Sunday, January 20, 2013

A Kingsbury Collection

A Kingsbury Collection
Three Novels in One
(Where Yesterday Lives, When Joy Comes to Stay, On Every Side)
Karen Kingsbury

Where Yesterday Lives - Ellen, a reporter, learns that her father has suddenly passed away. She returns home to help her mother and her four siblings plan the funeral. But marital problems, sibling issues, and a friend from the past make it a faith test week.

When Joy Came to Stay - Maggie thinks she's losing her mind. From the outside she has the perfect life, a loving husband, adorable foster sons, and a strong faith in God. But a mistake made many years ago has come back to haunt her and cause her to doubt her sanity.

On Every Side - Faith has a dream job at a local news station. But her faith and devotion to God are about to be tested in a way she never dreamed possible. Her town and her Jesus are under attack and with her father gone it is up to her to stand up for what she believes in.

My first thoughts where when I received this book - Oh my word! It is huge. I would never purchase three normal size books together. With almost 750 pages, it is massive. 
I have heard so much about Kingsbury and couldn't wait to read something by her. So I jumped at the chance to review three of her books at once.
My overall opinion is that she is an amazing writer. Despite the difficult subject matter she can still carry the plot and keep the reader interested. I definitely felt emotional reading these stories.
My only negative feelings would be the heavy subject matter. An entire book written about the funeral of a man, no matter how great, is a bit more than I would want to willingly tackle when reading a story for pleasure. So while I enjoyed the stories because of the excellent writing style, I just can't see myself picking up another Kingsbury novel based on these three. The only exception might have been if I'd only read On Every Side. This book didn't seem as dark and had a much happier thread throughout. I'm giving this book 4 stars because while I didn't care for the dark feeling in the books, I did enjoy reading them and felt it was great writing.

I received this book free of charge from WaterBrook in exchange for my honest review.

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