This is one of the best books I have ever read. I am currently reading the rest of the series. (All of which are great.) They are moving and exciting. He brings the characters to life. The situations are as real as though you are living them. This book follows the Bible and cultural norms of the time. It is a real page-turner. I just can't say enough about it, and the others in the series, that I have read, have not let me down.

This fictional account of the adult life of Abigail, a wife of King David, is based on biblical accounts as well as cultural knowledge. You will want to read more of this series.

After reading "Abigail", I could not wait to read "Bathsheba". Author James R. Shott is an absolutely masterful storyteller. The characters are not just biblical figures, but fleshed out human beings, faults and all. Especially intriguing is that the narrator is Bathsheba, wife of King David. Not many bible stories are told from a woman's perspective. Shott sustains the reader's interest so that I had to read the book in one sitting. I look forward to read other works in the "People of the Promise" series.

Unlike Abigail, Bathsheba, Leah and Hagar, Deborah is told through the eyes of her husband. Shott shows how Deborah was able to become a leader of the Israelites without offending any male egos. As with other People of the Promise books, I could not put it down.

Another Shott masterpiece I could not put down. From slave to matriarch, Shott tells the story of Hagar (and Abraham and Sarah) through the eyes of Hagar. Another great romantic story.

I really wanted to like this book, as I love biblical tales, especially from the Old Testament. But I found this book to be dull, dragging. And the error of Isaac dying before Jacob returned to his homeland was a little too blatant, and I couldn't get passed it. Another thing, is even though I think the author did do a good job of giving us a perspective of what it was like to live back then, there were parts that I felt were a little to PC for me. For example when Jacob slaps Leah, and then thinks to himself how much he HATES the custom of hitting women. It just strikes as unnecessary to establish the idea that even though Jacob slaps his wife, he really doesn't like the custom.
Another thing about the novel was that I just didn't find it all that gripping. It flowed along fine, but unfortunately it didn't make me want to stay up passed by bed time and continue reading it.

"Leah" by James R. Shott was a wonderful way to get inside the person of Leah and see this story from her perspective. I found it factual for the most part, allowing for being fictionalized. One error I feel led to point out is the statement that Jacob's father, Isaac, died before Jacob returned to his homeland with his family. In fact, Gen. 35:27-29 tells us Isaac was still alive when Jacob returned home, and died after that time, "and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him." This also discounts the statement that Jacob and Esau did not see each other after the initial encounter when Jacob bestowed Esau with many gifts from his flocks and herds. I can appreciate the struggles of writing a novel based on a Biblical character, but feel obvious errors like this one could have been avoided with a little more research. Thank you, James Shott, for giving us a wholesome and enjoyable look at characters in the Bible.

This is a lovely little retelling of the Jacob story from his first wife Leah's point of view.

In love with Jacob but realizing that he's barely noticed her, Leah takes desperate measures and pulls the world's most famous bed trick. With Jacob believing himself finally in bed with Leah's younger sister, the beautiful Rachel, they consumate their marriage and when the morning light comes Jacob finds that he is saddled with a woman he doesn't love - although in time he gets his Rachel as well.

Leah consoles herself with the knowledge that she is the mother of Jacob's sons, with Rachel apparently barren. But then the long-awaited Joseph is born, and Leah must bear the disinheritance of her eldest son, goodhearted Reuben, who has done nothing wrong except to not be Rachel's (the Bilhah scandal is never mentioned, which is a shame as it would have been interesting to see Leah's reaction to Reuben's one major moral lapse). Leah must draw on inner strength and God to deal with the difficult times that follow, including the Shechem massacre and it's aftermath, a sickening suspicion that her sons had something to do with Joseph's death (and this version ends grimly, as Leah did not live long enough, as Jacob did, to find out that Reuben saved Joseph by suggesting he be thrown into a well instead of killed outright) - and, always, the knowledge that Jacob will always love Rachel more than her.

It is not until the end of her life that Jacob shows Leah that he has noticed how she has been the glue that binds the family together and how much her intelligent advice has meant to him, even if it was Rachel's bed he went to most nights. And, of course, it is Leah - not Rachel - who is honored with a place in Jesus' ancestry.

Shott keeps the novel in historical perspective, not trying to modernize the morality of biblical times. He also intriguingly picks up on the Bible's mention of Leah's bad eyesight and vividly describes what it must be like to live in a world where you have to ask someone to tell you what's going on if it's more than a few feet from you.

I'm a big fan of the entire Biblical "Joseph" story and so I was eager to get this book. It is a fast read but unfortunately a disappointing one. There are many awkward phrasings throughout the book that took me a second to understand. While the character of Joseph is nicely cocky in the beginning, such little time is actually spent on his journey to Egypt, his slavery to Potiphar, and his time in prison that it is difficult to understand and empathize with the emotional and psychological changes he shows. Likewise the relationships Joseph develops with Egyptians, especially those he would be close to such as his master and his wife, are treated rather briefly and in his wife's case a bit sexistly. Overall I was very disappointed.

James Shott continues his series with this sequel to Leah about the fortunes of Jacob's favorite son.

As it opens, Leah's misgivings have proven all too warranted. Jacob's blatant favoritism, Joseph's arrogance and the murderous anger of her sons have finally all combined for trouble. Reuben, as Leah predicted too soft natured to keep his brothers in hand, is able to prevent bloodshed but not Joseph's sale into slavery. So begins the wonderful story of Joseph's transformation from spoiled brat to slave to prisoner to the second most powerful man in Egypt and, finally, a reconciliation with his brothers.

Unlike Leah, this is fairly familiar territory but worth a read if like me you love the story. And it includes the zinger at the end of the story that we all tend to forget - that it was Judah and not Joseph whose line carried the Promise - a reminder never to get too cocky even when you're God's golden child.