Pearl in the Sand: A Novel by Tessa Afshar

It has been a while since a book so grabbed my attention like this one has.  It has instantly become one of my favorite book club reads, right up there with The Red Tent, The Samurai's Garden and a few others.

The character of Rahab was written so well that it is easy to see how she rose above her circumstances to make a difference in the lives of others.

Forced into a life she did not choose by parents who felt they had no other option other than to sell her, she chooses her own terms and makes a life for herself.

Over the course of years, she builds a successful career and has an inn type house.  She then follows her heart, finds God and has a chance to start fresh.

I LOVE this book!!!  I plan to read another Tessa Afshar book very soon.

(Sorry this one is short - I read it, and LOVED it, then read a few more books and need to go back and re-read this one...)

Pearl in the Sand: A Novel
by Tessa Afshar
Publisher: Moody Publishers; New Edition edition (August 24, 2010)  ~ 321 pages Fiction / Historical / Biblical / Women in the Bible

Edition Reviewed: Kindle eBook - I purchased my copy of the Kindle eBook as it is our current book club book.

About the Book: from the author's website

Can a Canaanite harlot who has made her livelihood by looking desirable to men make a fitting wife for one of the leaders of Israel? Shockingly, the Bible's answer is yes.

Pearl in the Sand tells Rahab's untold story. Rahab lives in a wall; her house is built into the defensive walls of the City of Jericho. Other walls surround her as well--walls of fear, rejection, and unworthiness.

A woman with a wrecked past; a man of success, of faith...of pride. A marriage only God would conceive! Through the heartaches of a stormy relationship, Rahab and Salmone learn the true source of one another's worth and find healing in God.

** Disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate. I get a very small amount for any purchases made when you click through a link from Wendi's Book Corner, which I then save up to buy more books. :)

Teaser Tuesday: Pompeii: City of Fire by T.L. Higley

TEASER TUESDAYS :
hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading ~

He reached out with the knife, jabbed it close to her ear, and watched as she yelped and squeezed her eyes shut. With a flick of his wrist, he sliced a lock of her dark hair from her head and let it fall to the atrium floor.

~ page 140 “Pompeii: City on Fire ARC" by T. L. Higley

** Note: This Teaser is taken from an Advance Reader Copy and may be slightly different from the final version.

About the Book (from Amazon):

Pompeii, a city that's many things to many people. For Cato, it's the perfect escape from a failed political career in Rome. A place to start again, become a winemaker. But when a corrupt politician wrongfully jails Cato's sister, he must oust the man from power to save her.

For Ariella, Pompeii is a means to an end. As a young Jew, she escaped the fall of Jerusalem only to endure slavery to a cruel Roman general. She ends up in Pompeii, disguised as a young man and sold into a gladiator troupe. Her anger fuels her to fight well, hoping to win the arena crowds and reveal her gender at the perfect time. Perhaps then she will win true freedom.

But evil creeps through the streets of Pompeii. Political corruption, religious persecution, and family peril threaten to destroy Ariella and Cato, who are thrown together in the battle to survive. As Vesuvius churns with deadly intent, the two must bridge their differences to save the lives of those they love, before the fiery ash buries Pompeii, leaving the city lost to the world.

:) I always look forward to reading everyone's teasers! ~ Wendi

*Disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate. I get a very small amount for any purchases made when you click through a link from Wendi's Book Corner, which I then save up and use to buy more books! :)

Teaser Tuesday: The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner

TEASER TUESDAYS :
hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading ~

I paused, my fingers tightening about my book. "You speak of heretics." A ripple of disquiet went through me. I had not expected our conversation to take such a turn. Until now, the most controversial subject I'd faced was my husband's attachment to his mistress, and I suddenly felt as though I'd dwelled in perfumed oblivion to the dark currents running beneath my feet.

~ page 60 “The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner

About the Book (from Amazon):

The truth is, not one of us is innocent. We all have sins to confess. So reveals Catherine de Medici, the last legitimate descendant of her family’s illustrious line. Expelled from her native Florence, Catherine is betrothed to Henri, son of François I of France. In an unfamiliar realm, Catherine strives to create a role for herself through her patronage of the famous clairvoyant Nostradamus and her own innate gift as a seer. But in her fortieth year, Catherine is widowed, left alone with six young children in a kingdom torn apart by the ambitions of a treacherous nobility. Relying on her tenacity, wit, and uncanny gift for compromise, Catherine seizes power, intent on securing the throne for her sons, unaware that if she is to save France, she may have to sacrifice her ideals, her reputation, and the secret of her embattled heart.

This one is up next on my reading pile, and I can't wait to get into it. :) I always look forward to reading everyone's teasers! ~ Wendi

*Disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate. I get a very small amount for any purchases made when you click through a link from Wendi's Book Corner, which I then save up and use to buy more books! :)