AUTHOR: Jill Eileen Smith
PUBLISHER: Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group
DATE PUBLISHED: 2014
STARS: ****1/2
Can true love overcome a legacy of betrayal?
Rachel wants nothing more than for her older half sister Leah to wed and move out of their household. Leah wishes her father would find a good man who would love her alone. Unbeknownst to either of them, Jacob is making his way to their home, trying to escape a past laced with deceit and find the future God has promised him.
But the past comes back to haunt Jacob when he finds himself on the receiving end of treachery. The man who wanted only one woman ends up with sisters who have never gotten along and now must spend the rest of their lives sharing a husband. In the power struggles that follow, only one woman will triumph…or will she?
Combining meticulous research with her own imaginings, bestselling author Jill Eileen Smith not only tells one of the most famous love stories of all times but will manage to surprise even those who think they know the story inside and out.
The Bible story was a familiar one, but the details the author brings to this fictionalized tale brings it to vivid life. The dusty desert, the sounds of the sheep, goats, and camels, the pitch-black night sky – it is all portrayed skillfully. I imagined myself a nosy neighbour, peeking into these lives I’d thought I knew.
I appreciated the way Jill Eileen Smith wove Jacob’s past with his present trials. She also brought to life the rivalry between Rachel and Leah so well I found myself thinking about their tangled relationship even after the story was finished.
The only complaint I had was the ending. I had to make sure that really was the end; it didn’t feel as though it should be. Perhaps I was so engaged in the story that I didn’t want it to end. So while I’d thought this story earned five stars, in the end I give it four and a half.
I will recommend this book to my friends.