giveaway

Daughter Of Jerusalem + Giveaway

| danyelle0423

20130718-202507.jpg

Title: Daughter of Jerusalem
Author: Joan Wolf
Publisher: Worthy
Published: April 19, 2013
Pages: 314
—————————————–

Mary Magdalene’s life has always been ruled by men. After being ripped away from her first love to be thrust into a loveless marriage, Mary’s life is filled with misery and Roman life. Then, she meets a Roman man who makes her feel alive, but when tragedy strikes the weight of her sins threaten to overcome her and lead her to leave all her friends and memories and head to the place where her childhood was, a place where she receives the ultimate healing.

She moves to Capernaum and tries to put the broken pieces of her life back together. Then, she meets a man who seems to have the answer for all her guilt and sins, a man who’s a teacher, a man by the name of Jesus. Jesus teaches her things she never knew and shows her that forgiveness isn’t that hard. She knows this is the Messiah, the Son of God, but the danger surrounding Jesus gets worse and Mary has a feeling her time with Him is running short.

So as the tension rises, Mary becomes a follower of Jesus Christ and soaks in His teaching whenever possible. But when the Sanhedrin becomes enraged at Jesus and issues an arrest warrant, Mary must face the harsh reality of what is going to happen to her Lord and must make a choice run and hide out of fear or stay by His side no matter the cost.

Which option will Mary choose? Will Mary finally learn forgiveness or will she forever be mad at the people who hurt her? Will Mary be there to see Jesus resurrect or will she be hiding in fear? What will Mary do when she finds out her Lord has risen? How will Mary be help to the Son of God? Will Mary marry again or will she find it easier to stay single and help others?
—————————————-

I was so excited when I got the chance to read another book by Joan Wolf. After all, I loved her take on Queen Esther and how her life went. However, I’m not totally sure what I feel about this one. I enjoyed her take on Mary’s life but I feel like she kept trying to mush two different Mary’s together and call them one, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany. I don’t think there’s any biblical evidence that supports that theory and for me that was the biggest obstacle for me to hurdle.

The Mary throughout the entire book was Mary of Bethany sister to Martha and Lazarus but in key points of the book the author smashed Mary Magdalene into Mary of Bethany’s life and decided that worked. She also mashed two other Mary’s together as well, Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary the mother of James and Joses. Just like the other two Mary’s I’m not positive these two where the same woman. To me the fact that this happened shows a lack of research on the authors part and severely injured the book in my mind.

If the author had just left Mary Mary of Bethany and not added aspect of Mary Magdalene to her this story would’ve been fantastic. It’s a story of redemption and forgiveness and it hits home to anyone who’s ever done anything they’re not proud of. It also brings a woman’s perspective to the life, persecution, and resurrection of Jesus which is something that doesn’t really happen.

The book is written in first person which allowed me to see the pain and guilt that Mary carries but it doesn’t really help for description or for getting inside anyone else’s head. I didn’t really love that. I liked how it showed her pain but I hated how she was the only focal point of the novel. I wished someone else’s point of view was spotlighted instead of just shown from her point of view.

This author made me fall in love with her account of Esther, but this book wasn’t a hit for me, I felt a lack of research in her Mary mushing and I didn’t like her first person POV. I can’t give up on this author completely, though. Esther’s story still has me captivated and makes me want to read more from her just so I can find that diamond that I crave.

Overall, I didn’t care much for this one. The POV wasn’t great, but the biggest thing was Mary mushing and it really reverted me from getting into this one. I only recommend this to people who want a good storyline and can ignore conflicting messages. I don’t recommend this for anyone other than adults because some content is a bit questionable for teens and definitely Tweens. I give this one a two out of five.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.*

————————————-

*Giveaway*

I was fortunate enough to be given two copies of this book one for myself and one to be given away to a lucky winner. The giveaway will be held from today all the way until Wednesday, July 24. To enter all you have to do is comment on this post why you
Like biblical fiction or why you want to start reading it. It’s that easy! Then, on the 24th I will randomly pick one person to receive a copy of Daughter of Jerusalem by Joan Wolf and will let the lucky winner know within a day or two. So go comment because you only have seven days!
*US AND CANADA ONLY*