Review: A BAXTER FAMILY CHRISTMAS, by Karen Kingsbury

Rated 5 stars by Iris Chacon.

Two years after Erin Baxter is killed in an auto accident, her father, John, invites a stranger — an avowed atheist — to share Christmas with the extended Baxter family.
Erin’s bereaved husband and young daughter are unsure whether they can cope with this Christmas guest. Not only are they (and many other Baxters) uncomfortable celebrating Christ’s birth with a woman who is anti-God, but they are also unsure how they will handle meeting the woman who received Erin’s donated heart after the accident.
Will the biological heart of the late Erin Baxter affect the spiritual and emotional heart of this stranger? Will the family see or sense Erin’s presence simply because her heart now pumps the stranger’s blood?
Readers of Karen Kingsbury’s books may have already read several stories of various members of the Baxter family, and for those readers this book will be like attending a family reunion. For those of us who are new to the Baxter saga, Kingsbury provides a quick round-up of everything we need to know in order to enjoy A Baxter Family Christmas.
Subplots about the prayers of several different characters for their own particular “Christmas miracle” weave tightly through the main story, and one after another lives are changed in unexpected, supernatural ways. The novel is a moving, sweet, and enjoyable holiday experience. The author even includes Baxter family Thanksgiving and Christmas menus and recipes that will delight many homemakers.
I rated A Baxter Family Christmas 5 out of 5 stars, and I highly recommend it to all readers, but it will be a special blessing to Christian readers, who will revel in spiritual truths portrayed and expressed in appropriately loving ways.
This writer received an ARC from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest, objective review.