From the Publisher:
In
preparation for their long-awaited wedding day, Dayne and Katy are
determined to keep the ceremony a secret from the paparazzi. Their
relationship grows closer and stronger as they plan together, but in
the end it takes the help of the Baxter family and many of the CKT kids
so that they'll even have a chance at a private wedding. John Baxter is
thrilled that his oldest son will be settling down a few miles away,
but he isn't sure how any of his kids will handle a situation he can no
longer run from...the feelings he is having for his friend Elaine. In
the meantime, the Flanigan family is struggling with their young
boarder, Cody Coleman, Jim Flanigan's star receiver. After an alcohol
overdose, Cody fights for his life. Only God's grace and a miracle can
bring him back from the brink of death...physically and spiritually.
My review:
I enjoyed Sunrise immensely, probably because I became familiar with Dayne and Katy in Kingsbury's book Fame.
While Kingsbury does a great job slipping in the back story a little
bit at a time, sometimes it's just not as good as reading it for
yourself. I loved Fame and I loved Sunrise. (Nothing like going straight to the wedding.) Actually, there were four books after Fame
that led up to this point, so if you like soap opera drama in the sense
that every book makes you crave the next "episode" then you'll love Sunrise as a prelude to the exciting things yet to come.
The
wedding scene was also the most beautiful and romantic that I've ever
read. You can't help but love Dayne and Katy and want great things to
happen in their lives. Especially after getting a feel for all that
they went through even without reading the previous books. Their love
is rich and deep and based on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Kingsbury
is unabashedly Christian in that respect. She always emphasizes the
importance of salvation in the lives of her characters. I love that.
The subplot regarding the perils of drinking and driving was well done
as was the budding romance between the senior Baxter, John, and his
long-time friend, Elaine.
Kingsbury is also the queen of
secondary characters and subplots. Just like in the soaps, there are
always several stories going at once. Of course that makes me crave the
next book in the series--which I thankfully have--so I can immediately
continue on. Kingsbury writes fast enough to make it possible to go
from one story to the next. I've probably done myself a disservice by
not reading everything in order (I plan to jump back to read Forgiven (which comes after Fame) and I still need to read Redemption,
which was the book that started the last two series. But no matter
which way you slice it, each series containing the Baxter family is
addicting. I'm glad to be getting my next fix.
Sunrise was published by Tyndale and released in May 2007.








