Melissa Rosenberger is a new to me author and I am grateful that I was introduced to her work. She is the perfect combination of Tessa Afshar and Connilyn Cossette to me. She flawlessly blends fiction, historical facts and biblical accounts together to craft and a heart gripping story. This story follows the life of Yeshua through the eyes of his sister Hannah. It shows the familial relationships between the family of Yeshua and how he may have interacted with his younger siblings.

Hannah is the second oldest child of Mary's children but the first born of Joseph's. At the beginning of the story we see an 8 year old little girl yearning for her parents attention. She becomes resentful of her older brother Yeshua and grows to believe things that don't align with God's will for her life. We grow with Hannah to the age of 30 and see her life unfold.

Hannah was so aggravating to me! She mainly irritated me, but I could also somewhat relate to her feelings a bit. Hannah made everything about her at all times. She didn't care to think about others too much. She wanted to be pampered and treated like royalty which in turn made her compromise the law in certain aspects. Seeing her follow her own path even though Yeshua always kept his arms open gutted me. She made her life miserable by running away from him. It wasn't until the end that she began to truly acknowledge the truth of who Yeshua was.

Yeshua was PHENOMENAL! Seeing him from the age of 12 to 33 and hearing of his ministry through friends and family was intriguing. He was a humble person from beginning to end. He was full of compassion and grace for all. He never discriminated or withheld his love from others. He was full of godly wisdom and showed how much he and the Father was one.

Elan was such a humble and loving man! He made me happy. I wish he had a better end romance wise. He was hardworking, caring and his faith was unshakable from a young age. He believed Yeshua was the Anointed One and had no qualms with stating his belief in him. Elan was also wise in his ways. I adored him.

Miryam (Mary) was a mother -- lol. What I mean by that is that you could see her humanity. She got angry and felt hurt by the words of Yeshua, but she also knew he had purposed and who his true Father was. She was hesitant as any mother should be, but she allowed Yeshua to be who he was meant to be. She never held him back.

Olmer and his parents, Gal & Raziela, were all twisted men. They were Sadducees who were concerned with earthly wealth, prosperity and views of man. They feared Herod and the Romans more than God. I disliked each of them from the very beginning.

Ya'akov (James), Yosi (Joseph) Shim'on (Simon) and Y'hudah (Jude) -- the brothers of Yeshua -- were all so uniquely written. There wasn't much of Y'hudah as he was the youngest. Shim'on reminded me of my son in the early parts of the book. As a five year old he cracked me up. I don't remember much of Yosi, but I loved Ya'akov. They all seemed to love Yeshua, but they also didn't fully understand him at the same time.

Shlomit (Salome) the younger of all the siblings was adorable. Like Elan, her faith in Yeshua was amazing. She was only an infant at the beginning of the story, but to see her have more faith in her brother then the older siblings was insane. She was awesome.

The faith within this story was phenomenal. For me, I learned to just trust in Jesus from the beginning. Earthly wealth and riches have no true meaning and will always leave you feeling just as empty as you were from the start. Seeing Yeshua touch many lives in this story and hearing the miracles he performed from others was amazing.

The world-building was just as great. I was pulled into the time and locations each turn of the page.

I highly recommend this book to all!

I honestly don't know what I thought of this book.

In some ways, I feel like the writing could have been stronger -- however, I did read a review copy, so perhaps it wasn't the final version. I also felt like the book got off to a slow start.

But eventually, it picked up the pace, and overall I just appreciated how... REAL it was. Hannah, the MC, drove me CRAZY because she was so human and I saw many of my flaws in her all too clearly. One thing I did appreciate was that this was Hannah's story. The author didn't try to force her into situations and such so that she would witness specific moments of Jesus' ministry. Instead, Hannah fit into the life of Jesus where it was logical and realistic.

Hannah's life was also real-seeming. She didn't have an overly exciting life, just that of a Jewish daughter and sister and wife. Sure, it wasn't quite normal, what with having a brother who happened to be the Son of God, but still. I appreciated the bits of history and culture woven throughout the book. They added depth without making it a textbook.

I also love/hate the fact that certain loose ends weren't tied up. Not all her problems were resolved. She didn't end up reconciling with everyone. A lot of things that were hinted at for the reader were left unconfirmed. But while that does bother me a little bit, it strengthens the fact that Hannah is SO human. Her life goes on past the reader's glimpse. Her story doesn't get tied up ina bow, it goes on, just as ours does.

Lastly, I love Biblical historical fiction and have read a lot of it in my time. And I have to say, I did enjoy this unique look at it. The author took some creative liberties, but I think she did a very good job of staying true to Scripture. A book about a sibling of Jesus is very creative.

Content warnings:
Cussing: None
Nudity: Some bathing is briefly mentioned
Sexual content: Some kisses. It's implied that a married couple had sex. Overall, I think that the author was very tasteful.
Gore: Jesus' post-crucifixion body is described. Vomiting. A few times, men with significant injuries or illnesses are described.
Other: An unmarried man is implied to be in love with a married woman. Handled tastefully. Man acts with purity.

As hard as growing up in the shadow of a sibling who mostly pleases their parents would be, just imagine having an older sibling who was perfect. Literally AND figuratively!!

While I have never contemplated what this would be like, I'm so glad that author Melissa Rosenberger did! This poignant account speculates what it would have been like to be the younger sister of the Son of God.

When I first saw the description, I was intrigued, though I have to confess to being a little skeptical. This was quite a daring undertaking for any author, especially for a debut novel! It didn't take long before my husband was barraged with my gushing about just how much I was loving the story. He commented after the fifth or hundredth time, "I guess this is going to be on your Best of the Year list, isn't it?"

There was so much to love about this story! First of all, an extremely unique perspective. While I imagine I would have adored an older brother as much as I did my older sister, it would have been difficult living in Jesus's shadow. "Just once, I'd like to see you eat your vegetables like Jesus does!" "Jesus always keeps his things picked up, why can't you do that?" "You never see Jesus shirking his chores, now do you?"

The path Hannah chose made so much sense, even though her other siblings remained content living their lives in the way they had been raised. If the author had Hannah remain in Nazareth, we would have lost the perspective of the family she married into, and that would have changed everything!

Honestly, I didn't like Hannah's whining and self-centered attitude at all yet it was necessary for the story. I was so enthralled, though, I believe that if there was no repentance by the conclusion, I would have still loved it. Fortunately, for her and us, she did change and her life lessons, though extremely painful, were powerful.

I was so impressed with the conversations throughout the book. I've read stories where the author attempts to give background and teach via conversations that felt forced and unnatural. And there have been those where this technique worked. However, I don't remember another book where it was done so well!

As for "Best of the Year"? In the Shadow of the King is absolutely a candidate. So I encourage (heartily) anyone who enjoys Biblical fiction to snatch this book up and see why I feel this way.

I have so many feels over this book.

On the one hand, I really didn’t like the main character, Hannah. But on the other hand, I saw a lot of myself in her, my own faults that I dislike so much. I could see where she would make the choices she did. I think the author intended me to feel the way I did.

I’m not a huge fan of books that are based on the Bible, since so often the scripture is watered down and then you are left with a saccharine story. But I give author credit, she did a marvelous job in not doing that. She developed the believable story of what Jesus’ family might have been like. We know he had brothers and sisters, and she captured these people in a way that I could buy. I’ve always sort of thought of James as a “prickly” guy. She captures that. I loved they way she wrote Mary and Joseph. Plus, I appreciated that she used the Jewish names for people, places and holidays.

I’ll be watching for the sequel.