Book Review: The Pharaoh's Daughter

The Pharaoh's Daughter 

by 

Mesu Andrews 

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"You will be called Anippe, 

daughter of the Nile. Do you like it?"

Without waiting for a reply, she pulls me into her squishy, round tummy for a hug.

I'm trying not to cry. Pharaoh's daughters don't cry . . .

When we make our way down the tiled hall, I try to stop at Ummi Kiya's chamber. I know her spirit has flown yet I long for one more moment. Amenia pushes me past so I keep walking and don't look back.

Like the waters of the Nile, I will flow.

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Anippe has grown up in the shadows of Egypt's good god Pharaoh, aware that Anubis, god of the afterlife, may take her or her siblings at any moment. She watched him snatch her mother and infant brother during childbirth, a moment that awakened in her a terrible dread of ever bearing a child. Now she is to become the bride of Sebak, the kind but quick-tempered captain of Pharaoh Tut's army. In order to provide Sebak the heir he deserves and yet protect herself from the underworld gods, Anippe must launch a series of deceptions, even involving the Hebrew midwives---women ordered by Tut to drown the sons of their own people in the Nile.

When she finds a baby floating in a basket on the great river, Anippe believes Egypt's gods have answered her pleas, entrenching her more deeply in deception and placing her and her son, Mehy, whom handmaiden Miriam calls Moses, in mortal danger.

As bloodshed and savage politics shift the balance of power in Egypt, the gods reveal their fickle natures and Anippe wonders if her son, a boy of Hebrew blood, could one day become king. Or does the god of her Hebrew servants, the one they call El Shaddai, have a different plan for them all?

This book is easily one of the best I've read in a long time! It's fast paced and compelling, and once you start reading it, you won't want to put it down! I sat up late several nights in a row until finishing it last night. It's so full of many different things---love, war, suspense, drama, joy, sadness . . . everything a book needs to be truly good! This was the first book I've read by Mesu Andrew's and I look forward to reading the next book in the series, the story of Miriam! I highly recommend this book and suggest you get your hands on it as soon as possible! My only complaint would be that I felt at times the characters acted and talked a little too modern, and some of the descriptions had a few modern phrases or words thrown in as well. But other than that, a stupendous read! A five star rating from me. 

I received this book for free from Water Brooke Press in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: The Secret of Pembrooke Park

The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen

Abigail Foster is the practical daughter. She fears she will end up a spinster, especially as she has little dowry, and the one man she thought might marry her seems to have fallen for her younger, prettier sister.
Facing financial ruin, Abigail and her father search for more affordable lodgings, until a strange solicitor arrives with an astounding offer: the use of a distant manor house abandoned for eighteen years. The Fosters journey to imposing Pembrooke Park and are startled to find it entombed as it was abruptly left: tea cups encrusted with dry tea, moth-eaten clothes in wardrobes, a doll's house left mid-play . . .
The handsome local curate welcomes them, but though he and his family seem acquainted with the manor's past, the only information they offer is a stern warning: Beware trespassers drawn by rumors that Pembrooke Park contains a secret room filled with treasure.
This catches Abigail's attention. Hoping to restore her family's finances---and her dowry---Abigail looks for this supposed treasure. But eerie sounds at night and footprints in the dust reveal she isn't the only one secretly searching the house.
Then Abigail begins receiving anonymous letters, containing clues about the hidden room and startling discoveries about the past.
As old friends and new foes come calling at Pembrooke Park, secrets come to light. Will Abigail find the treasure and love she seeks . . . or very real danger?

This was a fairly good book. The mystery kept me interested, though it did have a few slow parts throughout it. One thing that kind of annoyed me was that it seemed like the author was trying to make her characters act like the people do in Pride and Prejudice, and I just didn't like that very much. It was TOO much like Pride and Prejudice and how the people talk in those movies. Most of the men ended up having "prissy" voices in my head because they didn't talk like men . . . haha. But other than that, a pretty interesting read that kept my interest all throughout it, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good mysterious historical romance!

I received this book for free from Bethany House publishers in exchange for my honest review.