Return (Redemption Series-Baxter 1, Book 3) [Abridged] [Audio Cassette]

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

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 2005

A Shattered Relationship Luke, golden boy and the Baxter family’s only son, has walked away from everything that mattered most to him: his faith, his family, and Reagan, his only love. Devastated by the events of September 11, 2001, Luke decides that life is random, faith a fraud, and God a fantasy. A Secret A baby is about to be born, but with Reagan a thousand miles away in New York City, Luke has no idea he’s the father. Now, though, someone in his family learns the truth. The problem? She has a secret of her own, one that will change the Baxters’ lives forever. A Revelation What will it take for Luke to return to the family who loves and aches for him? And what extremes will a certain young firefighter take to help bring the Baxters together again, and in the process, find his place in the family? A story of tenacious love and longing for a lost son

Editorial Reviews

Review

"RETURN proves that Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley are a team that are not to be topped. Just when I say their books cannot possibly get any better, they blow me away with an inspiring, gut-wrenching view at the Baxter family's life."

Tracy Farnsworth, RoundTableReviews.com

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Karen Kingsbury is currently America’s best-selling inspirational author. She has written more than 30 of her Life-Changing Fiction titles and has nearly 5 million books in print. Dubbed by Time magazine as the Queen of Christian Fiction, Karen receives hundreds of letters each week and considers her readers as friends. Her fiction has made her one of the country’s favorite storytellers, and one of her novels - Gideon’s Gift - is under production for an upcoming major motion picture release. Her emotionally gripping titles include the popular Redemption series, the Firstborn series, Divine, One Tuesday Morning, Beyond Tuesday Morning, Oceans Apart, and A Thousand Tomorrows. Karen and her husband, Don, live in the Pacific Northwest and are parents to one girl and five boys, including three adopted from Haiti. You can find out more about Karen, her books, and her appearance schedule at www.KarenKingsbury.com.

Gary Smalley, well-known relationship expert, is the founder of the Smalley Relationship Center and the author of several dozen books, including the best-selling The Blessing and The Language of Love, as well as Food and Love and One Flame.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio; Library edition (October 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593558929
• ISBN-13: 978-1593558925
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,039,538 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

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, October 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Return (Redemption Series-Baxter 1, Book 3) (Paperback)

Return continues the story of the Baxter family and their loved ones facing life after all that happened in Remember, including September 11th. The characters are well developed and the story lines hearbreaking and uplifting, often at the same time.

Remember was the first Karen Kingsbury book I'd read. I was totally enthralled and read it in only a few days. I just bought Return, anxious to learn of the characters and relationships that reminded me of my own family in different ways. I started Return last night and finished it this morning...a complete page turner.

Each chapter had me needing to know what happened next. Unlilke another Kinsbury novel I read recently (One Tuesday Morning), there wasn't endless set-up and whole paragraphs to skip over. I read every word and had to cover the bottom halves of the pages so I wouldn't peek.

One Caveat: As in Redemption and Return, the story lines are serious and not always happily-ever-after, instead it's more of a Hopefully-ever-after. But this book hit home one many levels with me and my family as we're going through numerous crisis with various family members. The messages whispered to the characters spoke directly to me, God's words driven home with tangible situations.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'm now looking forward to her next book in this series. Kinda wish I hadn't read this one the same month it was released!

NOTE: This is the third book in a series, but it can easily stand alone and reading the previous books isn't necessary to quickly learn and love the characters.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern day prodigal son story, January 28, 2006

By 

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

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Return (Redemption Series-Baxter 1, Book 3) (Paperback)

Return is the 3rd in the Redemption Series, following Redemption and Remember. Return focuses on the Baxters' son Luke. He becomes "disenchanted" with God and turns 180 degrees from the values of his family. As always, the interactions between the Baxter family members not only make an engaging story, but also teach the reader the importance of trusing God. This is my favorite series of all time, and I do read constantly! It evokes strong emotions in the reader, because there is bound to be someone's behavior or some life situation that really hits home. It is a book you'll never forget! Buy the entire Redemtion Series at once so that you won't have to pause between books. Here they are in order: Redemption, Remember, Return, Rejoice, and Reunion. And even after that there is a spinoff series that promises to be just as rewarding: the Firstborn Series, also involving the Baxter family but with some new characters and situations--outstanding!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Return, January 17, 2004

By 

Katrina Parrish (Oakdale, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Return (Redemption Series-Baxter 1, Book 3) (Paperback)

I am almost finished with this book, it is an absolute page turner. I read the first two in her series last summer and could not wait for the next edition, and will eagerly await the next one. I have been so blessed by how you(Karen andGary) are using scriptures to make points in the people's life. Many of the scriprtures are just what I need to be reminded of in my daily life as a nurse.
Also their lives are very much like all of our lives, integrating all the problems and how, when they look to God then His plans will fall into place, because He has great plans for us.