Debra DiazBesprekingen

This was a decent story and lovely to find a way to have a young teen as the story-teller. It was too slow and most of the characters could be more defined, but I liked it.

Felt deceived by description. I might not have downloaded the book if the description was accurate.

This triplet of stories is set in the first century AD in the sphere of the Roman occupation of Judea. Most of the action takes place in and around Jerusalem and in Rome. The story starts with a Roman military official buying a feisty young Greek girl as a slave. Woven into their story is the life of Jesus, not making him a central part of the story, but on his influence as the promised Messiah and the birth of the New Testament Christian church.
Key historical figures are Emperors Tiberius (mad and dangerous) and Claudius (compassionate and wise), Pilate, Herod, Jesus, and Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. These people really provide a great framework for and enjoyable love story; actually a number of love stories. However, it's not a sloppy romance and (without giving too much away), not everything ends sweetly. Setting aside the romance (if that is not what you are after), there is plenty to learn about the life of an early Christian, and about daily life in Judea and other places of the Roman Empire.
There are some weaknesses though. Theological it's a bit vague, and in some places incorrect. The first part of the second book seems to lack direction. The author often takes a fair bit of time setting up up scenarios, and this interface to the real story appears forced and awkward. There is an overuse (and incorrect) use of ellipses (...)
This book is, I understand, only available as an ebook; the formatting on a kindle app was fine although there were a few minor errors.½

This is not my typical book to read but I was intrigued by the description. I have to admit I was expecting this to be a romance novel and started it out with that opinion. But as I got deeper and deeper into the book I realized this is a book that mixes religion and death. If you are looking for a true grit love story with loss, sex and death do not try. But if you want to look at the death of Jesus in another life then pick it up and give it a chance. Do not let the title or book cover fool you, you will understand both more after reading the book.

This is an intriguing story about the birth of Christianity among the Gentiles, particularly in the city of Rome. It’s a sequel to Diaz’s first book, Woman of Sin, though I don't believe it's necessary to read book one in order to enjoy book two.

Paulus and Alysia, with their daughter, Rachel, hide from the Roman authorities while spreading the message of Jesus in Christianity’s underground movement. However, the time comes when they must all three take a stand for their beliefs. The plot is engaging, and the tension builds as they choose to leave things in the hands of God, though it's never a question of God's power, but of His will. Will God rescue them, or will He stand idly by and let them succumb to Roman torture and cruel death?

I love Diaz’s chosen historical era! Little scholarly emphasis has gone into studying Christians of this period, the 30's and 40's of the first century, and precious little is known about how Christianity took hold. Paul's letters give us our best hints. So Diaz clings pretty tightly to the Pauline picture of church-planting as she recreates the atmosphere of early Mediterranean beliefs. For example, the characters battle against spirits and bodily possession. (The main character, Paulus, manages to exorcize a demon from a man, though his wife, Alysia, fails in her attempt to perform the same miracle on the Emperor, Caligula.)

There is an exception, however, to its authenticity. Diaz portrays the Christianity of the early first century very much like today's Christian teachings. This is my one disappointment with the story; its lack of authenticity in this area stands out since the spread of Christianity is the focus of the story. I'll give an example:

In one scene, Paulus, the main character, meets a friend's father on his deathbed and tries to convert him. "When your soul leaves your body it will go to one of two places. To be forever with God, or to be forever separated from him in a place of torment, reserved for those who refuse to accept his son as savior, the one who paid for their sins." The fellow dies, and we never again meet Paulus' friend. So why include the scene? If it’s meant to add historicity, a more interesting and authentic choice of theology would be the apostle Paul's teaching that the sinful die forever (annihilationism) or the Greek teaching of soul punishment for the extremely evil (which this man was not) or the Jewish belief in a physical, bodily resurrection for God's chosen nation (such as that described in the book of Revelation). All of these theologies would be more believable for the time period of the story, and in my opinion more interesting. Diaz's choice to use contemporary beliefs made me feel a little like I was being preached at.

Then I reached the climax. Excellent!! Exciting, authentic, appropriate, thought-provoking, mildly disturbing, all my complaints dissolved in twenty pages as Diaz came through with the perfect ending. Christianity is born!

A while back, I was needing a break from nonfiction, and decided to ask some publishers for fiction to review. I found Borg's book, Helms' book, Deeth's book, Witherington’s book (not yet reviewed) … and this one, with the steamy title. Woman of Sin … (cough). Romance? Really?? That would be a first for me! I was assured it had a Christian theme, but I remained unconvinced, and resigned myself to hiding the book under the couch. Now, having read it, I understand the title and find it hilariously appropriate. Great stuff, Diaz!

The story takes place in the years just before and after the crucifixion of Jesus, so the setting is naturally appealing to me. I think it’s only fair to point out that the book does have a religious flavor. By book’s end, the characters undergo a conversion to Christianity. I hope you don’t take this as a spoiler; it needs to be said. This shift of focus will be off-putting to some, but will increase the reading enjoyment of others.

Precisely because of the religious nature of the book, it invites a more rigorous criticism, more than just “great read, well researched, buy it now.” It is a great book, and Diaz is a very good fiction writer. She has eloquently captured the life and politics of first-century Jerusalem and the Empire, and has spun a terrific story around one of the Bible’s most mysterious characters. But if Diaz had an evangelical purpose in writing, this may be the only five-star review she doesn’t appreciate; I found the most “fictional” part of her book to be the assumptions she makes about early Christianity.

By her own concession, Diaz had as a goal to be “historically and Biblically accurate.” But when the two clashed, she clearly preferred “Biblical.” If her research into all things non-religious weren’t so precise, her portrayal of the origins of Christianity wouldn’t stick out.

One example will suffice: Immediately after the resurrection, the characters repeatedly refer to Jesus as God. Kudos for Biblical accuracy: In John’s Gospel, Thomas, upon feeling the nail prints of the risen Jesus, exclaims, “My Lord and my God!” But in truth, it was likely many years afterward before Jesus would first be considered God, as evidenced by the evolving understanding of God that surfaces when we read the New Testament in chronological order. (John’s Gospel was written 60 years or more after Jesus died.) It would be less jarring in a historical novel for Diaz to reflect the very earliest Christian beliefs, rather than the religion that grew later in Jesus’ name. Laying a current-day version of Christianity atop an early first-century story made me feel the book was trying to convert me.

Religious content aside, it remains a very entertaining work of fiction. I absolutely loved it and wholeheartedly recommend it! From now on, only pseudo-romance novels will grace my book review blog! :)

I wanted to like this book, but I was completely distracted by unlikable characters and a lack of cohesion to the story.

The story starts with Genny Romayne being annoyed with her family, and the demands they place on her. She sees herself as a commodity, and not a loved member of the family. So she does what anyone would do... runs away from home. With a great deal of unbelievable coincidences and a few well-placed lies, she becomes a nurse/receptionist/bookkeeper for a respected doctor. Although she has no training as a nurse, she quickly finds herself a part of the household. When the doctor, Ethan Carey, discovers the truth, they decide to run away and get married. It is not all wedded bliss, but rather than confront the problems, first Genny, and then Ethan decide running away is the best course of action... ending up in Memphis in the middle of the yellow fever epidemic.

Genny is an unlikeable character. She is selfish, lying and manipulating things to suit her fancy. At one point, the author goes into great detail about how Genny wishes to manipulate Ethan. Her solution to any problem is not to solve it, but rather to run away. She is childish, and doesn't grow up until the last fifty pages or so. At that point, it felt required rather than natural. Ethan himself isn't above avoiding things, and his love for Genny seems superficial. He struggles with dark demons of his past thanks to a faithless fiancee and his participation in the War of Northern Aggression.He doesn't grow and change as a character until the last handful of pages, and the change is rather inexplicable. At several points throughout the story I felt the desperate wish to shake some sense into the characters. No one had any depth.

The constant changes of setting were abrupt, and interrupted the flow of the story. There were parts that went right from "I'm going away" to "I've been here for a month and am on a first name basis with everyone". Time kept passing, and nothing happened. People weren't met, they were just suddenly best friends or beaus... there was a lot of telling what happened rather than have it happen. It was frustrating that there was so little to keep the story moving forward. The few attempts at suspense were lackluster and felt out of place.

As much as I wanted to enjoy this story, I found myself deeply disappointed in the writing.½

This is the story of three people....1. Alysia, daughter of a prominent Greek physician, who is captured and sold into slavery in Rome. 2. Paulus, the Roman legate who buys and falls in love with her, and 3. Jesus, his rise, fall, and Resurrection and how he changes both their lives.

I would describe this as Christian romance and Biblical historical fiction. While not my preferred genre of reading nor what I expected, I found this book well written and interesting. I believe the author made every effort to keep the historical background as accurate as possible. The ending is satisfactory but also leaves plenty of room for a second story of the lives of Alysia and Paulus.