Book Review: Courageous

Publisher's Description

Valiant Hearts: Where Adventure and Romance Meet
Inspired by the vision of the Young Lady Sapphira, Rosalind of Ipsworth joins a group of men, women, and children as a defender of the cross, seeking to free captives from prisons near Tripoli. She gladly gives herself to the cause, as she's haunted by a tragic mistake and no longer deserves such joys as marriage and family might bring.

Sir Randel Penigree was reared to serve in the church, but dreams of protecting the innocent as a knight. Joining a crusade to escape humiliation at home, he finds himself drawn to Rosalind as they partner to train and protect a group of young adolescents. When they face political machinations, danger, and an unknown enemy bent on their destruction, they are forced to reconsider their priorities and the very nature of the God they serve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First off, I had no idea that this was a third book in a series.  With that said, it had quite a few characters and some references to the first two books.  Which I have yet to read.  Normally in series books I really like when they have characters to the previous books in it and so forth.  But when you are not in the loop it's not as much fun, in my opinion.  But I will say it makes me want to read the first two books to find out what happened.

Characters:

Rosalind and Randel are the main characters.  They both suffer from things they did in their past that they cannot forgive themselves for.  They are quite the pair.  They tell each other about God's forgiveness and yet have a hard time excepting it themselves.  I think Randel is more complex than Rosalind.  For the fact that he suffers from nightmares from battle. 

They were both fine characters, but I cannot say that I fell in love with them.  I did however, really like Lady Sapphira.  She seeks God and finds Him.  She listens to that still small voice in her heart of God speaking to her and she heeds it.  Even though she is only thirteen.  She goes after God with all of her heart and even though sometimes she doubts as all humans do, she remains ever faithful to Him.  I really liked her, a lot.  She is always praying and seeking His guidance.  I love that.

She even befriends a Muslim girl named, Rabia and shares the love of Christ by simply being there for her and loving her.  

Writing:

I thought the writing was good.  A bit slow in the begging, but eventually it picked up.  I love the part when Sapphira and the other children pray over Rosalind and Randel.  Very powerful and descriptive.

I like how she added in something from the Bible.  A certain story, a certain miracle that happened in this book as well.  I like how different all of the characters were.  They each have their own nick.

Overall:

This story doesn't just show courage, but also God's unfailing love and redemption.  It shows how one young girl hears His voice and follows it.  How one young man and women filled with so much pain and regret can be restored whole in His unfailing love. 

I wasn't too sure how I was going to like this book.  But I think it was well done.  I love how much Jesus and God there was in it.  A lot of Christian Romance kind of books don't always have that.  So that was very nice to read.  God always has a plan for our lives if we just be quite and listen to His still small voice.  He will show you what to do.

Rating: 4 out of 5

*I received this book from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review.