Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down

From Publishers Weekly
Jackson examines the many facets of forgiveness, grace, racial prejudice and healing in this enjoyable follow-up to The Yada Yada Prayer Group, which has 75,000 copies in print. The adventures of the praying, ethnically diverse group of Chicago Christians, "that drawer full of crazy-colored, mismatched socks," are about to accelerate. Jodi Baxter's physical scars from her car accident continue to heal, but her emotional turmoil returns in the form of nightmares. She's further challenged when her friend Adele Skuggs's elderly and failing mother mistakenly believes Jodi's husband, Denny, is a man from the past who lynched her brother. Adele finds her prejudices against all white people simmering and takes a hiatus from the prayer group. Further disaster strikes when the women are robbed at knifepoint by a crazed drug addict. Only forgiveness and prayer will heal the women's guilt and fear. The talented Jackson peoples her novels with delightful characters, and there's enough detail about the meals to make even a picky eater's mouth water. The scenes detailing different church services can be too lengthy, and a plot contrivance involving a boy's surprising identity strains credibility. Laced with humor, fine description, and interesting and realistically flawed characters, however, this well-paced story is certain to keep fans turning the pages. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Book Description
A robbery, a lynching, and a mourning mother shakes up the Yada Yada Prayer Group. I had never felt so violated! The Yada Yada Prayer Group was "gettin down" with God in prayer and praise one night when a heroin-crazed woman barged into my house, demanded our valuables, and threatened us with a 10-inch knife -- a knife that drew blood. We wondered if we'd ever get back to normal after this terrifying experience. I assumed we would (although "normal" doesn't usually describe the twelve of us mismatched women anyway). After all, we'd started praying together at the Chicago Women's Conference last spring, and we'd been through a lot already as spiritual sisters. This was just one more hurdle to conquer, right? But then a well-meaning gesture suddenly incited a backlash of anger in the group, forcing us to confront generations of racial division, pain, and distrust -- and stretching our friendships to the limit. Initially I thought, "Surely I, Jodi "Good Girl" Baxter, am not responsible for other people's sins -- am I?" But a shocking confrontation in my third-grade classroom forced me to face my own accountability, and God used the Yada Yada Prayer Group (and my own husbands, of all people!) to show me what true forgiveness really is.


About the Author
Neta (pronounced Nee tuh) Jackson and her husband, Dave, are an award-winning writing team, best known for the Trailblazer books -- a forty-book series of historical fiction about great Christian heroes with 1.5 million in sales -- and "Hero Tales: a Family Treasury of True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes" (Vols 1-4). Neta wrote the wildly successful "The Yada Yada Prayer Group" and has collected many honors for her various works, including a C.S. Lewis Award and a Gold Medallion Award.


Buy from Amazon     Compare Prices

Jackson examines the many facets of forgiveness, grace, racial prejudice and healing in this enjoyable follow-up to The Yada Yada Prayer Group, which has 75,000 copies in print. The adventures of the praying, ethnically diverse group of Chicago Christians, "that drawer full of crazy-colored, mismatched socks," are about to accelerate. Jodi Baxter's physical scars from her car accident continue to heal, but her emotional turmoil returns in the form of nightmares. She's further challenged when her friend Adele Skuggs's elderly and failing mother mistakenly believes Jodi's husband, Denny, is a man from the past who lynched her brother. Adele finds her prejudices against all white people simmering and takes a hiatus from the prayer group. Further disaster strikes when the women are robbed at knifepoint by a crazed drug addict. Only forgiveness and prayer will heal the women's guilt and fear. The talented Jackson peoples her novels with delightful characters, and there's enough detail about the meals to make even a picky eater's mouth water. The scenes detailing different church services can be too lengthy, and a plot contrivance involving a boy's surprising identity strains credibility. Laced with humor, fine description, and interesting and realistically flawed characters, however, this well-paced story is certain to keep fans turning the pages. (Aug.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.


Buy from Barnes & Noble     Compare Prices