I read the reviews both on Amazon and Goodreads and was surprised at how many people gave it 5-4 stars. I don’t think anybody caught the discrepancies I caught. The book as a whole is well-researched and planned. But the way things were stated and sentences were formed gave a disconnected, choppy feeling. I liked getting a glimpse at what slaves felt during the era of slavery in America. It is a shameful part of America’s past that most people like to forget. The author portrayed it well. The ramifications of Nat Turner’s rebellion was the most interesting part of the novel.
One thing that was majorly wrong with the book was when Bo said that he loved Ruth. First on page 91, “I love you, Ruth.” He said it over and over. Then again on pages 114-115. “…that’s what a man does for the woman he loves.” …It was the first time he’d told her he loved her. Obviously, he had told Ruth that he had loved her about 20 pages back. Reading through other people’s reviews, I was surprised that nobody else caught that. Also Ruth’s Redemption is loosely based on the story of Ruth and Boaz in the Bible. But at other times I thought that the author was also trying to tell the story of Hosea and Gomer. I kept on thinking throughout the whole book that the author just could not make up her mind on what she wanted the book to be exactly. It had a wishy-washy feel to it.
All in all, Ruth’s Redemption was an interesting read. I enjoyed the slave dialect and reading about such a major part of America’s history. But because of the unpolished feel and discrepancies I’m giving it 3 out of 5 stars.
* I received a copy of this book from the LEVB publishers. This review is my honest opinion of this book.