Love Story - Karen Kingsbury

If you've read any of the Redemption series, Sunrise series, Firstborn series, Bailey Flanigan series, or the Above the Line series, you're familiar with the Baxter family and the other characters that fill out their lives.  This book is described as being the Love Story of John and Elizabeth Baxter, the heads of the Baxter clan, as told through John's memories as a class project for his grandson Cole.  However, their story is only a piece of this novel, and readers will catch up with several characters from throughout the Baxter Family Series, including Cody and Andi, Bailey and Brandon, and Ashley and Landon.  As Ashley listens to her parents' story, that was far from perfect, she is forced to revisit the past that led to Cole, and how her story led her back to Landon.  Bailey and Brandon are about to have a baby, and Bailey is keeping in touch with Andi as Cody and Andi try to figure out how to move forward with their lives.  This novel will dip you back into the Baxter family as if you'd never left them.

As part of Cole's project, he hears the tale of the man who prayed for John and Elizabeth that one day "God [would] give [them] a marriage and family so beautiful all the world [would] want to know [their] secret."  The early Baxter books conveyed that family so well that I think most readers probably wanted to be a Baxter; I know I wanted to come home to that cozy house and enjoy the family picnics and camaraderie.  The Baxter past hasn't been an easy one, and while I do feel that some of the trials get glossed over in these books, if you look, the story of grace and redemption is still there.  Several of the main characters in this installment are forced to confront their previous mistakes, and learn from them to live more godly lives, and to begin a legacy that will live on in the faith of future generations.

While this book lacked some of the depth and faith searching of the early series, it was a good step forward for the Baxter family, with a good review of their past.  It did a good job reminding readers of the characters' connections, without rehashing too much of the previous series.  A reader new to the family might be drawn in enough to go back and live with them throughout the earlier series.

I give this book 3 stars; I enjoyed checking in with a favorite fictional family, but I felt that it both tried to cover too many stories at once, and yet didn't catch up with enough of the family to feel like coming home.  I also felt that it was a little light on how the consequences of past choices affected the characters' lives; everything always seems to work out perfectly for the Baxter families, and while I know it's fiction, it would be nice to see that there are always ramifications to mistakes, even where there is grace and forgiveness.

You can find Love Story HERE.
You can find the author, Karen Kingsbury, HERE.
There have been articles for awhile now that they're making the Baxter Family into a TV Series.


I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

The Chance - by Karen Kingsbury

Ellie Tucker and Nolan Cook are best friends, and when Ellie's Dad forces her to move across the country when she's 15, they promise to stay in touch.  Just in case something happens, however, they write each other a letter and bury it in their favorite park with a promise to come back eleven years later to read them.  Those eleven years pass without any words between them and with enormous changes in their lives.  Will they find each other again?  Will they even try?

I have to admit that I enjoyed this book more than I expected.  I thought that the premise was interesting, and I was invested in wanting to see Nolan and Ellie find each other again.  Yet, there was something that kept me from loving the book.  Partly, I think that there were too many twists and turns and random chances that kept the story moving towards its inevitable conclusion.  I do believe that God could orchestrate such minute details towards an end goal, but there were so many extra characters thrown in to bring it about that it felt a bit forced, without enough details about those characters to bring depth to the story.  It was like there were a half dozen semi-stories thrown into the mix that muddied the waters.  (As an aside, it looks like some of the characters do have their own story in The Bridge, but without reading that first, they felt unfinished in this book)  Additionally, Ellie's father goes through a profound transformation that has the greatest bearing on the story, and yet we see very little of the actual process of his change.  The transition from being a Christian who thinks that rule-following and power-enforcing is the way to live, to a genuine believer who shows humility and love for his family would have been an engaging story to follow.

Overall, I give this book 3.5 stars, but round it down to 3.  I do think that it shows some of what I enjoyed about Karen Kingsbury's early books, more complex characters and deeper journeys of faith, but it could have been so much more.

You can find The Chance HERE.
Karen's website, along with information on all of her books and stories about lives changed from them can be found HERE.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

Five Miles South of Peculiar - by Angela Hunt

Darlene, Carlene, and Magnolia Caldwell grew up Five Miles South of Peculiar, on a large estate handed down from their grandfather, Chase Caldwell.  Darlene and Nolie (Magnolia) have been living in the home together, while Carlene has been working on Broadway as the "famous" sister.  However, Carlene's career has come to a sudden end, and while Nolie welcomes her sister's "visit" with open arms, Darly has reservations and is impatiently waiting for Carly to return to the big city.  Carly can't bring herself to admit her defeat, even as she finds herself drawn back to small-town life.  With the home's ownership only six years away from reverting to the county, all three sisters need to find a plan for their lives, as well as finding their place in each others'.

I have really mixed feelings about this book.  I found myself really drawn to the characters and was quickly immersed in the feel of the town and their lives.  Being invested in the story enough to care about the characters usually makes a book good in my opinion.  However, the inconsistencies in the characters started to bother me throughout the book.  Darlene would say that she wanted to reconcile with her sister, Carlene, but continue to voice how she couldn't wait for Carly to return to New York.  Carly genuinely seemed to desire a renewed relationship with Darly, but she couldn't discuss the reason for her return, and she continued to make changes to Darly's life without discussing them with her.  I know that a prolonged tension usually makes for a more interesting book, but Darly's eagerness for Carly's return became overdone.

The other sticking point that kept me from liking this book more was the feeling that I was being interjected into the middle of the sisters' stories.  Usually I get that feeling when I have picked up a second or third book in a series without reading the first book.  Unfortunately, this seems to be a stand-alone book.  It reads like it would make a much better middle book.  There was so much background information about the sisters' lives that needed to be fleshed out earlier in the story.  Also, the ending was wrapped up so quickly that I would have liked knowing there was another book coming to finish out the new directions that were introduced in a flood at the end of this book.

The mixed feelings make it difficult for me to give this book a rating.  I think I give it 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 stars for making me care about the characters enough to want to know more about them.

I have read several of Ms. Hunt's books before and have enjoyed them; this book fell a bit short of her other works, in my opinion.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.