Francine Rivers

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER • ECPA BESTSELLER • A story of love that won't let go—no matter what! California’s gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep. Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside. Then she meets Michael Hosea, a man who seeks his Father’s heart in everything. Michael obeys God’s call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel’s every bitter expectation, until despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw. But with her unexpected softening comes overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband’s pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does…the One who will never let her go. A powerful retelling of the story of Gomer and Hosea, Redeeming Love is a life-changing story of God’s unconditional, redemptive, all-consuming love. Includes a six-part reading group guide!

A Novel

Redeeming Love

annika

Angel, sold into prostitution as a child, survives by keeping her hatred for men alive. Then she meets Michael Hosea who loves her unconditionally. Day by day, he defies Angel's every bitter expectation until, despite her resistance, her heart begins to thaw. But with her unexpected softening come overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. So Angel runs...

Haleigh Marshall

AMAZING!! I really went through various emotions with this book ! It was really a reflection of how we treat God a lot of the time. I loved how Micheal meant his vows and showed her Gods love and never gave up. 

Temi Awani

So very lovely and convicting. For those who need some courage and hope in their lives.

Barbara Williford

I’m not big on rereading books, but this is definitely one I can read over and over. The book description gives a great over view and there are so many wonderful reviews. I just can’t put into words how wonderful this book is. So many emotions and feels with this book. It is definitely a must read.

Jonathan Tysick

Every time I felt this book too dry, something big happened! Although it is a heartbreaking story, it is one worth reading and pondering over.

As I began to read this book, I started with reluctance. It is my mom's favorite book, and I did not understand why. As I continued, the story of the protagonist became more clear to me. I fell in love with this book. It is everything about love I needed to read. It demonstrated beautifully that God's love is redeeming and all-consuming. I feel that this book is more important to this phase of my life, being that I am in my twenties and a hopeless romantic. I highly encourage any adult reader to read this magnificent book. It is a story of transformation from the lowest depths to the most radiant places. Most of all, it is a book that speaks to you, and I feel, meets you right where you are. 

Hope McCollum

What a beautiful story. This book has love, hatred, fear, safety, betrayal, sacrifice.. a truly beautiful story of God’s love. The love we can share. My perception of Love (in all ways) has changed because of this story. 

Truly a great read. I will say it is a bit spicy. But it works for this story, I feel like in some ways it needed to be in there. Although some scenes were felt unnecessary. But.. it fit the story. And the story is beautiful. 

Caroline Rutledge 

What a beautiful story. This book has love, hatred, fear, safety, betrayal, sacrifice.. a truly beautiful story of God’s love. The love we can share. My perception of Love (in all ways) has changed because of this story. 

Truly a great read. I will say it is a bit spicy. But it works for this story, I feel like in some ways it needed to be in there. Although some scenes were felt unnecessary. But.. it fit the story. And the story is beautiful. 

Rachel Kanyid

This book was absolutely, incomprehensibly b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!
First book that has made me cry in years....

Sold into prostitution as a child, Angel survives by keeping her hatred for men alive, until Michael Hosea obeys God's call to marry Angel and love her unconditionally. As Angel's heart slowly begins to thaw, her feelings of unworthiness and fear cause her to run away, until she realizes that her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does.

Wow! This author’s testimony is amazing. Great fictionalization of the story of the book of Hosea from the Bible. Beautiful!!

Tracie McMurray

Todd Luallen

Wow! This book is a tremendous encouragement to be a better husband. Excellent writing and a wonderful story. I highly recommend.

i couldn’t put this book down, but in this instance that doesn’t mean i loved it. while i think the idea was interesting, it felt outdated in all the wrong ways, using the time period as an excuse. 

maddi rimer 

Megan 

Molly Hurston

All I can say is wow! This book is a retold story from the book of the Bible Hosea. It is beautifully written. At moments it seemed slow but there was always a reason in the end for why it was slow. I loved the story, the meaning and the characters. I definitely recommend this book❤️

WHAT WAS THAT. that book just shattered my heart into a million little pieces. this is true love. this is the love i want someday. (minus being a prostitute) 
——————————————
cry count: i don’t even know. probably like 15

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE starring Abigail Cowen, Tom Lewis, Nina Dobrev, with Logan Marshall Green and Eric Dane, special appearance by Famke Janssen. Distributed by Universal Pictures with a screenplay by Francine Rivers and D.J. Caruso. California's gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep. Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside. Then she meets Michael Hosea, a man who seeks his Father's heart in everything. Michael obeys God's call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel's every bitter expectation, until despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw. But with her unexpected softening comes overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband's pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does . . . the One who will never let her go. A powerful retelling of the story of Gomer and Hosea, Redeeming Love is a life-changing story of God's unconditional, redemptive, all-consuming love. Includes a six-part reading group guide!

Redeeming Love (Movie Tie-In)

Emily Jones

I adore all of the characters in this book and it has extraordinary character development. Love the story line and all of the back story but it is a bit long winded at times

Ashley Harris 

I read this book at least once a year! Such a great story! The parallels from the story of Hosea are so wonderfully written!

This was truly an amazing book, it showed how patient our God is with his children. Even though we continue to turn our backs on him he stands firm and stays with us to the end. I especially loved they way Micheal loved his wife, it really portrayed the words "to love and to cherish" greatly and he did just that, even she had her things to work through and so did he. It was amazing to see the struggles of trying to trust God in the uncertainty making it easy to relate to my own life. 
Best part for me overall was that the book expressed no matter the sin no matter how dirty you think you are when you come to God he'll remove all of that.


California's gold country, 1850. Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive. Then she meets Michael Hosea, a man who seeks his Father's heart in everything. He obeys God;s call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Defying Angel's every bitter expectations, despite her resistance her frozen heart begins to thaw. But overcome by feelings of unworthiness and fear, Angel runs away from her husband's love. She is terrified of the truth she can no longer deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael Hosea does-- the One who will never let her go.

Kaley Catron

Whoa. When I say I don’t have words I mean it. That was an incredible moving story and I loved every moment of it. I loved that it never felt rushed, the story took its time as all stories should. And I love that it finished as strongly as it began. So often something is lost between there but no. Wow. Just...wow. Now I see why Dad has reread it so many times and I hope to do so as well. I will definitely be thinking of this story for years and years to come. 🌹

Heather Wood

I read this book a few years ago and it was so problematic. I was married at the time and I would never recommend this to an unmarried person. If you want to hear a beautiful story of God's love and redemption, read the book of Hosea and skip this one.

Yasmin Elhamahmy

Best book I’ve read yet.
Amazing.
Brings you closer to god.

Brittany Harper

3.5 stars. Listened to this one (glad I didn't read it; I don't think I would have liked it, a little slow). 
 This was good - read it because friends said it was the best. It wasn't bad, but wasn't great either. A lot of the characters fell flat. But I do realize / recognize that this is based on a biblical story, so that influenced it a lot. Still a great showing of God's love for his children.

Listened to this one (glad I didn't read it; I don't think I would have liked it, a little slow).
This was good - read it because friends said it was the best. It wasn't bad, but wasn't great either. A lot of the characters fell flat. But I do realize / recognize that this is based on a biblical story, so that influenced it a lot. Still a great showing of God's love for his children.

Kirollos Romany 

God`s love in the most beautiful display.

Jeni Enjaian

I continue to love this book and am pleased that it held up under this particular re-read. The emotions and ups and downs are raw and real in this book. Reading this book and other early works from Rivers makes me wonder what happened to her writing over the years. Her later books reek of the clichés of Christian fiction. This book and other books from her early career remain in my collection. This book survived round two of the purge of my personal collection.

Redeeming Love A Novel

Reviews

Highlights