Book Review: A Kingsbury Collection by Karen Kingsbury

Where Yesterday Lives
When the sudden death of her father shakes Ellen Barret’s world, she realizes that each of her four siblings remember him differently.  A week together to plan the funeral brings out all the repressed and unspoken hurts from their growing up years.  To complicate Ellen’s confusion, she gets in touch with her old boyfriend.  Ellen and her husband have neglected their faith and each other, so she could be headed for disaster.  Will an old friend’s prayers for her be answered?

When Joy Came to Stay
Maggie has repressed the lies of her past until depression brings her to the point of desperation.  How can a Christian be depressed?  How can someone who writes advice for families have her own family in shambles?  Her husband, Ben, has to find out what is wrong with Maggie.  She has checked herself into a psychiatric hospital and refuses any contact with him.  Will he be able to forgive and love her when he finds out the truth?

Karen Kingsbury always probes a nerve with her books.  She is not a “happy ever after” type writer, but is realistic with what actual people face, spiritually, emotionally, and relationally because of decisions’ consequences.

On Every Side
I had never read On Every Side before as I had the other two, so I enjoyed it the most—not knowing what was going to happen.  One interesting thing about this book were the characters’ names:  Bob Moses, Joshua Nunn, Faith, Jordan, and the park in town where the well-loved but suddenly controversial Jesus statue was located—Jericho Park!  These names made the book fun to read because the characters got inspiration from the book of the Bible, Joshua.

Jordan Riley, a lawyer for a group determined to rid public places of any references to God, targeted the Jesus statue in the town where he had lived as a boy. To him, it seemed God had failed him when his mother died, and his sister and he were separated.  When he returned to the small town, he found his best childhood friend still serving the God he had left, and they were on opposite sides of the conflict.

This book is so good, and I do not want to give away any of its secrets!  Karen Kingsbury deals with walls the characters had built around their hearts, and just like Jericho’s walls, they have to come down, because as Faith says, “You can’t be angry at God forever.”

Like other Kingsbury books, there is a historical basis for the main plot—to remove the Jesus statue from public view.  She is my favorite Christian fiction author.  I was thrilled to have the opportunity to receive this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers in exchange for blogging my opinion.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Blogging for Books program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”