This book is very heavy on the religious themes. There is a case of insta-love (as dictated by Jesus) and God saving a woman from a life of despair and prostitution. What a terrible way to look at the world. I personally believe there are many men out there who have healthy relationships with sex. Lord knows I'm not one of them, as my internet browsing history could easily confirm, but I strongly believe that those men exist, and I also think there are men who struggle with sex without forcing their struggles on others. Sex or sexual desire can be something a man wrestles with a little without becoming a crazed sex maniac who bangs his brother's wife on the side of the road. I'm really obsessed with that, in case you can't tell.

I wanted her!” Mama said brokenly. “She was part of you, Alex, and part of me. I wanted her even if you didn’t.…” A lot of romcoms push the assumption that Person A can love Person B so much that it doesn't really matter that Person B doesn't love Person A. And in the romcom world, it is acceptable to pursue someone with a naked aggression that would never be acceptable in real life. This is a Christian based love story about a prostitute finding redemption and spirituality with her farmer husband. This book quotes a lot of scripture and the story itself is based on the Bible story of Hosea and Gomer.

Sarah/Amanda/Mara/Tirzah/Angel is a prostitute who was sold into the profession against her will as a child and then raped. Over the years she has become bitter and cold; it's her only defense against her growing despair at sleeping with men she doesn't like in a prison gilded by the gold dust of the Californian mining town she's settled in. On one of her walks, Michael Hosea sees Angel and hears God tell him that this is the woman he is destined to marry. When he finds out what she is, he throws a mini-hissy before pulling up his britches and delivering Angel the news. She is not amused, and rebuffs him multiple times. When he marries her, she's actually unconscious from a beating. He has no personality, nothing that sets him apart from other men other than he's on the "good" side of the line that ALL characters in this book could be categorized by. Seriously, this really is like an Atari game in that you could easily divide the characters into two camps: good guys and bad guys. In his kindness God called you to his eternal glory by means of Jesus Christ. After you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.” Sarah looked up, distressed. Had she done something wrong? “Can’t I stay? I’ll be very quiet.” Mama couldn’t seem to say more. Her eyes were moist and she looked at Papa. Sarah, aka, Angel is a beautiful, damaged woman who remains a prisoner of a past that heartlessly sold her into prostitution as a child. She was abandoned, abused, and alone, and my heart shattered for her. Selling her body was all she'd ever known...so when Michael attempts to show her an honest life, she is untrusting and feels unworthy to receive it. Angel had a quiet strength and I was completely blown away by her transformation. Her quest for freedom was relentless and she easily became one of my most beloved heroines.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God!” Another thing I want to share about this book. It has one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever read. There is a part in the story, right after Angel betrays and abandons Michael (and not for the first or last time) that he takes her to an unknown destination. She is frightened that he’ll hurt her as punishment, and their journey through the dark forest to get where they were going was intense. He ultimately leads them to the crest of a mountain and he points to the moon… yes, that ball of cheese in the sky, and he holds her tightly. After resisting him for some time, she finally stops to look at the beauty around her as the hours pass, the moon descends and the sun begins to set. He doesn’t say much, but he shows her the hope held in the renewal of a new day and the absolute beauty around you if you just stop to look and listen, rather than destroy it or pretend it doesn’t exist; and he simply tells her, “This is the life I want to give you.” *tear...sob*

Then there's the fact that he never gives Angel the benefit of the doubt (more on that in a bit) and always thinks "she's so awful and has done such awful things" BUT he never (as far as I can remember) adds "but we're all sinners - including me - so I shouldn't put myself on a higher moral plain". Ugh. The theme of the story is based on the Book of Hosea from the Bible, where God told the prophet, Hosea to marry a prostitute. The idea of the hooker with a heart of gold is very odd to me because it makes some very unfair assumptions. First, why would we assume that someone who has sex for money does not have a good heart? Why would our default assumption be that this person is heartless and mean as opposed to having a good heart? Why is this the only profession that we hear this about? When someone says their husband works at a grocery store, they don't throw in, "but he has a heart of gold." I've never heard of a baker with a heart of gold. And flipside, if these gold-hearted hookers are such an anomoly, how come I never read stories about hookers with hearts of wet garbage, or hearts of heart meat that perform their functions adequately if a bit coldly? Michael takes Angel with him on a trip into Sacramento for supplies and fabric for new clothes. On their return to the valley, they meet the Altman family, who have a broken wheel and are stranded on the side of the road. Michael helps fix their wagon and invites them to stay at their cabin. Angel reveals to Mrs. Altman and her 16 year-old daughter Miriam that she met Michael in a brothel, and is amazed to find that they have only compassion for her instead of contempt. They become close, and Angel takes a liking to Miriam, who begins to fancy Paul, who is living at the other end of the valley. The Altman's move into their own cabin in the valley.

What was it about this man that got to her? She preferred the numbness to this stirring of emotion. Hope was torment. Hope was an enemy. And this man was a thorn in her side.Okay, before getting too far into reading this, understand that I only read this book because it was required of me for a book club. I wouldn't normally review something I felt this unkind towards because I would not finish it. Nor would I expect to like it. Mama bit her lip and reached out a hand toward Papa, then stopped suddenly. She looked afraid again. Sarah looked from one parent to the other, struggling to understand. What had she done wrong? Wasn’t Papa pleased that she liked his presents?