A Kingsbury Collection: Three Novels in One by Karen Kingsbury

Where Yesterday Lives, When Joy Came to Stay, and On Every Side are the three books included in this Collection.

These three stories fit together as one collection but each one can be read individually or in any order as they are not related stories. There seems to be a common theme throughout these three stories. Prayer. Throughout each of the books, the central characters are dealing with issues that they know they can't solve alone. Sometimes the prayer is done first by a friend, but the main character always turns back to God for help.

In each book, the main character is dealing with some kind of problem where they need to trust in God. In "Where Yesterday Lives", Ellen Barrett is dealing with the death of her father and forgiveness towards her sister. In "When Joy Came to Stay" Maggie Stovall learns that you can't hide anything from God. The truth will always come to light. In "On Every Side" Jordan Riley learns that she can't hold onto her bitterness.

Out of all three of these novels, I found "Where Yesterday Lives" to be my favorite. Of course I may be a little biased because the story takes place in Michigan and I am a Michigan native myself. ;)

"Where Yesterday Lives" is the story of Ellen Barrett, a young newspaper reporter, who receives word that her father has suffered a heart attack and passed away back home in Petosky, Michigan. Ellen dreads making the trek back to her hometown because of the animosity between her and her four siblings, but most of all to Jane. Ellen can't understand why Jane speaks to her with such hatred, or why they aren't close like they were when they were children. Jane thinks Ellen has had the perfect life. The perfect job, the perfect husband. What more could she want? But Ellen's life isn't the fairy tale everyone believes it to be. Her marriage is falling apart and she doesn't know if she even wants to fix it.

It seems each one of the Barrett children is carrying a burden unknown to the others. Will they be able to sort out their differences and pull it together for their mother in her time of need?

In some aspects, I found each book to contain a sad story. Usually I am a fan of happy, uplifting stories so these three were a bit different from what I usually read. But I appreciate that Kingsbury writes about true to life stories and issues that so many of us deal with. Throughout the sadness though, there is an uplifting promise of God's faithfulness and love.

I rate this collection of books as 4 stars!

I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group to give my honest unbiased review.