My Review and Thoughts:
A wonderful, thoughtful, inspiring read.
An emotional roller coaster of description and beauty in
storytelling. The book creates a bliss that pulls at the readers heartstrings.
You can’t help but feel for the characters in one way or another. Each
character has the ability to grow on you. There are moments of pain and moments
of smiles and moments of laughing mixed with a dramatic reality weaved into
this tight told story of wanting love, of finding oneself. Of trying to fit in.
Your main character Moriyah at 13 years of age was kidnapped
and branded on her face with the mark of pagan gods. The mark also details that
she was to become a prostitute, but before this reality could happen, she was
saved. Now grown, she is shunned, ridiculed and made fun of. She feels like an
outcast. She is looked down upon even though she never became the pagan
prostitute, but her mark brands her for life. She hides her face with a veil,
stays inside as much as she can and hides behind her loving father’s vineyard.
She feels imprisoned in a sense.
I fell in love with the character of Ora, who is Moriyah’s
best friend. She is a blind woman who was taken advantage of and ended up
giving birth to a child because of that rape. Justice never came her way and so
she to is marked in a sense. Moriyah and Ora are in the same reality of
imprisonment. Soon Moriyah’s father because of his age and declining health has
bartered a husband for his daughter. Moriyah had always thought no one would
ever have her because of her branding on the face. This new reality sets in an
emotional side of inner thoughts to the character. She has never met the man
before her father agreed to give her away in marriage. So, begins the reality
of the story about a woman with a branding scar calling her a Pagan Prostitute
finding and growing with this man she never thought would ever want to marry
her, this arranged marriage. Not all goes as planned. As mishaps happen and a
growing danger lead Moriyah on one journey after the other as her once hidden
peaceful imprisonment by hiding out, now comes full force into public settings.
She longs to be loved. To be accepted. This new reality she
can only hope that this new man will treat her respectively but what she hopes
for in wanting love and care ends up becoming an altered path that she never
saw coming. Not all goes as expected as the story twist and turns in Moriyah's
life.
The book is a wonderful personal statement on the idea of
beliefs, love, acceptance, inner human peace. There is an aspect of people
treating people in mean heartless ways just because they have in a sense been
branded (yes by physical branding in this situation) in public opinion and
public bullying just because someone is different or other beliefs and gossip
have wrongfully convicted that person without true merit.
The book is a solid read. An inspiring book with Christian
beliefs and the true aspects of love, compassion, caring.
Would I Recommend: Absolutely. This is a wonderful book of
emotional storytelling that gives and leaves a lasting reality upon the reader.
A great read of emotions.
Would I Return to Again? No, once was enough, but I will
continue to read this wonderful author and her amazing ability to capture
perfection in characters and storyline.
Final Four Words: Inspiring. Emotionally Charged.
Perfection.
My Rating: 4 out of 5