Rachel (Wives of the Patriarchs, book 3), by Jill Eileen Smith

From the Publisher:

Beautiful Rachel wants nothing more than for her older half sister Leah to wed and move out of their household. Maybe then she would not feel so scrutinized, so managed, so judged. Plain Leah wishes her father Laban would find a good man for her, someone who would love her alone and make her his only bride. Unbeknownst to either of them, Jacob is making his way to their home, trying to escape a past laced with deceit and find the future God has promised him.

But the past comes back to haunt Jacob when he finds himself on the receiving end of treachery and the victim of a cruel bait and switch. The man who wanted only one woman will end up with sisters who have never gotten along and now must spend the rest of their lives sharing a husband. In the power struggles that follow, only one woman will triumph . . . or will she?

Combining meticulous research with her own imaginings, Jill Eileen Smith not only tells one of the most famous love stories of all time but will manage to surprise even those who think they know the story inside and out.

My Review:

This book surprised me by its length. I wouldn't have thought that there would be so much more to write about the story of Jacob and Rachel. What I loved so much about this book is that the author used the details the Bible gives us and as far as I can tell, used the accurately, but also filled in some of the gaps with her own imagination. One example is that we're never told about the mothers of Rachel and Leah, but they have mothers who take an active role in the book.

I don't know about you, but every time I've read about Jacob and Rachel and Leah, my thoughts have been "poor Jacob". I have never really read the story from the perspective of Rachel or of Leah, but the author focused more on Rachel and Leah than Jacob. It was interesting to consider things from their perspective.

One thing that I didn't like about the book was that I felt like a lot of time was devoted to who Jacob slept with that night. Details weren't really given, I just felt like a lot of focus ended up being on that. And a lot was implied through his and Rachel's interactions that I felt the book would have still been just as good without.

This book was very well written and I was happy to discover that this author has many other similar books about various Bible characters. I highly recommend this and hope to read some of her others one day.

*I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*