Book Review: Priestess of the Forest by Ellen Evert Hopman

This is the last book I have to review for now. I requested this book from Llewellyn Press and they sent it to me in exchange for a review. I absolutely love this book. While it took me a little while to read it (well longer than normal for me) I fell in love with it. This book left me feeling so nostalgic, and not even sure what I was nostalgic for. This is one of those books that speaks to your soul. The story in this book rings true to your heart. It is well written and so much fun to read. It is also written in the old bardic way so if you pay close attention to the story you'll learn lessons of the Druidic path.

I think what I loved the most about this book was the lessons in herbcraft. Like I said if you pay close enough attention you learn lessons from this book and it is chock full of herbal lessons. Not only does it teach of Druidic beliefs, it speaks to the healer's soul because the heroine in this book is a healer.

This book is filled with herbal, Druidic, and life lessons. This is a wonderful book to read to your children, although there are some parts that could be edited for children such as some of the love scenes. While the love scenes are written tastefully and do not bring smut books to mind, some may feel it inappropriate for their children, but if you are raising Pagan children, this is a terrific book to help them understand Pagan beliefs.

Now, for the part that leaves me feeling sad. You all know that I am about co-existing. I think if everyone would just be respectful and not shove each other's religions down each other's throats and respect each other's differences things could be peaceful. This book illuminates the reason that co-existing, while working for certain people (like my best friend's Marissa and Miss K and myself), may never work on a global scale. I respect the Christian religion. My best friend Marissa is Christian, Miss K is Jewish, and they are accepting and understanding; however, most Christians aren't. They believe their religion is the one true way to get to God and that anyone who isn't part of their religion will go to what they call Hell. This book has two characters that I just want to punch. Yes I know, violence isn't the answer, but it would have made me feel better if I had been alive during the time this book is set in. But, this book also shows the virtues of remaining graceful in the face of worrisome change.

As I stated at the beginning of this review, I absolutely loved this book. I give it 5 stars and hope that everyone will grab a copy of this book and read it!