Pilate's Daughter

Claudia Lucretia, the daughter of Pontius Pilate has led a very sheltered life, but she longs for something more. Not content with just the frivolities, she dives into educating herself. As they make their way to their new home, she is fixing to find that the world is not always as safe as she thought it was, and that even she can become prey to some men who would see her father fail. As they stay with the Herod's, the royal family in Judea, Claudia has a young guard named Judah, whom she finds very interesting. She is also given a young slave, Nebela to use while they are in the country. She doesn't like the young slave girl very much, but they seem to have intertwined fates. Nebela has fallen in love with the Tribune who is to become engaged to Claudia, and she is determined to make him her own. But she knows that she has to help Claudia get the young man that has caught her attention as well, in order to move them both out of her way. Nebela is ambitious and determined to get what she wants to matter the cost.
As Claudia travels to be with her parents, she is ambushed and kidnapped by the guard she trusted and the gang of Zealots. They want to see all Romans expelled from the Israelite lands. But they never counted on falling in love with each other. Returned to her family, she longs for the company of the young guard. Judah though, has some secrets of his own. As much as he is enchanted by the young roman aristocrat, there is still a plan to be followed, and he is doing his best to follow the orders Barabbas has laid down. When he meets Jesus though, his entire world is turned upside down and he has some difficult choices to make.

Fiona Veitch Smith has done a good job of weaving together the story of Jesus, John the Baptist and other historical figures into something new. A bit of romance and storytelling bring new life to characters who have been relegated to bylines and dusty pages. I'm not a huge fan of romance, but the historical side was well done, and the book overall was a great read!