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breathehopebooks's review against another edition
5.0
4.5
I loved the Hollywood aspect and while I did expect it to be more prevalent in the story i'm glad it wasn't. I love this time period because there was much going on historically (politically, culturally, socially, etc) and i appreciated that Rivers incorporated so much of that into the novel.
I thought Abra was a good character; she was stubborn and thought she knew everything but then whenever she acted naive i would be like, "oh, honey, no."
I think it's super cool how this book was inspired by the book of Ezekiel. Like, duh, Pastor Zeke!
My only gripe is that there's one character i really liked who we don't know what really happens to them at the very end so yeah, i was bit frustrated by that.
Also Joshua Freeman is bae!
I loved the Hollywood aspect and while I did expect it to be more prevalent in the story i'm glad it wasn't. I love this time period because there was much going on historically (politically, culturally, socially, etc) and i appreciated that Rivers incorporated so much of that into the novel.
I thought Abra was a good character; she was stubborn and thought she knew everything but then whenever she acted naive i would be like, "oh, honey, no."
I think it's super cool how this book was inspired by the book of Ezekiel. Like, duh, Pastor Zeke!
My only gripe is that there's one character i really liked who we don't know what really happens to them at the very end so yeah, i was bit frustrated by that.
Also Joshua Freeman is bae!
curls's review against another edition
1.0
I really wanted to like this book. I think Francine Rivers is a great author. I have loved earlier works of hers, but Bridge to Haven made me wish this book was more.
I had a big problem with Pastor Zeke taking Abra in his home and treating her as a daughter, but after his wife died, he gave her away. I understand this story needed a reason for Abra to feel neglected and unloved. I felt that in the end, Zeke could have shown a little more sympathy or understanding that he played a big role in the reasons that Abra was so messed up. When Zeke kept Joshua but gave away his daughter, it reinforced the idea that Abra was expendable. If Zeke and Marianne had been childless and the stress of raising Abra had weakened Marianne's heart, it would have made Zeke's sacrifice of giving up his only child so she could have a family more poignant and more relatable. Giving away the foster child to raise your own biological son was done so callously that in another genre I would have expected Zeke to be a villain.
Another reason I did not like this book was the relationship between Abra and Joshua. Abra was raised as Joshua's little sister for five years until she was adopted by another family. He was literally a big brother in her life, and I could not read about their relationship without it feeling incestuous. If Joshua was a friend Abra grew up with down the street, would the story have changed at all?
Francine Rivers also borrowed heavily from previous works. There are themes that go with retelling the story of the prodigal son and I will not list them here. But there are many things borrowed from Redeeming Love such as:
1) The heroine going by different names representing different personalities Abra/Lena and Sarah/Angel/Mara
2) An internal struggle over having an abortion forced on the heroine
3) The heroine being dominated by controlling men such as Duke, Dylan, and Franklin
4) The hero has no flaws other than a desire to hurt the villain who has damaged the heroine
I felt that Francine Rivers did an excellent job in portraying the struggle adoptees have about fitting in with their family. She handled Abra's perfectionist streaks related to the fear of being given away again very well. The descriptions of Hollywood were charming and enjoyable. Franklin was a very sympathetic villain and one of the more interesting characters in the book. The relationship with Abra and her adoptive sister Penny was unfortunately not well developed. This could have been explored more deeply and made their reunion more heartfelt.
2.5 stars
I had a big problem with Pastor Zeke taking Abra in his home and treating her as a daughter, but after his wife died, he gave her away. I understand this story needed a reason for Abra to feel neglected and unloved. I felt that in the end, Zeke could have shown a little more sympathy or understanding that he played a big role in the reasons that Abra was so messed up. When Zeke kept Joshua but gave away his daughter, it reinforced the idea that Abra was expendable. If Zeke and Marianne had been childless and the stress of raising Abra had weakened Marianne's heart, it would have made Zeke's sacrifice of giving up his only child so she could have a family more poignant and more relatable. Giving away the foster child to raise your own biological son was done so callously that in another genre I would have expected Zeke to be a villain.
Another reason I did not like this book was the relationship between Abra and Joshua. Abra was raised as Joshua's little sister for five years until she was adopted by another family. He was literally a big brother in her life, and I could not read about their relationship without it feeling incestuous. If Joshua was a friend Abra grew up with down the street, would the story have changed at all?
Francine Rivers also borrowed heavily from previous works. There are themes that go with retelling the story of the prodigal son and I will not list them here. But there are many things borrowed from Redeeming Love such as:
1) The heroine going by different names representing different personalities Abra/Lena and Sarah/Angel/Mara
2) An internal struggle over having an abortion forced on the heroine
3) The heroine being dominated by controlling men such as Duke, Dylan, and Franklin
4) The hero has no flaws other than a desire to hurt the villain who has damaged the heroine
I felt that Francine Rivers did an excellent job in portraying the struggle adoptees have about fitting in with their family. She handled Abra's perfectionist streaks related to the fear of being given away again very well. The descriptions of Hollywood were charming and enjoyable. Franklin was a very sympathetic villain and one of the more interesting characters in the book. The relationship with Abra and her adoptive sister Penny was unfortunately not well developed. This could have been explored more deeply and made their reunion more heartfelt.
2.5 stars
punnygirl789's review against another edition
3.0
Normally I love anything by Francine Rivers but I just couldn't connect to the characters in this book.
meghayes11's review against another edition
4.0
I would really put this more as 3.5ish, but it was a good read nonetheless
spoorman20's review against another edition
2.0
I'm a huge fan, but I did NOT like this book. It dragged on foreeeeeever and I really just didn't care about any of the characters. I found the storyline unbelievable from the very beginning and didn't feel like this had Francine's normal depth to it.
mommabygrace's review against another edition
3.0
This is the first book I have read from this author. I must say, I hope the writing style of her other books is better than this one! It sounded like someone was trying to give an account of the past, not what was currently happening to the characters. I feel this earned a 3.5 star rating. This book was alright, but definitely not one of my favorite romance novels.
sarah_reading_party's review against another edition
4.0
One of those books i never wanted to end! I loved the redemption in this book, even if some characters were too perfect or too obvious in their past/habits. Almost as good as redeeming love!
star61782's review against another edition
5.0
I so loved this book. I always love a redemption story.
abbyhgarrett's review against another edition
4.0
This book took a bit for me to get into, but once I got into it, I was hooked. I will say, about half way through, I did start to tire of the “fluff” and was ready to get to the end. Overall, great story!