Monday, May 16, 2011

"Leaving" by Karen Kingsbury


"Leaving" by Karen Kingsbury
Out of all the Karen Kingsbury books she has written, I enjoyed this book the absolute most out of all of them.
This book is about Bailey Flanigan’s hopes and dreams for her future now that she is an adult. She will be auditioning and trying to get a part as a singer and a dancer in New York City’s Broadway play called “Hairspray”. This is Bailey’s dream.
In this book, Bailey had just finished filming the movie, “Unlocked”, (which I thought was really clever of the author to weave in her previous book she had written by turning it into a movie in this book!) Bailey got to fly out to Los Angeles, California, for the red carpet event for the premiere ‘Opening Night’ for ‘Unlocked’. While filming this movie, she met a man named Brandon, who happened to be her co-star in the movie, Unlocked. Romance ignites with him, or at least he is trying to ignite romance. Bailey is holding back because she has and is still going through a lot because her heart still belongs to Cody. She considers it, then not. She had to find out about Cody. He still has her heart. Where is he?
Cody. Cody has still not contact Bailey in the last four months. Why, Bailey asks herself? She goes through a lot trying to figure out why Cody had just disappeared out of her life the way he did. No one can figure out why he is acting the way he is. Bailey feels she cannot give her heart away to anyone else because it is still full of Cody. She cannot figure out ‘why’ Cody did what he did, but where was he? No one knows where he is. He never so much as even called her on the telephone. There is only one thing left for Bailey to do. She must contact Cody’s mother. She knows Cody’s mother is in prison, so she will have to go and visit her there. She had been there once with Cody to visit her, so she could do that on her own. She had to find answers.
Jenny, Bailey’s mother, is having a hard time of her own, as she realizes it s time for Bailey to move on. Bailey, her little girl, has grown up. She is now an adult and ready to live her own life. Jenny has to learn to deal with this difficult part of life, and deep down she is having a hard time. She is feeling all types of emotions. This is her first child that will be ‘leaving’ home, and she is sad, but happy at the same time. All parents go through this, and this is the most difficult part of being a parent. Time to let go.
It felt like it takes forever for time to pass when the children are little, then as they get older, the time just flies by. Next thing is they are ready to move on and live their own lives on their own. This is a difficult time for both the parents and the children, now adults.
As Bailey was packing to go to New York, Brandon flew in from Los Angeles, surprising Bailey. He, again, was trying to talk her into having a relationship with him. He almost convinced her this time, but she still felt she was not finished with Cody, and she explained this to Brandon. She had still not seen Cody and still had to work that part of her life out before she could move on with anyone else. However, when Brandon put his arms around her, it sure felt good. She felt so confused. In a way, she did want to pursue a relationship with Brandon, but still could not. She had to work Cody out.
Bailey did take this matter into her own hands. She goes out to seek Cody. What Bailey does not know is Cody has his own problems that he has been trying to deal with.
One part of this story did not make sense to me, but I am sure will later in this series of books. The author talked about the family of Jenny and Jim Flanigan in a few chapters. He was a Fireman by trade, and had put in a lot of work at Ground Zero. He developed a life-threatening disease, in which eventually he may need a lung transplant. The part that confused me was the two families did not interact at all in this book. No phones calls were exchanged, no information given as to how Jim’s health was, nor anything more. If a reader had not read all of Karen Kingsbury’s novels, they would not understand where this was taking them in the story.
This is most likely painting a picture of things to come, as the author has three more books planned for this series, The Bailey Flanigan Series. The next three books will be: Learning, Longing and Loving. I am excited the author told us there are three more books coming! Three more books to look forward to!
As I said in the beginning of this review, I have to say again, out of ‘all’ the Karen Kingsuby’s novels, I really enjoyed this book the most. I know I am going to enjoy this complete series of books and I am really looking forward to all of them!
This book was provided to me free of charge by the Publisher, Zondervan, in exchange for a written review, either positive or negative. Honestly, it has been my pleasure reading this book and writing the review! I can’t wait for more!
Thanks for reading my review on this book.
Laurie Carlson
www.lauriehere.blogspot.com

For the GIVEAWAY!! CLICK ON THE ABOVE TAB TITLED "CURRENT GIVEAWAYS" and you will see the review of this book again! Also, I will have the review posted for the 'Giveaway' book, too, from March 24th! That, is also a book that 'cannot' be missed! There will be 2 books given away to 2 people!! You will find the instructions on 'how' to enter it!! It will be posted by 2:15 this afternoon (Monday!) Good luck to all!

4 comments:

  1. I love books that span time as it sounds like this one does. The cover is lovely, too. Thanks for the review.

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  2. This book was AWESOME!!!! Can't wait for the next in the series in June!!! Come on Karen get her done!!!!! LOVE YOU!

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  3. Hi Jenny and Anonymous!
    Thanks for leaving a comment! Jenny, yes, the series will definitely cover a time span, once finished! This book covered about 1 year, and a little of the past.
    I agree, the cover IS GORGEOUS!!! There is the saying, "You can't judge a book by it's cover" (I don't know who said it??? But, I disagree with that saying! I think the covers of books say a LOT! I know I probably should not feel that way, but doesn't everyone? I have a Kindle, and the covers don't show, just the names show, so I am getting used to no covers, and 'not' being able to judge, but, still, I do judge when I am looking at Amazon or if I get a book as an Advanced Reader Copy or an uncorrected Galley - that means 'before' the books actually come out into the market.
    Anonymous, YES!!! The book WAS AWESOME!!! I agree! As I said in my review, this book was exceptional compared to ALL her other books. I started feeling like her books were getting 'cookie-cutter feeling', but NOT with 'this' one! I REALLY enjoyed this one!!!
    FYI: Her NEXT book is called "Learning" and is due out in June!! Can't wait!
    Thanks!
    Laurie

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  4. Thanks, Jenny!
    Yes, this series will most definitely span time once all 4 books have been released. Her next book, Learning, is due out this June! We don't have long to wait! The cover IS gorgeous, too,I agree! They say you 'can't judge a book by it's cover', but how many times do we really do that? Often! I'll admit I do!
    Thanks for the comment! Keep following and hopefully Zondervan Publishers will provide me with Learning, and hopefully I will get to do a review on it, as well!
    Thank so much!
    Laurie

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