“Courageous” ~ Book Review

Aug 29, 2016 by Rachel

Welcome back to Rachel’s Back Talk! I’m so glad you could join me again. Today I am reviewing Dina Sleiman’s book, Courageous.

 

As is my custom, if I could ask Dina one question about Courageous it would be — “What made you want to write about the crusades?” And if you want to know why I asked that question, I guess you’ll just have to read the book to find out!

 

And without further ado, onto Rachel’s Back Talk!

                                                                   

From the Back Cover:

Inspired by the vision of the Young Lady Sapphira, Rosalind of Ipsworth joins a group of men, women, and children as a defender of the cross, seeking to free captives from prisons near Tripoli. She gladly gives herself to the cause, as she’s haunted by a tragic mistake and no longer deserves such joys as marriage and family might bring.

Sir Randel Penigree was reared to serve in the church, but dreams of protecting the innocent as a knight. Joining a crusade to escape humiliation at home, he finds himself drawn to Rosalind as they partner to train and protect a group of young adolescents. When they face political machinations, danger, and an unknown enemy bent on their destruction, they are forced to reconsider their priorities and the very nature of the God they serve.

 

Rachel’s Back Talk:

5 – award winning covers

            

Dina’s books always leave me satisfied and Courageous was no exception! The “Valiant Hearts” series is not one that I would’ve just picked up from the shelf, as it is not my typical genre to read. However, once I started with Dauntless, the first book in the series, I knew I had to see this series and these characters till the end. One of my favorite things about series is when books 2 and 3 continue to mention the main characters from the previous books.

I loved Rosalind and Randel! The two were just PERFECT for each other!! My favorite part of their relationship was how the started out purely as friends. It is wonderful to see a relationship develop between two friends rather than the typical “love at first sight” like in a lot of books.

Rosalind and Randel also went along a faith journey as well and it was realistic. One of the reasons they probably fell in love was that they were both going through issues of forgiveness. It was beautiful to see how Dina played it out so perfectly they way the two struggled to forgive themselves for what they had done and to see how God was doing something beautiful in their lives.

 

*I received this book from the author and Bethany House in exchange for an honest review which I have given*

 

Other books by Dina I will read next:

Dance from Deep Within

Austen in Austin, Volume 2

Dance of the Dandelion