Review: A vehicle for presenting the Gospel
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 2, 2011
Debra Diaz does a superb job in Woman of Sin, although the story is touted incorrectly as a romance.  I felt that Diaz only used the fictional romance as a vehicle in which to expand the Gospel stories, all of which are wonderfully researched and presented, but are also were too tightly wrapped around the two main characters, so as to almost strangle them.There was a bit of a feel of Diaz wanting to project her own love and faithfulness to Jesus in the way she portrayed Paulus drawing his sword to stop the beating of Jesus.  Many Christians have fantasized that should we have traveled back to 33 AD.This was all fine, except that Diaz should have expanded the romance more.  She had such amazing conflict brewing between Paulus and Alysia and it was almost a shame to hurry through them in order to reach the next New Testament story.  I found it hard to believe that Paulus and Alysia would have been an intricate part of just about every major Gospel event.I have to admit that I didn't care for Alysia much in the beginning, and she should have been expanded to be made more sympathetic, but she did grow and learn which was necessary to continue to read the story.  Paulus was an excellent hero.Now that Diaz has told her story with NT elements, and worked it out of her system, so to speak, perhaps the next Biblical romance can stay focused on the hero and heroine only, with merely a hint of Biblical characters in the wings.Having said all this, Woman of Sin was an excellent read.  I recognized what Diaz was trying to accomplish and simply enjoyed the adventure, and would recommend it to everyone who loves atypical historical stories.