Leaving

Kingsbury, Karen. Leaving. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

After reading Kingsbury's story Unlocked, I was excited to find another of her novels.  This novel is also part of her Forever in Fiction program, where people can memorialize friends or family as characters in a Kingsbury novel.  The beginning of this book excited me: there were several mentions of the novel Unlocked, so I was hoping for a similar story.

I was, unfortunately, disappointed.  This story is not anything like Unlocked.  Leaving reads much more like a Christian romance novel.  In lieu of a discernible plot, the author has chosen to focus on the feelings and relationships of the characters, especially the dating lives of the protagonists.  I kept hoping for zombies to pop around the corner or for aliens to land in the backyard, but the biggest conflict in the story came from the "I like him, but I'm not sure if he likes me, and I kind of like this other guy, too" type of story line.  Definitely not up my alley.

I have never been one to stomach drippy romance novels.  If you enjoy the Christian romance genre, or you just want to read a modern-day fairy tale free of profanity or other objectionable elements, you are more than welcome to have my copy of Leaving.  Otherwise, I will be leaving it in the donation box at the library.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel for the purposes of review.