"Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers

I read this book in December of 2015 and was debating whether or not to post a review. This was a definitely a book outside of my comfort zone. First of all, it is Christian fiction, a genre I normally do not read. However, I heard amazing things about this book and decided to give it a go. If you are familiar with the Bible, this book is a re-telling of the Book of Hosea. In it, God tells prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute and he does. She then ends up leaving him and going back to prostitution. However, he does not give up and brings her back.

In Redeeming Love we follow Angel, a high-priced prostitute who lives in a brothel in California during the gold rush. Angel had a horrific childhood. Her mother gave birth to her out of wedlock and was abandoned both by the father of the child and her parents. Unable to support herself and her young daughter, she resorts to prostitution and drinking, and finally dies when Angel is only 8 years old. Angel then endures years of child abuse in a New York brothel before she finally escapes at the age of 18 and boards a ship headed for California. However, once she arrives in San Francisco she goes back to prostitution to avoid starvation and violence.

Michael Hosea is a farmer who genuinely believes in God and prays daily. He's been praying to God to give him a wife and one day when he comes to town to sell produce to a local grocer, he sees Angel walking down the street. God tells him at that moment that this is his intended wife....

You'll have to read the book to find out the rest. The short and long of it is for Angel getting out of prostitution is not as simple as getting plucked out of a brothel. It is a long journey to self-forgiveness and finding her innate innocence and purity. Michael does not give up on her. Neither does God.

This book is heart-breaking and filled with hope at the same time. It is definitely not for everyone. But if you ever decide to venture into Christian fiction, I would highly recommend you check out this book.