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angela hunt

The Apostle’s Sister by Angela Hunt – Review

June 27, 2022 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

About the Book

She’s always longed for more, but what if the path she’s chosen requires more than she’s willing to give?

Aya, daughter of Zebulun of Tarsus, does not want a traditional life. After years of being overshadowed by her brilliant brother Sha’ul, she wants a chance to use her own gifts beyond being a wife and mother. When her father insists that she marry a Torah student, she reluctantly agrees.

A dedicated scholar, Sha’ul, or Paul, returns to Tarsus to follow the instructions of the Law and wed the woman his father has chosen to raise his profile and help him earn a seat on the Great Sanhedrin–the highest religious court in the land. But when the Nazarene, Yeshua, and his followers bring trouble to the Holy City, Sha’ul will stop at nothing to silence them.

After moving to Jerusalem with her husband, Aya expects to be bored in her role as wife to a Torah student. Instead, she finds herself fascinated by his studies. Then her brother makes a life-altering decision, and she must face a troubling question: Can she remain true to her beliefs and still love her blasphemous brother?

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Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: angela hunt, Bethany House, Biblical Fiction, book review, Jerusalem Road, The Apostle's Sister

A New Look at a Semi-familiar Story

September 27, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

There are plenty of people in the Bible we don’t often concentrate on. I mean, everyone know the story of the shepherd how slayed a giant, of the friendship between the shepherd and a king’s son, and the might warrior who became a beloved king. But you know that one part of David’s story we tend to gloss over, the part that shows he was human and let his human desires overrule him when he slept with a married woman? Yeah, there was another person involved in that story who had a story of her own, one that I’d never considered studying.

bathsheba cover

From her childhood, Bathsheba heard the stories of the shepherd turned King. A might warrior, a lover of God, a King for the people. But Bathsheba had been given her own prophecy. One that said she would not only be a tob woman, one of great beauty that men would desire, but also proclaimed she would be mother to a great man who would affect the future of Israel.

But the journey to that prophecy was not an easy one. Bathsheba married a man she loved. A man who eventually had to leave her to go to war. A young wife, she longed to give birth to Uriah’s son but that joy was taken away from her the moment the king saw her bathing in her courtyard and decided he wanted her.

After Uriah’s death, she lived as one of the king’s many wives. A solitary life amidst many people. The other wives either despised her or ignored her, and despite her elevated status, she despised the fact she carried the king’s baby and not Uriah’s.

Tragedy and grief connected David and Bathsheba, and she found herself becoming his friend. While she didn’t love him like she had her first husband, she began to forgive David for his indiscretion. She strove to raise her four sons in a manner that pleased God first and then the king.

After reading the first book in Angela Hunt’s Reluctant Beautyseries about Esther, I wondered how she would write an entire book about such a seemingly minor player in the Bible. But there was so much information in this book, which alternated between Bathsheba’s point of view and that of the prophet Nathan.

And once again, after reading Hunt’s book, I was driving to the scripture to read all I could about the mother of the wise King Solomon. Hunt did her research for this book and provides readers with all of the references she used at the end.

I grew up in the church, but Bathsheba’s story (both the fictionalized version and the one I re-read in a chronological Bible) is brand new to me. Proof that God continues to teach us through his Word.

Bathsheba loved one man who was murdered by the man she now called husband. A man who regretted his sin, who loved God above all else, whose family paid for his sins. Today, David is often referred to as a man after God’s own heart. But through her trials and King David, Bathsheba learned to place her trust and fail in her God as well.

And I’m looking forward to learning about another woman in the Bible, one many might view as the villain of the story: Delilah.

***Bethany House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: angela hunt, Bathsheba, Bethany House, Biblical Fiction, King David

Esther: Royal Beauty by Angela Hunt

January 31, 2015 by Suzie Waltner 1 Comment

esther book cover

The story of Esther has long been one of my favorites. It’s a fairly short book in the Old Testament (just ten chapters) but is filled with the wisdom and courage of one Jewish girl who risks her life to save her people. But what about the rest of the story? What about the historical accounts that are not found in the Bible? From the opening paragraph of Angela Hunt’s fictionalized account of Esther, I was engrossed.

“You may think you know me, but how could you? Others have related my story, and most of them paint a pretty picture. But unless a woman is allowed to speak for herself, no one will ever fully understand the events of a lifetime … and the secret recesses of a woman’s heart.” –Hadassah in Esther: Royal Beauty

The first book in Hunt’s A Dangerous Beauty series centers on a woman whose story is centered around her beauty. A woman who becomes queen because of that beauty. Through the book, readers follow Hadassah as a young, idealistic girl who dreams of becoming a queen someday until she discovers the sorrows of life. A girl who is selfish and cares about sneaking off with her friends or getting a peak at a boy until life intervenes and her heart begins to break at the loss she must suffer in her life. Even when Hadassah is taken to the king’s palace, she has not grown fully into the woman and the queen that God created her to be. She’s infatuated with life in the palace and with her new husband. She forgets about the cousin who raised her and taught her about her history. And for five years she lives her life wanting nothing, thinking of no one but herself. And then her people, and specifically her cousin, are put in danger and Esther must rise to try and save them, even if it means giving her own life for the cause. Through Esther’s eyes and the eyes of the king’s chamberlain, the eunach Harbonah, the story of Esther is brought to life.

esther quote

When I was about a third of the way through this book, I was ready to pick up my Bible and re-read the book of Esther. I waited until I had finished the story to do that. The details are all there, down to the decorations at the banquet. Hunt mentions in her author’s note at the end of the book that nearly every event that occurs in her book comes from historical record. While the thoughts and actions of her main characters are fictionalized, they bring a newness to this story. I will never read the book of Esther in the Bible the same again after having read his book. I’m looking forward to the stories Hunt shares of Bathsheba and Delilah.

Pick up your copy at your local bookstore or order online today.

****Bethany House provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: angela hunt, Biblical Fiction, CR4U, queen esther, Romance, Women's Fiction

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