiences, I’ve incorporated pieces of myself, family members, and friends into the three manuscripts I’ve completed. In Stronger than the Storm, I gave Beth Holbrook many of my personality traits and flaws. Her husband, Kevin, has some of my husband’s wonderful qualities. And the Holbrook children have a few of my three kids’ characteristics. Beth’s friend, Teresa, is based on my best friend, also named Teresa.

Any current or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

In 2025 I signed a three-book contract with Scrivenings Press for The Holbrook Family series. I’m currently editing book two, which features Tyler, the eldest Holbrook child, and his wife Shelby. Their story revolves around Shelby seeking a way to purchase the music and dance studio where she teaches, but a sudden ultra rare skin disease (which I struggled with in 2022) throws a wrench into her plans. This book releases in June 2027.

After turning that manuscript in this summer, I’ll immediately start writing book three, which will follow the youngest Holbrook child, Megan. This third and final book of the series is inspired by my best friend and her husband, who served as short-term missionaries in Chad, Africa when a rebel war broke out. This book will launch in June 2028.