Karen Kingsbury, the bestselling author of the Baxter series, returns with her first foray into historical fiction with JUST ONCE —a moving story with dual timelines from the 1940s to the present. When a granddaughter discovers past secrets, there is more to her grandmother than she knew.

A heartfelt story for fans of Nicholas Spark's The Notebook, a love story during WWII, a young woman torn between two brothers, and a woman with Alzheimer's telling her story before her memories are lost.

Irvel Myers has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and is making a video for her son, Charlie, and his wife, Peggy, and granddaughter, Audra. It is the story of her life and love for Hank Myers, whom she married.

Hank is taking the video. She also tells about something that happened forty-seven years ago that her family did not know—only her husband.

Irvel was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services in the US Military as a spy during WWII. It all began in the summer of 1940.

With dual timelines, the author tells the earlier story of Irvel as a young woman in 1941. She is dating Sam but is in love with his brother, Hank. Pearl Harbor is attacked, and Sam is drafted.

Hanks stays home with Irvel in Indiana to teach at the local high school. They have chemistry and fall in love. Then Irvel is recruited and begins posing as a nurse on a Navy ship while working as a code breaker. Will the three make it back home?

The present timeline is when Audra and her husband, Tom, find a series of tapes about her grandmother. No one knew her grandmother's secret, and they were proud of her.

A heartfelt multi-generational heroic love story of family, courage, memories, spirituality, and Christian faith. Beautifully written for fans of the author and those who enjoy engrossing WWII historical fiction, spies, and romance. Ideal for book clubs and further discussions. (Book Club questions included).

JUST ONCE is an important reminder to share your personal and family stories with the next generation.

My parents loved Kingsbury books and read them all before they passed—they would have enjoyed this one!

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced reading review copy. The audiobook should be captivating, narrated by January LaVoy and Kirby Heyborne.

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My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Nov 14, 2023
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I have read many Karen Kingsbury books, but this one touched my heart in a different way. War does things to people, and Irvel had a time of it in her life. With having to choose between two brothers and being a secret operative for the war, this story makes you not want to put the book down. This would be a good beginning book to read if you have never heard of the author.

Just Once is a sweet heartwarming tale of true love set amid the chaos of World War II. Karen Kingsbury is a master at combining Christian fiction and romance, and now weaves in historical fiction as well. I would recommend this book to fans of The Notebook and can easily see it being made into a movie as well. My thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

What a beautiful love story set during World War II. God is a very important part of this book as well. He is the foundation of the lives led by the main characters.

This book starts out in recent time and then tells the story of young people before and during WWII.
The story of the young people starts out when they are in middle school. Then Pearl Harbor is bombed right after they finish college. Which is when the book really gets interesting. During the war each of them serves our country by fighting, code breaking, being a spy and freeing Jews from camps. I love books that teach me more about ways that our brave men and women fought for freedom for us and the rest of the world.

The part that God played in the lives of these young people is amazing. Their lives described in the book depended on God, prayer and scripture memorization to get them through the toughest times in their life. This book warmed my heart even when life was tough, I loved watching the characters grow. The love described is this book was really moving to me.

Just Once by Karen Kingsbury
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I lost count of how many times I cried reading about these war heroes who loved each other, their families, & their country. A truly beautiful story of Irvel and Hank & how every little decision we make affects our lives. ❤️

This book releases on 11/14 but is already available for preorder if you want to read it - and if you love @karenkingsbury books then you are definitely going to want to read this one. 🥹😭

I received an ARC of this book on @netgalley in exchange for an honest review. #netgalley #goodreads #bookstagram #atriabooks @atriabooks @simonandschuster #justonce #karenkingsbury #christianfiction

I felt like I was sitting with my grandparents and hearing their story. It was told in such a beautiful way as it goes back and forth between the time periods. There were so many characters that were so endearing including Hank, Sam, Irvel and Ruth. The connection between the family members was so sweet as well.



Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own.

I love Karen Kingsbury books and this one is so, so good. Being a spouse of a retired soldier, this one just hits home differently with the WWII stories. So thankful for all of the people who served during that era, and the ones whose stories are not very well known. I am so glad that Karen Kingsbury took the time to shine the spotlight on the spies from that era that did important work.

Irvel Ellis is a young lady during the time of this book. Irvel is going to college to get her teaching degree but has a real knack for math. When the war starts up and her then boyfriend, turned ex-boyfriend because of the war, enlists to go fight for his country, he asks Irvel to go to the high school and teach his classes for him so that the kids won't be affected by his absence. Irvel decides that it is the least thing she can do to maybe show her support of the war.

Irvel starts to work and while Sam broke off his relationship with Irvel before he left for the war, his brother Hank befriends Irvel again in their old way that they used to be friends. Hank and Irvel grew up together and have a special bond like no other but when Hank moved away to school, Irvel started dating Sam. Irvel's heart was never really in the right place when she was with Sam and he seemed to know that. Sam gave Hank a talking to before he left and Hank knew what his brother was implying. (Don't want to give away too much.) Irvel gets recruited to be a spy in the military because of her exceptional math skills. Hank can't believe that Irvel is going to go be a spy and wonders what he is going to do with both his brother and Irvel being gone to serve. Hank doesn't want to stay home but he knows that the Army won't let both brothers enlist from the same household. These three are the true selfless sacrifice that many put forth during this era.

The way that Hank, Sam and Irvel served their country is a great story in itself. The bonus story we get in this one is a true love story between Hank and Irvel. The way that Hank takes care of Irvel is priceless. You will have to read this one to get the story, but I can guarantee you that you will not be disappointed that you do. I fell in love with all of these characters and the way that they relied on their faith to get them through tough times. Thank you Karen Kingsbury for writing such a good, wholesome book that we can enjoy!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advanced copy of this book. I loved it!

Karen Kingsbury always writes and good book. Just Once was a quick read with a nice love story. Parts of the story was repetitive and just grazed over the history of Irvel being a spy.

I absolutely LOVED this story! I couldn't put this book down. Karen Kingsbury truly wrote a "winner" of a tale. The story of Hank and Irvel, as they and their families encountered the sorrowful years of World War II, allowed me to experience a love story that was birthed out of pain and hardship. I appreciated the fact the story was wholesome while still providing a sense of realness, as Christians are still human and have struggles on the road to love. I loved the character of Sam, Hank's older brother. Sam was such a beautiful soul in this book. I'm just sad that he didn't survive the war. Also, Karen Kingsbury didn't disappoint those of us that are avid readers of historical fiction. She did an excellent job intertwining the book's plot with World War II historical facts. Everything fit perfectly. Finally, it brought forth the truth of Alzheimer's Disease as it is an absolute horrid ailment for both the patient and caregiver to endure.

Thank you for this advanced reader's copy. I was blessed to read and review such a wonderful book!

What a story!. I've read several books about WWII and this one brought out the tears. Irvel and Hank had always loved each other, but remained friends. They both dated others and finally a time came when Hank's brother Sam asked him if it was alright if he asked her out. Since he was dating someone else at the time, what could he say. Sam and Irvel were a couple for quite a while, but even though they loved each other, Hank would always be the one for her. They both went through so much during the war, thinking the other was dead. It was so touching when they each learned the other was alive and well. They finally had their HEA when a disastrous medical diagnoses changed their lives forever. It truly broke my heart. This was a wonderful Story that I won't soon forget

I got this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

Overall, I enjoyed Just Once by Karen Kingsbury. It's a sweet, multi-timeline novel (my favorite!) set in the recent past as Audra shares her grandparents' love story, the 1980s as Irvel and Hank deal with a recent Alzheimer's diagnosis, and the 1940s during World War II. The WWII portion takes up a huge percentage of the novel, and was by far the most interesting, though I wish the author had included more of Audra's story in this novel.

There were several things I really enjoyed about this novel. I liked reading about the experience of Americans in the time leading up to World War II, and considering what their experience must have been like, especially in the midwest (bonus points to the author for setting this portion in Bloomington, IN - it was fun reading about a place where I used to live!). I did have some doubt about how much everyone really understood about the Nazis and the holocaust - the characters in this book seemed to have a post-WWII understanding about these things that, to my knowledge, were not generally understood/accepted by everyone in America in the early 1940s. But I could be wrong about that. I also enjoyed learning more about Irvel's experience as a spy and codebreaker. What a strong woman! Finally, I loved the idea of Hank and Irvel telling their love story before she forgot everything due to a devastating diagnosis. How beautiful. I wished the latter part of Hank and Irvel's life was shared more in depth - the ending seemed a bit rushed. For the most part though, I enjoyed this book. 3.5 stars

I used to read Karen Kingsbury a lot so I was excited to pick up her newest, a work of WWII historical fiction! She is a good writer but I got burned out on Christian novels in general so it was interesting to dive back into that genre, despite all the typical trappings of Christian fiction this novel has. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Yet another emotionally gripping story from Karen Kingsbury, and yet different from most of her writing as it was historical fiction. The characters stories were in depth and interwoven beautiful. I highly recommend this book. This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a beautiful love story between Irvel and Hank , between God and His children and between Hank and his brother Sam.

. Irvel and Hank are childhood best friends, at one point Hank saves Irvels life when she falls into water by the road they are walking on. He promises her he will love her for forever and that he will marry her.

Timing never seems to be right for the two of them . One is single when the other is dating someone . Irvel eventually dates Hanks brother Sam. They have a great relationship but she never loves him like she does Hank.

WW2 starts changing everyone’s lives .
Sam goes off to war and then Hank .
Irvel is recruited to be a spy - to decode codes , code codes ,and to deliver packages to other these codes .

The book covers everything from when the two were childhood friends to the very end when Irvel is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and forgets everyone except that she loves a man named Hank.

I really enjoyed this story. I cried when Sam tells Hank he should date irvel and that he will always love his brother .

I also cried when Irvel got diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

The reason I didn’t give a 5 star review is i felt the ending was rushed . It went from a descriptive beautiful story to 1-2 chapters summarizing the last few years . I felt like this could have been done better .

However I thought this was a beautiful Christian love story that I will read again.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review .

I really loved the premise, a WWII spy and a love story in one? I’m all in. The reality was disappointing. Within the first quarter of the book, the same river story was repeated three times, the spy bit was mentioned but not elaborated on, the love story is blah, and while there is a definite message being pushed here, I am no longer interested in how these characters fare. Such a great storyline was hung out to dry and I’m disappointed in the delivery.

I really enjoyed this book. The story takes place during the Second World War and the main characters are two brothers and a girl who falls in love with both brothers. One brother enlists and the girl and other brother try to remain just friends but realize both have fallen in love. The second brother enlists and the two brothers end up in the same place fighting in the war. They have time to talk about their feelings just before one brother gets blown up. While this is going on the girl has been asked to go to Europe as a spy. The remaining brother and the girl go through the rest of the war and several injuries before they finally find their way back to each other.

Years later, with the onset of dementia the couple records their love story. The family finds the recordings years later and find out all the details of the couple’s history. The granddaughter writes a book about their history.

It was a very touching story and will stick with me for a long time. The author usually doesn’t write historical fiction but she did a wonderful job of this one. I would definitely recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.

I'm a fan of historical fiction novels and Karen Kingsbury brilliantly blends her Baxters series' beloved Irvel Holland with World War II. Filled with love, loss and sacrifice, Irvel's story comes to life with Kingsbury's prolific prose.

I've been a fan of the author since her first story but this novel is her best yet and I hope she continues with this trajectory. I'll always have a fond place for the Baxters and eagerly await their television debut but the realness of the World War II storyline and characters captured my heart.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the early edition of 'Just Once' in exchange for an honest review. I have a feeling that I'll need to read this enchanting novel more than once!

I received an arc copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. This book was absolutely perfect! If I could give it ten stars, I definitely would. I loved the romance and I am not a huge history fan at all, but the author made it so interesting and easy to understand and follow! Excellent read!!!!

I have been waiting for this book for awhile! Not just since we h3wrd it was coming, but perhaps since we met sweet Irvel in the nursing home. What a sweet story this was. Hank & Irvel had a love like no one else. And while it wasn't a book that had you on the edge of your seat (because we knew they got their story!), it was one that kept you wanting to read because it was that enjoyable. Thrilled to have been given the opportunity to read it early.

This is a very heartwarming story by Karen Kingsbury. Irvel is a character from Karen's much-loved Baxter series. In this book, she is a young woman in 1941. She is in love with Hank, but is dating his older brother Sam when Pearl Harbor is attacked and Sam is drafted. Hank remains home and he and Irvel become closer. Irvel is a teacher, but is asked to be a spy but is not allowed to tell anyone, not even her family, Sam or Hank. They all think she is training to be a nurse to help out the soldiers. There is much that happens as the war progresses. You won't want to miss out on this story and see how Irvel's life plays out. This is a really good book. I received a complimentary copy of this book but was not required to leave a review.

I used to be an avid Karen Kingsbury reader, but got burnt out on all the Baxter books. When I saw a book by her on NetGalley, I decided to give her another chance. Just Once is the story of two brothers who both love the same girl. Told in dual timeframes, you learn that all three served their country in WWII but in different capacities. Two came home and one didn’t. Did Irvel get the brother she wanted?
No spoilers here. Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for my ARC.