SpireGirl 2018 Blog Tour: Book Review!

Hello!  As I mentioned in Tuesday's post, I'm participating in the SpireGirl 2018 blog tour, and this is the second post; a book review!  Make sure you check out Writings From A God Girl if you enjoyed any of the posts from this week. 

When We Were Young by Karen Kingsbury

Credit: Amazon / Howard Books

I was excited to get a copy of When We Were Young through NetGalley, and I just finished it over the weekend.  I read it in a matter of hours because I couldn't put it down.  

First of all, this book had a plot that I've never seen before.  I don't want to get into any spoilers, of course, but it portrayed the future while keeping firmly rooted into the past as well as the present, through the use of several characters.  You knew what "time-travel" section you'd be in based off of which character the chapter was highlighting, which helped to clarify any confusion.  The entire book, basically, occurs over the span of one night - just while highlighting what the future might be like and how the couple met in the first place.  I'm probably over-explaining it -- it was easy to understand but hard to explain.  I likened it to the "ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future" deal.  The story was a very easy read, given the plot.  The story was also encouraging, in which a couple decides to make their marriage work instead of letting it fall apart.  

That is a very important theme that writers should explore: making a marriage work instead of letting go because of disagreements and misunderstandings.  Topics surrounding social media and the degradation of the "family nucleus" were also explored realistically.   It was inspiring on that end, and was actually less heartbreaking than most of the Kingsbury books I've read.  Slightly.

When We Were Young is a "Baxter Family" book, but I think it's fine as a standalone as well.  I've never read any of the Baxter books, and was able to follow along with the series' recurring cast fairly well - and they weren't the focus of the book anyway.  Overall, I think this is a great book to pick up if you enjoy Karen Kingsbury's work.  I enjoyed it until my eyes were bleary and then I just squinted to keep on reading.  

Have you read any of Karen Kingsbury's books, or are you thinking about picking up When We Were Young?  What are your thoughts on her work?