The Centurion's Wife

This book was a wonderful surprise in both its accuracy in utilizing the Biblical account, as well as its mastery in enlivening the recorded events pulled from the Bible by weaving in the fictional story of Leah. I have read these parts of the Bible more times than I can count, but this novel made the events fresh and exciting, as if I were living in the time period and watching them first hand. It made me realize as I read it how much I take for granted in having the completed Bible, which those first believers did not have. I could relate quite easily to some of the characters, especially the portrayal of Mary Magdalene. I also especially loved how the authors described the scene at Pentacost, as well as the allusions to the wedding show more in Revelation using Leah's wedding plans.
This book is the first book in the series Acts of Faith, which I like because not only are all the loose threads not accounted for, but also because I would love to see other Biblical characters portrayed by these authors, such as Paul. I look forward to continuing the series with the next book, The Hidden Flame.
This is how Christian fiction should be written, in my humble opinion. The beliefs and doubts of the characters are real and believable - even to the point of looking messy and contradictory. Their faith hasn't been softened and molded by political correctness, too afraid to quote more than a few fee-good verses from Psalms or even use the name of Jesus. A Christian is not a one-dimensional type-cast description, and neither should the characters in a Christian fiction novel be. show less

The Centurion's Wife is not a bad book; it is an okay book. It was not what I expected. I expected it to be a story following the life of Leah after she married the centurion. It is more about Leah prior to her marriage and the relationship she had with Pilate's wife. The characters did not come alive to me in the book. I did enjoy learning more about everyday life during the time period. This is the first book in a series by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke. I am interested to see if the other books are similar to this one.

I fully enjoyed this book! Set around the time of Jesus' death and resurrection, Leah is a servant in Pilate's household and finds herself betrothed to a Roman centurion and sent to investigate the disappearance of the Rabbi's body. This is a story filled with adventure, faith-seeking and romance in just the right ammounts. It provides a new insight into the birth of Christianity, asking "what-if" you were living in Jeruselem at the time? I would recommend this for any fan of Christian fiction or historical fiction. Looking forward to the rest of this series!

I liked this, but it seemed to drag endlessly at times.
The story is set just after Jesus was crucified and rose again. It involves Leah, a relative of Pilate's, whose family has fallen into disgrace, so she works for Pilate's wife, Procula. Leah's grandmother was Jewish, but Leah was raised as a Roman and only remembers some of the stories her grandmother told her of her faith and way of life. Alban, a centurion of Pilate's, wants to marry Leah so he can rise in Pilate's estimation because he knows that she is a relative of Pilate's. Meanwhile, Procula has been having awful headaches and just knows it has something to do with what happened to Jesus. Pilate is eager to discover what happened to Jesus - and he tasks Alban with this show more discovery. There are many people who want to convince Alban that the disciples stole Jesus' body - and some of the disciples are included in the action of the story. So are some of the women mentioned in the Bible - Mary Magdalene, in particular. Alban wants to uncover the truth. Leah meets Mary and is given an introduction to the heritage she shares with her grandmother. It was a good story that included a lot of internal struggle for both main characters, but the scenes written for Alban dragged and dragged. Also, his sudden desire to be a good husband to Leah (after it was made clear in the beginning that this marriage was only a career move) was never really explained. It happened before he really dealt with much internal struggle over what he believed, so it didn't really make sense.
I'm glad I finished it - it had a satisfying ending - but it was a clunky read at times - too many times, thus the 3 star rating. show less

I really enjoyed this book. As a fan of Janette Oke, I bought this book with high expectations. Although not as good as some of her other books, it was still a good read. While the title suggests that it will be a love story and it is clear pretty early on that it will be, the central theme of this book is the journey to find one's faith and being willing to stand up for your beliefs at any cost. The ending was not as predictable as I was expecting. I would definitely recommend this book to others. If you enjoy books set during this time period, I would also recommend Francine Rivers "Mark of the Lion" series. It's historical Christian fiction, but be warned, while Centurion's Wife is a PG, Mark of the Lion is more gritty, maybe earning show more a PG-13. Both books are a great read. show less

I've been reading Janette Oke since I was a kid and was really excited to receive this book from the Early Reviewer giveaway. I love this time period, and felt like this book should have been a lot better than it ended up being.

I loved Alban His characterization seemed spot on with what I have learned in my history classes. I felt much more connected to him than I did Leah.

Leah's characterization made me hate her throughout the book. She did not ring true to a proper Roman lady, no matter what her circumstances. A high born Roman lady, especially in this time, would have known her place and not complained so bitterly about an arranged marriage. There were rarely any love matches made, as marriage was seen as a way to build alliances show more between the power players of the time. Her constant harping on her sister's (and her) situation made me question just how much time Oke spent researching her background materials when she set about writing her portions of the novel.

Overall, this lack of forethought in regards to Leah made me want the book to be over much more quickly than it was. What was a good premise was ruined by the obvious lack of historical research. show less

The fledgling church is being scattered by persecution, spearheaded by a fanatical young Pharisee who does not realize he is aiding a divine mandate to spread the truth "unto the ends of the earth..." This is a well done fictional account of the life and times following the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All 3 books are worth reading in conjunction with The Book of Acts. Scripture quotes are from the NIV.