Snow is falling and Christmas is in the air, so for this month’s book review I chose a light holiday-themed novel: A Baxter Family Christmas by Karen Kingsbury. Clocking in at just under 250 pages, this is a light read that you can pick up and read in between shopping for presents and putting up your tree.
Karen Kingsbury’s fictional Baxter family is the star of over twenty novels and has been around for fifteen years. In this Christmas installment of the Baxter saga, the head of the Baxter family, John, invites a stranger over for Christmas Eve dinner. The stranger is a woman named Kendra, and she was the recipient of a very special gift from John’s daughter, Erin. Erin Baxter and most of her family were killed in a car accident, and Kendra was given Erin’s heart in a transplant operation. John invites Kendra for dinner on Christmas Eve so that she may meet the family of the woman who saved her life, and so that the Baxters can spend one last holiday with a small piece of their loved one.
This novel is a sweet Christmas story, and though it tends to be predictable, it’s a nice light read for the holiday season. It reminded me a lot of something from the Hallmark Channel, and in fact, many of Karen Kingsbury’s novels have been adapted into Hallmark movies! Though the cast of characters is large and can be confusing, this novel is a great choice for those that want a light Christmas book that won’t overstay its welcome.
Review by Shannon Wood
Adult Services Librarian
Nordonia Hills Branch Library
