Divine

by Karen Kingsbury

Best-selling author Karen Kingsbury weaves another dramatic story of tragedy and redemption!

Mary Madison was a child of unspeakable horrors, a young woman society wanted to forget. Now a divine power has set Mary free to bring life-changing hope and love to battered and abused women living in the shadow of the nation's capital.

Mary is educated and redeemed, a powerful voice in Washington, D.C.—both to the politically elite and to other women like her. But she also has a past that shamed polite society. Her experiences created in her paralyzing fear, faithlessness, addiction, and promiscuity. At the crossroads of her life, only one power set Mary free and gave her a lifetime of love and hope. A power that could only be divine.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Christian, Fiction, Romance, Inspirational, Adult, Abuse

384 pages, Hardcover

First published March 20, 2006

About the author

Karen Kingsbury, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, is America’s favorite inspirational storyteller, with more than twenty-five million copies of her award-winning books in print. Her last dozen titles have topped bestseller lists and many of her novels are under development with Hallmark Films and as major motion pictures. Her Baxter Family books are being developed into a TV series slated for major network viewing sometime in the next year. Karen is also an adjunct professor of writing at Liberty University. In 2001 she and her husband, Don, adopted three boys from Haiti, doubling their family in a matter of months. Today the couple has joined the ranks of empty nesters, living in Tennessee near five of their adult children.

See more at: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/K...

Reviews

[Tracy Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the reaction I had after I had finished reading it and had a few hours to think about it. I posted this to my facebook page:

Last night I started reading a book by Karen Kingsbury called Divine and I finished it today. It's all I've been able to think about. It is a story about a modern day Mary Magdalene. A woman who had her own demons and was rescued by Jesus. At one point in the story Peter is mentioned. "The problem was that once in a while Peter had a tendency to take his eyes off of Jesus. For Peter, that was when he'd start to sink." I realized as I read this I was recognizing myself. I am constantly seeking God. Searching, fumbling, and it came to me that I am like Peter. I'm going along just fine and suddenly, because of a choice I've made, I feel alone and lost and sometimes it takes me months and sometimes years to find my way back. Now that I've seen this aspect of my character all I want to do is fall down on my face and beg Jesus never to leave me. But he's not the one that keeps leaving, is he? He is the one who always has and always will welcome me back. Thank you Jesus, for your love, your grace, and your mercy. I love you.

I was not so horribly abused. Nothing to the degree that Karen describes, but I had my demons as all of us do. This book made me sob in fear, in sorrow, and again in joy. Because nothing is more joyous than finding Jesus and feeling His Divine Love.

[Kim Almeida · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even a few hours after finishing this book, I can't believe I'm actually assigning only 1 star to a book written by one of my favorite authors. [sigh]. There's just no way around it... I refused to quit in the middle because of my personal rule to never leave a book unfinished... but my hope for a redeeming conclusion fell flat.

For years I steered clear of Christian fiction for all the reasons proven by this book: cheesy analogies, "overnight" conversions, and over-the-top religious conversation. I have tremendous respect for Kingsbury as an author, so I will refrain from creating a list of cons that this book offered and merely say this: the undertones of the book seemed "preachy", the characters were not believable in their rapid, overnight conversions, and the repetition of "Jesus is all you need" was a tiny bit overstated. I am a strong believer and do agree with the previous statement, but the way it was applied seemed naive.

Additionally, I completely dislike the way that the relationship of two adult believers was portrayed: though they clearly loved each other, they refrained from starting a relationship/getting married because they each "committed themselves fully to God's work". I do respect those who choose this way of life, and I agree it could be wise for some, but the way it was portrayed in the book seemed to scream "Being a worker in God's Kingdom demands singleness". I could see this potentially causing great confusion in the life of a new believer.

The one thing Kingsbury did well in this book is tell a horrific story of sexual abuse clearly, but without any graphic details. High five to that. As for the rest, I think you'd enjoy a Baxter series by Kingsbury a lot more!

[Kristy J]

This book is a modern-day story of Mary Magdalene. Kingsbury mentions this in the intro. This is about a brave woman (actually it follows the story of two women) who has lived through some horrific situations. The main character is retelling the story of her life.

Kingsbury does not shy away from the difficult issues in her books..This one is no exception. It really gives the reader insight into the hearts and minds of these two female characters who have truly been broken. Rape, prostitution, drugs, suicide, abuse, neglect, kidnapping.. all of these are in this book.

This story is, above all, about love. God's love for us. Love for one another. It is about broken relationships and about healing relationships. It's about redemption and finding one’s way to freedom.

[KD Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book starts off with some really strong radical Christian propaganda. The author invents a number of statistics that are completely unrealistic about Abstinence only education at a senate hearing and rambles on for an extended period concerning the politics surrounding it. While it is just a scene, it is enough to sicken someone who keeps their feet on the ground concerning the education and mental state of the youth today. I personally found this scene unnecessary and nearly deleted the book from my Nook before continuing on.

The book does continue on to tell a very detailed and graphic story about a couple girls and how they came to and overcame a plethora of abusive situations ranging from Child Prostitution, Sexual slavery, and severe domestic violence. If you cannot handle a number of graphic situations, this book is not for you.

I also did not agree with how the author puts words into God's mouth by having him speak directly to a number of characters and appearing to a few others. While I am often an advocate for artistic licence, I do not find it agreeable to take liberties with what God it saying/thinking/doing. We are merely human and cannot know these things.

All-in-all, if you like intense books and you enjoy "faith-fiction" you may enjoy this book, just be forwarned about the liberties the author takes.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I planned to read a Karen Kingbury book before I heard her speak. I knew she wrote series stories and had no clue where to start. I chose to stay in the few titles that were unattached from the sets. I chose to read Divine. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Now I'm thinking that that was a good way to start. I made myself read this book. I forced myself to finish it. Not because the writing was poor, or the story wasn't compelling, but because the truth of this story was hard to hear. This book is a retelling of sorts of the often misunderstood story of Mary Magdelene. It is a great book. If you choose to read it, then you must promise to finish it. Pick a quiet spot, make sure you have a large box of tissues, your Bible, and your Grandma's picture or phone number nearby. You'll need all of it. This book testifies to the awesome power of prayer. Not prayer for it's own sake, but the God who hears the prayers and how He works in, around, and through them. Praise God and hug your daughters.

[Christine Indorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

The modern retelling of Mary from the Bible. This book was a hard read. Rape is one of the main themes but so worth the read. If this is a trigger I want to warn you. It was a good book and worth the 4 star rating!!!

[Julianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewed for THC Reviews
"2.5 stars" I kicked off my 2023 reading with Karen Kingbury’s Divine, a stand-alone, inspirational, women’s fiction story. Mary Madison is the director of a group of women’s shelters in Washington, D.C. and a nationally known advocate for various causes, mostly related to helping women who’ve been abused. She, herself, grew up with a troubled mother who was addicted to drugs and worked as a prostitute. Then when Mary was only ten, she was abducted and sold into sexual slavery. From there, her life continued a downward spiral with only rare rays of hope breaking through, until she found a relationship with Jesus a decade later. Now she believes it’s her mission in life to share her story with others to help them find redemption, too. Her latest client is Emma Johnson, a young mother who’s been badly abused by her boyfriend and has nowhere else to turn. As Mary relates her story to Emma, she hopes that Emma will see herself in it and gradually come to the realization that God can rescue her, too.

Mary and Emma are the two main characters in the story. For a decade, between the ages of roughly ten and twenty, Mary’s life was filled with abuse and other bad things happening to her, some of which were a result of bad choices she made. I can’t say much more about her life without giving away major spoilers, but suffice it to say that things don’t really turn around for her until she accepts Jesus into her heart. In the decade since then, she’s earned a doctorate degree in family counseling and has opened several women’s shelters in the D. C. area. She now believes it’s her calling to share her story with the women who come through the shelter’s doors to help them find their redemptive moment, too. Emma lost her father as a baby and grew up with a single mother. She went through a rebellious stage as a teenager, getting mixed up in drugs and sex, eventually ending up living with a man who has severely abused her. The most recent time he beat her, she decided that she could no longer stay with him, and sought out help at one of Mary’s shelters. Mary personally takes her on as a client, and gradually relates her story to Emma, in hopes of helping her.

I have to say that I was left pretty frustrated by the characterizations. Despite the entire book basically being about these two women, I never really got much of a sense of either of their personalities or who each of them are as individuals. I suppose it could be said that Mary was strong to have survived all that she did, and I suppose she must care about people to want to help other abused women. Emma seems to be a caring mother to her two small daughters, and before she hit her rebellious phase, she was a good daughter to her own mother. But beyond this, I just didn’t relate to either of them well, because there isn’t much to grasp onto. I felt like before finding Jesus, both were basically defined by their abusive situations and bad choices, and after finding Jesus, they were defined merely by their relationship with Him. Mary also gained fame and political connections, which I guess was supposed to show how far God had lifted her up since her early life, but honestly these things didn’t do much for me. I would have related to her better if she was simply a humble woman who we got to see working in the trenches beside the prostitutes and abused women on the streets. In fact, her political activism rubbed me the wrong way, because the book opens with her giving a speech to members of Congress on why they should renew funding for an abstinence program, where she’s spouting off statistics on how much the program has reduced teen pregnancies and STDs. There are numerous articles and studies that have shown that abstinence only programs actually have the opposite effect because youth aren’t learning prevention tactics, so the only way it’s been proven effective at all is when used in conjunction with comprehensive sex education. So right out of the gate, I felt like Mary wasn’t entirely honest or trustworthy. Then there’s Emma who experiences deafening voices in her head. I wasn’t sure what this was supposed represent. Was it was the devil, or was she schizophrenic (although she didn’t seem to be mentally ill), or was she merely depressed? The latter seems to be the most likely scenario, but I’ve experienced depression for most of my life and have been know to have internal monologues, but they’ve never been like hers, where’s she’s talking to herself in the third person. Rather than having deeper introspection so that I could understand what she was feeling, I instead felt like I was being beat over the head with her “voices.” In the end, neither woman had any sort of distinct personality that shone through for me.

Ultimately, though, what frustrated me the most about the main female characters in the story, which includes Mary, Emma, and both their mothers, is that they’re all basically TSTL, making some of the dumbest choices I’ve ever seen from book characters, and trust me, there have been some doozies in my lifetime of reading. Usually, though, it’s only once or twice per book, while in this one, it was nearly constant. Part of this is because their motivations are murky at best and non-existent at worst. I know that some of it is being driven by their respective pasts that are full of abuse and tragedy, but again, I’ve experienced my fair share of trauma and I don’t think I’ve ever made decisions that are quite as out there as some of the ones they made. Leaving your kid with with a drug dealer (maybe pimp) who has made sexualized comments about her? Oh, the folly! Stealing a car and running from the cops because you think they’re going to take you back to an abusive situation, when your only previous experience with cops was them saving you from a abusive situation? How does that make any sense? Nearly prostituting yourself as a supposed act of rebellion against your strict guardians? What in holy heck?! Getting into a car with a strange man who promises you money and a “legit” job, when the only experiences you’ve really had with men are them using you? Oh, save me from this insanity! Practically every decision these ladies made was this stupid, so these are just a few of the most prominent examples. My best guess is that the author was trying to show that people who don’t know Jesus make bad choices (which in and of itself is a problematic argument, because I personally know non-Christians who don’t make crazy choices like this, and I’ve known professing Christians who did), but when Mary made yet another terrible decision that nearly got her killed right after accepting Jesus, I metaphorically threw up my hands and was done.

In addition to the weak characterizations and murky character motivations, there were also numerous plot holes, as well as things that seemed to happen merely for the sake of the narrative the author was trying to create. When she’s ten and right before she’s abducted, Mary’s Grandma Peggy gives her a small red beaded purse, which becomes her touchstone throughout the story, keeping a tiny ray of hope alive for her over the coming years. Inside the purse, her grandmother places a piece of paper on which she’s written a Bible verse and a loving note. However, Mary can’t read and surely Peggy must have known that since she read books to her. While a sweet gesture that does help Mary, I couldn’t figure out why Peggy, knowing how unreliable her daughter was, didn’t include something practical as well like her phone number and address so that Mary could reach her anytime if she was lost or in trouble. But of course, if she had, there wouldn’t have been much of a story. After Mary was taken, Peggy is said to have never given up on searching for her, but she apparently didn’t think to submit Mary’s photo (surely she must have had one) and information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The police and social worker didn’t check the center’s database when she was finally found either. Ugh! Instead Mary and her grandma spend many more years apart, all because Mary supposedly can’t remember her last name when she’s finally rescued, which I thought stretched the bounds of credibility. If she’d been younger maybe, but at ten, most kids have a pretty good sense of self and don’t seem likely to forget their own name. Mary’s first good foster parents are conveniently only licensed for short-term care, and her social worker is also conveniently not available when things go south with her second set of foster parents. She’s also said to have been promiscuous with boys while in juvenile detention, but I’m not sure how that would happen on any kind of regular basis given that I’m pretty sure juvie is segregated by gender just like adult prisons. I could go on and on with things that happened to simply drive the narrative toward the author’s preconceived conclusion, but I’ll leave it here. Suffice it to say, though, that instances like these were peppered throughout, often making me roll my eyes at the lazy storytelling that seemed to rely on nothing but a long string of deus ex machina moments.

As part of the inspirational fiction genre, I’m sure Divine was intended to be an inspiring story, but I personally found it to be one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read. And that’s saying a lot because I’ve read a number of books with similarly tortured characters that never left me feeling like this one did. It’s morose, humorless, and I couldn’t help feeling like the author was sadistically torturing pretty much every character in the story. I read large parts of it with a heavy heart and a pit in my stomach, just waiting for something truly positive to happen, and even nearly a day after completing it, I was still feeling depressed and anxious. I generally read for entertainment and escapism, not to be tormented. I think the reader is supposed to come away with the message that Jesus is always there for us no matter what, but when bad things continued to happen even after Mary had accepted Him, it was just too much. Even the ending was depressing with Mary losing her last family connection far too soon, and the only potential romantic relationship she’s ever had never materializing because they were both too married to their work for God in different parts of the world. I didn’t understand this at all, because as Christians, we believe that love is from God, so if two people love each other, wouldn’t God want them to be together and happy? Couldn’t they do God’s work together? I think we were also supposed to find inspiration in Mary’s rise to fame, professional success, and political connections, but for me all those things are fleeting and ring hollow. Show me a woman who has numerous friends who love her and would do anything for her because of her kindness and generosity. Show me all the abused and downtrodden women she’s helped at her shelters who are giving back because of her example. Show me a woman who is actually counseling clients not just retelling her own torturous story over and over, which felt masochistic and/or narcissistic to me. In fact, this was a huge problem I had with the book in general: too much telling and not enough showing.

Divine was my first read by Karen Kingsbury. In all honesty, I primarily picked it up based on the recommendation of a family member who is a huge fan of this author, but if this is a prime example of her storytelling, I think it may not be for me. I have several more of her books on my TBR pile, either picked up cheaply at library sales or gifted to me by said family member, but after this generally depressing, frustrating, and traumatic reading experience, I doubt I’ll be bothering to check out any more of them. Given the overwhelmingly positive reviews for this book and the author’s others at both GoodReads and Amazon, I’m clearly in the minority, but I did find a few other reviewers who agreed with me, at least in part. I also freely admit that although I do identify as Christian, I don’t read a lot of so-called Christian literature, so perhaps I’m just not in the target audience. All I know is that despite my love of stories where characters overcome abusive pasts or other traumas and tragedies, this book did not resonate with me at all. It just made me feel like throwing it against the wall and also left me with a two-day depression that I had to dig myself out of. Bottom line: If you’re looking for a book in the inspirational genre with a tortured heroine who’s been through an experience similar to Mary’s but that has a gentler, less preachy message, and a much more positive outcome, try Francine Rivers’s Redeeming Love, which is a far superior book IMHO.

Trigger Warning: This book contains a substantial amount of content relating to domestic abuse, sexual assault, kidnapping, child abuse, drug abuse, and suicidal ideation. Although most of it is not rendered graphically, all of these things could still be disturbing for sensitive readers or those who’ve experienced these issues firsthand.

[Joleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Washington DC
Current Day

Main Characters:

Mary Madison: Director of several women's shelters
Emma Johnson: Battered woman
Nigel Townsend: Mission Director

This was supposed to be a current day rewrite of the biblical character Mary Magdalene. But honestly, if they hadn't mentioned that at all it would have been just fine. I would not have seen the similarity between Mary Madison and Mary Magdalene.

This was a woman who from an early age was living on the streets or from flat to flat with her mother. At twelve, her life was upended when her mother left her for a weekend with a couple that decided she could earn them a tidy profit.

Her childhood story and eventual redemption was an inspiration to women at the shelters she directed. But what a horrific story it was. Hard to read at times, even though Ms. Kingsbury was gentle with what could have been lurid.

Wonderful

[Stefanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen Kingsbury pulls at my heartstrings every time and this book was no exception. Divine was a beautiful story of the power of redemption. Mary Madison's story was heart-wrenching and emotional, powerful and life-changing.
In today's world and all the bad things that are running rampant, there is still hope and redemption to be found and Mary Madison's story not only proves that, but is also altering the lives of others and leading them to freedom.
Absolutely fantastic read!

[Maria Elmvang · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started off really liking this book, but unfortunately it ended up going way over the top, and I ended up only finding it okay. The bad parts were really, really, bad; the good parts were toothache-inducing saccharine; every Christian was a wonderful person, and every non-Christian was an evil, evil monster (or, at the very best, neutral). All in all, it was just so black and white that it just got annoying.

I loved the relationship between Mary and Emma, but didn't buy the relationship between Terrance and Emma at all, and the relationship between Mary and Nigel just bugged me. Karen Kingsbury means well, but I think she tries too hard to give her books a Christian message, that it comes out as being unrealistic and stylized. I have read one amazing book by her though (Halfway to Forever) so I'm willing to not quite give up on her yet.

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a paragraph in this book that so aptly describes the message Karen kingsbury so skillfully portrays: "That is the love of Christ ... Full and whole, without judgment or reservation. Unconditional. When you fall, Jesus holds out a hand. When you turn away, He stands at the door of your heart, waiting, always waiting."

[Doreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring

I like how the stories unfolded and how the others could relate and feel the presence of God in their lives!

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really want to love Christian fiction and give raving reviews. I do. The cheese factor was there for me with this one. I think the author did a great job covering very hard topics without being descriptive. It was the male/female relationships that were odd to me, especially at the end. I think if those were left out or were done differently, I would've liked it more. Overall, a decent, heartwrenching, and often hard to read story. You should be prepared to read this as it is a heavy read. I had two books going at the same time with domestic violence and wish I hadn't. Domestic violence, child abuse, prostitution.

[Corryn Geheb · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.98. Wow this book was deep and hard. To think that many women go through this daily is absolutely horrific and heartbreaking. Thankful that there are people out there in the real world like Mary Madison helping people from these horrible situations. God is who he is and can bring people from death to life and I think this book is testament to that.

[Jelena Siljak · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have ever read. It was very easy to follow the story line, I cried and laughed. I highly recommend this book to ALL readers ❤️

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite book of mine

[Sarita · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! What an amazing book. I did not want to put this book down.

This is a tough book to read, not due to the writing but due to the events in the book. Karen Kingsbury is one of my all time favorite authors and this book once again proved why. The writing and story drew me in from the start and you feel part of the book, as if you are Emma discussing Mary's story with her.

I delayed reading this book due to the events; prostitution, sexual abuse to children and physical abuse to woman. It is really difficult issues to deal with, but instead of running from this, Karen embraced this in her book, dealing with this heavy issues in an amazing way. This was fiction, but how many woman out there live with this daily?

I loved the redemption part, and the truth that only Jesus can only set you totally free, which is 100% true.

Reading other reviews, it seems that the redemption/conversion part felt not real to some readers. I have to disagree with this (in my opinion). It might have felt like overnight/sudden, but God was working with these woman ever since they were born, and using people in their lives to pray for their salvation, and were still working after they got saved. For me this was evidence of the miraculous God, who never gives up and wants a relationship with everyone. He heals and restores and nothing is impossible for Him. I know a lot of people who were on the wrong track (drug users) and had a "overnight" conversion. In my opinion, if you meet God face to face, you will definitely not be the same. But yes, just my personal feelings.

I also did not understand the story between Nigel and Mary 100%.

I am very glad I finally read this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves contemporary Christian fiction books, especially the redemption power of Christ.

[Tracy Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is "Wow." For being an e-book freely given, this story just overwhelmed me. I haven't cried over a book in a long time, but this one definitely touched me enough to start the waterworks.
Karen Kingsbury is exceptional in her writing of this book. She carries you through the life of Mary Madison with such feeling as it is converyed to a young mother struggling to find her way though a similar lifestyle until she finds her way with the love of the Lord.
To be ever faithful and full of hope through such unspeakable attrocities such as she suffered, Mary Madison was a very strong and wonderful character. Telling her life tory to Emma, a young, suicidal mother in her shelter, and leading her to a spirtual and lovinving relationship with Jesus is definitely a "Divine" read!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an emotional, but uplifting Christian work of fiction.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so this book is fairly classic Karen Kingsbury. My beef with the book isn't the character development or the story of the main character its that for me its too preachy. I love good Christian Fiction but I like that to be woven into the story not dripping off of every page. The story of Mary, the main character, is compelling and heartbreaking and worth telling. It is supposed to be a modern day story of Mary Magdalene and on that it does a good job. I was ready for it to be over though by the time I got to the end. If you generally like Karen Kingsbury you'll like this book.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING! I honestly cannot believe how powerful this book is! I truly fell in love with the passionate and faith-driven Nigel... he really made a difference in Mary's and so many other peoples lives. I know that this story is loosely based on a true story (one that no one really knows very much about) but the powerful parts that the author imagined or took from truth was truly terrifying but equally inspiring!! Probably the first time I have realized the absolute power of God! I cried, laughed and rejoiced many times throughout this novel... wow!

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't read more than a few pages of this book. It starts from the outset with some outrageous Christian propaganda about absintence only education and even has some horribly false statistics on abstinence only education. Then the main character talks in condescending platitudes about the rough side of DC and how these "rough" kids aren't so rough now that they're going to Bible study classes. Uggh.

Thank goodness this was a free Friday download.

[Glenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this whole book pretty farfetched and kind of hoky, not because it was very much Christian fiction but because of how stupid Mary and Emma both were when they should have known better and learned from their mistakes. Also the police would have looked further into seeing if the grama was Mary's grama instead of not following up on it so that part was very unbelievable.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book about God's love for all people and how he forgives and loves us no matter what. No one is beyond his love. This is an excellent book to share with women in abusive and abusing situations in which they feel there is no hope or no way out.

[Elsa Eklund · Rating 2 out of 5]

En lättläst roman som ändå är trögläst kan inte få alltför högt vitsord enligt mig. Oftast är Kingsburys böcker medelmåttiga men den här var sämre än de flesta jag läst. Delvis tror jag det berodde på att jag inte orkade emotionellt engagera mig så jag läste boken utan att låta den påverka mig alltför djupt. Men det fanns också mycket annat i boken jag inte gillade, speciellt slutet!
Tror det blir en liten paus från Kingsbury för ett tag.

[Peggy Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply Moving

I felt all the characters and their stories in this book. This is the sure sign of an amazing author. What an amazing story of God's redemption in so many lives. Read it!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough book to read based on the topic… but really beautiful illustration of the story of Mary Magdalene and the Lords redeeming love.

[Storm Shultz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first Karen Kingsbury book I've read and with all of her hype I'll admit that I expected something different. I'm new to reading Christian fiction and I've avoiding it because I worried that CF books would be... well, cheesy and a little unrealistic. Which is unfortunately how Divine came across.

Firstly, Mary and a couple other Christian characters in Divine all seem to have a direct conversation with God EVERY time they pray or even vaguely think about God. The second they think about God, He answers. Which is honestly a weird idea to try to present. Does that mean I'm not saved if I don't hear God's voice in my ear when I'm thinking about Him? No. Obviously not, and while it may just be a writing style to explain that Mary and the others are close to God, it took me out of the story.

Also, it seems fairly obvious to me that Kingsbury has never suffered abuse or struggled with addiction. Which is wonderful for her, but her characters come across as cheesy tropes of druggies and victims of abuse. As I was reading this it just made me think that Kingsbury had never seen someone with a rough past, much less talked to someone with a rough past before.

I love the idea of the story. I like the story itself, but the writing left a lot to be desired. If I were trying to get a new convert to read Christian fiction, I would not have them read this book. If I wanted a Christian book to give to someone who struggled with addiction or abuse, I would not give them this book. I'll try another one of her books, because I hate to write off an author from one mediocre book. Kingsbury does a good job writing about the actual abuse without getting graphic, which I appreciate.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very dear student of mine gave me a copy of this book to read: Kingsbury is one of her favorite authors and they are e-mail correspondants. For my Contemporary Fiction class, each student selected a contemporary author to report on, and this student naturally chose Karen Kingsbury.

I am not the usual audience for a Christian fiction novel, and so the book did not work for me as it would for a reader who is looking for a conversion story. However, it is a typical conversion story (abused girl who has been taught to use her sexuality to get by in the world is transformed into a Christian social worker) and it works on that level. There is even a secondary character, another abused woman, addicted to drugs, who is converted by the main character's story. the main character is supposed to be a modern day version of Mary Magdalene.

There are descriptions of women being beaten and abused by men, and, though the details are slight, or perhaps because the details are airbrushed, the descriptions reminded me a little too much of 50 Shades, and the thought occurred to me that the Christian women readers the book is addressed to might actually use such scenes as fantasy fodder. But, I think the fodder is more emotional release/catharsis than anything else.

The novel is also better written than 50 Shades of Grade, interestingly.

So, I finished the book, knowing it wasn't my cup of tea (in our class, we read works by Morrison, DeLillo, McCarthy, Egan----quite the opposite of Kingsbury), but knowing that my student adored the book, and I appreciated that insight into the raw emotional power such a story has on very many readers. She taught me something.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I broke a record in reading this book in less than a day.

Again the characters came alive in Karen's book. It opens our eyes to the hurts, disappointments and failures of others that are all covered by the love of Jesus. I love the way bible stories are told and the love of Jesus is explained. A wonderful read that you don't want to miss

If you have been abused or know of anyone going through abuse this story would be a great read for you!

Best-selling author Karen Kingsbury weaves another dramatic story of tragedy and redemption!

Mary Madison was a child of unspeakable horrors, a young woman society wanted to forget. Now a divine power has set Mary free to bring life-changing hope and love to battered and abused women living in the shadow of the nation's capital.

Mary is educated and redeemed, a powerful voice in Washington, D.C.—both to the politically elite and to other women like her. But she also has a past that shamed polite society. Her experiences created in her paralyzing fear, faithlessness, addiction, and promiscuity. At the crossroads of her life, only one power set Mary free and gave her a lifetime of love and hope. A power that could only be divine.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Karen Kingsbury has done a marvelous job of dealing with a very difficult subject, abuse. I have been involved in the foster care system as a foster parent and have dealt with some of the issues covered in this story, so it was a very emotional, but satisfying, read for me. Karen does an excellent job of letting you into the hearts and minds of her characters; you feel like they are your friends. Her writing style is simple, but clear, and she is a master at letting you feel the tension of what is happening without resorting to being graphic. I probably wouldn't have lasted through the entire book if another author had written it. This would be an excellent book to let someone know that whatever regrets or hurts you have in your past, a relationship with Christ is the only way to truly escape the scars of abuse and heal. Very well done!