A Baxter Family Christmas
Karen Kingsbury. New York: Howard Books, 2016. 249 pp. (Hardback).
Who doesn’t love Karen Kingsbury’s books? They are open and inviting, like an old friend’s house. Even the cover of “A Baxter Family Christmas” makes you want to step into the picture — up on the front porch and into the warmth of the family that lives inside.
If you are familiar with Kingsbury’s books, you have probably met the Baxter family. After 22–23 (counting this one) books featuring this family, Kingsbury has the characters well developed, their individual stories and family dynamics brought to life — so much so that Kingsbury reports being asked often how the family is doing.
This story begins with a crisis brought on by a decision by John Baxter, the patriarch of the family, to invite a special but not totally welcome guest to the family’s Christmas celebration. The decision backfires on him, making him wish he hadn’t issued the invitation. I won’t spoil the story for you, but the story and its ending are satisfying, as expected in a Kingsbury book.
—By Martine Bates Fairbanks, The Alabama Baptist
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