Three Hearts Desire to be Free

Once again I have decided to read an Inspirational Romance novel. To be perfectly honest, I have read this one before and really fell in love with it. So I wanted to write a book review for it, but I decided to reread it because it had been over a year since I read it. Well here is one of my favorite books.

Title: Brides of the Empire

Author: Darlene Mindrup

Mass Market Paperback: 359 pages

Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.

Genre: Christian Romance/ Fiction

Rating: 5 out of 5

Brides of the Empire takes place during the time of the Roman Empire, when being Christian was worse then being Jewish. There are 3 stories in this book, they are all separate from the other. The first one is called The Eagle and the Lamb, the next one is Edge of Destiny (definitely a romance book title right there) and finally My Enemy, My Love (even a better romance title).

The Eagle and the Lamb

An hunting accident causes the paths of a Jewish girl, Sara and the wealthy tribune, Antonius to cross. Through fate Antonius helps Sara's family out of a terrible situation but at a price. Sara becomes a slave to his sister Diana. Over time as they are in the same household they learn more about the other. Sara with her forthright attitude and not afraid of hiding who she is and what she believes astonishes and inspires Antonius. Diana, Antonius, and there friends undergo a change within themselves for the better.

Edge of Desinty

Decimus, the boy that fell in love with Sara is now a man and on his own. One day he sees a bunch of slaves being sold and one caught his eye. The reason, all the others were staring at her and he was feeling concerned and afraid for her; knowing how men though. Chara is the woman that he bought so that she could be saved. Unfortunately things got worse for the Christians in Rome and Chara just fell into the middle of the mess with Decimus being one. There are two obstacles (1) Can Chara trust Decimus? and (2) Will Decimus get over Sara?

My Enemy, My Love

In a world where Christians are hated more then Jews and hated by both Jews and Romans, it definitely is an obstacle for Anna and with being a Samaritan, it does not make things any easier. . She crosses paths one day with a Jewish man, Barak, who strongly hates and distrusts Christians and Samaritans. He saves her from being run down by a chariot and soon after they keep running into each other. He discovers soon that Anna's bethrothed to an Arab businessman will cause her to become in great danger and Barak is the only one that is able to help her and is the only one that she could trust. The Enemy of my enemy, is my friend. Along the way they both get to know each other better, and change how people so different can really have so much in common. So is the enemy of my enemy, is my friend and my love?

Marie Antoinette's Hidden Life

So I have just finished another book!!! Yah go me!

Ok now here is the info about it

Title: The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel
Author: Carolly Erickson

Mass Market Paperback: 341 pages (plus 14-16 pages for reading group questions)

Publisher: St. Matrin's Griffins, New York

Genere: Fiction/Historical Fiction

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

For all of those that love the French Revolution Era, Marie Antoinette, or just French History in general. This is a great book.

Carolly Erickson, author of 20 biographies writes the historical fiction The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel. It is, of course, writen like a diary. The story line is that this Diary was left behind in her prision cell as she was going to her death. The reason she wanted people to know her side of the story. This book shows Antoinette in a light that for some of us, history has not shown. We will learn to see her as a young girl that had to leave her culture, country, and family behind and go off to France to get married to a man she never met. Upon her arrival she is met with disdain, distrust, and confusion. She doesn't know who to trust and has to learn of all the customs, while at the same time looked down upon because of her heritage. Despite all of this she stays strong and learns her way. Dealing with a timid husband and a failing kingdom, we see the strength of Marie Antoinette being displayed in this historical fiction.

It has a prolgue and chapters, which was one of the few reasons why the rating was lower. I think that having the chapters in there was a little off, seeing how this was said that this would be in diary form. It can help space out the Diary entires and mark a change in the topic and what is going on, but if she had kept it in just in the diary form, I think it would have been better. The reason why it would have been better is because I want to be lost in the book and be able to use my imagination and imagine that this is literally a diary taken from the prison cell where Marie Antionette spent her last days. I know it isn't but I want to be able to get lost in the book for a while.

Althought there have been debates over the book by Marie Antionette fans about some of the characters that don't exist and some of the events that didn't take place. Please remember that this is historical fiction, this is not an accurate telliong of it. It's not a non fiction book, it is fiction.

Overall this book gets 4 out of 5 stars. It was creativly done, written well, and very enjoyable. Defintly a book for those that love historical fiction.