Reunion by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley

The day Elizabeth Baxter found the lump in her breast changed the Baxter family forever. As Ashley and Landon, plan for their wedding, Elizabeth plans a family reunion. She knows God is going to heal her body and let her grow old with her family, but just in case, she wants to see them all again. As the time and cancer progresses, Elizabeth finds herself drawn to the oldest secret that she and her husband have kept. A secret she's still not willing to tell. When it seems that none of her prayers will be answered the way she wants to them too, she surrenders all her hopes and dreams to God, only too find that all her dreams have been fulfilled – just not in the way she expected.

Reunion, the fifth and final book in the Redemption Series, by Karen Kingsbury & Gary Smalley was by far the most potent of all the books and is my personal favorite of the Redemption series. I loved this book though at times, it made me cry. I confess that if there were no books to follow this one, I would have hated the ending. However, as I understand it, The Firstborn Series, follows this series and continues with the life and struggles of Dayne Matthews. I'm looking forward to checking those out from the library soon. Kingsbury did an excellent job of introducing the new characters into this book which I understand will be featured in later book series.

Rejoice by Karen Kingsbury & Gary Smalley

Peter and Brooke West are both successful doctors with two lively, beautiful daughters. On the outside, things seem fine. But behind the doors of their home, their marriage is struggling. When Hayley,their youngest daughter, is the victim of a drowning accident, everything seems to be falling apart. As Hayley struggles for her life, their marriage disintegrates. Both Peter and Brooke struggle with feelings of guilt towards themselves and each other. Peter relieves his pain in illegal ways and Brooke finds that she must surrender all to her God – her daughter, her marriage, even her life – if there is to be any hope of a future for their family and any reason to rejoice.

Rejoice is the fourth book in the Redemption Series by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley. I didn't like this book in the beginning, but once I got about a fourth of the way through it, I started loving it. It's not a book to read if you are depressed, but as with all the books in this series, I admire the authenticity that the authors used when creating the characters and the plot.

Redemption by Karen Kingsbury with Gary Smalley

Redemption, by Karen Kingsbury with Gary Smalley, is as it's name suggests, a story of redemption. Kari Baxter Jacobs is hurt and angry after one fateful phone call exposes her husband's affair. Her husband, Tim Jacobs, is anything but remorseful and when Kari's old love moves back to town, Kari is faced with choices that will determine her future and the futures of those around her.

I've never been a humongous fan of Karen Kingsbury, but I did find this book to be exceptionally well-written. It is the first book in the Redemption series which features five books based on the Baxter family. The characters were so real and the situations were so authentic that I felt as if I was really right there in their minds and circumstances. To be honest, I wasn't expecting this book to be such heavy reading. It isn't the kind of book that you read when you want a happy bit of fluff. No, this book is so real. The situations are exactly the type of situations that people face in real life. I especially liked how all the characters were personally addressed even though the book centered mainly on Kari.