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Customer Reviews for Abingdon Press Valeria's Cross
Abingdon Press Valeria's Cross
In the 3rd century, pampered Roman princess Valeria falls in love with Mauritius, captain of the Theban Legion. She sends him off to battle, where he suffers under the schemes of a notorious pagan general with an ambition for power and a lust for Valeria. In a scene based on true events, the evil Galerius kills Mauritius and his entire legion for their Christian faith. And in a shocking turn of events, the grieving Valeria is forced to become Galerius' wife against her will. Never has a marriage been set up for such failure. Valeria loathes her new husband, but he seems to undergo a change of heart, adopting a child for her and giving her power and authority, and even love. She struggles with the commitment she knows she must keep, and the love she knows she will never find again.
Average Customer Rating:
(16 Reviews) 16
Rating Snapshot (16 reviews)
5 stars
7
4 stars
1
3 stars
6
2 stars
0
1 star
2
5 out of 1145%customers would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Reviews for Valeria's Cross
Review 1 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Date:April 19, 2013
Kristen
Age:18-24
Gender:female
Quality:
5
out of
5
Value:
5
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
5
out of
5
A good read, keeps you guessing. Based on actual people and events of the time.
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Review 2 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Strong Faith + Weak Romance
Date:February 1, 2013
Quality:
2
out of
5
Value:
2
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
2
out of
5
I love ancient Roman history, and Valeria's Cross seemed like a perfect novel! Beautiful, adolescent, Valeria is the only daughter of the Mighty Roman Emperor. Raised a pagan amidst the uprising of Christianity, Valeria and her Mother slowly die to their former selves and become Christians. Valeria instantly falls in love with Godly, Roman Captain Mauritius, but their romance is short lived as he's purposely murdered by a lustful Galerius to Valeria. Galerius quickly divorces his wife and forces Valeria to marry him.
While I enjoyed the history, I was disappointed with the characters. Valeria hates Galerius yet moments later she desperately wants his affection? Galerius seems like a lustful brute one minute, then tender and understanding the next? The book is quite lengthy which wasn't a problem, if only the characters weren't rushing in and out of emotions, one would suspect they are a little bipolar. Overall I didn't want to knock the book, because it had a good message of faith and courage. it's an easy read. At the beginning of the book Valeria started reminded me of Esther from the Bible, and then a few passages later, her maid says, "Be as an Esther".
*I received this book free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest, unbiased, non-profit review.*
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Review 3 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Date:March 13, 2013
Misswife
Quality:
3
out of
5
Value:
5
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
3
out of
5
Mediocre story. I was interested in the historical period, I haven't read much about it. The historical background was good, but the story wasn't believable, and the characters were too overblown.
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0points
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Review 4 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Faith through persecution.
Date:June 19, 2012
Lissa
Location:SC
Age:35-44
Gender:female
Quality:
4
out of
5
Value:
5
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
5
out of
5
A sad read of persecution, but a testament of faithfulness (of God and of his followers). An intriguing read.
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Review 5 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Third Century Christians under pagan domination
Date:May 13, 2012
Quality:
4
out of
5
Value:
3
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
3
out of
5
As a lover of historical fiction, especially involving the young Christian Church, I looked forward to reading this novel. The historical setting seemed accurate and the facts seems to correlate well with the records as we know them, although those are spotty at best.
The story line was interesting but seemed contrived, especially the initial love story between the pagan princess Valeria and the Theban warrior Mauritius. That portion of the story, which was to be the continual reference point for the entire book, happened so quickly and ended so rapidly that it just didn't seem balanced.
Also, some of the relationships were a bit difficult to follow and not adequately explained, although I thought that Valeria and her mother, Prisca's, characterizations seemed very believable and fully developed. I especially enjoyed their loving companionship and trust in one another, first as pagans and then as Christians.
The sufferings of Christians during this time period was horrible and was depicted very accurately. The Church endured through horrific persecution and survived because of the brave lives of many saints.
My main difficulty with the story was that the authors dwelt, in my opinion, a bit too much on the sexual lives of the characters. The point that this perspective was described so often and vividly in the private lives of the characters, and yet was not correlated with the entire pagan culture and its religious practices at that time, did not seem appropriate. That is not to say that this perspective was incorrect; it just seemed to be unnecessarily emphasized for Christian fiction.
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+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
Review 6 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
What a stinker!
Date:March 13, 2012
tanderson
Location:Texas
Age:35-44
Gender:female
Quality:
1
out of
5
Value:
1
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
1
out of
5
I don't normally do negative reviews, but this one was soooo bad that I just had to say something! The heroine of the story is a fourteen year old girl, who is quite suddenly overcome with deep, abiding love for a young man and she wants to marry him. But after he is murdered, she is forced to marry the man who had him killed. She flits back and forth between hating and loving her husband, and often considers being unfaithful to him. The dialog is tedious and slow, and words and terms are used that are not historically correct! This could have been an excellent book--I like to premise--but it was so poorly written!
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+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Review 7 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Date:February 27, 2012
britt
Quality:
3
out of
5
Value:
2
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
1
out of
5
The story was good, some parts became very boring.overall it was an ok book.
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0points
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Review 8 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
I was greatly disappointed in this book.
Date:March 18, 2011
Grammy
Location:Washington
Age:Over 65
Gender:female
Quality:
1
out of
5
Value:
1
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
1
out of
5
My first impression was that this book might appeal to teenage girls, but then I would never recommend it to one after reading further. The characters aren't really believable, and the Christian message is highly diluted with situational ethics. The book is listed as historical fiction, but I believe it's less historical than perhaps hysterical! I wanted to find out how the story ended, so I kept slogging through, but I found it boring, boring, boring.
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+1point
2of 3voted this as helpful.
Review 9 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Date:February 10, 2011
Quality:
3
out of
5
Value:
3
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
3
out of
5
The research was interesting, especially as I'm a history buff. I struggled with the choices "characters" made - even those that were actually within historical records. Not sure where I'd honestly rate this, so "average" seemed the best I could do. Not going in my permanent library.
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+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Review 10 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Excellent Book
Date:November 7, 2010
Sherilyn
Location:College Station, TX
Age:35-44
Gender:female
Quality:
5
out of
5
Value:
5
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
5
out of
5
The content of this book will stay in your mind long after you finish reading it. I love the characters in the book, and learning about the history of that time. It's very eye opening the persecution these early believers went through all for being a Christian, and their willingness to be a marytr for Christ. I highly recommend this book.
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-1point
0of 1voted this as helpful.
Review 11 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Romantic Times rated this book at 4 1/2 stars.
Date:October 4, 2010
Encourager
Location:Virginia
Age:55-65
Gender:female
Quality:
5
out of
5
Value:
5
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
5
out of
5
With Susan Wales' knowledge of history and her gift for story-telling and Kathi Macias' Angel-award winning writing, Valeria's Cross was bound to be a page-turner. I laughed. I cried, and I couldn't put the book down until I finished it. This novel is based on history and is written with passion and purpose. It showed me the tremendous commitment Valeria and her mother had to the Lord, their courage to the end and the horrendous persecution of Christians during the time of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. I highly recommend Valeria's Cross to those who want to read a book that weaves romance, history and adventure into one power-packed novel. No wonder Romantic Times rated Valeria's Cross at 4 1/2 stars.
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-1point
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Review 12 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Date:September 26, 2010
Terri Gillespie
Kathi Macias and Susan Wales have taken an epic story based on fact and placed flesh and bones to the historical figures, Valeria and her mother Prisca. Set in the 3rd century at the height of the Roman Empire, the story takes us on a journey of faith, commitment and bravery. It is also a powerful punch to the spiritual gut in that the real life temptations were life and death issues. This story will stay with the reader, and if we allow it, challenge us to live our faith even if life throws us the most difficult of tests.A must read.
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-1point
0of 1voted this as helpful.
Review 13 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Date:September 13, 2010
I was pretty disappointed in this book. But Ill get to that in a minute. I had no *idea* that this book was based on true events and people. I thought it was completely fiction. However, I still thought that the writing could have been a little better. Especially at the beginning you were told things that were happening in Valerias life rather than experiencing them with her. It was a little like listening to a speaker who talked in a monologue. You were told things a little impassively and that didnt help me to create a relationship with Valeria and be interested in her personally.Now, I understand that for the most part this is a true story so they couldnt change what happened in any big way, but I cried and cried throughout this whole book! The persecution of the Christians was well portrayed, but I tend to like stories that have the persecution and a redeeming ending. So for the most part, my disappointment in the book couldnt be helped since it was based on real peoples lives, but I still think the writing could have been better. (I hate to give an unfavorable review, but this was my honest opinion. I sincerely hope that other people will enjoy the book more than I did.)
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-1point
0of 1voted this as helpful.
Review 14 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Date:August 7, 2010
Though a fictional account, I found Valeria's Cross to be very believable. The struggles and that Valeria faced were so realistically done that it left me breathless. I totally understood her pain and her passion. She had a difficult life of having to continually prove her faith with the things her station required because of her role and position as the emperor,s daughter. I grieved with Valeria as she was a true martyr, for having to do so many things that she resisted at first, yet eventually conceded to. While women had some influence, the clearly had no power during that generation. Her suffering paid off, though, several times and she did experience joy in her life despite the heartache that preceded it. It fascinated me how the sign of the cross and ashes on the forehead were used by the early church as a way Christians showed their allegiance to Christ when they were forced to participate in pagan ceremonies, or die. Valeria was a compassionate and likable character whose doubts and feelings rang true. Her life sowed true forgiveness and she had a powerful testimony. What I loved best about Valeria was that she was portrayed as very human. She suffered from many temptations that are rarely shown in Christian fiction, which impressed me all the more. This sweeping romance was powerfully written, and emotionally evocative. The end of the book was really hard to take for me, it was powerfully written.This book was sent to me by the Author Kathi and I choose to review it.
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0points
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Review 15 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Date:August 6, 2010
Melody Earle
Valeria's Cross is a riveting story of love, passion, betrayal, and religious persecution. The writers very skillfully took the reader on an adventure back in time when Christians were persecuted for their faith. It was a thoroughly enjoyable book to read as one followed Valeria and her Mother through their perilous journey as Christians during this time period. Despite what happens to the characters, one is left with the satisfaction that God is still in control.
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0points
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Review 16 for Valeria's Cross
Overall Rating:
Date:May 2, 2010
Though a fictional account, I found Valeria's Cross to be very believable. The struggles and temptations that Valeria faced were so realistically done that it left me breathless. I totally understood her pain and her passion. She had a difficult life of having to continually rectify her faith with the things her station required because of her role and position as Diocletian's daughter. I grieved with Valeria more than once. She was a true martyr, in my opinion, for having to do so many things that she resisted at first, yet eventually conceded to. While women had some influence, the clearly had no power during that generation. Her suffering paid off, though, several times and she did experience joy in her life despite the heartache that preceded it. It fascinated me how the sign of the cross and ashes on the forehead were used by the early church as a way Christians showed their allegiance to Christ when they were forced to participate in pagan ceremonies, or die. Valeria was a compassionate and likable character whose doubts and feelings rang true to me. Her life exemplified true forgiveness and she had a powerful testimony. What I loved best about Valeria was that she was portrayed as very human. She suffered from many temptations that are rarely shown in Christian fiction, which impressed me all the more. This sweeping romance was powerfully written, and emotionally evocative. Bottom line...I was enthralled with this story.
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