Rejoice (Baxter Family Drama―Redemption Series)

This is one of the amazing books in the Redemption series, which is a definite must read. I love the story line and have defiantly learned many things by reading these books. I gave this book a five star rating. Once you start reading, you won't be able to put it down.

Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley do an awesome job together sharing the daily lives of others and their relationship to the Lord. It is so good to really be hooked on a story and be growing in your faith at the same time. I have read many of Karen's books and plan to read every one of them.

Ever since I read my first Karen Kingsbury book Love Story: A Novel (The Baxter Family Book 1), I can't seem to get enough of them! I love the Baxters and feel like I've known them all my life! I found out the reading order for the Baxter family series and have been working my way through the Redemption series, the first set of novels in the series. I was delighted to find them all at my local library which is why there is no Verified Purchase tag with this review.

John and Elizabeth Baxter are wonderful Christian people who love their five grown children with everything they have. Like all people, everyone goes through troubles at times. Each book in this series focuses mainly on one of the Baxter children and we still get to see what is happening with the other family members. Rejoice's plot focuses mostly on Dr. Brooke Baxter West, the eldest of the Baxter children and her husband Dr. Peter West. Brooke and Peter have two young girls and have a seemingly wonderful life but their marriage is falling apart. Suddenly, tragedy strikes their family and they wonder if life will ever be the same again. They discover the power of prayer, the true meaning of love, and learning how to rejoice even when your world is crumbling.

Every time I finish a Baxter novel, I can't help myself and I start the next one right away! I love the joy I feel from reading these books because they are wonderful, clean, Christian fiction novels and yet they still paint portraits of typical family life. I love how the characters regularly pray, talk to God, and read their Bibles. Sometimes their faith wavers but they work through it and usually come out stronger in their faith than ever. These are the kinds of books that make my heart melt and I often cry. This one, in particular, touched my heart because I have young children and I can't even imagine what it must've been like for Brooke and Peter to go through what they did.

I love this series and highly recommend these books to anyone who loves good, clean Christian fiction! I've only read most of the Redemption series and I strongly feel that you should read these books in order to gain the most benefit from them. I've already recommended them to friends of mine and can't wait to start the next one!

Rejoice is the fourth book in Karen Kingsbury's Baxter Family Series. I was not disappointed reading this book!!!!

Brooke and Peter have been on the rocks in their marriage for a while now. Brooke is on call on a Saturday but the kids have a birthday party to go to. Brooke specifically tells Peter to make sure the girls' life jackets do not come off when she gets called into the hospital. The girls want to go eat cake in the kitchen though so Peter takes the life jackets off. Peter continues to sit and watch the game until Maddie comes running in and says she can't find Hayley. Peter goes running to the pool and finds Hayley at the bottom. No one knows how long she has been in the water. The doctor's are ready to say that Hayley will not get any better and even John Baxter is not sure that she will come out of this. With all the odds against Hayley though, God performs beautiful miracles on her!!

Peter is devastated and blames himself over Hayley's accident. He puts space between him and Brooke. He starts taking one pill to get through the pain and then it is two until he is out of control and ready to swallow a whole bottle of pills and end it all.

Brooke is praying for Hayley and has a peace about everything. She knows that God is going to get her through Hayley's accident and Peter's decision to file for divorce. The doctor's keep telling Brooke that Hayley will be in a vegetative state and will not get any better but Brooke doesn't stop praying. The doctor's tell Brooke that Hayley is blind but Hayley proves them all wrong as she follows people around the room with her eyes and starts to recognize people.

Luke and Reagan have decided to get married in NYC on Christmas Eve. The whole family is going for a week to sightsee and then to be there for the wedding.

Ashley has told Landon over and over again that she loves him but that they can't be together over the medical diagnosis that she has received. He has decided to take a captain's position with the NYFD since Ashley has turned him down. He feels that this is God's way of telling him to move on. Ashley is in NYC for Luke and Reagan's wedding and Landon comes to the wedding. They decide to take one last week together until New Years. Then they will walk away forever. Forever doesn't last long though as a beloved friend from Sunset Hills passes away. Landon decides that he can't let Ashley go through this alone.

I have read the first four of the Baxter series so far and I have loved all of them. I have laughed with them as well as having tears with them. The Baxter family is a family so full of love for each other as well as a love for God. Once you start reading one, you will be hooked and have to read them all!!!

I am very much enjoying this fictional book series by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley. It is about a pretty typical American family, who are also sold out to God. The twists and turns of their lives and those of their children and grandchildren provides lessons for many areas of our own lives as well. I have loved Gary Smalley and his ministry for many, many years and have more recently come across Karen Kingsbury as an author. What a delightful combination. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have.

With a tragic accident to her youngest daughter, Brooke faces heartache and despair. It’s hard not to blame her husband, but their marriage has already weakened, and this could break it completely. Where is God in all this, and does she need to turn to Him like never before?

This was a harder story, because it was so intense and sorrowful. However, I felt a cord of hope through it all. As Brooke Baxter faces the hardest time of her life, her family rallies their support. Will they all find what they’re looking for in the end?

REJOICE, the fourth installment in the Reunion series had some definite highs, but also some lulls.

Centering on yet another Baxter child, Brooke Baxter West's once fairytale life is now nothing more than routine and lackluster. Her marriage to Peter has fallen into a dysfunctional pattern. Distance and aloofness seems to be all they have in common. But when every parent's nightmare strikes, and their daughter, Hayley is fighting for her life, Brooke no longer focuses on her marriage. And for Peter, escapism through a drug addiction is the only way he can cope.

I love serial books because characters and plots from previous books continue to play out. And since the Redemption series is based on the Baxter family, we always know what's going on in the lives of those we've already gotten attached to. Ashley Baxter continues to struggle with her condition and her relationship with Landon Blake. Luke Baxter and Reagan Decker take the next step in their relationship. And as always, central to all their lives is John and Elizabeth Baxter, the strongholds of the family.

REJOICE is definitely an emotion-filled read. A spectrum of circumstances color the stories surrounding the Baxters. As dramatic as most the book is, there were definite lulls. I found myself breezing through some sections, just so I could get back to the meat of the story. Overall, I am still hooked and moving on to REUNION, the last book in the series.

Rejoice by Karen Kingsbury
A Terrible Tragedy strikes Brooke and Peter. Their three-year-old daughter, Hayley nearly drowns. Brooke and Peter’s marriage suffers.
Another wedding takes place in New York City while Ashley struggles with her own tragedy.
My Thoughts:
I love all Karen Kingsbury’s books. I think I’m addicted. Rejoice in the midst of pain and suffering is the theme of this book. The Baxter family could be next-door neighbors. They are common folk.
Hayley’s near drowning is the nightmare of any parent. I found myself praying extra hard for my kids, and watching them a little closer. Great book. I highly recommend you read it.

Book 4 of the Redemption series begins with a horrific accident in which the daughter Brooke Baxter and her husband Peter, nearly drowns. Both Brooke and her husband Peter blame not only themselves, but also each other. Peter feels most to blame because he was the one that was supposed to be watching to 2 year old Haley, and spirals into depression and drugs. I think Ms. Kingsbury does just an incredible job of conveying the emotions and the agony that this family goes through following this tragedy. Both Brooke and Peter eventually discover that God is there for them even in the most trying of times. I was so touched by it and wanted to keep reading to see the journey they went through in not only Haley's recovery,(not a full recovery, but one of baby steps), but that of the entire family.

Luke and Reagan are married in New York. Landon has the opportunity to become a fire captain at FDNY, but this would mean that he and Ashley would not get together, if he remains in NY. As long as Ashley keeps pushing him away, he decides NY is where he will be. Then a miraculous turn of events regarding Ashley's health changes everything.

The Baxter family continue to be there for one another through trials and triumphs. Prayer, faith and listening to God's voice remain a constant thread throughout the series.

Peter and Brooke West are both successful doctors with two lively, beautiful daughters. Out the outside, things seem fine. But behind the doors of their home, their marriage is struggling.When Hayley,their youngest daughter, is the victim of a drowning accident, everything seems to be falling apart. As Hayley struggles for her life, their marriage disintegrates. Both Peter and Brooke struggle with feelings of guilt towards themselves and each other. Peter relieves his pain in illegal ways and Brooke finds that she must surrender all to her God - her daughter, her marriage, even her life - if there is to be any hope of a future for their family and any reason to rejoice.

Rejoice is the fourth book in the Redemption Series by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley. I didn't like this book in the beginning, but once I got about a fourth of the way through it, I started loving it. It's not a book to read if you are depressed, but as with all the books in this series, I admire the authenticity that the authors used when creating the characters and the plot.

The fourth book in Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley's series is the saddest, most moving one of all of them. There are many poignant scenes between the Baxter characters who are struggling to work out their relationship issues. We take away from it lessons on rejoicing in all circumstances, no matter how dire,and we learn that God has plans to give us hope and a future,and the promise of eternal life after we die.The characters reflect these things nicely. We also read that even the strongest of Christians struggle with their faith when bad things happen, which showed me I am not alone in my struggles when they occur in my life. We also see the recurring themes about love being a decision we make in our relationships and also how God can save the most fallen of characters. Smalley writes that we should rejoice even in the mundane details of life,in all it's frustrations and sorrow and tragedies. It is obvious that Smalley loves the Lord and his readers as well.There are many good things about this book you will find well worth reading for all it has to teach or if you just enjoy a good tear jerker that is simply written and easy to read.

Rejoice is the 4th in the Redemption Series. It focuses on another of the Baxters' daughters, Brooke. Brooke and her husband are physicians with a strong marriage and deep faith. A tragic accident involving their toddler daughter shakes the entire family. I try not to go too much into the plot when reviewing a book, so as not to ruin the story for someone who has yet to read it. I will say though that the struggle between Brooke and her husband (because she blames him) is so realistic when something happens to a child. The Baxter family shows support, love, and hope, as they try to hold together as a unit. To me the main theme in this book--or call it a lesson to be learned--is that there is no greater act of worship than to trust God in all circumstances. If you've read the 3 books before this one, you already feel like you know the Baxter family. This is a thought provoking, inspiring book that you will not put down...get ready for some late night reading! I do recommed that you buy all 5 of the Redemption Series books so you will not miss a beat. In order they are: Redemption, Remember, Return, Rejoice, and Reunion. Even after that, there is a spinoff called the "Firstborn Series" starting with Fame and then Forgiven, that you'll want to pursue. Happy reading--these books are an experience, not just a diversion.