Loving by Karen Kingsbury

**************BEWARE SPOILERS********

I have never been so disappointed or letdown by an author as I am with Karen Kingsbury. The Bailey series was by far Not my favorite, but I hung in there because I wanted to see Bailey and Cody get together in the end. Isn’t that what is suppose to happen in the writing world? Karen made an extremely bad error in the writing world by taking two series and lifting up her hero, Cody, building up that relationship with Cody and Bailey and more importantly Cody and the Lord, then dumping him, kicking him to the curb.

And she changed her mind at the last minute for family reasons??? That sure tells us where all of us fans, those of us who have purchased all of Karen’s books, been faithful readers and followers where we stand. Loving is the worst book I have ever read and the worst ending to a series I’ve read, and I am a book reviewer, so I read hundreds of books a year.

I know I get too involved in characters, but Karen did this to us in the last two series about Bailey and Cody. I just can’t see how she can create a character like Cody, put him in a family that will love him and raise him, and then try her best to politely toss him from the family as an outcast. Now he will no longer feel secure with this family that he loves so much. Sorry Karen but you blew it with this.

The sad thing is, a huge percentage of teens and young adults who read this series and especially Longing will get a misled message. Wonder how many will go out there trying to find a rich kid that has all the money in the world to woo them literally any way they want. I’m afraid a lot of guys may be treated just like Karen treated Cody just because they are looking for those riches and the fake relationship that comes with it. Karen is leading a lot of young ladies on the wrong road and for that, I would want any of my family to read her books.

That said, I do not recommend this book, nor do I recommend this series for anyone to read because it is critically leading our young ladies in the wrong direction when it comes to dating and marrying. And yes I know this is ‘just’ a book. But how many people out there actually take the Baxter’s and Flannigan’s for real people. I’ve heard Karen speak in person, and I have seen how adult ladies act at those conferences about her books. How much more will teens and young ladies idolize her enough to listen to this incorrect advice?

This book was provided by the publisher, Zondervan in exchange for an honest review. I was not required or expected to write a positive review. The opinions in this review are mine only.