First let me say I love this book and the cover of The Ark and the Dove is beautiful.. There have been many stories about the flood, but this story is told from a wife and mother's view point which is unique. This story is told from the point of view of Noah's wife, "Zara". This book is the story of a mother and her family, living in a stressful situation, to say the least, and the joys and heartaches that comes along. Jill Eileen Smith gives individual personalities to each of Noah's sons and their wives. She puts you right there with vivid imagery and in-depth charicterizations. As always when I read a book about a Biblical event I take my time and refer to my Bible often for reference. This book helped me understand a passage of scripture that I was struggling with. I recently visited the Ark Encounter and I could easily visualize the Ark. I recommend both visiting the Ark Encounter and reading this book. It will prick your spirit to draw closer to God.

I would love to thank Netgalley and Revell Publishers for allowing me to read an advanced readers copy. I was in no way influenced to give a positive review.

This is a fascinating, extraordinary story of Noah and the ark. Anyone familiar with the Bible, and even if you are not, many people know the story of Noah who fulfilled a covenant with God to build an ark. God saw how corrupt and evil, and world had become, and chose Noah, who was a righteous man, for such an important job. Noah received specific instructions from God, the Creator, of how exactly to build the ark and also directions to bring two of every creature, including birds, both male and female into the ark.
With only the help of his three sons, it took Noah 120 years to complete the ark. Although Noah continued to preach about the Creator, warning of the coming flood, the people continued to worship false idols and persisted in their wicked ways. They were warned the flood would destroy everything, and everybody, however not one other person joined them on the ark. Noah and his family were mocked and laughed at for believing such foolishness.
The story of Noah’s Ark will never be the same for me. This beautiful story brings to life Noah and Zara, and their three sons and their wives. They face many difficulties, including personal differences in personalities, especially in the three wives of their sons. They all live together, work together and support each other through challenging times, however, they persevere.
God send the rainbow as His promise never to flood the world again. A rainbow will never be the same to me again. It will feel much more personal, and I can’t wait until I see the next one.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed and all remarks are my own.

I had such high hopes for this book. This wasn't a story of about Noah or Zara as the book claims. This book focuses a lot on Ham and his deceitful wife. I feel that the author could have used the story of Ham for another book and focused on Zara, as the title claimed.

It took forever to get to the characters to get into the Ark and once inside the story just remained flat. It just lacked substance.

I wanted to love this book but unfortunately that wasn't the case.