Jill Smith did a good job of fleshing out Hannah's story. The fiction was well woven in the midst of biblical fact. I thought the story was a bit slow and hard to initially get into but the author did a great service to this Biblical story.

I've read the story of Hannah so I'm ashamed to admit that I couldn't recall that her husband had two wives. While I don't think that Biblical fiction should take the place of the Bible, this is why I am a fan of the genre. It always prompts me to open up the scriptures and read them. It helps me retain details such as these that slip from my mind.

A Passionate Hope tells the story of Hannah and how she must have felt as the barren wife. Elkanah favored Hannah, the Bible tells us this in 1 Samuel 1. It also tells us how Peninnah (his other wife) mocked and provoked Hannah until she wept and refused to eat.

Jill Eileen Smith captured the heart of Hannah in a beautiful, thought-provoking way. I appreciated that she also gave a fictional account as to why Peninnah would have so provoked Hannah. It's the subtlety of motive that I often do not consider when I'm reading scripture. It is why these books are such a blessing to me. It helps me humanize the experience.

This author tells Hannah's story beautifully. I felt her pain and despair, her hope and her joy. This is a book that I would suggest for anyone that loves the story of Hannah.

This book was provided to me by the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review, and have not been compensated for this. All opinions are my own.

This book gives you a taste of life long ago as Hannah and Elkanah try to hold onto hope and faith as their life does not progress as hoped. When her husband takes another wife, Hannah must hold on to her faith even more that her relationship with her husband will be as it once was.

I don't know how I would react if I were pushed aside as Hannah was. She knew that Elkanah loved her and that children were important, but it would be hard to stay nice with the things that were going on in her life

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, the review is entirely my own.

The next book in the series gives a new perspective to the story of Samuel’s parents.

Hannah and Elkanah share a deep love for one another. Even after having been married for several years and not conceiving a child, they still find enough with just each other. Unfortunately, that is not the case for others, including Elkanah’s mother. After much nagging, he agrees to take a second wife, Peninnah, who immediately produces a son. Although Peninnah is producing heirs, Elkanah still loves Hannah more, which pits them against each other. Peninnah continually scorns and mocks Hannah throughout their life. One night at the temple, Hannah pours out her heart to the Lord and makes a vow that if he will give her a son, she will give him back to be raised at the Temple. Shortly after this, she conceives a son and makes a vow that he shall be a Nazarite. Samuel is born and is raised by Eli the priest, but still sees his parents when they are in Shiloh. Now that Hannah is bearing children, she and Peninnah are even more at odds with each other. Can the two ever get along?

My favorite aspect of this book was having the story told from the three different viewpoints of the main characters. When reading the story in the Bible, most people probably sympathize with Hannah as the wrongfully treated wife who is mocked because she doesn’t have children. So, hearing the story in her words really brought the understanding of Jewish customs to a new level during the time period. However, also hearing it from Elkahan and Peninnah made it much more real. What must Elkannah have gone through with the hostility from both his mother and his second wife? And how did he feel when we had to give up the firstborn son from the woman he loved? The hurt Peninnah must have felt from never being loved as much as Hannah must have been awful for her. As always, Jill Eileen Smith brings an old testament story to life with vibrancy and excitement while still keeping an emotional connection to her audience!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

I have read a few of Jill Eileen Smith's biblical fiction of different women in the bible, each time the amount of time, research & imagination she puts into each book amazes me. I have loved each book and this one was no different. Most of us know who Hannah is, the Godly woman that asks God for a son as she has not been able to conceive. She promises to give her son "Samuel" to God, to go and serve in the temple when he reaches a certain age. From a few verses and much research Jill gives us an entire book. Filled with so much love, compassion, animosity between different characters, beautiful descriptions of the landscape and what life was like at this time in history. I was immediately pulled into the story and could not put it down. I read until 4 a.m. when i finally knew i had to put it down & wait until morning to finish. I highly recommend this book to any lovers of biblical fiction or of a beautiful romance.
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book for free, They asked that I would leave an honest review. This review is my own honest opinion of this wonderful book.

Jill Eileen Smith, one of the best Biblical historical fiction writers, has again written an unforgettable saga. This time she tackles the story of Hannah, Samuel’s mother. She brings Hannah to life by filling in details of her life based on the brief mention of her in 1st and 2nd Samuel. She allows you to get a glimpse into the life of the people of ancient Israel, especially the women. Hannah’s story is particularly poignant because she is barren. Although her husband, Elkanah, loves her deeply, due to family pressure, he takes a second wife, Peninnah, to beget an heir. Although Peninnah has many children, she is jealous of the love Hannah receives from Elkanah and makes her life miserable. Through graciousness, a loving nature and a strong faith in God, Hannah perseveres and is blessed with Samuel and is showered with many additional blessings.

Ms. Smith tells her tales in the third person, in chronological order. This makes them easy to follow and appreciate. It allows her to fill in a multitude of details that help to not only communicate a story but allows one to experience it. You can almost feel the warm breezes and smell the food that is cooking over the fires. Her characters are also well developed. You strongly sense Peninnah’s animosity towards Hannah. Hannah’s love of God and faith also are very evident even in her heartache.

I strongly recommend this book for readers of all ages. Ms. Smith’s strong faith allows her to bring life to whichever biblical woman she chooses to write about. Although they are fiction, they are based on Bible stories that become alive with the everyday aspects supplied. Once you have read one of her books, you will become hooked and want to read them all.

This is a wonderful biblical fiction story. Jill Eileen Smith knows how to bring biblical characters to life. She can take a paragraph from the Bible and make you understand what was going on in these peoples minds. She makes me laugh and cry. I received a copy of this book from Revell and from the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

My review is 3.5 Stars

Hannah’s story has always been one that has touched my heart, so when I saw this book, I was very curious to read it. The author did a great job in describing how and why Elkanah might have had two wives when he clearly loved Hannah more than Peninnah. Her thoughts as to how the actions of Hophni and Phineas, the corrupt priests, could have grieved other Levites (and Israelites in general) makes perfect sense and ended up being a very interesting element of the book.

The emotions in the book were very intense, and I felt almost as if I was experiencing them myself. I greatly appreciated the deep love that both Hannah and Elkanah had such a deep reverence and love for the Lord and the way it was evidence throughout the story.

The author’s love for the Lord shines clearly in this book, though I won’t consider this story to be Christian Fiction (because it does not contain any Christian message other than very subtly). It is most certainly Biblical Fiction and would be appreciated by all who love the Old Testament.

There were a few places in the book where things didn’t seem consistent with other things that had been said. I hate to give any spoilers and say exactly what they were. And the overall mood of the book was loneliness, though there were some sweet moments of praise.

There were some serious thematic elements to the story that make this a book best for adults, in my opinion.


This review was originally posted on AmongTheReads.net

I am grateful to Revell for giving me a copy of this book. The fact I received this book for free does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A Passionate Hope
Hannah's Story
by Jill Eileen Smith
Revell

Christian
Pub Date 06 Feb 2018


I am reviewing a copy of A Passionate Hope through Revell and Netgalley:


This book will transport us back to to the Old Testament time of Hannah and her husband Elkanah. Hannah and her husband Elkanah show a deep abiding love for each other as well as for his Tabernacle in Shiloh, but the corruption by the Priests greatly hurts them and they play for restoration and deliverance, but years pass and nothing changes. They also discover Hannah is barren.


After being pressured by his family Elkanah takes another wife Peninnah and she quickly begins to have children. Hannah feeling disgraced and taunted by Peninnah quickly turns to prayer, a prayer that seems to go unanswered. Her Husbands new wife taunts and teases her, but despite Peninnah's cruelty Hannah remains kind.


Hannah cannot help but wonder why her pleas are not answered, why her kindness to a cruel women don't seem to go noticed, or does it?

I give A Passionate Hope five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Wow! A Passionate Hope, fourth in the Daughters of the Promised Land series, is another wonderfully written historical novel by Jill Eileen Smith. Having read others in this series, I knew what to expect and was not disappointed. Hannah, probably a fairly well-known woman of the Scriptures, comes to life at the hand of this author. She is the beloved yet barren wife of Elkanah and has loved and obeyed Adonai all her years. Why would He not hear her cries and answer her prayers? Even knowing the Biblical account and how it begins and ends, I am impressed with the wonderful job the author does of fleshing out the individuals, crafting them into characters that are believable and have issues that readers can connect with. Hannah, blessed with a husband who has given her his total affection and yet she is often filled with despair and time and again feels worthless sometimes to the point of wishing she could just disappear from this life God has given her. Elkanah is portrayed as a man whose heart is after God, sorrowful for his beloved wife, and a dutiful husband to Peninnah, the haughty and embittered sister-wife. In reading this book, I am reminded of the old adage 'there is nothing new under the sun'. Some of the behaviors the author writes of could be headlines from current newspapers. Dynamic dialogue, descriptive scenes and the smooth flow of the story grab and keep the reader's attention. A Passionate Hope is a story of a woman who wants to give God all she has and of a God who hears and restores the brokenness in one's heart, a story you do not want to miss.
I received a copy of the book from the publisher and was not required to write a review. The opinions are my own.

I found it impossible not to get caught up in this story as Hannah, the mother of Samuel, struggles with the shame of her barrenness despite her faithfulness to God. Even if you have never known that pain and despair personally (or the pain of having to share your husband, for that matter!), I guarantee you will feel as though you have by the time you finish this novel.

It can be difficult for modern readers to understand why a God-fearing man would take two wives, but Jill Eileen Smith did a good job of making Elkanah’s decision understandable (in context) even as the wisdom in doing so remained questionable. Over the course of the novel, Peninnah and Hannah became a study in contrasts, each responding in completely opposite ways to being denied the thing they want most—Peninnah, with bitterness and selfish ambition, and Hannah, by clinging to the Lord and refusing to repay bitterness in kind.

Obviously, my heart went out to Hannah. And yet, I couldn’t help but be sympathetic to Peninnah, in spite of her character. The author did great justice to her by considering why Peninnah might have been so antagonistic towards Hannah and shaping her story accordingly. You can see what lies at the root of her bitterness and the way in which her circumstances water those roots, and I actually found myself hoping that she would eventually break free from that destructive cycle. I’ll let you discover for yourself whether those hopes were realized!

The story plays out against the backdrop of the corrupt priesthood of Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas, and as always, Jill Eileen Smith’s historical and Biblical details are well-researched, enhancing the retelling. Recommended for lovers of Biblical fiction.

Elkanah has waited for some years for the girl he fell in love with to grow up, and finally they marry, against the wishes of some members of his family, especially his mother. Each is deeply in love with the other, and they learn to deal with the difficulties cast in their way by his mother, but trouble arises when Hannah bears no children. The pressure to marry a second wife increases, with the suggested bride being the daughter of his mother's best friend. Still in love with Hannah, Elkanah finally agrees to take a second wife, Peninnah, to bear him children. She does so, and life becomes even harder for Hannah, as the loved but barren wife. The tale of their lives together, and her vow of desperation, make a compelling story, set as it is against the background of a corrupt priesthood.

The story forms a memorable read both for those who consider it as Biblical fiction, a Bible story fleshed out with fiction to bring it to life, and for any who don't care about the Bible story and merely want an enjoyable piece of historical fiction. I didn't come across anything that struck me as being biblically or historically incorrect, and was enthralled by the way that the story I've known all my life was brought to life through fiction. Good lessons were brought out of the story too, but not in a preachy way.

Overall, a good book, with a good plot, realistic characters and a good message. The historical background is woven in carefully along the way without ever feeling like a history lesson, and the reader is able to feel like they are 'there'. It isn't what I would call a light read, but one to come back to and think about. Having said that, though, the writing was such as to keep me enthralled on a plane, when concentration can be difficult! So, this book is one that I would highly recommend, and it's an author I'll be looking out for more of.

Plot: good
Content: clean
Language/writing style: good writing, with no bad language
Characters: felt realistic
Overall rating: 5 stars

Note that I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review and this is my considered opinion of the book.

Hannah's story in the Bible is very short. So I was interested in how author Jill Eileen Smith would write a full novel based on a woman with only a passing glance in Scripture. I was surprised and pleased to read her fiction novel, A Passionate Hope. In it, Mrs. Smith captures the character of Hannah in a new way.

Hannah is a young woman who has caught the eye of Elkanah. He is drawn to her beauty and devotion to the Lord. After a short courtship, they are happily married. The only black spot in their wedded bliss, is Elkanah's family. His domineering parents insist they live with the rest of the family in one large house with no privacy. Eventually, the couple move across the fields with Elkanah's brother and his wife.

As the years pass with no children for Hannah, Elkanah's mother begins to nag him to marry again. She wants more grandchildren and Hannah clearly is barren. Against his better judgement, Elkanah takes a neighbor's daughter, Peninniah as a second wife. As Peninnah gives birth again again and again, Hannah's despair increases. Peninnah enjoys making fun of Hannah and comments as often as possible about her lack of children.

In desperation, Hannah cries out to God for a child and promises to give him back to God all his life. God grants her prayer and blesses her with more children later in her life.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading, A Passionate Hope. Even though the story of Hannah and Samuel is a well known Bible story, I felt I was reading it for the first time. I think the author did an excellent job at writing a story in a way that could have happen.

I love biblical fiction stories. A Passionate Hope, by Jill Eileen Smith, tells the story of the biblical woman, Hannah. It is the fourth Daughter’s of the Promised Land book series, and is a great stand-alone book. Though little is mentioned about her in the Bible, this story is created in such a way that it gives us a taste of what it was like for her during her life. The customs, the living conditions, dangers, and more, are highly researched and make the story come alive. The mix of history and fiction not only entertains, but also teaches us so much of the time of the Judges. I feel I’ve learned so much.

There is limited Biblical information on Hannah. We know that she was barren and yearned for children. In A Passionate Hope, Hannah’s story is fleshed out, instilling emotions, hardships, and fears, as well as faith, redemption, and patience.

I learned so much about the lifestyles and customs of the characters.

Hannah: I adore her and the way she chose to live her life—in reverence to God and His ways. We would all do well to have her faith, strength, and perseverance.

Elkanah: He loves Hannah so much—but I have to say, he frustrated me at times. I wanted him to be stronger, more assertive, but he was annoyingly passive at times. He is a good man, but felt rather weak.

Peninnah: She is the perfect antagonist! She made me so angry (which is a good thing—creating tension and kept me turning pages.) I had sympathy for her, yet I wanted to make her go away as well. I love a character that creates strong feelings in me!

The secondary characters are memorable as well, and add so much to the story.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Biblical Fiction. This is a deeply emotional and memorable book.

Cover: Love
Title: Love
Pages: 368
Publisher: Revell
First Line (Prologue): Hannah walked with her father and brothers and fellow Kohathites from Ramathaim-zophim in the hills of Ephraim, nearly skipping for joy at the chance to accompany them Shiloh during their week of work.
I was blessed to receive a complimentary copy of this book.

Do you like Biblical Fiction? If so, you will not be disappointed in this story. We all know that Hannah gave Samuel back to God, but this book shows us what Hannah's life might have been like. The story is very well written. The characters are very well developed. You feel like you could be Hannah's sister or neighbor.

The story flows well and doesn't drag at all. It also isn't so fast-paced you get lost or left behind. It starts with Hannah as a young teen and follows her story through her adult life. Even though this is fiction, it is a very believable account of how her life may have been. I was interested from the very beginning and was not disappointed at all.

It is not at all a preachy kind of book. It does show Hannah's faith and what that kind of faith can do for a person. It is a very uplifting story, although Hannah's life is definitely not a bed of roses.

I asked Baker Publishing for a chance to read and review this book and was given the book to review. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and any who like a good, historical Christian fiction book.

​Sometimes the smallest stories in the Bible turn out to be the biggest, life-changing ones. Author Jill Eileen Smith has taken the story of Hannah (the mother of Samuel) and breathed so much life into it that I feel as if I've gone back in time and mourned and rejoiced along with Hannah herself.

The characters of Hannah and her husband Elkanah were very well-developed, and while the two were wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord, the author has shown that even then sometimes we fail miserably at being obedient to the One we serve.

Like Abraham and Sarah who prayed for a son and whom God promised they would have, Elkanah gave into the sin of polygamy by refusing to wait on God. How Hannah endured the taunts and barbs of his new wife Penninah, who gave him child after child, is shown throughout this book. I was actually angry at Elkanah because he deliberately cheated on his wife, to get what he wanted - children. Granted, he was forced into the marriage by his mother, and even by Hannah who grudgingly agreed but still, he could have said no.

But then the theme of this story would not have come through - that of waiting on God for our answers to prayer. That, I believe is the hardest part of being obedient to God. We like to think we can force His hand or prod it along to get our way, but God has the final say in the matter.

Smith did an excellent job including biblical accounts of the evil priests Phineas and Hophni, preparing the way for the son Hannah would eventually have - Samuel, who would help bring change to Israel.

If you want an inspiring read, that will stay with you days later grab a copy of A Passionate Hope!