Book Review: Penny Wise

This review is part of a blog tour. To see what others are saying about Penny Wise, click here.

Penny Wise
by
Dave and Neta Jackson

If you’re unfamiliar with Dave and Neta Jackson, you’ve been missing out on some great novels.  Dave and Neta are the husband and wife team behind a group of Christian fiction series set in and around the city of Chicago. While each series focuses on one core group of characters, you’ll see these characters pop up in other series – all the stories are interrelated. (Read more about that here.) I’m a sucker for books and series that interrelated, so I jumped at the chance to be able to read and review their latest work, Penny Wise. It was really awesome to run into characters I’d previously “met” in series such as the Yada Yada Prayer group and House of Hope. This was the first book I’ve read in the Windy City series, but I didn’t feel like I’d missed out on anything by picking it up part way through.

Penny Wise focuses on the Jasper family as they navigate the busyness and struggles of life. Just when Michelle thinks she finally has it under control, life throws her a few curve balls that have her seriously rethinking her future. When she thinks her life is just too much to handle, God shows his faithfulness on penny at a time.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to catch up with some of my favorite characters from the Windy City. Dave and Neta write some fun stories with characters who are completely relatable and go through trials that many of us face on a day to day basis. Penny Wise was another great story to read and I look forward to seeing what’s next.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for this review. All thoughts are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

Buy the Book:
If you’re interested in checking out this book you can find it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as many other retailers.

Book Review: Come to the Table

Come to the Table
By
Neta Jackson

As I’ve said before, I really enjoy when authors write book series.  I love when I can follow characters’ stories beyond just one book. Neta Jackson is a great example of an author who does just that. I originally started reading books by Neta when I came across the Yada Yada Prayer Group series. I was bummed when that series came to an end, but delighted when she began to write other series that continued to follow some of those beloved characters as well as introducing new ones. The latest series is the SouledOut Sisters series and Come to the Table is the second installment. I loved being able to catch up with characters again and follow their lives. There were some things that were predictable but there were also events that I didn’t see coming, including some that guarantee Neta will have more stories to tell in the future! I’d highly recommend this book as well as the others written by Neta Jackson.

Here’s what thomasnelson.com has to say about Come to the Table:

Kat Davies is suddenly wondering if her good deed was a bad idea.

Kat may be new in her faith, but she’s embraced the more radical implications of Christianity with reckless abandon. She invited Rochelle—a homeless mother—and her son to move in the apartment she shares with two other housemates. And she’s finally found a practical way to channel her passion for healthy eating by starting a food pantry at the church.

Her feelings for Nick are getting harder to ignore. The fact that he’s the interning pastor at SouledOut Community Church and one of her housemates makes it complicated enough. But with Rochelle showing interest in Nick as a father-figure for her son, their apartment is feeling way too small.

But not everyone thinks the food pantry is a good idea. When the woman she thought would be her biggest supporter just wants to “pray about it,” Kat is forced to look deeper at her own motives. Only when she begins to look past the surface does she see people who are hungry and thirsty for more than just food and drink and realizes the deeper significance of inviting them to “come to the table.”

Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review. All thoughts are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Buy the Book:

This book can be found at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as many other retailers.

Book Review: Lucy Come Home

This review is part of a blog tour, click here to see what others are saying about this book.

Lucy Come Home
By
Dave and Neta Jackson

I’ve been a fan of Neta Jackson’s books for quite a while; I think I’ve read each of her books starting with the Yada Yada Prayer Group, as well as the spin-off series generated. I love the characters in the books and I love that you are able to “check in” with some of the characters from other series even they aren’t the focus of the book you’re reading, it gives you a more in depth look at the characters. Imagine my delight when I was given the chance to review Dave and Neta Jackson’s newest novel, Lucy Come Home. I was thrilled at have the chance to get to know Lucy a little better, even if her character ended up being completely different than what I had expected.

I’m really glad that Dave and Neta chose to tell Lucy’s story since she’s always been one of my favorites. This book was super interested and really kept me wanting more as I turned each page. I really loved getting to know Lucy a little better and being better able to understand her character. Her story was so much different than I expected it to be, from running away as a teenager to becoming a widow, there was so much to her story that I’d never even imagined. The closure she received at the end of the book was just the icing on the cake.  I really thought that Lucy’s story ended at the end of Lucy Come Home, but from what I understand there’s another book about Lucy coming out in a while and I’m curious to see where they’ll take her story next.

About the Book (from daveneta.com):

Lucy Tucker has been on the streets of Chicago for 50 years. Why won’t she come home?

Fifteen-year-old Cindy worked long days beside her migrant worker family in Michigan’s sugar beet fields in the early 1940s—the “war years”—until she met a dashing young man from a traveling carnival, bringing some joy and fun into her hard-scrabble life. But a tragic twist of fate—and a dead field boss—sent the two young people on the run, leaving behind family and everything she’d ever known.

Lucy Tucker, the crotchety old bag lady from the popular Yada Yada House of Hope series, is a veteran of the Chicago streets and not about to give up her independence, even as she approaches her 80th birthday. Until, that is, a young displaced woman with her gentle ageing mother and a dog named Dandy seem to need her—unsettling the secretive Lucy, who doesn’t let anyone get too close. But just when it seems her past is catching up with her to bring her in out of the cold … Lucy disappears again.

How these two tales intersect and intertwine between past and present gradually shines light into the dark corners of Lucy’s murky past. But … why won’t Lucy come home?

About the Authors:
Dave and Neta Jackson are award-winning authors living in the Chicago area where their parallel novels from the Yada Yada House of Hope and Harry Bentley series are set.

As a husband/wife writing team, Dave and Neta Jackson are enthusiastic about books, kids, walking with God, gospel music, and each other! Together they are the authors or coauthors of over 100 books.

Visit http://www.daveneta.com for more info.

Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of this book was provided for this review. All thoughts are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Buy the Book:

This book can be found at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as many other retailers.

Book Review: Stand By Me

Stand By Me
By
Neta Jackson

Since the day I picked up the first book in the Yada Yada Prayer Group series, I have enjoyed Neta Jackson’s writing. Within the first few pages, I fell in love with the characters and their stories. When she had completed the Yada Yada series, I was happy to see that she followed some of her characters in the House of Hope series. So, imagine my excitement when I realized she had decided to continue the stories of her characters and introduce some new ones in her latest series, Souled Out Series. I enjoyed reading this book just as much as I enjoyed all of the previous books. Each series reveals a little more about her most beloved characters and makes you want to delve deeper into their world. I cannot wait until book number two in this series comes out!

About the book (from thomasnelson.com):

Sometimes the person you most need is the one least like you.
Kathryn Davies is a bright young woman form a prominent Phoenix family. But after making a leap of faith at a Christian music fest, dropping out of med school, and moving to inner city Chicago, her family all but disowns her.
When Kat discovers SouledOut Community Church, she longs to become a part of the multicultural church family. But her tendency to immediately say whatever she’s thinking steps on the toes of nearly everyone she meets—especially Avis Douglass.
Avis has a strong faith, is the principal of one of Chicago’s highest performing elementary schools, and is a founding member of SouledOut. But the country’s economic downturn has thrown both her and her husband’s jobs in question. And Avis hasn’t heard from her youngest daughter in months—an estrangement that gnaws at her every day. Where is God in this?
Kat’s flamboyant zeal for living a “radical” Christian life is a stark contrast to Avis’s more reserved faith. But in God’s timing, the two women discover they need each other in ways neither of them expected.

Buy the book:
This book can be found at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as many other retailers.

Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of this book was provided for this review. All thoughts are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.