Karen Kingsbury

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About Karen Kingsbury

Karen Kingsbury, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist, is America's favorite inspirational storyteller, with more than twenty-five million copies of her award-winning books in print. Her last dozen titles have topped bestseller lists and many of her novels are under development with Hallmark Films and as major motion pictures. Her Baxter Family books are being developed into a TV series slated for major network viewing sometime in the next year. Karen is also an adjunct professor of writing at Liberty University. In 2001 she and her husband, Don, adopted three boys from Haiti, doubling their family in a matter of months. Today the couple has joined the ranks of empty-nesters, living in Tennessee near five of their adult children.

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Titles By Karen Kingsbury

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Truly, Madly, Deeply: A Novel (The Baxter Family) Oct 27, 2020

by Karen Kingsbury

( 2,233 )

$13.99

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTELLER

In love for the first time, a son’s decisions about the future divides his family in this fearless and thought-provoking novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of life-changing fiction.

When eighteen-year-old Tommy Baxter declares to his family that he wants to be a police officer after graduation, his mother, Reagan, won’t hear of it. After all, she’s still mourning the death of her own father on September 11 and she’s determined to keep her son safe from danger. But Tommy’s father, Luke, is proud of Tommy’s decision. He would make a kind and compassionate cop.

Meanwhile, Tommy is in love for the first time. His sweet relationship with Annalee Miller is almost too good to be true. Tommy begins seriously thinking about the far off day when he can ask her to marry him but she hasn’t been feeling well. Tests reveal the unthinkable.

While his girlfriend begins the fight of her life, Tommy is driven to learn more about the circumstances surrounding his birth and the grandfather he never knew. Secrets come to light that rock Tommy’s world, and he becomes determined to spend his future fighting crime and bringing peace to the streets. Or is this just his way to fight a battle he cannot win—the one facing Annalee?

Blending romance and family drama, Truly, Madly,Deeply shows us that, in the shadow of great loss, the only way to live with passion is truly, madly, deeply.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

A Distant Shore: A Novel Apr 27, 2021

by Karen Kingsbury

$12.99

“Inspirational fiction superstar” (Publishers Weekly) and #1 New York Times bestselling author of life-changing fiction returns with this high-stakes love story of danger, passion, and faith.

She was a child caught in a riptide in the Caribbean Sea. He was a teenager from the East Coast on vacation with his family. He dove in to save her, and that single terrifying moment changed both their lives forever.

Ten years later Jack Ryder is a daring secret agent with the FBI and Eliza Lawrence still lives on that pristine island. She’s an untainted princess in a kingdom of darkness and evil, on the brink of a forced marriage with a dangerous neighboring drug lord, a marriage arranged by her father.

This time when Jack and Eliza meet, there’s a connection neither of them can explain. Both their lives are on the line, and once again, the stakes are deadly high. Can they join forces in a complicated and dangerous mission, pretending to have a breathtaking love…without really falling?

Sometimes miracles happen not once, but twice…along a distant shore.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

Forgiving Paris: A Novel Oct 26, 2021

by Karen Kingsbury

$12.99

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of life-changing fiction returns with a wise and worldly novel of forgiveness and hope in the City of Lights.

More than two decades ago, Ashley Baxter Blake made her most grievous mistake in Paris. Now, a forgotten voice brings new information about that terrible time, causing Ashley to see that experience in a new light. Can she finally lay down yesterday’s pain and move on?

In Paris, Alice Michel is having dinner with her son Gabe and his new friend, Jessie Taylor, an Indiana girl who is studying abroad for the semester. Alice’s life is so good now, totally different than it was twenty-four years ago. As the dinner conversation goes on, Alice tells the young couple that her long-ago drug addiction nearly killed her. But then her life was saved by a conversation with an American artist. Alice can only remember the girl’s name: Ashley.

Back in Indiana, Ashley and her husband are about to take a twentieth anniversary trip to Paris, where she will have her first French art show. But Ashley is hesitant. She has never forgiven herself for what happened there, and she is dreading the return of memories she’s been holding at bay. Just before the trip, Ashley gets a call from her niece. Jessie explains that her boyfriend’s mother remembers working at a cafe with an American named Ashley. “Could that be you?”

When Alice and Ashley meet, a flood of memories comes for both women, taking Ashley back to a reckless affair and an unexpected pregnancy and Alice to the night she nearly ended it all. Can this new information bring healing and closure? Maybe it is finally time for Ashley to forgive herself...and Paris.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Audio CD

Someone Like You: A Novel May 5, 2020

by Karen Kingsbury

( 1,928 )

$12.99

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Science raises questions only love can answer in this moving and thought-provoking novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “heart-tugging and emotional” (Romantic Times Book Reviews) life-changing fiction.

One frozen embryo. Two families with life-long secrets. And a guy who never planned to fall in love again.

Maddie Baxter West is shaken to the core when she finds out everything she believed about her life was a lie. Her parents had always planned to tell her the truth about her past: that she was adopted as an embryo. But somehow the right moment never happened. Then a total stranger confronts Maddie with the truth and tells her something else that rocks her world—Maddie had a sister she never knew about. Betrayed, angry, and confused, Maddie leaves her new job and fiancé, rejects her family’s requests for forgiveness, and moves to Portland to find out who she really is.

Dawson Gage’s life was destroyed when London Quinn, his best friend and the only girl he ever loved, is killed. In the hospital waiting room, London’s mother reveals that London might have had a sibling. The frozen embryo she and her husband donated decades ago. When Dawson finds Maddie and brings her to Portland, the Quinns—her biological parents—welcome her into their lives and hearts. Maddie is comforted by the Quinns’ love and intrigued by their memories of London, who was so much like her. Is this the family and the life she was really meant to have?

Now it will take the love of Dawson Gage to help Maddie know who she is...and to help her find her way home.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

A Time to Dance (Timeless Love Series Book 1) Jun 27, 2010

by Karen Kingsbury

( 423 )

$1.99

Now a Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel event, A Time to Dance is a powerful story of the resilience of love.

John and Abby Reynolds are the perfect couple—envied by their friends, cherished by their children, admired by their peers. But John and Abby know they're just pretending to be happy. In fact, they're waiting for the right time to tell the kids they're going to divorce. But at the family meeting where they plan to tell their children, Nicole shares a surprise of her own: she's getting married. How can they spoil her joy with their announcement?

They can pretend a little longer—until after the wedding. But questions begin to haunt them as the date draws nearer. What happened to the love and commitment that held them together for so long? Is it still there somewhere under all the pain and misunderstanding? And is it still possible, alone in the moonlight on an old wooden pier, to once more find . . . a time to dance?

The first novel in Karen Kingsbury's celebrated series about the power of commitment and the amazing faithfulness of God.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Mass Market Paperback , Audio CD

The Redemption Collection: Redemption / Remember / Return / Rejoice / Reunion (Baxter Family Drama—Redemption Series) Apr 22, 2016

by Karen Kingsbury , Gary Smalley

( 319 )

$23.09

The complete 5-book bestselling Christian fiction series that has sold nearly 2 million copies!

These original Baxter Family books have captivated millions of readers and are currently being made into an original television series produced by Roma Downey and Will Packer.

This collection bundles the five-book Redemption series from Karen Kingsbury, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “heart-tugging and emotional” (Romantic Times) life-changing fiction, co-authored with Gary Smalley, which centers around the Baxter family. As readers follow the hopes and struggles of the family, they will explore key relationship themes as well as the larger theme of redemption, both in characters’ spiritual lives and in their relationships. In each book, fans will enjoy a personal note from Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley as well as discussion questions for book group use. Revisit the Baxter family in all their life-changing events, or share the series with someone who hasn’t discovered it yet.

Share the Baxter family’s joys and struggles, triumphs and pain.

#1 Redemption:
When Kari Baxter Jacobs finds out that her husband is involved in an adulterous relationship and wants a divorce, she decides she will love him and remain faithful to her marriage at all costs. This book shows how God can redeem seemingly hopeless relationships, and it illustrates one of Gary Smalley’s key messages: Love is a decision.

#2 Remember:
Convinced she could make it on her own, Ashley Baxter has kept the most important people in her life at a distance—her family, the man who loves her, and the God she is sure can never forgive her. Now, just as she begins to open her heart, the events of September 11 rip into Ashley’s world and she is led to heartbreaking and hope-filled decisions that will forever change her life. This story vividly illustrates that we must value others more than ourselves, and it drives home one of Gary Smalley’s key messages: Honor one another.

#3 Return:
This touching novel reunites readers with the Baxter family and focuses on the only Baxter son, Luke. He is determined to leave his faith and his past behind and embrace a new, free-thinking future. But what he doesn’t realize is that his past holds a secret even he doesn’t know. When Luke finds out, his comfortable new life is turned upside-down, and he must turn back to his roots.

#4 Rejoice:
In the continuing saga of the Baxter family, Brooke Baxter has achieved everything this world has to offer—a prestigious career, a beautiful home, and two wonderful children. Her recent return to her faith is an encouragement to her family. But if she faces tremendous loss, can her fledgling faith and her rocky marriage survive?

#5 Reunion:
Plans are being made for a family reunion. Nearly all the adult Baxter children have a reason to celebrate—except one. As the preparations get underway, a deadly diagnosis sends shockwaves through the Baxter family and threatens to tear them apart.

Winner of Christian Retailing’s Retailer’s Choice Award for Best Series

Other Formats: MP3 CD

When We Were Young: A Novel (Baxter Family) Oct 16, 2018

by Karen Kingsbury

( 705 )

$12.99

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes a classic story about second chances, featuring the beloved Baxter family and a young father who finds his whole world turned upside down on the eve of his divorce.

What if you could see into the future and know what will happen tomorrow, if you really walk out that door today. Pay attention. Life is not a dress rehearsal.

From their first meeting, to their stunning engagement and lavish wedding, to their happily-ever-after, Noah and Emily Carter seemed meant to be. They have a special kind of love—and they want the world to know. More than a million adoring fans have followed their lives on Instagram since the day Noah publicly proposed to Emily. But behind the carefully staged photos and encouraging posts, their life is anything but a fairytale, and Noah’s obsession with social media has ruined everything.

Distraught, Emily reaches out to her friend Kari Baxter Taylor and tells her the truth: Noah and Emily have decided to call it quits. He is leaving in the morning.

But when Noah wakes the next day, everything is different. Emily is gone and the kids are years older. Like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, bizarre and strange events continue throughout the night so that Noah is certain he’s twenty years older, and he is desperate for a second chance.

Now it would take a miracle to return to yesterday.

When We Were Young is a rare and beautiful love story that takes place in a single day. It’s about knowing what tomorrow will bring if you really walk out that door today—and the gift of being able to choose differently.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

Never Grow Up (A Baxter Family Children Story Book 3) Feb 23, 2021

by Karen Kingsbury , Tyler Russell , Olivia Chin Mueller

( 139 )

$10.99

In the third book in Karen Kingsbury and Tyler Russell’s beloved series about the Baxter children, Ashley and Kari Baxter struggle with what it means to grow up.

When Kari Baxter is assigned an essay about what she wants to be when she grows up, her mind goes blank. She doesn’t want to grow up; she wants everything to stay just like it is. But Kari comes to realize that while making time stand still isn’t possible, she can enjoy every moment with her best family ever.

Meanwhile, Ashley Baxter feels the same way. She is worried her siblings are growing up too fast. When she wins the role of Wendy in her school performance of Peter Pan, Ashley gets an idea. Maybe she and her siblings can pledge to never grow up at all!

This third story in the Baxter Family Children series shares the reassuring message that even though growing up can be tough, family and friends are always there with support and love.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Audio CD

In This Moment: A Novel Nov 7, 2017

by Karen Kingsbury

( 771 )

$13.99

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes an inspiring Baxter Family novel about a beloved high school principal who starts a Bible Study to improve the lives of his struggling students, only to become the national focus of a controversial lawsuit.

Hamilton High Principal Wendell Quinn wants to see real change in his community, so he starts a voluntary after-school Bible Study and prayer program called Raise the Bar. He knows he is risking his job by leading the program, but before long, Raise the Bar meetings are standing room only.

A year later, violence and gang activity are sharply down, test scores are up, and drug use and teen pregnancy have plummeted. The program is clearly working—until one parent files a lawsuit, claiming Wendell has violated his daughter's rights.

But Principal Quinn knows God is on his side, and he refuses to back down. As he prepares for court, he is deluged by a storm of national attention and criticism. He wants just one attorney on his side in the fight of his life—Luke Baxter.

A timely and nuanced exploration of religious freedom and what it means to be a person of faith in today’s culture, In This Moment will satisfy Kingsbury fans, old and new.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

The Firstborn Collection: Fame / Forgiven / Found / Family / Forever (Baxter Family Drama—Firstborn Series) May 9, 2017

by Karen Kingsbury

( 195 )

$29.99

The complete 5-book Christian fiction series that has sold over 1.5 million copies

This collection bundles all five of Karen Kingsbury’s Firstborn series in a single, value-priced e-book! Enjoy this second installment of the beloved Baxter Family Drama from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “heart-tugging and emotional” (Romantic Times) life-changing fiction.

#1 Fame: In this first book, Hollywood A-lister Dayne Matthews returns to LA after his shocking discovery in Karen’s bestselling novel Reunion. Though his life is filled with fame, fortune, and paparazzi, his heart is pulling him toward a woman and a family who have no idea how their lives are tied to his. Meanwhile, Katy Hart has finally found contentment as the director of Christian Kids Theater in Bloomington, Indiana. But that changes in an instant when she meets Dayne Matthews and he promises a future she left in her past.

#2 Forgiven: Dayne Matthews is at the top of the Hollywood list, working on what may be his best movie yet. Still, he feels empty and unfocused, aching for real love and the family he’ll never know. Then a friend tells him about a teaching center and a way to become like God. Is this the answer Dayne’s been searching for? Back in Bloomington, Katy Hart struggles to walk the Christian Kids Theater group through a devastating tragedy, and John Baxter reconnects with an old friend and shares a buried secret.

#3 Found: Driven by his wife’s dying wish—to find their firstborn son—John Baxter sets about the search of a lifetime. But when the answers finally come, they shake John to his core. Can he walk away, or will he decide it’s time to let the truth come to light? Meanwhile, Dayne Matthews receives crushing news and finds wisdom and comfort from a long-lost friend and then Katy Hart, the girl Dayne can’t seem to forget. Will he find the strength to face a future laced with loss, and will that strength lead him to the greatest love of all?

#4 Family: In the wake of finding his firstborn son, John Baxter looks for a way to tell his other children the truth about a secret he’s kept from them all their lives. At the same time, a sensational Hollywood trial brings Dayne Matthews and Katy Hart together again, this time in a very public way. Just when it seems they have a chance at love, doubts and presumed scandals place them farther apart than ever. In the midst of this crisis, one truth is clear for all of them—never in their lives has family been more important.

#5 Forever: Katy Hart is thrilled about her future with Hollywood’s Dayne Matthews. But as she plans a wedding and looks for a house on the shores of Lake Monroe, she receives tragic news. Now she and the Baxter family must travel to Los Angeles to sort through their options. While paparazzi hound them, Luke Baxter wrestles with feelings that have troubled him for nearly a year. Ultimately, the Baxters must pull together one last time in an act of service and love to help Katy and Dayne find what they’ve always been looking for—a chance at forever.

Other Formats: MP3 CD

The Sunrise Collection: Sunrise / Summer / Someday / Sunset (Baxter Family Drama—Sunrise Series) Dec 6, 2016

by Karen Kingsbury

( 138 )

$25.99

The complete 4-book bestselling Christian fiction series that has sold over 1.3 million copies!

This collection bundles all four of Karen Kingsbury’s Sunrise series in a single, value-priced e-book! Enjoy this third installment of the beloved Baxter Family Drama from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “heart-tugging and emotional” (Romantic Times) life-changing fiction.

#1 Sunrise
In preparation for their long-awaited wedding, Dayne Matthews and Katy Hart are determined to keep the ceremony a secret from the paparazzi, but in the end it takes the help of the Baxter family and many of the CKT kids to even have a chance at a private wedding. John Baxter is thrilled that his oldest son will be settling down a few miles away, but he isn’t sure how any of his kids will handle the feelings he is having for his friend Elaine. In the meantime, the Flanigan family is struggling with their young boarder, Cody Coleman, who fights for his life following an alcohol overdose. Only God’s grace and a miracle can bring him back from the brink of death—physically and spiritually.

#2 Summer
Hollywood actor Dayne Matthews and Katy Hart are married and living in Bloomington, Indiana, where Dayne has found a solution to his on-camera love scenes—he wants Katy to star in his next film. Katy wins the part, and the couple also agrees to a 12-episode reality show. Soon, they feel cracks around the edges of their marriage and face the end of everything that truly matters to them. The Baxter family learns that Ashley and Kari are both pregnant, but an ultrasound reveals that something is wrong with one of the babies. As the summer progresses, the sisters pray for a miracle while trying to face the unthinkable. Bailey Flanigan struggles to find her way amid the turmoil of adolescence. Her friendship with Cody Coleman continues to blossom after his graduation. But when Cody decides to enlist in the Army, he’ll have to say good-bye to the family he’s come to love and the girl he’ll never forget.

#3 Someday
Pressures of the celebrity lifestyle weigh heavily on Dayne and Katy Matthews as they take on separate movie projects. Tabloid rumors talk of trouble and unfaithfulness between the two, but finally something drastic catches Dayne’s attention and makes him realize the destruction they’re playing with. But will it be too late? Meanwhile, John Baxter takes the next step in his growing relationship with Elaine, giving him a season to contemplate selling the Baxter house. As the rest of the family considers the future and what may lie ahead, they must pull together like never before.

#4 Sunset
As John Baxter makes plans to marry Elaine, one of the Baxters enters into the most trying season of all. During a time of renewed love and hope for the future, the Baxters come together to establish the sacred ground of marriage and to chart a course for the future. Memories of times gone by meet with the changes of today in a story that proves only the support of faith and family can take a person into the sunset years of life.

Winner of Christian Retailing’s Retailer’s Choice Award for Best Series!

Two Weeks: A Novel (Baxter Family Book 5) Apr 9, 2019

by Karen Kingsbury

( 1,050 )

$12.99

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes a heart-wrenching and redemptive story about a couple desperately waiting to bring their adopted child home and a young mother about to make the biggest decision of her life—a story about love, faith, and what it really means to be a family.

Cole Blake, son of Landon and Ashley Baxter Blake, is months away from going off to college to kickstart the great plan he has been dreaming about for years—a career in medicine. But as he starts his final semester of school he meets Elise, a mysterious new girl who captures his attention—and heart—from day one.

Elise has her heart set on mending her wild ways and becoming the good girl she used to be. But not long after the semester starts, she discovers she’s pregnant. Eighteen and alone, she shares her secret with Cole. Undaunted by the news, and in love for the first time in his life, Cole is determined to support Elise—even if it means skipping college so he can marry her and raise another man’s baby.

When Elise decides to give the baby up for adoption, she is matched with Aaron and Lucy Williams, who moved to Bloomington, Indiana, in the hope of escaping the loss and emptiness that seven painful years of trying to start a family has brought them.

But as her due date draws near, Elise becomes more and more torn. She knows she has two weeks after the birth of her daughter to change her mind. With Cole keeping vigil and Lucy and Aaron waiting to welcome their new baby, Elise makes an unexpected decision—one that changes everyone’s plans.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

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