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KAREN KINGSBURY

Charleston couple's engagement published in Kingsbury "Love Story" novel

By Anna Taylor

Trey led Kaylee, blindfold over her eyes, to a spot next to two dozen red roses along the boardwalk in Wilmington, North Carolina. An easel was strategically placed between the two bouquets of flowers holding a small chalkboard. A message handwritten in chalk read, "This will be the view ... each brand-new day with you."

Trey took off her blindfold and began to kneel.

It was like something out of a novel.

To Kaylee's surprise, that's exactly what it was.

From the day she first picked up a Karen Kingsbury novel in middle school, Kaylee Christian was hooked. She loved the stories and the characters the Christian fiction author created. Kingsbury quickly became her favorite author. Not only has Christian, who is from Griffithsville, read each of Kingsbury's books, but she belongs to an online community of other dedicated fans of the author's work.

As much of a fan as she is, getting engaged in a scenario crafted by the famous author was something Christian had never imagined.

Newly engaged Kaylee Christian (center) and her fiance, Trey Faber (right) pose for a photo with author, Karen Kingsbury (left) in Wilmington, North Carolina, after their proposal. The couple's engagement is written in her new book, "Love Story."

Trey Faber, who is from Charleston, had been dating Christian about two months when he sent an email to Kingsbury with an idea in April 2016. Both are 20 and currently undergraduate students at the University of Charleston.

"Dear Mrs. Kingsbury," he wrote, "You are my girlfriend's favorite author. I love her very much and I'm going to ask her to marry me at sunset on Sunday, May 21, 2017. I thought maybe you could help."

His hope was for Kingsbury to write her next book about Christian. Karen was already in the middle of completing her newest book, "Love Story," so she couldn't craft an entire novel about her fan.

She did, however, write their engagement into "Love Story," working with Faber to create an engagement scene that she inserted into the book.

The scene came to life on May 21 in Wilmington.

Kingsbury and her marketing team worked with Faber to pull the engagement off. Faber's only request was to have red roses, which was already written in the book.

They set up the scene along the boardwalk where the couple would have dinner nearby and go for a walk afterward.

The scene was almost identical to what was described in the book. Kingsbury hid herself from the couple and had a camera strategically placed as though an interview was happening on the boardwalk. Instead, it was filming the couple's engagement. Faber hid a microphone in his shirt to pick up audio for the camera.

"I thought if I could write his real-life engagement into the book as a scene ... and if I could get this romantic young man an early copy of the book, he could use 'Love Story' to actually propose to her," Kingsbury said.

And so she did.

"There had to be a dozen bouquets of red roses sitting along the short block wall that separated the parking lot from the sandy beach," the book reads on pages 177 and 178. "And one more message on an easel set up between the block wall and the lifeguard station. The sign read: This will be the view ... each brand-new day with you."

"Love Story" was released publicly on June 6. By May 21, an advanced copy had been printed and was ready to be the prop for the real-life proposal.

"He took me to dinner and we went to the riverfront in Wilmington and he had me pose for some pictures to stall me," Christian said. "At 7:30, he said, 'I have to blindfold you. I have a surprise.'"

Faber had her stand in front of the roses and easel and read from the two pages of the book.

"Kaylee, will you marry me? Love, Trey" was the first line Christian read.

The book tells the past love story between the characters John and Elizabeth as John shares it with his grandson, Cole. The book also includes the story of a family friend, Cody, who is going through his own heartbreak when he walks by and witnesses the engagement scene.

After Christian finished reading the passage, Trey went off script from the book, declaring his love and asking for her hand in marriage.

Kingsbury's team uploaded the video to YouTube and shared it on social media. As of July 27, the video had been viewed more than 12,433 times.

The crew approached Christian after she said "yes."

"I'm still just amazed," she said. "I'm in a book. I'm still in shock. It was the best proposal ever. If I didn't know he loved me before, there's no doubt now."

The couple had about 30 minutes after the proposal to chat with Kingsbury about life and marriage.

"She bought us a Bible and presented it to us and prayed with us," Christian said.

She and Faber met through a mutual friend in February 2016. They began dating shortly after.

"We just hit it off and we pretty much knew," said the bride-to-be.

They plan to get married after they both finish pharmacy school at the University of Charleston. They will graduate in May 2022. Christian said they hope to get married in Wilmington. Christian said she loves the Wilmington area, especially for its fame as a filming location for The CW's past hit drama "One Tree Hill," and the film "A Walk to Remember," among other films and television series.

~ from The Charleston Gazette-Mail ~

Read another feature from our E-Blast Newsletter on Karen Kingsbury - Click Here

Karen will be among the speakers at the Aspire Women's Event on April 14 at The Church of Covington.
Joining her will be Shannon Hoffpauir, Amberly Neese and Mia Koehne. Detail in the ad above.

See Karen Kingsbury's Interview about her new book, "Love Story" with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb on The Today show -
Click Here

Karen Kingsbury's
"Love Story"
Megabestseller Kingsbury on crafting
"life-changing fiction" that
"connects with the heart"

While love, forgiveness, loss, redemption, and, of course, God are dominant themes in her writing, Karen Kingsbury's work can't be pigeonholed as Christian fiction.

"It is important to me that people not of the Christian faith read my work," Kingsbury says. "When I hear that more than half of my readers are not Christian believers, I smile. It tells me that I'm writing strong fiction, stories that connect with the heart. That's my goal."

It's also why there are more than 25 million copies of Kingsbury's 80-plus books in print. She's a virtuosic chronicler of some of the most universal subjects: the trials of complicated individuals and families.

Kingsbury's latest novel, "Love Story," about lost love and its multigenerational effects, is the 25th book in the author's bestselling Baxter Family series, which chronicles the lives of John and Elizabeth Baxter and their six adult children. It's an epic drama that proves the strength of faith and family.

As with most of Karen's books, it immediately jumped to the top of the Christian Booksellers' Top 50 list, entering in August at #3 (click here)

This latest title has John reliving an old love story, while family friend Cody Coleman works his way through a complicated relationship. Love Story, though a classic Baxter Family book, can be read as a standalone novel.

"It's, in many ways, a prequel," Kingsbury explains. "The book takes us back to the beginning, to the dance where Elizabeth and John met - and reveals something about their love that has been secret until now."

Kingsbury gives readers an abbreviated Baxter history and the complete and very intricate family tree in the new book's prologue. This web of characters, including all the friends who flesh out the Baxters' fictional world, came to life when the author was on a cross-country flight in 2002.

"I boarded the plane thinking 'family' and 'series,'" Kingsbury recalls. "By the time we landed I had all their names, their back stories, their personalities. But more than that, I could see them. They came to me complete. I don't need charts or cheat notes to know them and remember where I'm at with them. They live and breathe and laugh and love inside me."

The Tennessee-based author has a well-choreographed approach to her writing. Before she begins each novel, she answers 150 questions about both the protagonist and the antagonist. Then she outlines, so, as she puts it, "I'm in love with the story."

Her prolific writing career began in the 1980s, when Kingsbury was a sports reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Her first novels were true crime books, but that genre didn't feel quite right. After her fourth true crime book, Karen began focusing solely on what she calls "life-changing fiction."

What Kingsbury still keeps close from those early days as a reporter are the writing skills she garnered. "I can't think of a better training ground than journalism for my work as a novelist," she says. "When writing for a newspaper, you need a catchy lead and an unforgettable tag. And everything in between has to be written in a way that grips the reader. Now I do the same thing with chapters. Every chapter has to have an ending that makes it almost impossible to close the book."

It's a lively season for the Baxters. In addition to the new book, the family will be coming to the small screen - LightWorkers Media, the faith and family division of MGM, is at work on a Baxter Family TV series, which will debut in spring 2018.

"We all believe the series will last a decade on the air," she says. "There's so much material!"

~ from Publisher's Weekly ~

Karen Kingsbury's Inspiring Encounter
On The High Line
A chance meeting even this beloved
novelist could never have imagined

By Karen Kingsbury

I've been writing novels for more than 15 years, and I'll admit it: My imagination can run pretty wild sometimes! I see the stories come to life in my mind way before I ever get them on paper-envisioning the characters and the twists and turns they'll take on their personal and spiritual journeys.
Then last year something unexpected happened in my own life, something so incredible that even I couldn't have imagined it.
I'd gone to New York City to meet with my publisher. My daughter, Kelsey, and her husband, Kyle, came with me because they wanted to see the city.
It was a glorious autumn afternoon. Kelsey, Kyle and I were walking on the High Line-a park built on a historic elevated railroad line above the streets on Manhattan's West Side.
That morning I'd had a dream-come-true meeting with my publisher. My novel The Bridge had become an overnight best seller and they'd signed me to a 10-book deal! I felt so blessed, especially to be able to celebrate with Kelsey and Kyle.
    Yet, standing there on the High Line, looking up at the bright blue sky, all I could think was, I wish I could tell Dad about all this.
    My father had passed away six years earlier. He was my rock. My very first and biggest fan.
    "Have I told you lately that I love you, Dad?" I whispered. That was Dad's favorite song- the Rod Stewart version of "Have I Told You Lately." He'd called me the first time he'd ever heard it.
    "This song is how I feel about you, Mom, our whole family," he said. "Whenever you hear it I want you to know that I love you." I was surprised. Dad wasn't usually into pop music. But the more I listened to Rod's distinctive raspy voice belting it out, the more I understood what Dad meant
"Have I told you there's no one else above you? You fill my heart with gladness, take away all my sadness, ease my troubles, that's what you do." When one of us heard the song, we'd call the other. Sometimes we'd hear it when we were together and Dad would give me a wink.
    "I can't say it any better than Rod," he'd say. The song was that powerful for us. It connected us. So much so that my family had the title engraved on Dad's headstone.
    Not long after Dad died, I began to hear our song at odd but significant moments. Like when my husband, Don, and I were driving home from watching Kelsey and our oldest son, Tyler, in the opening-night performance of the school play-the kind of occasion Dad wouldn't have missed for the world-and the second we turned on the car radio, there it was.
    Or when we took our first family vacation to the Bahamas without Dad. I stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the sparkling sea. "Oh, Dad, you would've loved this!" I said. Then I heard a familiar melody.
    I looked down onto the deck below and the Bahamian band had switched from playing island music to-yes, you guessed it - "Have I Told You Lately."
    Now here I was, at one of those moments when I knew Dad would have been so proud of me, and I couldn't share it with him. I missed him more than ever. Lord, I prayed, please tell Dad that I love him.
    "How 'bout we take some pictures?" I said to Kelsey and Kyle, hoping to distract myself from missing Dad. "We've got this amazing view of the Hudson from up here."
    I pulled out my camera and took some shots of Kelsey, then of her and Kyle together. I wanted to get one of the three of us. I was stretching my arm out, trying to hold the camera far enough away so we were all in the frame, when a man and a woman walked up.
    "I can help take your picture," the man said to us. He was older than me, dressed stylishly in a sweater and jeans. He had a slight accent. Australian? English? He was a tourist like me, probably. "Would that be okay?"
    "Yes!" I said. "Thank you so much."
    "Just show me how to use the camera," he said.
    Kelsey walked over and showed him which button to press, then we got into place again.
    He snapped the photo. "That's lovely!" he said, brushing a wayward strand of blond hair from his eye. He handed me the camera. "God bless you," he said, then he and the woman went on their way.
    When they were almost out of sight, Kelsey turned to me. "Mom, did you hear what that man said when I was showing him how to use the camera?"
    "No, honey, I didn't."
    "He said, 'I'm usually on the other side of this thing. But this is fun too.'"
    "Why would he say that?" I wondered aloud.
    Then it dawned on me: the spiky blond hair, the fashionable clothes, the lilt in his voice... Could it be?
    I followed the couple, walking as fast as I could.
    "Sir, sir! Excuse me, sir!" I called. The man stopped and turned around. We were face-to-face.
    "You just took our picture back there," I said.
    "Yes," he said. By now Kelsey and Kyle had caught up to me.
    "Can I ask you something?"
    "Sure," he said.
    "Are you Rod Stewart?"
    "Sometimes," he said.
    "No, really, I have to know," I insisted. "Are you Rod Stewart?"
    He must have seen something in my eyes because he said quietly, "Yes, I am." My knees went weak. If only my dad could have seen this!
    "Can I tell you a story?" I asked.
    Rod nodded.
    I told him that "Have I Told You Lately" was my father's favorite song and that just an hour earlier I'd been wondering if Dad knew how much I missed him.
    Rod gently put his hand on my arm. I rested my hand on top of his. "And now I'm meeting you," I said. "It's crazy. Your song's title is even on my dad's gravestone."
    Tears came to Rod's eyes. "Can I give you a hug?" he asked. He pulled me in tightly. "Thank you for sharing that. You made my day."'
    When we let go, Rod clasped his hands together and pointed them heavenward. Then he and his companion walked away.
    Kelsey, Kyle and I looked at each other and sat down on a bench. We all felt stunned. Just at the moment when I was missing my dad so badly, the rock star who sang our song crosses my path? Really? You could never plan or even imagine something like that!
    But Someone had. Someone who orchestrates unforgettable encounters and writes amazing moments into the stories of our lives. I looked up into the bright blue sky. There really is no one else above him.