Above the Line:Take One by Karen Kingsbury

Keith Ellison and his best friend, Chase Ryan are on their way to Bloomington, Indiana to begin filming their movie, The Last Letter, which is about a college kid who loses his father, and doesn't quite know how to cope with his loss, until his mother finds a letter that his father had written for him. Some of the residents of Bloomington, especially students attending Indiana University, are used as extras in this film. Keith's daughter, Andi, is Roommates with Bailey Flanigan, and some members of the Baxter Family (which is my absolute FAVORITE!) make an appearance on the set as well.

The thing about this film is that their company, Oak River Films is an independent filmmaker and they're using money from investors to make this film, as opposed to a studio, and their budget is Two Million dollars and they're giving themselves four weeks to finish filming.

Keith and Chase live in San Jose, California with their families. Keith lives there with his wife, while his daughter Andi attends school in Indiana, and Chase has a wife and two daughters who he must leave behind for a month.

As they start filming, they run into several problems. A few of the cast members claim this film is targeted for the Christian Market, and threaten to walk off. The lack of funds for this movie hangs over Keith and Chase's heads, and the union finds out about this and threatens to stop production, until Luke Baxter steps in and draws up a contract that everyone agrees with.

Bailey Flanigan ends up getting a part as the girlfriend of the main character. When the original actress walks off the set, her and Andi both read for the part, but in the end, Chase and Keith decide that Bailey is really the better choice.

Andi is struggling with trying to decide who she is. All her life she's been a sheltered missionary kid, and she desperately wants to live on the edge a little. All this leads to almost getting herself raped, and showing up to a fraternity party and getting drunk, and ruining her reputation with her peers, and humiliating herself in the process.

Bailey is confused by her feelings for both Cody and Tim. She and Tim are dating, but she's not 100% sure he's the one she's meant to be with. Cody has told her that she deserves someone better than him. Bailey is definitely attracted to him, despite this. And what she doesn't know, is he has since realized that he was wrong and that he is in love with her too, but since she is with Tim, he will never tell her his feelings. Andi was somewhat attracted to Cody too, which made Bailey a little jealous. But unbeknownst to Bailey, Cody really doesn't share Andi's same feelings.

During the 4th week of filming, they come to the realization that they're not going to make it with the funds they have. So they agree its time to have a meeting and send everyone home. Right before this meeting is scheduled to start, Chase recieves a fax from Ben Adams, who has decided to invest in this film, and every film following. His daughter, Kendall, had seen their interview on Entertainment Tonight, and it caught her attention. She also informs them that a author of a book on the New York Times Bestseller list, wants to give them movie rights for her book, and that Brandon Paul, a disney star popular with the young generation, wants a lead part. Lastly, Kendall becomes their production assistant.

My thoughts on first half:

Well as of today, I'm almost halfway through. But so far this book is AWESOME.....I kinda get the feeling that this might turn out sort of like a couple books in the Sunrise Series....Rita the lead actress has tried to make a move on Chase once already, and I'm sure she'll try again. I'm interested to see how that turns out.

In the Baxter Family Saga, I didn't really like Bailey that much. But, for some reason I like her better now. She is still torn between Tim Reed, who's her current boyfriend, and Cody Coleman, who she can't stop thinking about. Then, she gets kind of jealous when she gets the feeling that Andi is attracted to cody. I think Bailey is used to being the spotlight as the girl that everyone loves, and now Andi has come on to the scene, and perhaps Bailey sees her as competition. That's the vibe I got. But then, I often feel as though Andi is Jealous of Bailey because of her innocence, and the family that she has.

I can't wait to read more of this book, and I definitely can't wait for the next two books in the series. Take Two comes out in June 2009, Take Three comes out in Spring 2010, and Take Four comes out in Summer 2010. AND she also has a book, Shades of Blue, coming out in fall 2009, so I'm definitely looking forward to that as well.

My thoughts on second half:

Well Luckily, I was wrong about the book turning out like the books in the Sunset Series. I thought for sure Chase would end up having an affair with Rita. His marriage to Kelly sounds like it has some issues. It was also interesting reading about Andi and all that she's going through. I loved how things that happened in the end of the book set the stage for the next book, so to speak. I'm interested to see what will happen next. If that play will be in Bloomington, how things will go with production, also how big of a role the Baxters will play, and what will happen with Andi and Bailey, and last but not least, what happens with the Bailey/Cody/Tim triangle.

I finished this book on March 14, 2009.