Below is the complete list of Karen Kingsbury’s Lost Love books in publication order. For this series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Lost Love Books in Publication Order
- Even Now (2005)
Even Now was published in 2005 and is listed as book #1 in the Lost Love series. - Ever After (2006)
Published in 2006, Ever After is listed as book #2 in the Lost Love series.
About Lost Love
Karen Kingsbury’s Lost Love series is a two-book inspirational romance and family drama centered on separation, regret, faith, and the possibility of restoration after years of pain. The series consists of Even Now and Ever After, and it carries the emotional hallmarks of Kingsbury’s fiction: wounded families, choices made under pressure, love interrupted by fear or misunderstanding, and the hope that God can bring healing even when the past seems impossible to repair.
Even Now introduces the central story of Lauren Gibbs and Shane Galanter, two young people whose love is broken apart by family interference, fear, and decisions that leave lasting consequences. Their separation is not treated as a small romantic misunderstanding. It reshapes the course of their lives, especially through their daughter, Emily Anderson, who grows up with unanswered questions about her parents and her own identity. Kingsbury uses Emily’s search for truth to connect the pain of one generation with the longing of the next.
The title Even Now reflects the series’ central emotional idea: even after years of silence, loss, distance, and regret, hope is not necessarily gone. Lauren and Shane’s story is built around the ache of what might have been, but Kingsbury is less interested in nostalgia than in restoration. The novel asks whether people can face the truth after years of living with incomplete stories, and whether love can survive the damage caused by time, pride, and other people’s choices.
Ever After continues the story by shifting more attention to Emily as a young woman. Now in college and playing soccer, she meets Justin Baker, an Army reservist whose faith, courage, and love become central to her future. Their relationship gives the second book a new emotional direction while still remaining connected to the wounds and reconciliations from Even Now. Emily’s life is shaped by the losses and discoveries of the first book, but her own story is not merely an extension of her parents’ romance. It becomes a love story about commitment, sacrifice, and the cost of holding onto faith when life becomes painfully uncertain.
The series also brings in the impact of war, especially through Justin’s military service. Kingsbury uses this thread to widen the emotional scope beyond family separation and romantic reunion. Ever After becomes a story about two kinds of conflict: the private wars within families and hearts, and the public reality of war that changes the lives of those who serve and those who love them.
Lost Love is smaller than Kingsbury’s Baxter Family saga, but it works with the same emotional intensity and faith-centered worldview. The books are not complicated in structure, yet they carry a strong generational shape. Lauren and Shane’s past creates the emotional foundation, while Emily’s future carries the series forward. Across both novels, Kingsbury writes about love that is delayed, tested, rediscovered, and transformed by faith.
The Lost Love series is best understood as a compact Christian romance duet about what remains after separation. Its deepest concern is not only whether lost love can be found again, but whether people can forgive the years that were taken from them and still believe that grace can reach into the ruins of yesterday.