Search - Redeeming Love

I have never read Francine Rivers before so I didn't know what to expect. This book was amazing. Taking place during the California Gold Rush, it is the story of Sarah (Angel) who has lived a terrible life for her 18 years, living as a prostitute in a poor, scrappy frontier town and Michael Hosea the man who sees her in the street and is determined to make her his wife. He rescues her from a brothel after she is beaten and restores her back to health physically but finds it impossible to heal her spirit. She plays tug of war with Michael and God until the very end. I read this book in two days and wish I had slowed down. It is based on the story of Hosea in the Bible. The story displays God's powerful love for his people and the struggle Angel and Michael go through when they don't want to listen to Him.

This is an incredible book. The whole story is an awesome picture of God's redeeming love for all of us. Even after finishing the book, I'm still thinking about it and can't get it off my mind. One word of caution: You may want to skip reading the Prologue of this book if you are sensitive in nature. The Prologue tells you how the main character, Angel, became the way she is, but you don't have to read the Prologue to understand the rest of the book.

I absolutely loved this book. The story is amazing. A story of true love, kindness, patience, heartache, conflict, pain, selfishness, self-hate, redemption, acceptance and overcoming. In the beginning we learn that Angel is a prostitute and a man who loves the Lord falls in love with her and through a series of events makes her his wife. I couldn’t put this book down. I started it one Saturday afternoon when my daughter was sick and I couldn’t put it down. This is a must read!

This book was well written and worth reading. Rivers was able to incorporate the story of Hosea in a very different setting, yet the theme of God's everlasting love permeates the story.

O...M…G! The book Redeeming Love is…indescribable. It’s on a shelf all by itself. I never thought I would read a Christian love story and say it was one of the best books I ever read, I need smut and alphas mixed with a little emotional angst and then more smut and that is a good book or even a great book to me. RL had zero smut although definitely adult themes such as rape, prostitution, adultery. The hero Michael was godlike with a gentle forgiving heart, no rake-like qualities in sight. There definitely was lots of emotional heartbreaks, by page 40 my chest ached from the huge lump in my throat, I had no idea how I was going to get through the next 430 pages, but the story is so incredible and inspirational that it will stick with me for a long, long time. It was thought provoking, heart wrenching, and deeply moving.

The heroine, Angel, went by many names throughout the story depending on her reactions to her life events and trials. Angel has a life that is worse than hell, her father wishes she was aborted, her mother dies at a young age causing Angel to be sold into prostitution at the age of 8. She is so degraded, she rejects God, feels she is an empty shell and wants to die by the age of 18. Enter Michael, a human angel, sent to her by God to give Angel his unconditional love, marry her and show her the way back home. He was so perfect that every time Angel made a stupid decision you wished you could shake some sense into her because Michael loved her so passionately and didn’t deserve all the pain Angel caused him.

Though it is a religious story and there are a lot of references to the bible I did not feel it was preachy, just tender and beautiful. The last 50 pages did get a little deeper in the religious undertones, but I was okay with it because the moral of the story was so great and uplifting. I can’t recommend this book enough, don’t let the Christian theme turn you off, and this is coming from a person who loves erotica and bodice rippers.

I just love this authors writing. She makes the bible come alive so vividly, while telling these amazing stories that pull you in and break you down, make you cry, make you look inside yourself and turn to God, and then build you back up again. This particulary story tells an amazing tale about a young women who has survived unspeakable horrors and gets an unconditional chance at love and redemption, ultimately bringing a sense of hope.