Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Redeeming Love

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

33 reviews

passionatereader78's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book covers some tough topics, but is beautifully written. Get your tissues ready.

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mrs_faith_owens's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Redeeming Love is a beautiful story mirroring the story of Hosea from the Bible. While it is very dark and deals with several sexual themes, it is less explicit than most romance written today. Two of the themes that I think were handled very well in this book are religious bigotry and the idea that one’s Savior must be God and not another person. Instead of siding with the judgmental churchgoers, this book focuses on the redemptive power of God. When Angel begins to see Michael as her savior, God pulls her away to find Him. All that being said, this is a fantastic book, but take the content warnings seriously.

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rhythmofryn's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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ashdawn's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was such a hard and dark book, it made me cry and I am not okay. But it was SOOOOOO GOOD.

Done through a very solid understanding/retelling of the book of Hosea, it deals with a lot of hard topics and trauma, and redemption and healing. It was so beautiful, and spoke to my heart. I honestly can't believe it took me this long to read it after having it be recommended by a friend years ago.

That being said, though I wouldn't say there are graphic details, there is a lot of mentions of very adult themes like sex trafficking.

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harmshoney's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

ohh my.. I have so many words & yet none at all. I am completely & utterly wrecked, changed, & overwhelmed. this is the most beautiful, encompassing, lovely book I have ever read. I am so grateful I can't even begin to explain 🖤

this book is about a woman named Sarah, sold into prostitution at 8 years old. she grew up embracing this life, becoming the most sought after in the industry & called Angel. until Michael.. Michael Hosea saw her & heard God tell him that Angel was going to be his wife. he didn't understand, but he obeyed.

the rest of the story is full of heartbreak & so, so much love. Michael is slowly breaking down Angel's walls with his relentless pursuit & his mighty love. being an example of Christ & his compassion, patience, forgiveness, kindness, gentleness, & more. Angel discovers her healing can only come from one place.. the Father Michael worships.

this story just wrecked me. I really don't even know how else to describe it. it inspired me to pursue the Lord & to pray for my husband. it inspired me to love people & that God's opinion is the only one that matters. it pierced me down to my very core in such an aggressive, beautiful way. I'll never be the same. dramatic? yeah. true? also yeah.

when I finished, I watched several interviews with the author, Francine Rivers 🖤 basically, she's become my biggest inspiration. her testimony is beautiful & she seems to just radiate the Holy Spirit & peace that surpasses all understanding. I wish I could sit with her & let her pour into me. Redeeming Love has also become a tool to help women out of human trafficking. she's spoken at events & donates to this cause with the proceeds.

she's had many women come to her & say, "I want a man like Michael Hosea!!" & she says, "Jesus is the man!!" 🥹 this changed my perspective of the book & I am just so incredibly inspired & grateful. Michael is meant to be an allegory for Christ, & Angel is a reflection of all of us in our own ways.

I'm not exactly sure why - but it seems many people have some misconceptions about this book. Michael is nothing but gentle & loving towards Angel. some seem to think there are moments when he is being abusive, but I didn't see that at all!!

One of my favorite parts of this story, was how Francine covered intimacy so delicately. she was able to explain the intimate scenes in the most beautiful, appropriate way. there was nothing raunchy about it! Truly, it opened my eyes more to how much of a gift sex is within marriage. I'm so grateful she included it in this story!!

I want to reread this book over & over & yet never see it again 😆 it's just so much & I'm feeling so deeply. Redeeming Love is the most powerful work of fiction I have ever read. I am beyond grateful that Francine wrote it. I finished with a hunger to dive into the Word & know my Savior. thank you, Lord, for your redeeming love!! 🙌🏼✨

"𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅, 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓?"

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amhall11's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kierasreadingjournal's review against another edition

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challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

“She destroyed his dreams, and he made her wind chimes.”

I’m going to be completely honest here; I have no idea what to think of this book. I always claim I learn something with every book I read… I look between the lines and see the personal lessons that apply to me as a reader. And while I definitely did learn things with this book, I can’t help but think it could have been so much better executed.

I finished this book in six days. It’s almost 500 pages long.

And while this sounds like it would be a positive, I think the majority of that time was spent searching for and trying to understand the deeper meaning that the author obviously intended.

This story is inspired by the story of Hosea – a story where a God-fearing prophet is told to marry a prostitute who continuously attempts to return to her old ways. It’s designed as an allegory of the relationship between God and His people. (I actually binge-read the whole story last night in an attempt to find any similarities I missed). As such, Hosea is intended to be a representation of God and His love in the story as, I initially assumed, Michal Hosea was to be in Redeeming Love.

And while many people, according to reviews, were able to see God’s love shining out through Michael’s character, I couldn’t see much more than a walking red flag until almost halfway through the book.

And while that may have just been my own fault – my own expectations crumbling around me – that caused that section of the book to be unrelatable and frustrating (and not a few times to think that if I wasn’t already a Christian reading this book, I would want nothing to do with Christianity altogether if it was represented as it was in this story), it still stands to reason that others, knowing the inspiration behind this story, would have gone in with those same expectations.

Surprisingly, even after all that’s said and done, this was the book I was needing at the time.

It came at a perfect season in my life, and while yes, it is full of some less-than-agreeable content and ideology, it still made a positive impact on me and my personal journey.

If only for the quote above and the first time she said his name…

“Michael.”

Content Warnings