Summer, by Karen Kingsbury, continues the story of the Baxter family begun something like ten books ago in the Redemption series (with Gary Smalley), continued through the Firstborn series, ending now with the Sunrise series. I believe there are two more books coming to finish out the Baxter saga.

Even with all of the past history, though, I think you could read any of the books or series and get much from them without having to start at the beginning. I think you’d get a lot more out of it by reading from the beginning, but you can get the gist of the pertinent background in each book enough to know what’s going on.

In this book, the storylines set up in the last book continue. Dayne, the A-list Hollywood actor, the oldest Baxter son who was just recently reunited with his birth family, married small town girl Katy Hart at the end of the last book. They are starring in a film together, but find it is not as idyllic as they thought it would be. Plus they agreed to let a reality show follow them around, thinking it would satisfy the public and keep the paparazzi at bay, but since these shows thrive on conflict, much is made of little incidents and innuendos are conjured up. So with all the other newlywed adjustments, Dayne and Katy have multiple other tensions to deal with.

Kari and Ashley are sisters who find out they are adding to their families at the same time, and to top it off, they are both expecting girls, and they dream of tea parties, first days of school, etc. But an ultrasound reveals a problem with one baby, resulting in stress and tension not only for both mothers, but for the whole Baxter family.

The Flannigan family has been intertwined with the Baxters in various ways, and daughter Bailey struggles with growing feelings for Cody, a troubled teen her parents took in to try to help who is now turning his life around, yet faces the tension of wondering how he feels, knowing she’s too young and her parents want them to just be friends, wondering if he is stable, knowing he is planning to go into the military, and probably Iraq, in a few short months.

Then there is tension brewing with the future of the Christian Kids Theater and patriarch John Baxter’s growing feelings for Elaine and his concerns about how his family might deal with his relationship.

Did you notice I used tension in every paragraph? This is probably one of the most tense novels I have read in a long time, but I believe it is one of Karen Kingsbury’s best. There are lighter moments throughout, of course. All of the storylines and characters and situations and struggles are very real and easily related to: even though most of us don’t know a Hollywood actor, we can empathize with the strain on Dayne’s marriage.

Though I don’t want to give away the outcome of any of it and spoil the story for those who haven’t read it, I have to say I really appreciated the way the pregnancy problems were handled, balancing praying and hoping for a miracle with preparing mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for the worst.