Book Review: Between the Wild Branches by Connilyn Cossette

“My opponent wavered on his feet, catching his breath from the relentless attack I’d delivered to his torso, and in that brief moment, my attention flitted up to the balcony that surrounded this royal courtyard….Surely it was only a trick of the light that familiar hazel eyes gazed down at me…”

-Lukio, Between the Wild Branches

Between the Wild Branches by Connilyn Cossette is the continuation of the duology, The Covenant House series. In this story, we get to experience the continuation of the story of Lukio, and his closest childhood friend, Shoshanna.

At the beginning of Between the Wild Branches, Lukio is back in Ashdod, one of five cities occupied by the Philistines, as a successful fighter, and has achieved wealth and notoriety because of his skills in fighting. Shoshana has been brought to Ashdod as a slave after the Philistines raided the Hebrew land where she lived. They are reunited under some precarious circumstances, and the plot begins.

Between the Wild Branches was a great sequel and wrap up to the first book. It was great to see the characters again because I enjoyed their stories so much. I read it in about two days, and a lot of my time was spent fighting the urge to turn to the end and find out how the author resolved everything that was going on. It was that intense!

There was lots of action, unique surprises, and scenarios that I kept wondering how the author was going to work out. The characters got themselves into so many predicaments that you wondered how they would ever untangle themselves. The plot was brilliant!!!

There was some violence in this novel that was not for the faint of heart. The Philistines were brutal and had some horrible practices. I didn’t know a lot of details about them, other than what I have read in the Bible in relation to well known people like Samson and David.

The setting is during the time period of the Judges in the Old Testament. So if you like historical fiction set in Biblical eras, you will enjoy this novel. 

Many blessings as you read!

To learn more about Between the Wild Branches, please go here.

To learn more about the author, please go to her website at ConnilynCossette.com.

To read an author interview about Between the Wild Branches, go here.

To read my review for the first book in the series, To Dwell Among Cedars, go here.

Q & A with Connilyn Cossette on Between the Wild Branches

Between the Wild Branches is the second in the Covenant House series and is set to release July 6th! It is the continuation of the story of Lukio, and Shoshanna, his childhood friend, as we find them in perilous circumstances in the city of Ashdod, the Philistine city where Lukio was born. In honor of her book release, I thought I would share some Q & A with the author, Connilyn Cossette, about her upcoming book!



This series is a duology, what made you decide to only write two books this time?

I was really intrigued with telling the story of two siblings and how their journeys intertwined to form one whole story that was satisfying both to myself and to my readers. Of course I usually fall in love with secondary characters along the way and wish I could tell their stories too, and the Covenant House was no exception. There is one character in particular in Between the Wild Branches that my beta readers wanted to know more about. So who knows, maybe in the future I’ll have the chance to expand that storyline a bit! The great thing is that my next series is a spin-off and readers will get to meet my next four heroes in BTWB, so keep your eyes peeled as you read, especially near the end!

What drew you to this period in history to place a series?

When I had the opportunity to go to Israel a few years ago we traveled right through the Beth Shemesh valley, where the ruins of that town are just off the highway. And when our tour guide mentioned that this area was near where Samson lived and was also the exact place where the Philistines returned the Ark of the Covenant after they stole it in 1 Samuel. That day, I had a distinct vision of that ark bumping along on the road with two curious children following after it and decided that I needed to tell their story. Fortunately for me, at the same time I was plotting/researching the Covenant House series, scientists were proving from DNA evidence gathered in a Philistine graveyard that these enigmatic people actually came from Crete just like the Bible says they did. This new information gave me lots of fodder for book material and made my imagination spin like mad about the culture of the Philistines, which most likely was rooted in the Minoan and/or Mycenean people during the Bronze Age. They were certainly not simple shepherds and farmers like the Hebrew people were at that time and likely worshipped the precursors to the Greek gods we all know, so I had lots of fun contrasting the two opposing cultures and religious systems. There are still a lot of unknowns with the Philistines and we don’t have a handle on their language or writing system yet but I suspect more will come to light in the future that will continue to prove the Bible historically accurate.


This series has underlying themes of adoption, why is this a special topic for you?

Well, for starters, I am an adoptee myself. I was adopted at birth and grew up knowing that my adoption was a special thing and what a loving choice my young birthmother made to place me in a stable, two-parent home. When I was twenty-two I actually got to meet my birth mom, after stumbling across a web posting way back in the early days of the internet, and have since gotten to know both her and my half-siblings. My brother, too, was adopted from Korea when he was four and I am also the mother of two adopted-at-birth children myself. So adoption is such a precious theme in my own life that it just naturally spills into my stories. And our adoption into the family of God through the sacrifice of Jesus is, of course, the most beautiful story there is, so there are shades of that built into Eliora and Lukio’s union with the Hebrew family that take them in and introduce them to covenant life. Of course, adoption is a precious thing and full of beauty but it is also rooted in loss, so I do not shy away from some of the challenges and questions that adoptees face, such as: Who am I? Where do I belong? How do I define my past and how does it affect my future? Or what if I’d never been separated from my family of origin? Eliora and Lukio struggle through these questions in different ways and I found great satisfaction in working through their healing and self-acceptance, since their journeys at times mirror my own, my brother’s, and those of my children.

Between Eliora and Lukio, which sibling did you relate to the most and why?

Hm. That is kind of tough. I’m actually quite different from Eliora, who spends a lot of time trying to “earn her place at the table” but I also have a tendency to try and blend in with the background because I hate spotlights. And I am certainly not an aggressive bare-knuckle fighter like Lukio, but I have struggled with some of the same identity issues he has and tend toward walling myself off in difficult relationships and compartmentalizing things to the point of isolation. So I am not like either of them, but yet I am. There are probably pieces of me in all the characters I write. Even the villains ;)

What makes the characters in Between the Wild Branches different from any others you’ve written before?

I had lots of fun writing a more hero-centric story this time and Lukio is hands down my favorite male character to have written. First of all, he is a no-holds-barred bare-knuckled fighter (which is rooted in the ancient and brutal sport of Pankration) so I got to channel my inner MMA fighter and have some fun getting out some imaginary aggression. But he is also a hurting little boy on the inside, one who feels deeply and is wounded from what he perceived to be devastating betrayals. His journey to healing was so satisfying for me and no matter how many times I edited it all, I cried every time I read the final scenes. Also, since there was a childhood friendship/romance between Lukio and Shoshana, there was lots of intriguing history between them which added a different dimension to their reunion. Since ten years have passed since they’ve seen each other and a lot of life, and in Shoshana’s case pain, has occurred in that gap, they are in some ways completely different people by the time the book opens. It was an interesting challenge to think about how they relate to the “newness” of each other, while at the same time holding on to the sweet, secret friendship they enjoyed in the past. I love how they complement each other and how their relationship develops over the course of the story, despite all the obstacles between them.

What part of BTWB did you have the hardest time writing?

Honestly, this story poured out of me in a way that none of my books have before. I wrote the entire manuscript by hand and was so in love with the characters that there was not any part that was a major challenge. This is why the next series is a spin-off, because I just couldn’t let go of my friends!

Thank you Connilyn for answering these questions, and for continuing to write these stories of healing and redemption!

To learn more about the author, please visit her website at connilyncossette.com.

To learn more about Between the Wild Branches, go to Christianbook.com. 

To learn more about the first book in the series, To Dwell Among Cedars, please click on the book title, or go here to read my review.

Note: This post contains affiliate links from Christianbook.com. This means if you purchase one of these books after clicking on the link, I will generate a commission from that purchase. This does not influence my recommendation of the books.

Book Review: To Dwell Among Cedars by Connilyn Cossette

 

"Her gaze fluttered about the room, as if the answer were written somewhere on the walls. "The Ark," she said on a gasp, her eyes flaring. "It's just as in my dreams. You must follow the Ark."

-Azuvah, To Dwell Among Cedars

Publisher's Description:

Eight years ago, when the Philistines stole and then surrendered the ark of the covenant back to the Israelites, Eliora left her Philistine homeland to follow the ark to the community of Kiryat Yearim. There, the family she was adopted into has guarded the ark at the top of a mountain in seclusion.

Ronen is a Levite musician determined to return the ark to Shiloh, where his tribe believes it belongs. He never expected that the Philistine girl he rescued years ago would now be part of the very family he's tasked to deceive.

As Ronen's attempts to charm Eliora lead them in unexpected directions, betrayal leaves Eliora with strained family ties and Ronen questioning his own loyalties. Ultimately, Eliora and Ronen are caught up in the battle for the soul of Israel and its future under the leadership of Samuel, the last judge before the era of the kings begins.


My Review:

The story in To Dwell Among Cedars is based off a story in the Old Testament where the Ark is taken by the Philistines and the is returned to Israel, and settles in Kiryat-Yearim. It takes place during the time period in Israel's history when judges ruled, right before they get their first king, in 1 Samuel 4-7.  You can read about it here.

I was not really familiar with the Biblical account. It seems like I had heard about portions of it, but did not have knowledge of or understand it in great detail. It was good to refresh myself and go back and read the account in the Scriptures again.

At the beginning of the book, there is a map (which I love) that helps you become acquainted with locations in the story, since the setting for the book takes places in several places.

In To Dwell Among Cedars, Connilyn Cossette has built a beautiful story around the account in 1 Samuel.  It tells the story of a girl who goes from darkness to light, which I believe is the story of us all who have put our trust in Jesus.

The girl follows the Ark of the Covenant, and it leads her into peace and family, redeeming grace and hope.  

I loved this story.  I read it slowly this time.  Often when I am reading, I read quickly because I want to know what happens next!  But this time, I read the story slowly, and just rested in the peacefulness of the setting and the plot.

There is a clean romance as part of the plot, which would be encouraging to young women/men in your life who are looking for God's best.  Honesty, courage, love, service, and kindness are all interwoven in the story, as well as how to handle situations when these character qualities are not demonstrated.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction and stories based on the Bible.  This would be a great book to include as part of a high school homeschool curriculum.  

Many blessings to you as you grow in grace and the knowledge of Him,

Beth

*Disclosure statement: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.  The thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

To learn more about the author, visit her at her website at connilyncossette.com.

To learn more about the book, please visit Christianbook.com.

In honor of this book release, I would like to give away a copy of To Dwell Among Cedars!  Just leave a comment believe telling me whether or not you are familiar with any of the stories of the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament and what you know about it.  I will randomly draw a winner on New Year's Eve!  (US Residents only will receive a paper copy.  If you are located somewhere besides the US,  I can give away an electronic copy for Kindle.)

And the winner is...Kaylee!  Kaylee, please message your address to bethlisteningtohim@gmail.com.  Happy New Year!

Note: This post contains affiliate links from Christianbook.com. This means if you purchase one of these books after clicking on the link, I will generate a commission from that purchase. This does not influence my recommendation of the books.