To Dwell Among Cedars

By: Connilyn Cossette

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross, Rachel Botchan

Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

Eight years ago, when the Philistines stole and then surrendered the ark of the covenant back to the Israelites, Eliora left her Philistine homeland to follow the ark to the community of Kiryat Yearim. There, the family she was adopted into has guarded the ark at the top of a mountain in seclusion. 

Ronen is a Levite musician determined to return the ark to Shiloh, where his tribe believes it belongs. He never expected that the Philistine girl he rescued years ago would now be part of the very family he's tasked to deceive. 

As Ronen's attempts to charm Eliora lead them in unexpected directions, betrayal leaves Eliora with strained family ties and Ronen questioning his own loyalties. Ultimately, Eliora and Ronen are caught up in the battle for the soul of Israel and its future under the leadership of Samuel, the last judge before the era of the kings begins

©2020 Connilyn Cossette (P)2020 Recorded Books

Exceptional Biblical Fiction

I have such respect for authors of Biblical fiction and the copious amounts of research they do to bring Scripture to life in a new and illuminating way. Connilyn Cossette excels in creating settings that draw you in, characters that draw you close, and a plot that doesn’t let go.
Central to the plot of To Dwell Among Cedars is the ark of the covenant and specifically the time period from when the Philistines took it to when it was returned on a cart drawn by cows.
But this book is about finding our value in how we are loved and not in what we do to be loved. While remaining true to Biblical teachings of God’s judgement and provision, Cossette takes us deeper into discovering value. Eliora discovers the love of the family that adopted her and her brother is not broken by her or her little brothers actions—neither good or bad. How much greater if God’s love for those he calls children?
To Dwell Among Cedars has a lot happening—from the relationship between Eliora and her brother as well as their adoptive family, the activities around the ark, Ronen’s mission and doubt, and the sweet and gentle romance he develops with the woman he once rescued as a girl—but the story would not be as poignant and moving if any of them.

The narration of this audio book is top-notch, and I loved that there was a separate (male) narrator for Ronen's character.

Not my favorite

This book has left a lot to be desired. I have all of the author's books and this one is my least favorite. It seems as though she took pieces from her previous novels and put them all together, because I found the story line to be very familiar. I often read her other series over because they are that good! But this one will not be included in that list. I am very disappointed in this one. Most, dare I say all of her books have suspense, humor, a twist in the plot line but not this one. UGH! I wanted to like it but it was missing something.
Connilyn's writing style is still great but I just didn't like the story. She is still my favorite Christian biblical fiction author. I will still read the other books in the series even though I didn't like this much.
I am glad that there were both a male and female narrator. That has happened since book 3. I can only hope the next one is better. I am a loyal fan and I still have hope for this series.

Just, Don’t...

This book pisses me off. I start, I give it my full attention, with every intention of being fair, and then, I stop, (because I just can’t anymore); after a day or two, I give it another try, but, enough is enough. This book is told in such a way that is so irritatingly boring and uninteresting...save your money.

Multiple Mispronounced Names and Places Grated

I even double-checked my lifelong understanding of pronunciations with searching for "Hebrew pronunciation of _____" and found that, indeed, these narrators were slaughtering the names of people and places repeatedly (like calling Eli the high priest "Ellie", etc). Anyway, it was so frequent a problem I had to take off some stars on narration. Where are the production editors? Why are they not catching this? I have all the audio books by Connilyn Cossette, I believe, and did not enjoy this one as much as the others. Having said that. it was still worthwhile. I think my perception was probably tainted a bit by my irritation with the narrators.

Awesome

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I am patiently waiting for part two to be announced.

The narrators did an amazing job!

Ark of the Covenant's Loss and Return

Having the male and female narrators made a huge, very positive difference.

Eliora/Arisa cares for her brother Natan/Lukio after the death of her mother and separation from their father. They are Philistines from the upper class with high religious connections. So they prove an excellent foil for telling the story of the loss and return of the Ark of the Covenant during the days of Samuel. The political machinations within ancient IsraEl's levite clans is well detailed. Surprised to see the obvious bigotry toward the Gibeonites, who were also servants of YHWH (Josh9:27), thus 4 not 5 stars. Ronen is a great character.