A review by elysahenegar
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

5.0

This is a wonderful book---a must-read for anyone who wants to understand "love God's way" on a whole new level. Typically novels that are based on a scriptural narrative are not my favorite ones because, although I love the scripture, the plot line is spoiled for me from the beginning. And typically, human authors just can't do the scripture justice in the retelling of it. Redeeming Love is inspired by and an allegory to the book of Hosea, but since Hosea is largely prophecy and poetry, I found this novel to be a refreshing exploration of the text. Most of the characters are well-written, the landscape is extremely visual and compelling, and the plot even offers a few unexpected twists toward the end. Although this is a romance novel, a few friends in my book club said that their husbands had read it in an effort to model their love in marriage after God's love for us and found it extremely compelling as well. But the most compelling thing in this book by far is the way that God's love for us takes center stage as the number one protagonist and the power behind every step in the plot. I finished this book more in love than ever with the God who is the passion of my life.