Counted With the Stars

by Andrea Renee Cox

This is officially my favorite Biblical fiction book (as of December 2017). It's tough for me to find ones I like because of inconsistencies between the fictional story and the Biblical version of events. This book had very few inconsistencies from the Biblical account, for which I was incredibly grateful.

Ms. Connilyn Cossette is definitely here to stay. Her voice immediately hooked me in, and when I shared a few paragraphs with my parents, they agreed that her talent at word-crafting is spectacular. I am so glad Ms. Cossette has published this book (and its two sequels, which I'm eager to read). I'm certain her writing journey will bless many readers' hearts.

The settings completely came alive for me, due in large part to the details adding a vast richness to the atmosphere. The characters were all realistic, as if they had truly existed thousands of years ago and were only now being allowed to share their intricate and heartfelt stories with the world. Their heartbreak became my heartbreak; their joy, my joy; their hope, my hope. The cover was what first attracted me to this book. It's absolutely stunning with a sea of stars as the cover model's cloak, a desert wilderness anchoring the cover art, and a string of Egyptian picture symbols lining the bottom edge. I'm so grateful that the story between the covers lived up to the brilliantly designed artwork that caught my eye from the beginning.

One thing that bothered me was the inconsistency of capitalizing or lowercasing “God” when in reference to the Hebrews' God. It seemed to me that the author was trying to both honor God and respect the character Kiya's background of being an Egyptian who worshiped multiple false gods. While I appreciated the difficulty that presented, I felt the author could have been more decisive in choosing to capitalize every mention of the Hebrews' God and His various names (God, Elohim, etc.). This also is something that could have been caught in the copyediting and proofreading phases of editing.

However, combined with a couple of minor inconsistencies, that was only enough to knock off one star in my rating, because it was quite clear to me throughout the story that the author's heart was on the side of faith in God. Even when Kiya was praying to false gods, Ms. Cossette made sure to infuse into every scene the hope that Kiya would eventually switch her allegiance to the only God that could save her from the slavery and life of sin she found herself trapped in.

Much to my surprise, I was greatly impressed with this debut in the Biblical fiction genre by Ms. Cossette. I will definitely be finishing this series, and I'll be eagerly watching to see what else the author releases in the coming years.

I was not compensated for my honest review.