Book Review: When We Were Young by Karen Kingsbury

When We Were Young (The Baxter Family #4) by Karen Kingsbury 
Genre: Adult Fiction (Christian / Romance)
Date Published: October 16, 2018
Publisher: Simon Schuster Audio

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 were meant to be together. Theirs is 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 the gift of knowing what tomorrow will bring if you really walk out that door today.

When We Were Young is the fourth book in the Baxter Family series by Karen Kingsbury. It kind of reminded me of the movie, Click. The telling of it was very jumpy though. We got the perspectives of both main characters in the present, and there were several flashbacks from both characters as well, plus Noah's flash forwards. Then we get the perspectives of two other couples briefly also. I get how they are tied into the situation, sorta, but we were already jumping around so much with the two main characters, I felt like the additional character perspectives weren't necessary. I also think Emily needed to own up her part in their circumstances more. It takes two after all. I do like the overall message though, and this was a pretty emotional read. It even brought tears a couple times. I would like to read more from this author. 

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.

To learn more about Karen Kingsbury and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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