I was very hesitant about reading another Rivers' book. I didn't really enjoy the first one I read, and I'd heard a lot about her writing that I didn't think I would enjoy.
Knowing we have different beliefs, I approached this as a fiction work (as it's meant to be) and tried to set aside my beliefs (which is very difficult/impossible to do) and focus on the story Rivers told. I was impressed and impacted.
I know the story. I know how Hosea's tale goes. Yet I longed for something different. I begged Angel to stay and not leave him. But each time she did, and each time my heart broke a little more. That's one of the things I loved about this book: Rivers made me feel.
I started reading one Friday afternoon, thinking I would kill some time until an appointment and then maybe pick it up the next time I had extra minutes on my hand. I was so wrong. Right away, I was a part of the story. I was on Angel's team, cheering for her, crying for her, laughing with her. Rivers made her real. She was a real character with real emotions, real dialogue, real thoughts. It was easy to fall in love with a character who made you feel the things she was feeling.
Then, when Michael came in, I was hooked even more! He was perfect (of course, Rivers does a great job making him human too, showing us his flaws, his pain, and his sins-much more easier to love him too!)! He was everything I needed in a hero. He was bold when he needed to be, cautious when necessary, patient, loving, hardworking, and sinful. All things that we all are. And that was perfect.
Every roadblock that either Angel or Michael faced had me gripping the book so tightly. i wanted so badly a happy ending, and I was so disappointed in the end: for a while. Rivers kept me on edge the whole story, which was great, because going into the book I thought that I knew exactly what would happen. I'd studied Hosea pretty well. I'd done a report on the book and written a few papers on the topic, so I figured it would be fun to read a "modern" (rather, more modern than Hosea) re-telling of a familiar story. Wrong! Rivers sticks to the basics but adds so many twists that I was guessing the whole time.
Needless to say, I read this book in one evening because I couldn't stop. Wonderful book!
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