Redemption (Redemption Series-Baxter 1, Book 1) [Abridged] [Audio CD]

Karen Kingsbury (Author), Gary Smalley (Author), Sandra Burr (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 2005

A Betrayal Kari Baxter Jacobs is furious, hurt, and confused. Her husband, Tim, a respected professor of journalism, is having an affair with a student. Stunned, Kari returns home to the Baxter family to sort things out. But when an old flame shows up, she is more confused than ever. A Decision How can Kari forgive her husband? And what about her own revived feelings for Ryan, a man she knows she should avoid? What remedy could possibly ease the pain? A Hope The gifted writing team of Gary Smalley and Karen Kingsbury brings us a profound story of redemption. A betrayal. A broken marriage. Will Kari ever love again? A story of love at all costs

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The recent penchant for pairing prolific Christian novelists with well-known CBA nonfiction authors is cause for skepticism, and justifiably so in this first collaboration between Smalley, an author and speaker on family relationships, and novelist Kingsbury. "Good-looking" Indiana University professor Tim Jacobs has found his stereotypical midlife affair with his "achingly beautiful" student Angela Manning more than a passing distraction. His "gorgeous" wife, Kari, who models in her spare time, discovers the affair just as she finds she is pregnant. Even as Kari refuses to grant Tim a divorce, she learns that her high school sweetheart, football star and "hunk" Ryan Taylor, is still single and interested in picking up their romance where they left off. Tim hits the bottle, and things look grim for the couple. Not surprisingly, counseling plays a large role in the work Kari and Tim do to try and salvage their marriage. There is a fairly shameless plug for Smalley's Relationship Center in Branson, Mo., when Kari and Tim's pastor suggests they travel to a two-day "Marriage Intensive Seminar" in the Ozarks. (Readers are also invited to contact the center.) Minus the heavy doses of counseling references and descriptions of the characters' surpassing gorgeousness, Kingsbury's writing is much improved from Halfway to Forever. While she laudably avoids a neat wrapup, it's likely because there are six more books to come in the series. This novel functions largely as an encouraging self-help book rather than as a solid contribution to inspirational fiction.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Laura Baxter Jacobs has a fulfilling relationship with the Lord, an exciting life of modeling and volunteer work, and a wonderful marriage. Then an anonymous phone call reveals her husband's infidelity, turning her world upside down. Laura prays and forgives Tim, deciding to use this break as a springboard to rebuild their marriage. Tim, however, wants a divorce. The reappearance of an old boyfriend and the constant harp+ing of Laura's sisters to divorce Tim also upset her, but Laura plans to stick with her decision to love her husband and win him back with a little help from God. In the first of a five-book series, Smalley (Love Is a Decision) and Kingsbury (When Joy Came To Stay) explore tough and touchy issues facing today's Christians. While the novel's conclusion is unsurprising and Dee Henderson's O'Malley series (see above) is stronger on issues of individual faith, fans of inspirational fiction will still enjoy this.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio (February 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159355883X
• ISBN-13: 978-1593558833
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,354,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury is America's #1 inspirational novelist. There are nearly 20 million copies of her award-winning books in print, including several million copies sold in the past year. Karen has written more than 50 novels, ten of which have hit #1 on national lists.

Karen's newest novel, Unlocked, released Oct. 12 and has stayed in Amazon's top fifty for the past few weeks. Unlocked debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times Bestsellers list. Another recent and popular title of Karen's is Shades of Blue - the story of a 28-year-old ad executive who is six weeks away from marrying the girl he loves. But as he prepares for his wedding, something brings up his past girlfriend - a girl he dated in high school. He realizes he can't go forward and say, "I do," until he goes back to Holden Beach, finds the girl he loved back then, and tell her he's sorry.

Karen's novel Like Dandelion Dust is the subject of a major motion picture currently in theaters. Like Dandelion Dust stars Academy Award winning Mira Sorvino and Barry Pepper, along with Cole Hauser and Maxwell Perry Cotton. The film has received more than 30 awards in the Film Festival Circuit including numerous Best Picture awards. Several of Karen's books are currently under theatrical development.

Karen's most recent series - the Above the Line Series, which began with Take One, in March, 2009 and wrapped up in June, 2010 with Take Four. The series is about two producers looking to change the world with the power of film. The Above the Line series also includes Karen's popular characters from the fictitious Baxter Family. The Baxters were first introduced to readers through the five-book Redemption series, and then the five-book Firstborn series, and finally the four-book Sunrise series.

Dubbed by Time Magazine as the Queen of Christian Fiction, Karen has also been a featured guest on the Today Show, Fox News, USA Today, and numerous other television programs and magazines. Her fiction has made her one of the country's favorite storytellers. Others of her emotionally gripping titles include the 9-11 Series, Even Now, Ever After, and Between Sundays.

Karen is also a public speaker, reaching more than 100,000 women annually through various national events. Karen and her husband, Don, live in the Pacific Northwest with their six children, three of whom are adopted from Haiti.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great beginning of a remarkable series, January 27, 2006

By 

Jackie Tortorella - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Redemption (Redemption Series-Baxter 1, Book 1) (Paperback)

Redemption was the first book of Karen Kingsbury's that I read. Someone had passed it along to me and I almost didn't read it, thinking it looked too much like a romance novel. I found myself immediately immersed in the vividly painted characters and their trials. This is truly a book for anyone who wants to learn more about developing empathy, relating to family and friends, and working out a troubled marriage. As a devout Catholic, I found the Christian backdrop to the story very moving. It always carries the point that relying on God and trusting in Him is the only way to make the right life choices.

Perhaps an even better reason to buy this book is that it's the first in a series of 5 beautiful novels, each of which explores the lives of individuals in the Baxter family. My sound advice is to buy all 5 of the Redemption Series at once, because you will be eager to get to the next book as you close each preceding one. You'll also find your own faith bolstered by the many messages contained within the story line.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You ain't seen nothing yet!, July 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Redemption (Redemption Series-Baxter 1, Book 1) (Paperback)

If you liked this book, just wait until you read Remember & Return, the next two books in the series! The first book, Redemption (named after the series), is very good but it starts out slow then builds to an exciting climax. The next two, however, are really the page turners as the characters become better developed and things start to happen at a much faster pace, making for some exciting reading.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, April 24, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Redemption (Redemption Series-Baxter 1, Book 1) (Paperback)

I absolutly loved this book. I've read both this one and Remember, the next book in the series. Unlike the editorial review I thought it was a great book. The characters while beautiful are also realistic. I grew up not far from Bloomington in Western Ohio and these people are people I knew. They are solid salt of the earth people who face troubles and grow and learn from them. I've known people who are just like Kari and Ashley and even Ryan. People from middle america are truly like this. The editor states this is a predictable midlife affair. Perhaps it is, but to people living this life nothing like this is predictable. Perhaps this book should have been looked at by the editorial reviewer as a lesson in the ways of middle America and not compaired with the surreal life of New York or LA (I've lived both places, I know of what I speak) God bless