This is a story about Jesus's brother, Yakov. This is the story of how he reluctantly becomes the leader of a new secret society and how things change when they learn that Jesus has been resurrected. Can they reconcile the teacher and human that they knew with the new god?

I had some difficulty understanding this book, because i didn't know there were differences between James and Paul! I think that as Christians, we should be aware of what Jesus actually preached. I am more likely to believe his brother whom he appointed to take over than someone he had helped. I think this is an excellent story that places good emphasis on what the political climate was like during this period as well. Parts of the story were a bit dry, but all in all it was a good read.

I appreciate the publisher letting me read this book for free. I found the plot really interesting but had a rough time liking any of the characters.

The Holy Conspiracy is very Entertaining & stimulating. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the insights it offers into the story of Jesus and the role of religion. I thought it was very entertaining and thought-provoking. I highly recommend it.

I'm always interested in a good historical novel, especially one that deals with biblical themes. I found this book fascinating and imaginative. I like it when an author can take base facts that we know about something and wind them into a believable and entertaining tale and this book does just that.

Whilst I am certainly not a Christian, I do find the stories of Christ and his followers and family members of great interest. This book gives the reader a good, solid back story with just the right balance of excitement and intrigue. I enjoyed the author's writing style, finding her way of revealing mysteries a little at a time to my liking, and was eager to continue reading when I had to set this book down.

If you are a fan of the Da Vinci Code and other books based on controversial biblical history, this will hit all the right spots. Recommended.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely love the spiritual book. I would highly recommend reading this. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this .

I really enjoyed this story of what happens to some of the apostles after Jesus crucifixion,where Jesus brother tries to keep his work going along with John,Peter,Paul and Mariamne, who was the closest to Jesus,who was supposed to have been his wife. Men back in that time didn't take women's word of ideas very seriously. Follow these characters as you learn that they have fears and faith just like real people. This was a very easy read and it filled in some of the blanks that the Bible doesn't say,not to say it happened the way this is written but you make up your own mind. I don't really even know for sure Jesus was even married..Kristi did a lot of research on this book,you can tell.. Guess we will never ever know for sure what happened back then in those times,but it's nice to hear about what may have happened..you will enjoy this story

If this was not labeled as historical fiction it would have made me consider this as historical nonfiction. Duarte wrote a magnificent book. Duarte did a lot of research for this book to happen. This book is beautiful, just beautiful. I am not one to really read anything religious but this one I couldn't pass up. It gave me a different view of other religions because let's face it, we need to be more open-minded to other beliefs as well not just ours.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Conspicuum Press for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

#TheHolyConspiracy #NetGalley

this was a really interesting read, I enjoyed the premise and was fully hooked to finish it from beginning to end. I look forward to more from the author.

I went on an emotional roller coaster with this book. I got this book from Net Galley. I saw the title, description and the cover and thought, this looks interesting. I loved how the author used the real names of the apostles. It gave a touch of authenticity. But then I started to see "issues." Mary was a mess. Magdalene was inferred to be an ex-whore and they spoke nothing of the Resurrection. They laughed at Paul with the idea. I kept thinking that this was all wrong. But as I read on I realized that this was from their perspective, not my American, Catholic, 21st Century perspective. I then realized, I had forgotten, about Nag Hammadi and the Jerusalem Assembly and this is from that perspective. In this new light the book is brilliant!
Seeing the book this way changed all for me. Even if I did not reach this point there were aspects that I loved. Mainly, showing the apostles, those left behind, as they most likely were. As real men and women. That is one of the major lessons that I had learned from Jesus is that he was just a man. He was like us. God is in us, we are one with God. This showed that absolutely brilliantly. And we saw their humanity - the good, the bad the ugly. People also do not realize the schism between Paul and the others, even after his death it took a while for his version of Christianity to take hold and by then it went in yet another direction. Utterly interesting seeing it from this view. What if Paul was wrong and this sinister? What if a Jewish-Christian fusion was the real goal? Keeping the Jewish traditions but also with these new Christian ideas. Reading this - while a fiction - got me to think about deeper, spiritual ideas. What if the real Messiah is enlightenment? Knowing that we are one with God and truly living that?
A thoroughly enjoyable book. It works well as a fiction and a "Hmmm, maybe it did happen this way." The author was true to the historic reality and yet wove in the fiction so subtly and expertly. This is what one wants in a historical fiction. The only negative, in the end, was that the book did in fact end. Will look out for this author in the future!

This was an overall good book. It was very factual. You could tell that the author did her research prior to writing this book. However, the names confused me. I know that there was a reference of "who's who" but I still kept confusing them since a lot of the looked the same. This book also read as nonfiction. It was very slow paced and overall not much happened.

I thought the book was a little dry. I enjoyed the plot but thought the book was very slow paced. The book was interesting.

Unfortunately, this book is not for me. Having read "Christ the Lord" by Anne Rice, I found the premise of this book intriguing and fascinating. But I failed to get that connection to the characters and the pacing of the story. I wished I could have loved it, but this just fell short for my taste. I suggest readers to find a good mood in reading this novel

The research in this novel is crisp, and detailed, but, it is sad that the resources at the back of the book form the highlights that give the most interesting reading material.
Dan Brown sparked off world wide interest with the idea that Jesus married and his descendants may live in modern day France, and this book brings all these characters and theories to life. Set in the days following the crucifixion, the disciples went into hiding. Someone was needed to step up as leader and send people out to spread the Good News.
The brother of Jesus doesn’t feel ready, he keeps saying that Jesus was an ordinary man, and not a Messiah. Peter, the Rock, was chosen to build a community, but faced competition from Saul of Tarsus, who was believed to be a spy for the Romans.
Using the Aramaic names throughout, was confusing, and it wasn’t a very optimistic read, no real plans were alluded to, Mary was ignored, even when she had advice and knowledge, and eventually, I wondered what the purpose of this book was. If it was to supplement Bible studying, then it did raise interesting arguments, but as always, it is up to the reader to decide if this is enough to consider buying this work of fiction.
I gave this a three star read, due to the excellent resources at the end of this book. I will leave a review to Goodreads and Amazon later. Thank you for a thought provoking read.

This is well researched account of the history of Jesus (Yeshua) and his followers. In an effort to maintain historical accuracy, the author used traditional Hebrew names of the disciples, which was difficult at first. What really draws me to religious historical fiction is the honesty and truth in the development of the Christian Church.

I am not a very religious person so I feel that I have a different relationship to these type of novels than others who may value organized religion more. As a history undergrad I loved learning about the development of the Catholic Church and their expansion over the Western World. I've never dug deep into the true beginnings of the church; the historicalness of Jesus and his disciples. This book opened my eyes to how we morphed from Yeshua's original teachings to modern Christianity.

My only thing that I really struggled with is, it is a slog of a novel. There is not much action and it is borderline a non-fiction text. The story is a bit hard to follow and there isn't a TON of background information to get the novel going. Overall, it wasn't bad, I felt I learned a great deal. It was just a slightly difficult novel to get through.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

The Holy Conspiracy follows Jesus' (Yeshua) movement after his crucifixion. It is a dramatization of how Jesus' message changed from its original form to what we know the message of Christianity to be today. If this is something that offends you, steer clear of this book. If however, you're like me and find the history of religion fascinating, you might want to give this book a chance.

The main tension of this book lies between Yakov, Yeshua's brother; Miriamne, Yeshua's wife; and Saul (Paul). As per the custom of the time, Miriamne has been taken in by Yakov and his family. Yakov is trying to fill the shoes of Yeshua, but stumbles along the way unsure of himself and what Yeshua would want him to do. Miriamne hopes to support him and helps him find his voice. (She struggles with what Yeshua would want her to do, too.) Saul, having never met Yeshua, approaches the others one day saying he'd had a vision and spoken to Yeshua and had a clear understanding of what Yeshua's message is meant to be. The others disagree. (As someone who has always disliked Paul and the parts he's added to Christianity, I much appreciated the skepticism with which both Miriamne and Yakov approached him.)

While I agree with some others that there isn't much action in this book, I don't think there was meant to be constant action. This is more a book of understanding: understanding a message and understanding one's self. I very much liked that aspect of the book. It's very character-driven.

This book is very well-researched. I appreciated that. It went beyond what is taught in churches and delved into actual history. While we don't know exactly what happened, we do know some things changed...and this seems like a viable option. I don't want to spoil anything, but it was great seeing how certain aspects were changed from what Yeshua said to what Saul said, leading us to modern day Christianity.

My biggest problem with the book were the use of, what I'm assuming, are traditional Jewish names. I like the idea as it lends more truthfulness to the book. However, as most people are familiar with most people in this book by different names, it can be confusing to the reader as they decipher who is who. There is a handy who's who chart at the back of the book - but by the time you get there, you've already figured it out. I would have preferred that chart being at the front of the book. I could have more easily flipped to it in the beginning as I was solidifying the characters in my head. It would have made the first few chapters infinitely more enjoyable. (There's also some useful historical information in the back of the book, too. If you're into the actual history of Christianity, you won't find anything new. But, if you've only come in contact with the pre-packaged version, you'll find some interesting info there.)

I'd recommend this book to anyone who finds the history of religion interesting. While it is a work of fiction, it is well-researched and entertaining. Or, if you enjoy character-driven dramatizations, you'll want to pick this up, too!

I was offered an ARC to read in exchange for my honest feedback from NetGallery.

First of all, allow me to appreciate immense research on the topic the author completed for this work.
This is an absolutely 5-star read for me ( there are problems, like physical attractions all over the book, but I do understand the author did it to remind us that no matter who we discuss, they are humans).
I am mind-blown and honestly, having a hard time to categorize genre because this is basically retelling with the notes of historical fiction, I surely cannot categorize as just historical fiction, because so many facts were already discussed, this book elaborated the known facts and speculated some, that are again known, yet not confirmed.
For me personally, being very acquainted with this topic due to personal interest and early Christianity history, this book seems like a reimagination of real conversation with just hunts and notes of fiction, which again is not a total fiction at the end of the day.
The work presents Jewish practices of early Christianity, which I appreciate, we sometimes forget the bases of religion. Along the work, we see the Judean side of this story.
This book should come with a very heavy content warning because it is certainly going to hurt the feelings of people who do not know early Judeo-Christian history and know Christianity as it is nowadays. With all the heat physical attractions along the whole work, I'd personally give it 4-stars, but the topics that the author perfectly articulated and took the silver lining along the whole work, make is total 5-star read for me. Normally fiction works do not get that rating from me. But below are VERY important topics the author brought in and presented to the reader, which except for 1 ( Christ's Indian scholar years) are non-fiction facts, known by scholars for years now:

Only fictional fact, which, again, has some bases, is that Jesus Christ spent his early adolescence traveling and learning & especially visit to India in order to learn meditation and ancient Indian spiritual practices. Since these years of Jesus's life are not described in the bible, we can heavily theorize what exactly he was learning and some finding in India and several curches do speculate that Jesus spent some time in India and mastered spiritual practices, which was heavily articulated in the book with his disciples constantly meditating and working with chakras ( that part was a little overdone in my opinion, but I do understand where the author comes from)

All below are non-fictional facts, which are researched and known to the academic world and beautifully presented in the work:
1- Early Judeo-Christian practices and transition from Torah/Judean practices to ones we now have in Christianity
2-The similarity of the story with Osiris's "transition", a nice hint I wish more people realize
3-Main Jewish and Christian split issue: the idea of Christ as "Messiah", which is the main difference between these two monotheistic religions
4- the idea that 1st non-verbal, written accounts happen very late, decades after Jesus's living years, which gives a lot of place for speculations and false interpretations
5-presents perfectly the spread of the religion to Europe and Asia
6-the idea that we have only written accounts and yet may more were never "set to stone", which again may present the real story partially
7-the Idea that Jacov's legacy is basically lost, which is very painful, because he was working on this transition and Maria presented as a woman of questionable morals, because of being female in heavily male-dominated
"spiritual-world" and Jewish ( not exclusively Jewish) idea of the woman being unclean, hence with less mental capabilities
8-the idea of Yibbum, levirate marriages practiced within Jewish communities, with brother marrying his brother's widow and I think this was Michal's main point to hate her.

I am going to post more detailed review in my blog ( biblioanalytic.com).
If publisher wishes, I can review more works like this and I'd appreciate receiving this book as printed because I'd love to treasure it.

but overall, a great read, something to think about, but I am sure this sensitive topic is going to be very "hated" in the community who doesn't know early Christian history and I wish the author all the best, I will be thrilled to see her other works in this manner and topic.

The premise of The Holy Conspiracy is intriguing:- the forgotten story of how Jesus’s brother led his disciples in a bitter battle of faith against the Apostle Paul, the founder of Christianity. This premise, along with a striking cover, drew me in.

Unfortunately, despite a good concept and solid research, this book is very disappointing. It is extremely slow moving. There is very little actual action, but there is a lot of talking, eating, self-doubting, sideways glances and preaching. There are also some discussions between Yakov, the brother of Jesus, and Saul. There is no bitter battle between the two. In fact, the book is halfway over before we get to any form of major disagreement between the two, and even then it’s fairly mild.

I did find some aspects of the story interesting. Presenting Yeshua (Jesus) as a simple man with a simple message of love and peace who is married and has a child on the way at the time of the crucifixion adds a human touch. I also think the author’s presentation of daily life, the food, the division of labor and the role of religion is quite well done. I especially like her portrayal of Mariamne. I am, however, surprised by the references to meditation, chakras and finding enlightenment.

If this is supposed to be a book about the history of Yakov and Jerusalem Assembly, I would say it is fairly well done. But, as a story of good versus evil, it is less than successful.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

I read this book as a pre-release e-book obtained through NetGalley, provided by the publisher.

I gave it a 4 star rating because it was an excellent story, yet it was not the book I was intending to read, based on the description. Be aware this is a work of fiction.

When I originally requested this book, I was under the mistaken belief that it was a nonfiction work about the early Church and apostles, proposing unconventional ideas, gleaned from various extra-biblical texts. As I started reading it, I realized this was a work of fiction. Alas, I decided to enjoy it as a work of fiction. I have read many of these ideas in other works, with supporting and contradictory evidence. Upon recognizing this book as fiction, I suspended disbelief and enjoyed the story. I restarted reading from the angle of it being a fictional story.

It was a remarkable story, based on these nonstandard ideas of the apostles, disciples, and early Church. Included among the cast of characters are Yakov, (Yeshua’s or Jesus’ brother), Miriamme (based on Mary Magdalene), Yudah Tzaer (Yeshua and Miramme’s son), Saul/Paul of Tarsus, characters based on the New Testament, and purely fictional characters. It was a romance between Miriamme and Yakov, spanning decades, with Paul as a suitor of the widowed Miramme, trying to get her away from the disciples for his own purposes, as he taught a religion which was very unlike that of these (Jewish) disciples following Yeshua’s teachings – partly borrowed from Hinduism as he travelled “east”. However, Paul/Saul was very successful.
The story takes place over decades, and chapters are labeled with what year they occurred. People age and die. People marry and have children, who grow up and have children. People travel for various purposes, and relate the encounters of these travels.

It has a sad ending, but one which is not unexpected based on what we know of early Christianity, and leaves open the basis for the story that Jesus has offspring who live in what is now France.

Let me start off by saying I was every Sunday School teacher's nightmare. I asked too many questions, pointed out the discrepancies and contradictions and just wouldn't blindly accept, "That's just the way it is." I always needed to know why and I was always confused by the contrasting character of God between old testament and new testament and why there were several different stories of the crucifixion and so many other things. This book answered so many questions that I had always had and it explained so much. So in addition to thanking the author for all the time she must have put into this book, I also want to thank her for the other resources at the back of the book. So this book was about what happened with some of the disciples after Jesus's crucifixion. I loved the way these characters were portrayed. They weren't larger then life, they weren't perfect to the point of unattainability. They were ordinary people with fears and low self confidence and wondering if they were doing the right thing. They were ordinary people which makes them more real then any cookie cutter creation of perfection. It was well written and easy to follow. It was fast paced and spanned several decades. This was a good book. I would like to leave a warning though, there are some adult scenes in this book, so may not be appropriate for young readers or those opposed to that type of imagery in your reading.