Even Now and Ever After

I received this two-in-one novel from my mother-in-law a few Christmases ago. I'd never read a Karen Kingsbury novel before, even though she's a pretty popular Christian author.

They were really good.

Even Now had an intriguing plot from the first page. A Christian teenage couple accidentally gets pregnant. Their parents split them up, intending it for their good. The split results in a series of misunderstandings which leave the baby to be raised by her maternal grandparents.

Eighteen years later, the baby's now a college student seeking a way to find her parents and bring them all back together.

Ever After is the sequel, but I can't really tell you anything about it without giving away the first book, except that it's good.

These books take place during the war in Iraq, which brought a lot of emotions to the surface for me. I felt a taste of the fear and concern that people feel for their loved ones overseas. The books also hit me deep in terms of what soldiers experience. When I hear about the work our soldiers are doing, the victories and casualties, I'm far more emotionally moved than I was before.

Kingsbury did an excellent job exploring the areas of conflict that we Americans feel/felt about the war in Afganistan and Iraq.

That's one reason why fiction is so powerful. It can present real life in an fascinating way that leaves an impact. I wouldn't have read them if I knew the story was partially about war, but I was already hooked on the characters before the war came into the plot.

They're great books. I recommend them!