Who is your favorite author? What genre do you prefer? In the over eight hundred books that I've read in the last dozen years or so, I have found some that I will follow. Others do not command my attention after only one book.
Some of those authors whose works I've read and enjoyed include: Michael Phillips, Tracie Peterson, Dee Henderson, Jan Karon, Bodie & Brook Thoene, and Judith Pella, among many others.
My all time favorite though is Karen Kingsbury. She is a prolific writer, and every one of her books that I've read have kept my attention, drawn me in, and made me want to read more. Do you ever identify with the characters so much that you want to tell someone about what they did, before you realize that they aren't real people? That's what Ms. Kingsbury's contemporary Baxter Family Drama did for me. It's actually three or four series of four or five books each that highlight different characters from the same family, and/or family friends.
It starts with the Redemption series written with Gary Smalley as the co-author and includes: Redemption, Remember, Return, Rejoice, and Reunion.
Next comes the Firstborn series: Fame, Forgiven, Found, Family and Forever.
This is followed by the Sunrise Series: Sunrise, Summer, Someday and Sunset.
Just when you think that you are finished with the Baxter Family, Ms. Kingsbury adds an additional series following the lives of two characters from family friends who have been a part of the previous books. This is the Bailey Flanigan Series: Leaving, Learning, Longing, and Loving. Mentioned within these books a play that is performed. This comes from Unlocked, also by Ms. Kingsbury.
I'm sure her fans asked for closure of The Baxter Family Drama. She doesn't disappoint and ends with Coming Home.
That's twenty books. Her style of writing pulls the reader in and makes you feel like you are part of these families. They are real people facing real trials of life, sustained by their faith in God and each other. I couldn't put them down and have managed to buy or trade for all of them, as well as ask for them as gifts. (If anyone wants to borrow or buy them from me, let me know.)
Although I doubt I'll ever be as good as or as prolific as Karen Kingsbury, I hope that my first book which is in the design stage will also draw an audience. I'll keep you posted as it progresses through the publishing process. There will be at least two books, and possibly three. And so it begins!
Thought for the day: a good idea is not necessarily a God idea.
