A Light On The Hill
by Connilyn Cossette
Find it on:
Third Person • Fiction • 336 Pages
Back Cover Blurb:
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.
Why I Choose This Book:
Folks. Miss Connilyn’s writing is amazing. Goodness, y’all. Her Biblical fiction has drawn me in from the very first page every single time. When her last trilogy ended I was really sad because I REALLY wanted there to be a fourth book that featured one of the characters from the third book in the trilogy. Therefore, when I saw she had another series going, I jumped at the chance to be one of the earlier reviewers. I decided to go into the book totally blind – not even allowing myself to read the back cover before diving in. (And when you see the blurb floating around on the internet it’s hard to resist!)
You can watch me unboxing the book here.
What I Thought:
I may or may not have squealed and grabbed the arm of the person next to me out of pure joy when I read the first paragraph and realized that ALOTH (A Light on the Hill) featured the exact character I wanted. Moriyah was just a girl of 13 in the last book of Miss Connilyn’s, but now she’s all grown up and a far cry from the confident person I remember from her youth.
The writing is beautiful – the descriptions whisked me away into the Promise Land and plopped me there with such force I didn’t want to leave. I’ve traveled a lot in life, but this book makes me want to travel even more. Reading about walking through the vineyards was the next best thing to actually doing it, but now that I’ve read the book, I want to go and experience it for myself. The details of all the Middle Eastern food were so delightful and made me so hungry for it that I made my family stuffed grape leaves, lentil soup, and za’atar bread for supper one night. It was delicious and made Moriyah’s world come alive so much more to me.
As far as the storyline itself goes, I enjoyed it. There were twists and turns and things I hadn’t expected. (Going into the book blind really helped with that.) Previously I’d read there were some pretty great plot twists in the book, but when I asked a friend of mine who was reading the book, she just kinda shrugged the question off. Therefore, when I got to the major plot twist, I was mind-blown. As in, I went and found people who I knew wouldn’t be reading the book and sat down and told them all about it because I had to share it with someone. It was amazing and unexpected, and at first, I couldn’t hardly imagine it had actually really happened.
For some reason, I enjoyed the first half of the book a lot more than the second. I’m not sure why that is, except there was a little more romance in the second half, and sometimes that annoys me slightly. (In all books – not just this one.) The first half of the book was a five-star read, which for me is VERY unusual, and the second half mellowed the book down to four stars. I have a feeling though that most people would enjoy the second half just as much as the first.
Now I can’t hardly wait for the next book in the series. Miss Connilyn’s books always make the Bible feel more alive to me, and this book was no exception. Her research is fantastic and makes me want to do researching of my own. Her details are superb and craft style remarkable.
Conclusion:
Y’all, I have a feeling I should probably end this review before I write an entire book myself. Overall it was a clean book. At the same time though, there are mentions of the various Canaanite cities that were still around during the book of Joshua and the immorality that went on in them, temple prostitutes (never going into detail), and a small amount of violence. There’s also a fair amount of time when an unmarried man and woman travel alone together – it’s out of necessity and nothing happens, but I do wish that wasn’t as common of an element in books like this…
Stay tuned, y’all, for an author interview coming up later on this month!
Rating:
I’m giving The Light On the Hill 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who has ever read Biblical fiction – or if you haven’t read it and have thought about giving it a try.
*The author gave me a book so I could review it, but I would have found or bought a copy somewhere if she hadn’t 😉
*All of the picture quotes I got off of Miss Connilyn’s Facebook page.
Noveltea 
4 thoughts on “One of My Most Anticipated Reads of the Year – A Light on the Hill {Book Review and Happiness}”