I loved the premise of this book, the idea of looking into the lives of Old Testament women who can feel somewhat overlooked. Unfortunately, I found this book to have a serious identity crisis.
Jill Eileen Smith has a long history as a fiction writer and her skill at crafting a story is evident with the way she can form a sentence and pull readers in. However, it felt like this non-fiction book ran more into fiction than not. I understand the value of putting ourselves into another's shoes, another's perspective but the constant speculation and additions to biblical text often felt out of place in this type of book, especially when some of the speculation ran into controversial theology (the story of Adah's almost daughter in law for example).
The non-fiction section of each chapter also left me wanting more. I felt confused as to the goal as there wasn't more than a cursory awareness of psych or trauma leaving many heart and mind motivations feeling glossed over and oversimplified. At the same time, it felt like the scriptural analysis was also rushed in an attempt to fit in the fictional and situational based examples.
In the end, I felt like, although bearing a strong concept, this book was trying to be too many things and not finding its footing in any.
2.5 out of 5 stars
I received this book as part of the Revell Reads Tour.
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