I like this purple cover, it's like a gentle covering of God's love and strength over the pregnant woman. I would give this beautifully written journey through pain and grief and generational trauma five stars, except I am a little cautious about who I would lend it to.
First and foremost, this book is pro life. It is also about the love of God in all circumstances. It is also about judgement and hypocrisy and the need for more compassion in the church.
I love this book and will reread it to remind myself of God's love and my need to demonstrate it to others.

Tough topic: a young college student is raped and has to decide if she is going to have the baby, or not.
She gets pressure from all sides but she decides to listen to God instead.

The reason for only three stars is that I found the book to be repetitive. Although I’m sure that when/if this happens to someone in real life, that person must have repetitive, compulsive thoughts about how to handle their situation, but that doesn’t make for interesting reading...at least to me it didn’t. I ended up skimming quite a bit.
I loved the happy ending and Ms Rivers’ closing comments at the end of the book. Heartfelt and made me cry.

4.5 *SO GOOD* but *SO INTENSE* very well written, and an incredible story. Francine Rivers never fails to blow me away.

The first half of the book was better than the second half. It became very 'preachy' and I can see a lot of people struggling with the lack of subtlety. The characters were pretty one dimensional (apart from Joe) and the main character was rather too saintly to be realistic!

3.5 stars

mixed thoughts and feelings about this book tbh. it wasn't the author's best book, that's for sure
the random storylines about the minor characters and the constant POV switching weren't helpful but wasn't the worst thing in the world. Also, why did EVERY single character in this book have some kind of seriously messed up problem or trauma?? man idk

The ending was quite cute

The atonement child
She was raped but the baby that now grows in her, he is innocent so what to do next?

I found this book very disappointing, after a good start.

Lovely book ....you will love this book, i'm sure :) .

Woah... I severely underestimated this book, it had taken me so long to read it because the chapters were extremely long and I rarely ever choose to stop in the middle of a chapter so I had put it down for few weeks because I knew I wouldn't give myself time to finish a chapter. The long chapters and me not willing to take the time and finish a chapter was why this book slowly disintegrated what I call my reading spree which it just what I call reading many books in a short period of time (a binge, I guess). When I started this book I was a bit skeptical, I certainly understood what was going on, it just (at first) didnt intrigue me as I wished, and I do understand I must broaden my horizens... But then I picked it up again... and I finished the rest of it in one sitting (kind of, I had to eat

This is a very hard book to read even for a believer. Well I should say it was hard for me personally to read this book with choices I have made in my own life. This book will have you angry, in tears and ashamed all at the same time. The story is redeeming in the end and of course it all works out as God has intended but you learn a lot about yourself, other believers and faith along the way. This book put a lot of focus on generational sin and how one grandmother's choice has tainted all the women in her line. I believe this to be for many famillies still today. I see it in my own family and seeing the courage Dynah has to overcome it, stop the cycle and begin again is overwhelming for such a young women.

Christian fiction, fiction

TW: rape (not in great detail, but main part of the plot), abortion (fairly detailed descriptions, main part of plot)

I had read this book a long time ago, but recently picked up a copy and decided to read it again. It's the story of redemption: a mother and daughter suffering silently because of their choices to abort, and their granddaughter/daughter, pregnant through rape and being told to abort. It's the story of pro-life Christians who decide that rape - conceived babies don't deserve life. And it's the story of Dynah, trying to listen for God's desire in the midst of the noise.

I love this story for two main reasons: first, Dynah isn't this perfect Christian girl who immediately forgives & forgets & knows exactly what God wants. She struggles. Second, this story shows both sides of abortion. The grandma and mother both had an abortion because everyone told them they had to, and everyone told them they would be fine. They were not. When Dynah chose not to abort, life wasn't suddenly perfect. It was a hard journey.

Anyhow, I picked it up, read about half the book one evening, and couldn't put it down the next morning until I finished it. That's usually a good sign.

It has a good message. There is a gentle approach to a sensitive topic. Healing is offered and sin is not excused.

I thought there were several flaws though.

1. The part where the pastor seems to conclude that all Christian counselling is off track and so he will no longer refer women in his church to professional help

2. The main character. She is like a perfect Angel who can do no sin. Like how would the trope of the story have changed had she slipped and been involved in fornication with her boyfriend instead of pregnant by rape? The whole story is set on it not being her fault that she’s pregnant. Even in her time of questioning she does not seem believable.

3. The writing itself is frustrating. I wondered how the story would be if we were spared the thousand details of clothing, ways someone puts a cup down, what flowers are along a path etc.

But enough complaining. The themes are there and dealt with clearly and even though there appears to be perfect resolution at least there is resolution and we aren’t left hanging at the end of the story

Characters:
Ethan - proud and bigoted don’t like him but he’s set up to be doomed
Joe - wild and redeemed he’s likeable but also highly predictable and a little over bearing
Janet - is a good friend and then disappeared
Hannah - plagued by worry and guilt she seems relatable and yet I felt like shaking her
Doug - didn’t like him
Evie - warm and perfect but with a baggage filled past
Evie’s friends - lovely
Jim and Cynthia - why are they connected? Could they have been involved without a past family connection?
Dynah - beautiful perfect angelic only problem is that she struggles to decide whether or not to abort her unborn child all her other problems are external

All other characters in the book are in very secondary roles however oddly enough they all seem highly and even excessively developed…

Three stars because I like the story but not the writing