Well that was a wild ride…
It all started one night when I walked into our room and my wife asked me a question that led to the first You Make the Call post. After watching my wife voraciously devour the first few of these 14 books and having the discussions that these books inspired, I had to try them for myself. I was not disappointed. These were great books.
Disclaimer: these books are chick books so guys, there is not a whole lot of action in them.
The books start with Redemption a book about Kari Baxter and the troubles she is having (this is the situation that I discussed in the You Make the Call post). In this book you meet the Baxter family and through the course of the next 13 books, you learn all about them.
To try and review each individual book would give away too much information (I am surprised however how much information about the series is given away by the covers), but the 14 books are broken up into 3 different series:
- Redemption Series – Karen Kingsbury & Gary Smalley
- Firstborn Series – Karen Kingsbury
- Sunrise Series – Karen Kingsbury
The thing I liked most about this series is that it made you deal with issues of faith and morality that you may not normally deal with because you can imagine the Baxters living down the street from you. Karen Kingsbury does a really good job of setting the scenes in a way that you can believe they are really happening. For instance, book 3 deals with the Baxters (and friends) dealing with the events of September 11, 2001. There are a couple topics that Kingsbury talked about that hit almost too close to home. I can’t spoil the books, but Mandy and I read Summer right around the time we attended a friend’s memorial service a situation that if you know where Mandy and I have been with a couple very close friends of ours and you know what happens in Summer you can understand why Mandy was bawling at the end of the book and I was brought to tears as well. Parts of Summer are some of the most powerful chapters I may have ever read. Reading Summer brought healing for both Mandy and I.
Mandy asked me a question when I had about 3 books left in the series was whether or not I liked the Baxter Family Drama series more or books by Dee Henderson (O’Malley Series & Uncommon Heroes Series). It was a tough call for me. I like the Dee Henderson books because for chick books there is a lot of action in them…mainly because of who the characters are. But the Baxter Family Drama really hit home on issues and make you deal with them. I told her that I think I liked the Dee Henderson books better, but after finishing the Baxter Family Drama I think it may be a tie. Either way, I hope you give both authors a chance to entertain you.
Overall rating for the Baxter Family Drama Series: 5 out of 5