Book Review // Bread of Angels

Publisher's Description

Purple. The foundation of an influential trade in a Roman world dominated by men. One woman rises up to take the reins of success in an incredible journey of courage, grit, and friendship. And along the way, she changes the world.

But before she was Lydia, the seller of purple, she was simply a merchant’s daughter who loved three things: her father, her ancestral home, and making dye. Then unbearable betrayal robs her of nearly everything.

With only her father’s secret formulas left, Lydia flees to Philippi and struggles to establish her business on her own. Determination and serendipitous acquaintances—along with her father’s precious dye—help her become one of the city’s preeminent merchants. But fear lingers in every shadow, until Lydia meets the apostle Paul and hears his message of hope, becoming his first European convert. Still, Lydia can’t outrun her secrets forever, and when past and present collide, she must either stand firm and trust in her fledgling faith or succumb to the fear that has ruled her life.

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

When I saw that I was able to get another book from Tessa Afshar, I was all over it.  Since I adored her book, Land of Silence, I had somewhat of high expectations for this book.

Characters

I really liked Lydia.  She wasn't one of those "annoying" gals I often end up with.  She struggles with fear, which I thought was very interesting to read about.  How she transforms into the person God intended her to be was well done. 

I loved Rebekah.  She is Lydia's best friend who is Jewish.  She is sweet, kind, and loves Lydia like her own sister (Lydia feels the same toward her).  She shares her faith in her God with Lydia and is very knowledgeable.  The friendship between these two young women is lovely.  They both have things in their pasts that they both had to deal with.  Even though they have God, they feel they are missing something.

Paul, Silas, Luke and the gang are also great to read about.  Paul shares Jesus with them, the One who they are missing.  Paul is like a spiritual father to them.  There is also Marcus, I liked him as well.  His quite, protective demeanor is attractive.  I also loved that Tessa gave cameos to some of the characters from Land of Silence.

And of course, there are always bad guys.  And of course, they are nasty to the core.  That's all I'm going to say about them.

Story

For me, the story was a semi slow pace.  I mean, there were always things going wrong, but it just wasn't the upbeat tempo that's my favorite.  The story itself was good.  In a nutshell, it's about giving all your hurt and fear to God. To trust Him each day for your needs.  He guides you in everything, nothing is by mistake.  He can take the bad and turn it good.

Overall

It was good book.  It wasn't as good as Land of Silence, but it was still well done.  One other note, I loved the relationship of Lydia and her father.  I thought it was really sweet.  Again, really nicely done.  I enjoyed it.

4 out of 5 stars

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