“Redeeming Love” by Francine Rivers
Redeeming Love triggers: physical and sexual abuse, self-harm, rape, and childhood sexual abuse. Let me just start by saying that when I first read this book, I was 15, and far more conservative (I know, *shudder*). I’ve read it so many times I needed a new copy, and it remained my favorite book for over a decade…until after a few years, I decided to read it again. And holy hell. This book should be called “Problematic White Man With a Superiority Complex Sets Out to Save Sexually Abused Woman by Gaslighting, Controlling, and Judging Her into Stockholm Syndrome.” This novel is a biblical-fiction book that was written in 1997 (for which I would forgive the author some of her ignorance, but her newer books carry the same underlying message). Its premise actually comes from the book of Hosea in the Bible; in this book, the prophet Hosea is commanded by God to marry a prostitute named Gomer. Yeah…kind of a weird prophetic book to base bib-fic off, I know. In the novel,...