Return to Me

Return to Me, Restoration Chronicles Series #1


Return to Me
Lynn Austin
Bethany House

The strength of this book was probably the fact that you can tell that the author has been to the Holy Land; many of her descriptions were very detailed about Israel and its culture. Though I’d need to re-read the books of Zechariah, Haggai, and Ezra before saying whether or not it was accurate to the Biblical accounts, nothing stood out as being grossly inaccurate. (And the Bible references used in this story are located in the back of the book, so you can easily look them up)

I really wanted to like Iddo, but I just couldn’t. He just seemed really pushy to me, and I know it sounds terrible because nothing is more important than the Lord, but many times he seemed more concerned with building the temple than with his family. I did like Zechariah, but all of the characters annoyed me at one time or another. Sometimes I wanted to shake Yael and *SPOILER* when she finally gave up her sorcery and turned to the Lord, it seemed as if her entire personality changed like that*END OF SPOILER* I also didn’t care for that near the latter half of the book, several years were skipped. It didn’t bother me when it went from when Zechariah was a boy to when he was an adult, but after that when it skipped I felt a little disappointed.

I know I’ve complained a lot up, there, but really the book wasn’t that bad. Judging for the book description, I didn’t think Return to Me would interest me much, but I was wrong- though it’s a very long book, it kept me interested the entire time. Also, I’ve always been fond of Lynn Austin’s writing style, even when I haven’t particularly cared for her storylines. Return to Me isn’t one of my favorites by the author, but I’m sure I’ll still read the other books in this series.

Objectionable content: one character is involved in sorcery, and she mentions false gods and astrology often; several “thematic elements,” such childbirth, child sacrifice, and some of the Torah’s laws about sexual immorality are mentioned. A book for 16+

Rating: 7 ½



I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Comments

  1. Lynn Austin is my favorite author, so perhaps I will read this book. I've read eight of her books and more or less loved every one, although I was very disappointed with All Things New.
    You are probably sick to death of my questions about book review programs, but I'm afraid I have one more! (Hopefully this will be the last one- I don't want you to think I'm taking advantage of your experience!) I signed up for the Bethany House blogger review program last month, and so far I've heard nothing back from them besides a confirmation. I thought I would recieve an email on the first of the month or something like that about what books are available for review, but I didn't. I really don't want to miss possibly being able to review a few certain books, so if you have any advice, I would be extremely obliged!

    ~Emma

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  2. Emma: don't worry: when I started with them, I was confused in exactly the same way! However, they only send one email out a month-and it's always very random, never on the same day or anything- with a list of available books, and the sent out one for October already (they sent that one late in September, so that's probably why you didn't receive it), so either later this month or early next they'll send out their November newsletter. I love Bethany House's books, but their review program can be a little confusing.

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