Wednesday, July 7, 2010

A Time to Embrace by Karen Kingsbury Review

Karen Kingsbury tackles some difficult issues that impact the common person and couple.  This is the second book chronicling the Reynolds family.  John and Abby have picked up the pieces of their marriage and made the choice to put it back together.  As they travel on this journey, another tragedy strikes and John finds himself paralyzed.  John works to redefine himself and the couple redefine their marriage. 

The story also focuses on other difficult yet common tragedies.  Kingsbury delves into the challenges of many of her readers.  She also promotes the power of prayer and miracles without apology which I like.  Redemption and forgiveness is the ultimate outcome and Kingsbury weaves the story of John and Abby together with a timely message. 

Although the book and writing is solid, I am too much of a cynic to accept an ending with a bow tied upon it.  Miracles occur, I agree.  However, the journey is most often long and arduous.  Prayers are answered but rarely the way I have specified.  On the other hand, everybody's life plan is unique and different.  My own miracles and answers seem to arrive in different sizes and colors than Kingsbury's protagonists.

Highly recommend read even if I am more cynical than the author.  I like her.  I want to be more like her. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

WOW! I have seen Karen Kingsbury books for years but never actually picked one up to read. This book is extremely engaging. John and Abby have managed to save their marriage. For sure, they both felt that it was over and John was even packed and moved out. God powerfully pulls these two back together and stronger than ever. You can tell that they definitely took each other for granted before and now they are very aware of how easily they almost let it slip away. John is an inspirational coach who is having difficulty with many of the parents of his players. However, the reality of it is all so real. Everything in this story line are things that do happen everyday all around us. Karen Kingsbury has an amazing talent for capturing real life scenarios. She pulls you in and its very hard to put this book down. There are some funny parts such as when John and Abby take their daughters in laws to a ballroom dancing class with them. For the most part however, it was a drama that seemed like you were right there with the characters feeling the same pains and joys that they did. I was impressed with how quickly I was pulled into this book. Like I said, I have never read any of Karen's books before and was not sure what to expect out of it. I thought it would be an easy read and I would just whip right through it. Boy was I wrong. This book will give you inspiration and hope. I wish there was a way to get this into more Christian homes. Failing marriages, lives on the edge of giving up. With Abby and John you can see from the first page how in love they are with each other but also with God. Its such an eye opener when you lean on God instead of trying to handle everything yourself. I definitely recommend this book and will be passing my copy along so that others can enjoy it!!! Read it! You won't be disappointed!