Fair Is the Rose

Heart Wrenching Story of Forgiveness & Love

Fair is the Rose is the second book in the Lowlands of Scotland series by Liz Curtis Higgs. Fair is the Rose continues following the saga of Jamie, Rose, and Leana as they work through the consequences of their choices.

Leana and Jamie's son, Ian, came into the world handsome and healthy at the end of book one. He is the glue that has bound their unlikely marriage together. Ian's birth was a turning point for Jamie as he vowed to God to truly try and love his wife-forsaking his love for Leana's sister, Rose.

Leana has continued to risk her heart and to love Jamie even though it has meant countless heartaches for her. When Jamie told her about his vow to God, her hope is renewed but can she really trust this man who has loved her sister for so long? Showing grace and the love of Christ Leana is determined to give Jamie the chance to prove himself and to bring his love into their marriage at last.

Rose was none to happy to come home and find her sister had taken her wedding and her husband. She was even less happy when she learned her sister was pregnant-officially sealing her marriage to Jamie. Yet Rose still harbors feelings for him and Jamie has done nothing but encourage her in those feelings. Now that Jamie is determined to honor God, his marriage, and his wife Rose has little choice but to try and take matters into her own hands.

Jamie is finally learning to love his wife and bury his love for Rose when Reverend Brown comes to tell him of an oversight in the kirk records that may jeopardize everything he holds dear. Will he be able to trust God? Can he truly learn to love Leana the way she deserves? What will become of his family?

I truly enjoyed Fair is the Rose. It is interesting to see how Higgs remedies the Biblical pologamy in the midst of her historical Scotland setting. I also enjoy that her characters are flawed and complex. It keeps things interesting. Plus you know that a character is well written when you really, really hate that character and then realize that this is the emotion that character is meant to evoke in you.

My favorite part is the way in which Leana handles the consequences of the choices she has made. Her character accepts responsibility for the wrongs she has committed but most importantly she accepts God's forgiveness and moves on. This encourages others to follow her example. I know that accepting God's forgiveness and forgiving myself are the hardest parts of forgiveness and I love how she lives it out well.
I highly recommend the writings of Liz Curtis Higgs to historical fiction lovers, and to those who are fans of Biblical allegory. Her writing, characters, and stories will bring the Biblical accounts to life and help you see them from an entirely new perspective. Another great read!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I loved this book!! I am a historical novel buff and especial

I loved this book!! I am a historical novel buff and especially history of the UK countries. It's an added bonus that it is based on a Bible story from the Old Testament.

wonderful read

this book is my absolute favorite out of any other books i have read. actually this series is the best i have on my bookshelf. the characters are very real and classically human. leana's story is heartbreaking and as i read this book its like i can feel her pain. this series will have you hooked from the very first page. i highly recommend this book, this series.

must read

liz curtis higgs is an amazing author... i would have never thought to check her out if it was not for a suggestion on Julie Lessman's part. i very much enjoy julies books (especially the last one a passion denied which you should all check out!)and to have her suggest something to me i figured i must try it. and oh it was not a disappointment, the story correlates directly with that in the scriptures of jacob, leah, and racheal. this book opened up my eyes to not only the truths of this story but also to the emotions the charecters must have experienced in the real life circumstances. please try this book out you will enjoy it.

Author unjustly turns Rose into a despised weed

Here's the thing. You do not take one of the greatest loves in the Bible (Jacob's love for Rachel) and fictionalize it into a great love story between Leah and Jacob.

Biblical fact: Rachel was a shepherdess. This is even what she was doing when Jacob met her. The Bible does not paint her to be a lazy, self-centered, vengeful girl who cares for no one but herself.

In this book, Rose (Rachel) is painted to make everyone hate her, but she is the only innocent one. Everyone tells her to lie about the deception of her wedding night when her husband was stolen from her. Jamie (Jacob) comes to love Leeana (Leah) and despise Rose even though the Bible dictates that Jacob never loved Leah and always loved Rachel. This story would be plausible if Jaime would never have grown to love Leeana, God gave Leah children so she would feel loved because Jacob's love was so great and unwavering towards Rachel. It seemed providential that the church clerk's innocent mistakes in trying to cover up the deception is what righted Rose's wrong and gave her Jaime back as a husband - it was a God thing, God working things out honestly.

If this story wasn't based on truth and the Bible, these author liberties wouldn't bother me. She's made Rose (Rachel) evil, searching out witches and doing spells to win back Jaime's love.

You know what the Bible says about Leah? It never mentions her working, but it does mention her weak eyes which sounds like she wasn't good to do much help with anything. But the Bible says that Rachel's profession was a shepherdess. Who exactly is this author basing her characters on? In this trilogy, Leana is the respected hard worker, the best at everything domestic, and the epitome of love while Rose is always trying to put off work so she can flirt with the boys or do something to make herself more beautiful. Honestly, the character dimensions are too flat. Leana is ugly yet loving and Rose is beautiful and selfish - it's way too cliched and unBiblical to boot.

I hated the second wedding. It was completely unfair to Rose. Rose had nothing to do with Leana's deception, but Rose continued to pay for it over and over again. Rose is the only one not to be deceptive in the entire novel, but she's the one who keeps getting punished.

The ending did give me some piece of mind since Leana finally shows self-sacrificial love and leaves Rose and Jaime alone - too bad she couldn't do that once they became engaged. My heart finally softened for Leana.

I can't understand all these women rooting for Rose's misery and Leana's victory of Jamie's heart. If their sister or best friend slept with their husband on their wedding night, I don't think they'd be rooting for her. If my sister slept with my husband and kept telling me that she loved me, I don't think she'd know what love meant. In this book, Leana's deception is what turns Rose into who she becomes. The funny thing is, Rose doesn't have to be deceptive to get her revenge; just honest.

Couldn't put it down

I laughed, I cried, I clench my jaw. I just could not put this book down, nor the characters out of my mind. I have not cried so much reading a book since I was just a lass reading Ol Yeller. Now I have to go back and start the series at the beginning.

Rose is so selfish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

eeerrrggg..... Why, when Leana sits there and is Rose's mother, best friend, and greateat supporter would Rose go and betray her? I cannot imagine how Leana was so calm and nice to Rose after she did that!!!!!! If I were Leana, I would get up in Rose's grill! If you remember the first book, Rose was pushing Jamie away so he would like Leana(or at least she tried) and now she randomly changes her mind and falls madly in love with him right when he and Leana are just the settling down!!!!!!! OK I'm a little creul to Rose but she is rude.

had to read through the tears

The only reason why I gave this book a four was because of the intense anger I felt while reading about Rose's devious, selfish machinations throughout the story. It was so heartwrenching to read of Leana and Jaime's short-lived bliss coming to such an unexpected end. I had to read through my tears. And when Leanna decided to leave her beloved husband and son, it nearly undid me and I thought I could not finish. Again, I had to remind myself to give some sympathy to Rose, who was in fact an innocent. It was very hard though considering her unlikeable character. Jaime, as always, continues to be such a weakling I cannot begin to sympathize with him. Hopefully, in the final book he will gain some strength to perservere and stand up to the rest of the characters and in the end let there be happiness for everyone...god willing!!

Ok... i take it back

Alright now that i have finished the series i believe that the second book in the series was absoloutely phenomonal... the love that Leanna shows for Jamie is a wonderful representation of sacrafice. She is a wonderful mother figure and a truly remarkable woman

NICE READ, BUT FRUSTATING

I was happy for Rose in this book because I believed she was wronged in the first book (Thorn in My Heart). It doesn't matter how sweet Leana is, she was wrong for what she did to her sister. But the characters are incredibly frustating. Jamie has no backbone, Leana is everyone's doormat, and Rose is flighty and irritating. I understand that this story is based on the true story about Jacob, Rachel and Leah in the bible. Hopefully the final book in this series will enable all of these lost souls to grow and develope confidence and self respect.

STUNNED

The Fair as the Rose was a journey through the heart. I loved it but, it was very upseting at the end when Leana and Jamie were not together. I hope that the next book puts the two back together. A great novel!

An Absolutely Stunning Sequel!

FAIR IS THE ROSE captured my heart and didn¿t let go even after the last page was turned. Ms. Higgs transported me back in time to eighteenth-century Scotland with such excellent storytelling skill and historical accuracy that I was THERE, walking beside Leana, Rose, and Jamie on their heart-wrenching journey. Leana¿s example of sacrificial love and triumphant faith is with me still. This is an absolutely stunning sequel to THORN IN MY HEART.

I WAS SO MAD

i loved the first book, however i was so mad that nothing turned out the way that i wanted it to, Jamie finally loved Leanna like she loved him, and then everything fell apart. Rose does not deserve Jamie. I hope that the next book in this series puts jamie and Leanna back together, the way that things should be.

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