It’s my 27th birthday! Since it’s my birthday, I’m glad that today’s book review is for a really good book, A Light on the Hill by Connilyn Cossette. A Light on the Hill is book one of a four book, Christian historical fiction series called Cities of Refuge. I’ll get into my thoughts after the synopsis. This review will be spoiler free.

Synopsis

Seven years ago, Moriyah was taken captive in Jericho and branded with the mark of the Canaanite gods. Now the Israelites are experiencing peace in their new land, but Moriyah has yet to find her own peace. Because of the shameful mark on her face, she hides behind her veil at all times and the disdain of the townspeople keeps her from socializing. And marriage prospects were out of the question . . . until now.

Her father has found someone to marry her, and she hopes to use her love of cooking to impress the man and his motherless sons. But when things go horribly wrong, Moriyah is forced to flee. Seeking safety at one of the newly-established Levitical cities of refuge, she is wildly unprepared for the dangers she will face, and the enemies–and unexpected allies–she will encounter on her way.

My Thoughts

As you may notice if you glance around my blog, historical fiction is my favorite genre and I really enjoy Christian historical fiction as well. I found A Light on the Hill randomly in a book store, thought it sounded interesting and decided to buy it. I am so glad that I did because Connilyn Cossette is SO good at writing Christian historical fiction, specifically Biblical Old Testament fiction. 

Our main character, Moriyah, is not someone from the Bible and I’m honestly glad that she is not. I personally believe that the people in the Bible did exist so when I read historical fiction about them, I hold that work to a higher standard of accuracy. There are people from the Bible in this story, such as Rahab and Joshua (Yehoshua), but they are only spoken about from Moriyah’s point of view and not main characters. The fall of Jericho and other Biblical events are also referenced. It is very apparent that Cossette really did her research and there were no inaccuracies that I could find. 

This story has a lot of adventure, romance and tense moments. Oftentimes, Christian romance can be very simple and “fluffy”, which I do enjoy but sometimes I want a story with more grit; this book has that. The romance isn’t straight forward and there are many twists and turns before the end. Along with the intriguing story, there is a fantastic cast of characters and all around good writing.

If you like historical fiction, even if you’re not a Christian, I recommend this book. I am really looking forward to reviewing the next two books in the series. The fourth book won’t be released until 2020 so I unfortunately, have a very long wait ahead of me. Cossette also has another series called Out from Egypt that I’m interested in as well so keep an eye out for reviews of it. I’d love to know if this book sounds like one you’d enjoy! Thanks for reading and have a great day!