Karen Kingsbury: Love Story

By Kelly Bridgewater

From the day they met, John and Elizabeth were destined to fall in love. Their whirlwind romance started when they were young college students and lasted nearly thirty years—until Elizabeth died of cancer.

So when John Baxter is asked to relive his long-ago love story with Elizabeth for his grandson Cole’s heritage project, he’s not sure he can do it. The sadness might simply be too great. But he agrees and allows his heart and soul to go places they haven’t gone in decades. Back to the breathless first moments, but also to the secret heartbreak that brought John and Elizabeth together.

At the same time, Baxter family friend Cody Coleman is working through the breakup of his complicated relationship with Andi Ellison. He is determined to move on when a chance sighting changes his plans—and heart. Can Cody convince Andi to give their love another try, or is it time for them to say goodbye, for good?

As school comes to an end, Cole presents his report on the love story between his grandparents John and Elizabeth Baxter. It is a tale that touches the hearts of the entire family, and one that causes Cole to better understand his own beginning.

From Amazon

 My Thoughts:

Karen Kingsbury's Love Story is all about nostalgia. If you were a fan of the Baxter series, then this is an addition to the series. While I enjoyed the first five Baxter series, or the R series as they are affectionally called, I didn't really like Love Story. The story John Baxter tells Cole is a story that fans of Kingsbury's Baxter series will be familiar with. I can't remember where in the twenty-four novels in the series that Kingsbury has told this story before, but I learned nothing new about the relationship between John and Elizabeth. So I was disappointed in that aspect. As an added bonus, Kingsbury threw in a dueling story with Cody and Andi, to show why their love just can't seem to work. After reading the first couple of scenes with them, I got bored and skipped their parts until the end of the book. Wasn't that interesting. To make the story even more nostalgia, Kingsbury threw in an update on Bailey and Brandon. Again, it paralleled her real life daughter, Kelsey, and I skimmed through these sections too. Overall, the story moved rather rapidly. A month in one novel with not a lot of action. More telling than showing. If you want to know what has been happening to the Baxters, then this might be the perfect novel for you, but for me, I didn't learn anything I didn't know, and I prayed the novel would hurry up and end.

I received a complimentary copy of Karen Kingsbury's Love Story from Howard Books, and the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Name an author who used to love and read all the time, but then their books became boring and you stopped reading their writings.

Karen Kingsbury: A Baxter Family Christmas

By Kelly Bridgewater

Whether you’re meeting the Baxter family for the first time, or finding them all over again…A Baxter Family Christmas will leave fingerprints on your heart forever.

Two years have passed since the terrible car accident that took the life of John Baxter’s daughter, Erin, her husband and three of their four daughters. Prompted by grief, and missing his daughter, John has invited a stranger for Christmas Eve dinner—Kendra Bryant, the transplant recipient who now has Erin’s heart.

In light of their father’s idea, Ashley and her brother Luke don’t think it’s right. They want to protect their ten-year-old niece, Amy—the only surviving member of the accident. But John is determined and believes meeting this woman is something his deceased daughter would want.

At the same time, Maddie West, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Brooke Baxter West, is praying for meaning this Christmas. Could she find it in a newfound friendship with a boy she never expected to see again? Maddie believes in miracles, especially at Christmastime, but this is a stretch even she can’t imagine.

Meanwhile, Kendra Bryant has been struggling these past few years to find purpose in the tragedy that gave her a second chance. She believes the invitation to see the Baxters and witness their unwavering faith in God can instill peace and happiness back into her life.

Heartwarming and touching, filled with love and redemption, A Baxter Family Christmas brings together two families in the aftermath of loss and in the midst of an unfolding love story, all with the help of one very special child.

From Amazon

My Thoughts:

Karen Kingsbury was the second author who I was introduced to in the Christian Publishing world. I picked up a book of hers and devoured them within hours. I passed them onto my aunt, who sadly passed away last year, and we would talk about them once she finished them. When we heard Karen Kingsbury was coming to Bloomington, Indiana, which is where the Baxter's "lived" for a family reunion, I mentioned to my aunt, and we purchased tickets and spend the night in town. It was a lot of fun to see a whole bunch of people come to Bloomington to support this fictional family. I enjoyed reading about the Baxter family, but with the release of some of her previous books, I haven't been reading a lot of her writings. Her books were getting to happy, sappy, and simple. But I was really looking forward to reconnecting with the Baxter family, so I was excited to receive a review copy of A Baxter Family Christmas.

First, I really enjoyed catching up with the Baxter family. It was nice seeing their family again as they had grown through the years, even surpassing all the struggles and still depending on God. All five of the Baxter children had come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas at the old family home. I was nice to see them interact and still keep their family traditions alive, even start some new ones. You don't have to have recently read the complete twenty books featuring the Baxters. Kingsbury weaves in their back stories for newcomers to the family.

As for the story, it really had no conflict. It centered around allowing the young woman who had received Erin's heart come to their home to celebrate Christ's birth. While the family struggled with the issue, it really didn't cause a rift in the family. The story was a feel good story that made me feel warm and snuggly inside. This would be a great story to read by a fire on a cool day with the cup of cocoa next to the Christmas tree with the Christmas music playing in the background. The plot wasn't dark, and I finished the entire book in one day.

I highly recommend this story to fans of Kingsbury's Baxter family. It is nostalgic and enjoyable, but if you want something with more conflict, then this might not be the story for you. It is pretty soft and has a tinge of a teenage romance. Nothing serious. Readers of any age can read this book.

I received a complimentary copy of A Baxter Family Christmas from Howard Books and the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars