Days of the Judges Series by Mary Ellen Boyd

Alternate Cover Edition of ASIN: B00CX7P4EK For eighteen years, Gilead has been under relentless attack from neighboring Ammon. Javan, a tall, handsome Israelite warrior, has lost everything during the Ammonite attacks. The sole survivor of his family, possessor of nothing but burned land, he joined with Jepthah’s army to bring vengeance, decimating twenty cities along the Israelite/Ammonite border... moreAlternate Cover Edition of ASIN: B00CX7P4EK For eighteen years, Gilead has been under relentless attack from neighboring Ammon. Javan, a tall, handsome Israelite warrior, has lost everything during the Ammonite attacks. The sole survivor of his family, possessor of nothing but burned land, he joined with Jepthah’s army to bring vengeance, decimating twenty cities along the Israelite/Ammonite border. During the mopping-up after the last victorious battle, Javan finds Taleh hiding in the remnants of her house. Caught off guard by her stunning beauty, he claims her for a wife, not telling her that one of the conditions she must comply with is having her head shaved. That nasty surprise is dumped on her the night their marriage is registered in the village. Now she's bald, and her husband seems to have forgotten her in the village to make her own way among people who are as unhappy to have her as she is to be there. Unbeknownst to either of them, another soldier had also spoken for Taleh, and he will stop at nothing to get her for himself. less

Hannah has endured six years of a brutal marriage to a husband who used her barrenness as an excuse for his cruelties. Just when she thinks she can endure no more, Levi falls in the river and drowns, a release too good to be true. In a nation that guards land rights, under the rule of levirate (brother-in-law) marriage, she must go to another. What she does not know is that her husband's brother Joshua has loved her from afar every day of those six years... moreHannah has endured six years of a brutal marriage to a husband who used her barrenness as an excuse for his cruelties. Just when she thinks she can endure no more, Levi falls in the river and drowns, a release too good to be true. In a nation that guards land rights, under the rule of levirate (brother-in-law) marriage, she must go to another. What she does not know is that her husband's brother Joshua has loved her from afar every day of those six years. Having broken the Tenth Commandment, Joshua cannot believe God is now giving him his heart's desire. Surely there must be some punishment to come. And there is, but not at God's hand. At Levi's. He just never expected to die before his greatest act of malevolence played out, and Joshua and Hannah are left caught in his scheme. less