Jewel of the Nile was a good god book, though for me, not a great one. I may sound terrible saying this, but the plot just didn’t speak to me. The mystery of finding a parent you don’t know, and didn’t know was alive, just fell kind of flat. It may because I felt like the beginning was a bit rushed and I didn’t feel much for the MC Chariline when the main conflict was introduced. I also struggled with her name, Chariline. I am also not a fan of extensive passages spent on boats (except the Pequod) which is why you don’t find me in cruises in real life either. The seafaring life is not for me, fictionally or in reality.

That said, there are a couple of things that saved this book for me:
1) Theo! It’s Theo from the “Thief of Corinth”, I didn’t see it coming but I was thrilled to get a conclusion to his story.
2) The father reveal was really good.
3) Sophocles. I don’t know why I loved this character or why his end was what moved me the most, but something about him struck a chord with me.
4) Happy ending epilogues are usually not my cup of tea, but it worked in this one
5) The setting, I do love this setting and the exploration of the dynamics of the Roman Empire and, in this book, Cush.
6) The final line. I am obviously not going to give that away, but it was *chef’s kiss* perfection
7) Author’s note at the end. Afshar does he research and I am here for it, love it and he attention to detail and telling the stories of these minor characters no one usually thinks twice about.

Overall, while this technically works as a stand-alone, I think what I liked about it is connected to other books by Afshar and so I would say it works best as a series and that this is the one that is “fine” but doesn’t capture you quite like the others. I wonder what character is next is line to continue this series, whomever it is, I hope Ferox the dog makes another appearance *shameless dog lover*

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tyndale House Publishers for this ARC, in exchange for a fair review.

Jewel of the Nile. by Tessa Afshar
Tessa Afshar always amazes me with her books. Jewel of the Nile is a suspense book with twist and turns. I would highly recommend the well researched book.

Synopsis - Raised by her aunt, Chariline had only bit and piece of here parents tragic love story. Caroline had beautiful skin like her Cushite father and her mother was Roman. Her mother died in childbirth and she was told her father was died too. She overheard her grandfather talking and heard her father was alive and she now had a name. She became obsessed in finding him by becoming a stowaway on Thoe merchants boat to make it to Roman. The journey was hard and she wouldn't give up. Tho was pulled into her story and decided he needed to help.

My thoughts - The Jewel of the Nile has wonderfully written characters. Tessa Afshar ,though lot's of research, made the time period and characters come alive.

Recommend - I will gladly recommend this book to others through Facebook, Amazon, Bookbud, Goodreads and my blog.

Rating - The Jewel of the Nile was great, so I'm giving it a 5 out of 5 stars

Disclaimer - I received this complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher for a honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

This book was excellent. I don't know how the author manages to carry everyone back in time to a story so lifelike you feel you are living in that very time. I really have enjoyed her writing and this is a wonderful example of her work.
As Chariline searches for her father, I could totally relate as I searched for my grandfather for over 40 years. As she comes to find out that her father is alive despite what she thought all along that he had died, her search stops at nothing to connect with him.

As the author weaves Biblical history into the story and trust in God and life lessons to be learned.

An excellent book that I recommend!

I received an ebook copy through NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Tessa Afshar has done it again!! She has such a beautiful way of weaving scripture and truth into her fiction that is easy to understand but also breath taking.
The characters that surround our main characters are taken from Philip and the Eunuch and also Pricilla and Aquila. I loved seeing these names pop up in this story.
Our main characters are both broken people who feel like they have been unwanted and abandoned by their parents. It is a search for love, love of family, love of God, love in general. It is beautiful. The friendships are amazing and the love stories are so sweet. There is just enough of the gospel message in here that it does not detract from the story. It doesn't come off as "preachy". I am excited to read all of the books this author has written. She is a favorite of mine.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Chariline, who had been raised as an orphan, set out to find the father she never knew,   attracting the attention of someone who wants her dead.

But when she stowed away on Theo's ship, she couldn't have chosen a better ship. Theo took care of her, shared his faith, and protected her.

After their time spent together at sea, friendship with a hint of more sprung up between Theo and Chariline.

Jewel of the Nile shows the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the lies of the enemy.  Several characters bore their secret (or not-so-secret) shame and it hampered them. It hindered their testimony and their ability to fulfill their purpose. It hindered their ability to love and seek community.  It hampered their ability to see themselves as God saw them. And isn't that just like us?

Shame prevents us from seeing ourselves as God sees us. It prevents us from living the life God intends for us to have.

I loved Theo and Chariline.  They each had different vulnerabilities which they chose to address in different ways. But they strengthened each other. Chariline learned a deeper faith and how to trust God more from seeing Theo live out his faith. Theo learned how to be vulnerable by watching Chariline share her story with others. It gave him courage to share his story with her.

There were a number of secondary characters that I loved, for example, it was good to see Priscilla and Aquila again, and Philip's daughters had a strong faith which glowed in the few scenes they were in. But my absolute favorite secondary character was Sophocles. That crusty, old man stole my heart with the way he cared for Chariline and Theo.

Jewel of the Nile reminds us that sometimes family are the people who choose to do life with us whether they share the same blood or not. It's a reminder that we need to surrender our will to God. It's a reminder that God is concerned about every aspect of our lives even when we can't see Him.

I received an advanced reader's copy from the publishers through NetGalley; a positive review was not required.

Oh my word with this book. Spellbound. Mind blown. Entranced. In love!! I could go on and on with short comments but ahem...the big takeaways.

The plot: Intense, emotional, a lot of twists. The themes of feeling loved and like you belong, family, friendship, and taking risks to find the truth stood out. I loved Chariline and found her character development inspiring and relatable. Also, Theo was quite the leading male protagonist. His crew of merry men was also entertaining. Frankly, all the characters were great. The Kandake was also regal--and deadly--and I loved it. The strong female characters throughout this book are one major highlight that shouldn't be overlooked either. The book may take place in Biblical times, but there are so many messages to take away that can apply to today.

Overall, this book was brilliantly written, brilliantly told...and just beautiful all around. This one may be due for a reread down the road!

I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are entirely my own.

Set in ancient Rome, Chariline is raised as an orphan by her Roman mother's family knowing nothing about her father except that he is from Cush. While visiting her grandparents there, she learns that her father is actually alive and immediately begins an obsession to find him. The clues lead her to Rome, so she stows away on a merchant ship owned by Theo, a fellow Way-follower, who is struggling with shadows in his own past. What follows is a faith-filled tale of searching for her own value and encountering danger, truth, and a way forward in Jesus Christ.

Chariline is a relatable heroine who had very real struggles with guilt and her own worth. She is a woman in a world ruled by men (even her own talent in architecture isn't valued because of her gender). She and Theo are two damaged people in need of the healing only Jesus can provide. While she interacts with recognizable people (Philip and his daughters are her close friends in Caesarea, and Priscilla and Aquilla give her shelter in Rome), the kingdom of Cush is a part of the ancient world that I hadn't previously read much about. I also didn't know that this book was part of a series, and I found it easy to read as a stand-alone book. I appreciated the author's perspective that it takes a lifetime to learn to trust God's will before our own desires--not pretending, as some do, that a single moment takes away that struggle for the rest of one's life. We are, each of us, jewels, and very highly valued.

I enjoyed reading Jewel of the Nile and learning more about life during the era of Acts and the early church. I like learning about history through reading fiction, and I loved journeying with the characters in this story.

Chariline’s mother died while birthing her, and Chariline was told she was an orphan. Her mother’s family were Roman, but her complexion revealed her Cushite heritage from her father. Chariline was raised by her widowed aunt and, over the years, they spent time with her grandparents in Cush where her grandfather was a high ranking Roman official.

Chariline has a strong faith, and she can’t shake her yearning and desire to learn more about her father’s identity and the truth behind her parent’s brief marriage. When clues are revealed and she’s provided with a lead in Rome, Chariline’s desperation drives her to throw caution and commonsense out the window. She formulates a crazy plan to stowaway on a merchant boat that is due to leave Cush and head north along the Nile toward Corinth.

Theo is stunned to discover the beautiful girl he met in Cush is hiding away on his boat. His faith and strong sense of responsibility and integrity demands he takes care of Chariline and provides safe passage to Rome. Danger is lurking and Chariline’s life is being threatened by an unknown assailant with unknown motives. The mystery unfolds and an unexpected romance develops as illness and danger draw Theo and Chariline closer together.

I loved journeying with Chariline and Theo and the cast of characters that included familiar names from the book of Acts. The mystery was engaging and I wanted Chariline to discover the truth and piece together the puzzle of her past. The satisfying resolution to the mystery and the ending of the story put a smile on my face. I highly recommend Jewel of the Nile for readers who enjoy Biblical fiction and learning more about first century life in the Roman Empire.

Tessa Afshar’s book Jewel of the Nile is a fascinating story in which a young woman, Chariline, goes searching for who was her father. She had grown up in part of the court as a granddaughter of an important Roman official.

Chariline was raised with her grandparents since her mother had died when she was younger and Chariline had never known who her father was and wasn’t allowed to talk about him. All she knew of her father was that he was died as well and that she could not ask questions about him.

One day, she finds out that her grandfather is going to be retiring soon and if she needed to find out about her father, she had to hurry up and find out before she leaves town and the court.

So Chariline seeks out Natemahar to find out the information she was in need of.

Long story short, guess who turned out to be Chariline’s father? It was the person she had sought out to find the information for her. Yes Natemahar was her father and Chariline had even managed to get married to a man Theo where Natemahar was there to see his daughter married off.

I love how Jewel of the Nile actually uses scripture as sort of the backbone of the book. Natemahar is mentioned in the Bible in Acts 8:26-39.

**Note this is a review for netgallery.com. I had gotten an advance copy of the book in order to review it for others on netgallery.com and also for my blog.

This book was EVERYTHING I needed right at this moment. Just when I thought Tessa Afshar couldn't outdo herself, she does it. Ms. Afshar is one of my go-to authors for Biblical historical and this one is an absolute must-read in this genre. This book follows Chariline, a bi-racial young woman in 1st century Rome. She has come to know Jesus from the Apostle Philip and his daughters. Being raised by her aunt and grandparents, she knows a loneliness than only an orphan can know and longs to know more about her parents, but is unable to learn more from her tight-lipped family. When she meets Theo through Philip, she discovers a way to get to Rome to learn more about her parents from a friend of her mother's. The situations that follow are everything that a good book should be.

This book had all of the great qualities - great spiritual depth, strong emotions, wonderful well-developed characters, a sweet romance, good action, a mystery with some twists that I never saw coming, and great humor. I found myself laughing out loud a lot at the banter in the book and there were also a few tears. There was one scene in particular that my husband was distracted from whatever he was watching on tv to ask if I was ok because the tears were just flowing. A book that make you both laugh out loud and bring flowing tears -THAT is a worthwhile book. The spiritual themes of complete surrender and of never being alone were the balm that my 2020/2021-worn heart so needed. And fans of the author's "Thief of Corinth" and to a lesser scale, "Daughter of Rome" will be glad to see the conclusion of Theo's story. While this book is definitely a stand-alone and all of the information needed to understand his story was provided in this book, I do wish I'd taken the time to re-read Thief of Corinth before starting this one as I believe it would have added more depth.

This book has taken the title of "best read of 2021" so far on my list and it will take a LOT to unseat it from that position. If you enjoy historical fiction, particularly that in Bible times, this is one I would strongly recommend adding to your TBR. Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of this book. I was under no obligation to write a review and the thoughts contained herein are my own.

Another great story by this author. She is a masterful writer. I love the detail in each story and how she developed the character and the storyline.
I can’t wait for the next one by this author.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

Tessa Afshar does it again. Jewel of the Nile has all the adventure and action of some of her other novels, this time taking you from the Kingdom of Cush, around the Mediterranean, to Rome. It follows the quest of wanna be architecht Chariline who wants to find out more about her parentage. Her wild goose chase takes her aboard a ship where we meet up with Theo and some other characters from Daughter of Rome and Thief of Corinth. The novel stands alone though. I also enjoyed how she incorporated Philip and his daughters. My heart broke so much for Theo in the other book where he loved so hard, so in this novel when I began to see Chariline falling for him it made my heart happy. Afshar weaves the adventure, lack of parents, searching for belonging, and discovering faith together so beautifully. This book is a perfect conclusion to the time period, as she says she'll be writing about the Old Testament next. If you love Biblical Fiction, love Afshar, or have never given her books a chance I can't imagine how you could be disappointed with this novel. It comes out June 1 and thank you Tyndale House for allowing me to be an early reader. Opinions are my own.

This is another unique book by Nancy. I enjoyed that storyline. She deals with a cult that is on a mission. I always find these types of stories interesting. The people are so deceived.

I have a feeling I knew who was behind her aunt’s attack from the beginning but she placed a lot of doubt and have me questioning if I was right or not.

The message of Jesus’ love is woven throughout the book and even though I appreciated that I do see that our theology and doctrine differ (this would not have been the case a year ago). There is no mention of sin and our need to repent only that God love’s us, which is true but his love is so great he forgives us of our sin and this needs to be said because that makes his love even more amazing. I was disappointed that this was completely neglected.

But, aside from that, the story itself was very good and I can’t wait to see what is next in this series.


A copy of this book was given to me through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Tessa Afshar has offered yet another masterful work in "Jewel of the Nile." The story follows young Chariline as she endeavors to find the father she never knew, a father she had been told was dead. Her journey brings into her life Theo, a merchant who becomes her love interest. Tessa Afshar weaves a wonderful tapestry complete with details that increasingly bring the story to life with each passing page. Watching Chariline grow and develop spiritually was one of the greatest pleasures I have experienced in reading Biblical fiction. This book is an absolute must read.


Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author and was not required to write a favorable review. All opinions are my own.

Jewel of the Nile
By: Tessa Afshar

Story Line: 5 Stars
Depth: 4 Stars
Faith: 5 Stars
Love Story: 4 Stars
Overall: 4.5 Stars

Tessa Afshar is one of our favorite authors, and we were thrilled to see another publication from her! Jewel of the Nile was an engaging story that swept us away right from the first page.

Chariline knows almost nothing of her deceased parents' story. Never having quite felt at home being raised by her aunt, she is shocked and excited to discover her father is in fact, still alive. She knows almost nothing of him - not his name or where he may be located. After finding a clue to her father's whereabouts and identity, Chariline determines to travel to Rome at any cost - even putting her life in danger by stowing away on a ship to get there.

This Rome-bound vessel belongs to none other than Theo, whom we know from one of Tessa's previous books, Thief of Corinth. What follows is a story of suspense and adventure, life-changing faith, memorable characters and a sweet love story.

As per usual, Tessa's historical writing is so extraordinary, her readers are transported back into the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Cush. We highly recommend picking up this novel for a good escape where your faith might also grow as a result!

*I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review*
Another excellent novel by Tessa Afshar! My only regret was not rereading her other New Testament-era novels before this one, as it ties in with "Thief of Corinth" and "Daughter of Rome" quite well, and I would've enjoyed it even more had those been fresher in my memory.

This was such an amazing book and story. I read the whole thing in 2 hours! I loved the characters and reallly felt true emotions for them. I do have to say I didn't like the queen at all though!

Chariline has always been different, her caramel skin and dark, curled hair easily identifying her as part Cushite. When she overhears that her birth father is still alive—a fact about which her relatives had lied—she sets out to find him. She believes her journey begins in Rome. And that involves hiding away on a ship owned by a merchant named Theo. Little does she know how much danger she’ll face, including attempts on her own life.

I have read one other novel by Tessa Afshar called Pearl in the Sand (review here), and I wasn’t its biggest fan. Deciding to give her another chance, I read Jewel of the Nile. Again, the novel disappointed me. Biblical fiction—especially biblical romance—is such a challenging genre. I can’t even put my finger on exactly why I didn’t like it, but something just…didn’t agree with me. I had to labor through the first third of the book. While I understood Chariline’s desire to find her father, I disliked her character. Impatient and headstrong, she put her life on the line too many times—when those older, wiser, and more experienced told her to do otherwise.

Just like Pearl in the Sand, Jewel of the Nile by Tessa Afshar improved in the second half, which was also when the romance blossomed between Theo and Chariline. I thoroughly enjoyed that element, as the characters slowly opened up to each other and faced their emotional scars and open wounds. Chariline grew from an obstinate girl into a mature woman, and Theo learned how to be comfortable with his past and how to allow someone into his heart.

The novel had little snippets of humor that made me laugh aloud, and I loved the cameos by prominent New Testament figures like Philip, Aquila, and Priscilla. Afshar turned them into living, breathing people in my mind versus mere biblical characters. What I liked most about Jewel of the Nile by Tessa Afshar, though: Christ’s central role. At rare times, Afshar grew superfluous, but the messages of God’s faithfulness reminded me of how loving the God is that I serve.

He sees us for our redeemed heart, not for our scars—for our shame and guilt. Instead, He takes those completely away. And though He may not give us the answers we want, He will always give them. While the romance between Chariline and the too-perfect-in-personality Theo made me happy, God’s romance toward me—how He pursues—ultimately gave me the greatest joy in Jewel of the Nile.

Jewel of the Nile portrays different aspects of God’s love in such a unique way. Paternal love, through Chariline’s search for her own father. Savior love, through the cleansings of past mistakes, past shames. Romantic love, through the relationship between Chariline and Theo—how He longs for His bride. And spiritual love, through every sermon-like monologue that the characters’ think and speak.

While not a favorite, Jewel of the Nile was a beautiful story. My only real regret is that I didn’t read Thief of Corinth and Daughter of Rome first. I had no idea they were related to Jewel of the Nile until I read the “Author’s Note.” Which, by the way, I highly recommend reading, especially in this novel, as Afshar further explains the book’s context. The novel is a perfect portrait of what biblical romance should be.

I would give this book 10 stars if it was possible. This is Tessa Afshar's best work yet.

This story gripped me. It both wrenched and soothed my heart with the plot, relatable characters and life changing lessons that will last a life time. The lessons of forgiveness, redemption, second chances... will transcend time and generations.

I was spellbound by the sheer force of this book. It is one not to miss. It is one to read and reread. It is one to gift to someone.

The characters didn't feel like characters in a book. They felt like friends, they felt like me.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and this is my honest opinion

Tessa Afshar has done it again! She has woven a beautiful love story set in Biblical times and highlighted a little known Bible character in the process.
Chariline is an orphan who was raised by a dutiful aunt. Now a young woman with a passion for architecture, she longs for the love of a father she never knew.
Theo is a soap merchant believing his bloodline makes him unrespectable and unlovable. When he discovers a hiding Charline and uncovers her secret quest, he vows to help this captivating lady in distress.
A hidden heritage, a mysterious murder plot, and a long-lost friend of her family all conspire to keep Chariline from the truth.
Yet Theo instructs her on the importance of trusting Iosus with her desired outcome, and she in turn teaches him something powerful about love, truth, and grace.
I LOVE this story. Tessa always offers keen insight into history, Biblical culture, and Bible references while delicately demonstrating the key components of God’s nature and His great love for His children.
Every single book I have read by Tessa just delights me and I can’t imagine the next book touching me more. Yet, somehow the new release is always my new favorite! If you like Biblical fiction, romance, and stories exalting true love, this is a must read!