Take Four by Karen Kingsbury is the fourth and last in her Above the Line series primarily about Christian filmmakers. I think I enjoyed this one the most of the four, though there was one sentence that was more explicit than was needed.
In this book, Christian filmmakers Keith Ellison and Dayne Matthews have to decide what to do about the mega-star who agreed to act in their film but whose wild lifestyle has been making news. Keith’s daughter Andi has come back to her faith but has to deal with her pregnancy. Having had one sister who placed a baby for adoption and another who kept the baby she had as a teen-ager, I could identify with the poignancy of Andi’s struggles: either option is a million times better than abortion, but neither option is easy. Then the Cody/Bailey storyline continues. After they finally came to an understanding in the last book, it was frustrating to see them start having some of the same problems and issues in just a short time, yet within the context of the story it did make sense.
The most disappointing part of the book was a major story line left hanging until the next series. It would have been fine from one book to another within a series, but in my opinion it was too significant to leave for another whole series. But since I am sure I will be reading the next series, I don’t suppose it matters in the long run.
I’ve debated about whether to say this here or whether to write to the publisher, but I have been noticing an increasing amount of editorial oversights in Karen’s last few books. I think about mentioning them to the publisher each time, but then figure someone else already has. I know the fans clamor for the next book as soon as possible, and I know Karen is a prolific author, but I would urge the editors to take the needed time to go over things with a finer comb, because it does interrupt the flow of the story when a reader has a “Wait….what?!?” moment while reading. And I would urge the fans to be patient and wait for the best quality. I know we need to overlook the occasional typo, but, as I mentioned, there are more of these kinds of things than there used to be in Karen’s books.
I need to come up with some kind of rating system and graphic, but if I had a five-star system, this would be a definite 4.5.
(This review is linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)
Stray Thoughts 
I can’t read this review! I mean I’m NOT reading this review. I am currently reading Take 3, and I don’t want to know ANYthing about Take 4! But I can’t wait to GET to it! 🙂
LOL! I try not to post spoilers, but I understand. Come back after you read it and let me know what you think.
Sounds like a real cliffhanger! That seems a little unfair — to leave you hanging till the next series!
I have a love/hate relationship with Kingsbury. I enjoy everything she writes, but there are so many other good books out there that I simply don’t have the time to be reading a new Kingsbury book every three months! Not to mention that I can only do so much of the emotionally wrenching stuff.
I read everything she’d written up to the start of the “Above the Line” series and then decided to call it quits. Maybe I’ll go back and read the new ones sometime—but for now, I’m on Kingsbury sabbatical 🙂
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