BOOK REVIEW: Wings of the Wind by Connilyn Cossette

Alanah, a Canaanite, is no stranger to fighting and survival. When her family is killed in battle with the Hebrews, she disguises herself and sneaks onto the battlefield to avenge her family. The one thing she never counted on was surviving.
Tobiah, a Hebrew warrior, is shocked to find an unconscious, wounded woman among the Canaanite casualties. Compelled to bring her to a Hebrew healer back at their camp, he is soon confronted with a truth he can’t ignore: the only way to protect this enemy is to marry her.
Unused to being weak and vulnerable, Alanah submits to the marriage—for now. As she comes to know and respect Tobiah and his people, however, she begins to second-guess her plans of escape. But when her past has painfully unanticipated consequences, the tentative peace she’s found with Tobiah, the Hebrews, and Yahweh is shaken to the core. Can Alanah’s fierce heart and strength withstand the ensuing threats to her life and all she’s come to love?

I've been flying through the books in this series, I'm so invested in the characters and the way that the author has the talent to take this period of Biblical history and made it so real and alive.  I was ready to jump into the lives of these people I have fallen in love with.  I realized that the names for the synopsis were not one's I'd seen before.  Perhaps children or grandchildren?  Perhaps a continuation of Jumo or Dvorah's story a generation later?  Perhaps?  Well, I made myself stop perhaps-ing and jumped into the book with glee.  And pulled up on the excitement.  I was jumping back in 40 years later, just as the Israelites were on the cusp of taking the promised land.  Shira was there, Kiya was there but what about Ayal and Jumo and Ebon?  I was sorta kinda maybe perhaps becoming interested in Dvorah and where her life might lead.  I pulled it together, fought off my disappointment and kept on reading.  And fell in love all over again with new characters, new romances, and a new period of time.  

Tobiah may be my favorite male lead in this series.  He has a tenderness that is hidden behind his warrior facade.  He finds himself in a difficult situation that he never anticipated and didn't really even think through when he rescues the hard headed Alanah on the battlefield.  He just new that it was right.  There was no thought about it, just a doing.  A moment decision that want so much a decision as a God Moment.  And all those pages later what a God Moment it was.  Alanah was hurt, emotionally broken, and at the battle incognito only to avenge her father and brothers' deaths at the hands of the Hebrews.  She never expected to survive and was angry that she had.  However, through the 'God Moment' she found herself in a journey that could have only been designed by God.  A moment that would play itself into the future of all the Israelites.  Oh, there were bumps and bruises along the way.  But God even used her hard hardheadedness for the benefit of an entire civilization.

Despite the rocky start and my abject disappointment in losing out on beloved characters I was drawn into this new story.  I fell in love more slowly than before but at the end of the day this author has the ability to overcome my disappointment, draw me back in, and make me fall in love within the first quarter of the book.  I appreciated the tie-ins to the previous characters with an elder Shira and Kyia.  They gave me continuity.  I'm saddened that Tobiah is not of their family but he brings a freshness and a different perspective from the twelve tribes (he was even of a different tribe).  Alanah brings an awakening to the spirit, much like Kiya did previously.  The importance of finding a way to cast off the old things (her idols, our pride or money or anything that anyone - then or now has that keeps them separated) that didn't work and seeking God even when it's hard and you don't understand why.  

I was blessed to receive a complimentary copy of this book by NetGalley.  Without that I may have never discovered this amazing series.  I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.  I was not required to write a positive review.

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About Connilyn Cossette

Connilyn Cossette is the CBA-Bestselling author of the Out from Egypt Series from Bethany House Publishers. There is not much she likes better than digging into the rich, ancient world of the Bible, discovering new gems of grace that point to Jesus, and weaving them into an immersive fiction experience.

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BOOK REVIEW: Shadow of the Storm by Connilyn Cossette

In the Depth of the Storm's Shadow, Only Truth Can Light Her Way

Having escaped Egypt with the other Hebrews during the Exodus, Shira is now living in freedom at the foot of Mt. Sinai, upon which rests the fiery glowing Cloud containing the shekinah glory of God. When the people disobey Yahweh and build a golden idol, the ensuing chaos gives Shira an unexpected opportunity to learn the arts of midwifery. Although her mother wishes for her to continue in the family weaving trade, Shira's gifts shine brightest when she assists with deliveries. In defiance of her mother, Shira pursues her heart's calling to become an apprentice midwife.

When a delivery goes horribly wrong, Shira finds herself bound to a man who betrayed her, the caretaker of three young children, and the target of a vengeful woman whose husband was killed by Shira's people, the Levites. As contention between the Hebrew tribes and the foreigners fans the flames of another dangerous rebellion, Shira will come face-to-face with the heartbreak of her past that she has kept hidden for so long. How can she let go of all that has defined her to accept the love she's denied herself and embrace who she truly is?

A continuation of the Out of Egypt series, Cossette takes us back to Mount Sinai and the story of Shira.  Shira was pivotal in the first book (Counted with the Stars) in bring Kiya, an Egyptian slave, and her family with them as they left Egypt.   As Shira deals with the extended time at the Mount and deals with her own history, her desires for her own future, and the influences of her family onto all of those things, she also learns to trust herself, her family and Yahweh.  A fictional account of the exodus from Egypt and the Israelites time in the desert Shira's story is one of faith, redemption, and holds so much value for even today's world.  It's not cushy feel good faith, it's gritty in it's honesty and redemptive in it's progression.  

Shira feels called to midwifery but her mother wants her to continue with the tradition of weaving.  Shira not only does not enjoy weaving but also has little patience or talent for it.  Approached by an honored midwife within the tribe, Shira feels as though her calling is to follow that path.  In defiance of her mother she chooses to apprentice herself under Reva (the midwife) and knows in her heart that it's where she belongs.  Despite the fact that she has not and will not ever have children of her own, which is considered a detriment as a midwife since there can be no personal understanding, Shira thrives on this path.  Until she is present for a birth that the mother does not survive.  Dvorah, also apprenticing under Reva, helps to push Shira away with her accusations that Shira is to blame.  Dvorah was an enigma for me in this story.  I didn't understand why she mattered to the whole when she was introduced.  She frustrated me with her attitude, her seeming ability to win despite the less than honorable things she did and thought, and her ultimate betrayal to Shira.  Perhaps that was her point but good gravy did I despise her as I'm certain I was intended to do.  

Shira's story could only be completed by Ayal.  Shira's history in Egypt was not for the faint of heart.  Taken advantage of as a young girl by an Egyptian overseerer she was not only emotionally very scarred but also physically.  Things done to her at so precious an age left her barren.  Something she was shamed by, knowing she would never have children of her own and fearing it would ever prevent her from marrying.  After leaving midwifery behind and returning to weaving after the death Shira is forced to deal with her own actions and reactions to what happened.  Ayal wants to marry Shira, wants to have her be the full-time mother to his children after their mother passes away.  His background is not all sunshine and roses either and their friendship to romance path has more switchbacks than a donkey trail through the Grand Canyon.  

There's a lot of about, a lot of history and not a lot of me thus far.  All of the history is so vital to my feelings about this book.  I was so drawn into the characters I'd already met, emotions so engaged with each new character as well.  I loved, I despised, I felt apathy, I felt frustration.  This book lead me exactly where I needed to go with a story line that was well crafted and characters that I engaged with.  This book hit every mark for me and I cannot wait to begin the third and final book of the series.

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 About Connilyn Cossette

Connilyn Cossette is the CBA-Bestselling author of the Out from Egypt Series from Bethany House Publishers. There is not much she likes better than digging into the rich, ancient world of the Bible, discovering new gems of grace that point to Jesus, and weaving them into an immersive fiction experience.

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BOOK REVIEW: Counted with the Stars by Connilyn Cossette

A Story of Love, Desperation, and Hope During a Great Biblical Epoch

Sold into slavery by her father and forsaken by the man she was supposed to marry, young Egyptian Kiya must serve a mistress who takes pleasure in her humiliation. When terrifying plagues strike Egypt, Kiya is in the middle of it all.

To save her older brother and escape the bonds of slavery, Kiya flees with the Hebrews during the Great Exodus. She finds herself utterly dependent on a fearsome God she's only just beginning to learn about, and in love with a man who despises her people. With everything she's ever known swept away, will Kiya turn back toward Egypt or surrender her life and her future to Yahweh?

The book of Exodus in the Old Testament in the Bible tells the story of the Hebrews during their captivity in Egypt and how God used Moses to deliver His people from Pharaoh.  It tells of the events leading up their their exodus, and their experiences in the desert, in the wilderness, and at Mount Sinai.  I grew up with this story.  I could probably tell a pidgin messed up version if called upon at a moment's notice.  Let's not try that shall we?  However, Connilyn Cossette has done something with this book, the fictional story of Kyia, than years of Sunday School never did.  I feel like I understand the story of the Exodus better now than ever before.  The even better thing is this is the first book of a trilogy that I can't help but believe will only get better.

After Kiya finds herself sold into slavery, by her own father, she meets Shira, a Hebrew woman who serves in the same household.  They form a bond and friendship over their shared trials.  Over the course of their friendship, and the plagues as they fall upon Egypt, Shira slowly introduces Kiya to Yahweh, the 'faceless god'.  What I learned through their friendship seems so utterly commonsense but somehow never fell into my understanding.  Each plague that called down on the Egyptians was a direct attack on one of their gods.  The water turning to blood?  Hapi, the Egyptian God of the Nile.  The death of all the livestock?  Hathor the Egyptian Goddess of Love and Protection.  Three days of complete darkness?  Ra the Sun God.  And ultimately leading to the death of all first born which was a direct attack on Pharaoh himself, the ultimate power of Egypt that was believed to be part man and part god.  However, Yahweh overcame every single one of them.  Not only were the plagues aimed at these specific gods but they were also timed so as to offer maximum impact.  The Nile turned to blood just at the height of the delta flooding that guaranteed the dark silt that provided the bountiful crops that were grown there.  The locust?  At the height of harvest so that what crops did survive were eaten in the field.  How did I not ever know this?  Or perhaps I did but I never really understood it.  Either way.  I get it now.

Another things that gripped me about this book was how the story of Exodus was told through the view of an Egyptian.  I never even gave much thought to how they would have reacted to events at the time.  The fears they must have had, the anger at how some plagues never affected their 'slaves', the anger at their gods and their slaves.  Kiya, as an Egyptian woman (even though also a slave) feels these things and more.  However, her friendship with Shira helps her to figure a few things out along the way.  She's still not sure of this 'faceless god' even after fleeing Egypt with the Hebrews.  Small things along the way slowly open her heart and her mind and with all the other evacuees at Mount Sinai she gives herself over to Yahweh, a new life, and a new faith.  I cannot wait to start reading the next book in this series!

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 About Connilyn Cossette

Connilyn Cossette is the CBA-Bestselling author of the Out from Egypt Series from Bethany House Publishers. There is not much she likes better than digging into the rich, ancient world of the Bible, discovering new gems of grace that point to Jesus, and weaving them into an immersive fiction experience.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Goodreads