In Jackson's fourth Yada Yada House of Hope Christian evangelical novel, Gabby Fairbanks is now settled in her new apartment at the House of Hope. But she is being pulled in several directions at once and has some hard decisions to make. Philip, her estranged husband, is in a lot of trouble with a rogue cop from whom he borrowed money and also with his partner at the commercial development firm after he takes company money to cover his gambling losses. Lee Boyer, the Legal Aid lawyer who has become a friend to Gabby, now wants to be more. Gabby must decide whether to give Philip another chance, as their sons, Paul and PJ, hope, and she turns to the folks at Manna House, where she works, and the Yada Yada Prayer Group to help her discern God's plan for her. Jackson's latest has Gabby continuing to learn key lessons about faith while more is revealed about the mysterious Lucy, a pivotal character throughout the series.
My Comments:
In some books, the term "Christian Fiction" means the story is about Christians and prayer or God gets a mention or two. Other stories are basically conversion stories--in order for the plot to resolve, the main character has to undergo a religious conversion. Still others deal with learning to live a Christian life and how that is supposed to be different than just being a good person. That's the category into which this book falls. The whole theme, thrust, lesson, whatever you want to call it, in this book is that we need to take shelter in God; other shelters are only temporary and not reliable. That point is brought forth not only through the plot but also by the prayers of the characters and the sermons and songs they hear at church (and the readers go to church with the characters on more than one occasion).
This is the fourth book in the Yada Yada House of Hope series, and I think the House of Hope Series follows (or maybe it just has some of the same characters as) the Yada Yada Prayer Group series. As often happens in series books, there are a lot of characters who seem to have little to do with this particular book, and there is obviously back-story that is missing, though it doesn't keep you from understanding this book.
At 428 pages, it is a little longer than the average Christian novel, and frankly I found it a little slow. I kept debating whether to give it up, but I cared enough about Gabby to see how her story resolved. Grade: B-
I'd like to thank Thomas Nelson Publishers for making a review copy available via NetGalley. I was under no obligation to post any review, much less a positive one.
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