Treasures In Dark Places

I selected Treasures In Dark Places: One Woman, a Supernatural God and a Mission to the Toughest Part of India by Leanna Cinquanta because I'm interested in missions work and the cover was captivating and haunting. The back cover reads:

"Captivating True Story of God's Supernatural Love at Work

As a child, Leanna's young world pulsed with adventure, including emergency moves across the country in an old Dodge Dart with a dismantled airplane strapped to the roof.

By age fifteen, she had become an equestrian champion with sights fixed on the Olympics. Then, in a series of stunning revelations, Jesus appeared to her and revolutionized her life. A few years later, not expecting to return alive, she wrote a will for her parents, left everything behind, and embarked for northern India with a one-way ticket and a mission: to rescue people trapped in darkness.

This firsthand, often-supernatural account follows the rigors, heartaches, and miracles of a life propelled by faith into one of the poorest and darkest places on earth. Leanna's fearless determination to shine Jesus' light into the shadows--whether helping the destitute in small villages or reaching girls abused in the sex-trafficking trade--will thrill and inspire you to believe his power can change even your most trying circumstances."

I was expecting a book focused on Leanna's mission work in India: after all, that's what the cover, title, and description imply. The introduction starts the book off in a promising way by telling a story about a beggar girl she witnesses in India. However, it takes an abrupt turn from there. The first chapter (the entire 249 page book is divided into just 5 chapters, making it difficult to read) shifts to Leanna's life story from the day her parents met up and continues up to her present through the fourth chapter. Her childhood was nomadic and strange, and she grew up poor and homeschooled while being uprooted what seemed like every year to go live in another shack/dilapidated house. Her childhood upbringing and poverty seems almost more due to the deliberate choices of her parents than to actual poverty. She communicates a lengthy, ongoing, nightly hallucination/dream over about 40 pages that had me wondering about her mental health and stability. Finally, in the fourth and fifth chapter we get a small glimpse into India. Unfortunately, the stories she shares are completely disjointed, unconnected, are not presented chronologically, and don't have any resolution. I was looking for a book telling the story of her missionary work from the beginning to the present day. I got a meandering and at times strange memoir of Leanna's life from birth to present with a couple of stories of her missionary work in India mixed in. If you are looking for Leanna's life story, this is the book for you. If you're looking for a book about missions, I would recommend looking elsewhere.

I received a copy of this book from Chosen in order to provide an honest and unbiased review. All opinions are my own.