Chosen by Ginger Garrett

Book description:

The story of a girl unsparingly plunged into heartache and chaos, who would save a nation … of Esther, who would be queen.


Wrenched from a simple life for her beauty, Esther finds herself at the mercy of King Xerxes. Leaving behind her only relative, her cousin Mordecai, and her first true love, Cyrus, she is thrown headlong into the unrestrained extravagance of palace living. Quick of mind and strong in spirit, she refuses to suffer the fate of her harem sisters and boldly challenges Xerxes to give of his heart before taking his pleasure, thus sealing her place beside him a queen. While conspiracy spins its diabolical web, Esther’s mind and spirit waver, and she is forced to confront the past in order to save her future—and that of an entire nation.

My review:

The story of Queen Esther is one of my favorite Bible stories, so I jumped at the chance to review this book. It is written in the form of a diary, which is different, but I actually enjoyed the writing style, and the author wrote an enjoyable story with this style of narrative.

I did enjoy the story, but had a couple of issues with it. When writing Biblical fiction, the author often takes some liberties of adding to the story. In this story, the author added some things that I feel detracts from the story. The author has a romantic interest for Esther, a Cyrus - which was entirely possible...... but in the book, he sends a letter to Esther, promising protection to her if she intercedes for her people. I feel this detracts from her sacrifical act. When she went before the king, she had no guarantees of safety. No one would have been able to help her, and to indicate otherwise, even in a Biblical fiction novel, makes her act seem not as sacrificial.

Also, in the scene where Esther reveals Haman's intents to the king, and the king leaves in fury, the author not only has Haman begging for his life, but also trying to go along with him, promising her he can make her happier than the king could - again, this detracts. And then, Esther's romantic interest comes in with several others to rescue her.

I believe authors should take more care when writing Biblical fiction, so even though the story was an interesting read, and enjoyable,  I would not recommend this book.

About the author:

Focusing on ancient women’s history, critically acclaimed author Ginger Garrett creates novels and nonfiction resources that explore the lives of historical women. In addition to her writing, Garrett is a frequent radio and television guest. A native Texan, she now resides in Georgia with her husband and three children.

Chosen is available from David C Cook Publishing.

Thanks to B & B Media for the review copy.