Painted Vessels by Gina Renee Freitag Review

Happy Monday Everyone :)

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

I've been book blogging for almost five years now, and bookstagramming for four. During those years, I've had many amazing experiences, and I've come to love a lot of different things about being apart of these awesome communities.

However, I think that my favorite part of it all is getting to discover amazing authors and amazing stories that I may not have ever known about if I wasn't a part of the bookish community. 

For today's review, I'm looking forward to sharing with you all one of these books and corresponding authors that I had the pleasure of connecting with on Instagram, and I can't wait to share with you all about this beautifully written story.

Painted Vessels by Gina Renee Freitag:

Source: Complimentary Copy Provided by the Author

Publication Date: June 9th. 2020

Genre: Christian Fiction/Historical Fiction

Synopsis:

A tragic past, a divine calling, a closely guarded secret, and the connection tying them all together.

“Eli, will you tend my crops?”

As Eli and Ada escape their captors, a plan involving a vivid dream, a colorful merchant caravan, and an intolerant town is set into motion. This divine plan will alter the course of their lives and test Eli’s willingness to surrender to God.

Set in the vast wilderness and rural towns of the late 1800’s, Eli and his wife Ada begin a fifteen year journey through trials and prejudices to discover the meaning behind his dream. But as Eli gets closer to understanding what he is being called to do, he will have to face the possibility that serving God could reveal a secret about himself and a past that he doesn’t want others to know.

Painted Vessels is a story of redemption that delves not only into the lives of Eli and Ada as they mature into adults, but also into the lives of the spiritually rich caravan members and the narrow-minded townsfolk of East Haven. It weaves a tale of sorrow, doubt, healing, hope, and eventual trust in the sovereignty of God.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

After finishing Painted Vessels, I needed a few days to truly let its heartwarming story and powerful message resonate within me. It's been a long time since since a book made me ugly cry as much as this one did, and I struggled between not wanting to put it down, but needing time to truly think about everything that was happening in the story.

This beautiful story speaks to the importance of following God's direction no matter the cost, and of the beauty that exists in establishing connections with "family" and friendships. Connections that can strengthen our faith, and provide us with something we didn't know we needed. I loved that the traveling merchants clan reminded me heavily of the circus "family" in The Lady and the Lionheart, one of my all time favorite books, and it was inspiring to read about how this group created their own ready made family.

I've stated in quite a few of my previous reviews that I'm usually not a fan of stories that are told from multiple POV's. It often makes the plot harder to follow, and causes me to lose interest in the overall story. The author of Painted Vessels however, manages to successfully pull it off. This story is told from not only Eli and Ada's POV's, but also from the point of view of many of the people that they come into contact with throughout their journey. However, never once did the story become confusing or convoluted, and that to me is a sign of a truly gifted storyteller. To be able to tell the story from that many POV's while making each voice stand out as unique and never blend into anyone else's narrative is truly an impressive feat.

I honestly cannot belive that Painted Vessels is a debut novel, and I can't recommend it enough. The story is powerful and heartwrenching. The characters all come alive on the page, and capture the reader's attention right from the start. And most importantly of all, the faith element is always at the front and center of the story, and is one of the best fictional illustrations of Romans 8:28 (" And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."), that I've personally ever read.

In the crazy times facing our world right now, I think we could all use more of these books that remind us of all of what is truly important and who is truly in charge.

Final Rating: 5/5.

Definitely go ahead and pick this one up!

Thanks so much to the author for allowing me to advance read this!

I received a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)