Derailed

Windy City Neighbors #2

by Neta Jackson, Dave Jackson

Forced to give up his hard-earned retirement, Harry Bentley goes back to work as a detective. Receiving a bizarre undercover assignment that sends him across the country by train. Things suddenly go awry when it appears one of his new neighbors may be part of a smuggling ring and suspicion rises about his own son’s involvement in a major drug cartel.

The second in the Windy City Neighbors series, Derailed is a contemporary, and often humorous, tale in an urban setting, featuring ordinary people wrestling with the spiritual and practical issues of real life. Intersecting with Grounded (book one), the Jacksons employ their innovative storytelling technique of “parallel novels.” Though each book follows its own drama and story arc, the characters’ lives become intertwined and affect one another. Derailed transports you to Beecham Street—a typical, isolated American neighborhood . . . until hope moves in.

2.5 million-copy seller, Neta Jackson and Dave Jackson draw on proven strengths for entertaining, multi-ethnic and relationally-driven stories in the second book of the Windy City Neighbors series, Derailed.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction, Christian, Inspirational

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2013

Reviews

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuation of the Windy City Neighbors series. Two reasons I didn't like this book as well as the others I've read by this/these author/s. One: this book goes back to the beginning of the story in Grounded, just from the POV of other characters. Since I already knew what happened in the story arc, it felt like reading the exact same story over again. Second, I really dislike reading the vernacular, and maybe I just dislike books from Harry's POV (I didn't care for Harry Bentley's Second Chance and didn't even finish that series). But overall, these books are so filled with faith and the multicultural aspects of the novel gives me a better perspective of the world and all of the people in it.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really feel like this book should have been book one. There is so much repetition that its kind of boring. This book is really just giving details of the high points already mentioned in book one. I'm usually such a fan of the Jackson's books but this one is really not working for me. I found myself skimming a ton!

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read about 20 of Neta and Dave Jackson's books and enjoyed them all. They are light-hearted contemporaries, fun-to-read stories of Christian friends in Chicago. I am unhappy to say I have just read my last. As other Christian writers, the Jacksons have gone the way of cultural obsessions. Are they adding unnecessary descriptions to keep their readers reading? To be culturally relevant? Or what?
Worthy Publishing's moto (the publisher of parallel books Grounded/Derailed) is "Helping People Experience the Heart of God". How does it help to "Experience the Heart of God" knowing that a woman has an ample bosom, or how her husband moves up to her in bed, or ... well, you get the idea!! It doesn't!
What really gets me, is the except from their next book, Penny Wise. "She almost stumbled out into the hall to go to the bathroom, but remembered in time that they'd made love last night and she was still naked." Why do you think this except starts this way? Really! is this necessary? My recommendations of the Jackson's Christian books has ended. Neta, Dave, seriously, I hope you're reading this!

[Maddy]

DNF at page 180

I was looking forward to this after enjoying the first book in this series, but it was just really dry to me. It’s about an old couple that makes some appearances in the first book. While it didn’t get into their story in the first book, it did talk about what was going on in their lives. This book went over the same details you found out about them in the first book, just with more details. So while they’re struggling to pay their house, found a job, etc you know how everything is going to work out due to the first book. So yeah, this book was just really dry to me and than you also already know how everything’s going to turn out for them.

[Kathleen (Kat) Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it when you find a true treasure in a great series of books. The kind that make you sad when you finish one because you have to wait for the next one and often times it could take awhile. Such is the case with The Windy City Neighborhood Series by authors Dave and Neta Jackson. After reading Grounded, their first novel in the series, the second book, Derailed has finally picked back up with our favorite characters we met in the first one. Perhaps by far, my favorite character is Estelle Bentley, because she has the faith that most would dream of having. The kind that offers up simple prayers as easily as having a one on one conversation with a close friend. But what we discover is that even those prayers are offered up, they are not always answered in the way we would like to. Even when it seems that the steps we take are guided by God, it soon leaves us second guessing if we didn't in fact step out on our own instead.

This novel is based on the Harry Bentley, Estelle's husband that was once blind but now can see, is asked to go undercover as a blind man in disguise working for the police on board the Amtrak trains. It takes us into the back story of Harry that we only glimpsed in passing in the first novel. Since Harry is new to the Christian faith, living with Estelle as a strong woman of faith makes him question his own actions at times. I love this honesty of how the life of faith isn't an easy one to walk and at times, we all find ourselves questioning whether we are doing what God would want or simply our own desires. He struggles being the head of the house and financial provider of learning to reverse the roles of putting his family first instead of his job. Not an easy one for men to live up to.

The Bentley's life hasn't been an easy one but is a true testament of what faith can do when it is applied correctly. Harry's son, Rodney has been in prison but now upon his release is looking for ways to turn over a new leaf. Since his son, DaShawn has been living with Estelle and Harry, Rodney is hoping to secure a decent job and find a way to start a new life for him and DaShawn. Perhaps my favorite part of this book, isn't really the individual stories but one of how they all interact with their neighbors. It shows us an example of what a faith based community should look like even if our neighbors are not believers. It shows us how to respond in love and kindness and role models what we all can hope to obtain by being better people to those around us.

I received Derailed by Dave and Neta Jackson compliments of Worthy Books and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed are strictly my own. I can't wait for the next book in this series Penny Wise which you get a sneak peek at in the conclusion of this novel. There are also discussion questions included to make this a great novel for book clubs. I'd rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars.

[Audra Jennings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start by saying I've read all of Neta and Dave's books since the Yada Yada Prayer Group. I always look forward to when the next book goes on sale.

What I like is that in this series you get more than one point of view regarding what is going on with the story line. In other words, you don't have one narrator throughout the entire series. We also get visits from old friends we met in Neta's other series.

What I don't like is that Derailed covers the same time frame as Grounded, so you actually know a good bit of what happens before you get to it. You don't know all the details from the other person's perspectives, but you know a good bit of what is going to happen.

I think I would have enjoyed Derailed more if this second book in the series picked up where the first one left off or if you heard from more than one character per book. The Jacksons started doing the same kind of thing with parallel books with the Yada Yada House of Hope series (Neta) and Yada Yada Brothers (Harry Bentley series written by Dave), but I think it may have worked better then because it was two different series instead of one.

For some reason, it just wasn't what I expected. And Harry seemed different somehow. I can't put my finger on exactly what since it's been a while since I read the last Harry Bentley book.

With all of that said, I'm most certainly going to keep reading the series. I want to find out what happens with all the characters in the neighborhood and old friends from series past as well!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second in a series of books set in one neighborhood, with each book centered on a different neighbor. I enjoyed this one even more than the first one, maybe because it was from a man's perspective instead of a woman's. I do wish the series was written from a third person point of view instead of the first person, as I think it would make the books even better.

This one was very entertaining, but also had a great message in it. The main character, a black guy in probably his early 60's or so, has moved into the neighborhood with his wife and teenage grandson. While taking cinnamon rolls to all of their new neighbors to introduce themselves, they discover two houses down from them is a gay male couple. I am not excusing the sin, and I won't go into a lot of detail, but using the fictitious gay couple, the authors had a great message about loving our neighbors, even when we totally disagree with their lifestyle. It impressed me so much that I wrote a blog post about loving our neighbor on my other blog.

I did have a few issues with the book. At one point, someone is angry at a police dog that searches out drugs and angrily called it the actual name for a female dog.... granted, they ARE called that, but it seemed out of place for a Christian book, and given the tone it was said in, it seemed more like the bad use of the word. There were also a few cases where the main character started to curse and it had the first couple of letters..... its natural for the brain to fill it in, and I wish they had not done that.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about an African-American couple who moved into a new neighborhood in Chicago. I enjoyed the character development of the people that I encountered in this story. I also enjoyed the plot, which was kind of a mystery and adventure. I didn't care too much for the vernacular of some of the characters in this story, but not enough to quit reading this book. I especially enjoyed hearing about how the main characters' developing faith in God and how is helped them during some of the difficulties that they were going through during the story. I am looking forward to reading some more books written by these same authors.

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a HUGE fan of the Yada Yada series, so I was definitely thrilled when I had the opportunity to review the first book in this series, back when it came out. Of course, I could give that novel nothing less than a glowing five star review, and I was in huge anticipation of the second installment, DERAILED, which is set to come out in October of this year.

So, when I was given the chance to review book two after loving the first one so much, it was impossible to say anything but yes, Yes, YES!

In book one, GROUNDED, we had the opportunity to meet Grace, a young contemporary Christian singer with a horrible fear of flying and a passionate platform of purity before marriage. At one point in the story, Grace ended up taking a train to the next segment of her tour, at which point she encountered her neighbor Harry -- who was working undercover as a blind mind, although we really didn't get a lot of information about his particular line of work.

In DERAILED, the authors step back a bit and tell the story of the same time period, except this time everything focuses on the couple who has just moved to Grace's street -- Estella and Harry. Harry has recently been offered a position working undercover for the train company, and he will pose as a blind mind with a dog who has been specially trained to sniff out any drugs that may be concealed by the passengers. One specific job involves the potential transportation of huge amounts of illegal substances from one of the most notorious drug cartels in modern times -- and Harry is the one assigned to the task of bringing them down!

Soon worried that a new friend and a close family member may be potentially involved in smuggling drugs onto the train, Harry struggles with issues of trust, especially when it comes to trusting the entirety of his life to God. Harry believes that he knows what it means to give up everything for Jesus, but will his new job teach him lessons on faith that he never expected to learn on a late night train?

It was interesting to learn that DERAILED was not actually a continuation of the first novel, as I expected, but was actually a story that overlapped with the first, but from a slightly different perspective. While I was afraid that the story might feel redundant, rehashing events that I had already read in the previous work, DERAILED really added to everything we learned in GROUNDED, giving complexity and dimension to the story by showing things from the eyes of someone in a completely different position than the last. It was even interesting to read about familiar interactions, like the conversations between Grace and Harry in their first encounter in the train -- because the male perspective just brought something different to the picture.

That said, I think I felt a bit more connected to Grace's character than that of Harry, just because she felt more relateable to me based on my personality and my current situation in life. Additionally, I felt that the spiritual questions posed in GROUNDED were just a bit more tightly integrated into the story, which gave a magical balance between an interesting plot line and a meaningful message. It's not that these things weren't also well done in DERAILED -- I just felt like the message was a tad more disjointed and the story was a bit more focused on the succession of exciting events than what I anticipated from reading the first story.

Even so, I don't think these authors will ever fail when it comes to delivering highly entertaining and spiritually significant fiction works. It's always fun to catch up with familiar characters, and I'm definitely curious to see where things go in the next novel, which is introduced by a quick preview at the end of DERAILED.

I very much appreciate the publishes allowing me to read this book, and I certainly enjoyed my read from start to finish.

[Brenda Tuner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. I was ecstatic to receive my copy and immediately sat down to read. Derailed was billed as book 2 of the Windy City Series, but as this is a parallel, companion novel, it really is more Book 1.5. The Windy City Series interweaves some new characters and a new neighborhood into the familiar Yada Yada and House of Hope Series and characters. If the reader expects a continuation of the story that began with Grounded, he/she will be disappointed! This book offers Harry Bentley's perspective on the events that happened in Grounded. The reader comes to know how the Bentley's ended up buying the house on Beecham Street, how Rodney came to live with his father, why Estelle baked and delivered cinnamon rolls to all the neighbors, how Harry ended up working security at Amtrak, why Meredith Grace sang at Mother Bentley's funeral and other matters.

Like most of the Jackson's novels, I enjoyed this one too. Because it is written mostly by Dave (my assumption) and the story is told from a male's perspective, it is a more difficult read for me (meaning that the language does not flow as well for me and the humor may be more 'boy' than I like). As a wife and mother, Harry's perspective, for me, is important because men and women see things differently, process them different and act on them differently! In essence, I see this as an opportunity to have insight into how/why my husband, sons and father think differently.

However, I love that Neta and Dave take ordinary people in ordinary situations and share their thoughts, fears and FAITH! How often have I questioned whether I really heard God's plan for me? When things blow up, as they sometimes do, don't I question whether this was really God's plan? Reading about Harry's struggles and crisis of faith is reassuring that we all go through these. And we learn to double-down and lean on others to get us through.

Though, I enjoyed this book, I am looking forward to a continuation of the story.

[Valerie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received Derailed, a book from the Windy City Neighbors series as a Goodreads giveaway. I received my copy as a 317 page trade paperback wrapped in a bright, delightful, candy-bar-wrapper-like cover.

Derailed is just one of hundreds of books from Husband and Wife team Neta and Dave Jackson. The Jackson’s forte’ is serialized fiction based in neighborhoods of Chicago, an area where they themselves reside. Their novels are vehicles for delivering wholesome, Christian-based entertainment in practical, real-world scenarios.

Derailed is the second installment in the Jackson’s Windy City Neighbors series. The main characters are an African-American family relocated to the neighborhood. The husband, a police detective dealing with one last case before retirement; The wife, the bedrock of the marriage, raising their grandchild and running their Bible study.

The writing is prosaic and easily consumed. The cliche’d urban dialect of the African American characters is painstakingly portrayed in contracted verb tenses and ebonics, which - when taken into consideration of the greying, caucasian source - smites uncomfortably to the equivalent of modern-day literary black-face. The lessons are trite and can be universally summarized thusly: prayer fixes anything.

Even fiction created for an audience catering to a specific religion or ideology must still be held accountable to standards of good writing and engaging stories. While audience members ascribing to the tenets shared by the work will project such qualities onto entertainment made specifically for them, the rest of us will see this work for what it is - poorly produced tripe catering to a base audience.

I recommend Derailed for Christian audiences seeking light fiction sterilized entirely for their world view.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased view. I have been a fan of Neta and Dave Jackson’s Chicago-based books, starting with “The Yada Yada Prayer Group” , through the House of Hope and Souled Out Sisters series, and now into the Windy City Neighbors series. To be frank, I was not as big a fan of the 1st WCN book, “Grounded,” as I was the others. It took a while for me to warm up to the main character of Grace, but in the end, it did move me.
This book, “Derailed,” goes back to Grace’s story somewhat by being from the point of view of Harry Bentley, in a parallel story. This book was interesting and different as a lot of it focused on Harry’s police work, working undercover as a blind man with his seeing-eye dog, who is actually a K9 drug-detecting dog. I like my human interest stories, as I can often relate to them, but I actually liked the suspense here, too.
The other part of the book is focused on Harry and Estelle’s move to a new neighborhood, their interactions with those new neighbors, and their situations with Harry’s family. Harry is trying his best to do what God would have him do, and several songs (including “Give Me Jesus”) resonate with his soul and the direction of his life.
So glad to have the opportunity to read this book – I really enjoyed it!

[Lindsey Silvestrini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Grounded, Book 1 on the Windy City Neighborhood series so I was excited to start Derailed and find out what happens next!

While book one focused on Grace Meredith, a Christian recording artist, book two was about her neighbors the Bentley's that we were introduced to in book one. I remember admiring their strength of character and faith and was looking forward to learning more about them.

When Harry and Estelle pray about making a huge decision, they assume that because they took the right steps, everything will fall into place. But as we have all learned the hard way, our answers to prayer don't always look like we expected them to. Sometimes the signals are confusing and Harry and Estelle are left to question why the choices they made are not turning out as hoped.

But God is faithful and he knows what he's doing and sometimes we forget that. He has a plan and knew all along the direction our lives would take and how our decisions would impact our lives. Harry and Estelle are challenged and question but in the long run will be rewarded for their faithfulness and making decisions in prayer and not on their own wisdom.

Derailed is a great second book in the Windy City series and I'm looking forward to the next!

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this second book in The Windy City Neighbors series. The unique thing about this series is that the books intersect one another. In the first book, Grounded, we meet Grace Meredith, a Christian musician who lives on Beecham Street in Chicago. One of her neighbors is Estelle Bentley. Grace and Estelle become friends and support one another with prayer. In Derailed, we get to know Harry and Estelle Bentley. The story starts before they move to Beecham Street and chronicles their decision making process, their move and the things that change in their lives because of the move. The story intersects with Grounded in an interesting way and we get to see the storyline from a different perspective and learn things we didn't know.

What I loved about this story was that it was about ordinary people and how they exercised their faith in the situations that came up in their lives. I also liked how the authors include details of the characters daily lives, such as what they were eating for dinner. Here's one of my favorite quotes: "She set the steaming casserole with a flaky crust between us and moved our bowls of colorful salad aside to make room for a basket of fresh garlic bread."

I found this book to be encouraging and uplifting. I recommend it.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read all the Yada Yada books and the following series and enjoyed them all. I enjoyed this book as well. It's part of the new Windy Cities Series but really feels like it's a continuation from the Harry Bentley books. If you liked those you will probably like this one as well. This book is a parallel book to Grounded. I was expecting it to take off from where that ended and go forward from another point of view. However, this was the same time period as the first book. I found it enough different that it didn't feel repetitive though. I really enjoyed continuing with Harry and Estelle's story and catching a few glimpses of my old favorite characters.

I liked the action in this one with Harry having gone back to police work, this time for Amtrak, mixed in with sensitivity with Harry's mom and Mattie.

I found myself trying to guess which characters might be the subject of the next books and looking forward to finding out about them. I really liked the feeling I can see building of "neighborhood" the kind that rarely exists anymore.

I was given an advance copy of this book in return for my impartial review.

[Maria Elmvang · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as I can deduce Neta and Dave Jackson took turns being the main writer vs. co-editor of this series, so Neta wrote (most of) the first one, Dave wrote (most of) the second one, etc. Unfortunately, while still being an able writer, Dave just doesn't have the same talent as Neta does, and it shows. The plot is decent enough, and I love the characters enough that I had problems putting the book down, but the writing is a lot more clumbsy, there's a lot more telling and less showing, and it just doesn't come across as effortless as Neta Jackson's books do. Nor did it come across with as strong and moving Christian message. This was a decent Christian book, but it didn't move me remotely as much as the earlier books did.

The book covers the same time period as "Grounded" which was a bit of a disappointment, as I was eager to see what happened next! But on the other hand, I did enjoy getting to see Harry and Corey together :)

The only thing I really, really, really didn't like was the epilogue. That knocked off an entire star by itself. It was sickeningly saccharine and tacky... I can't believe the Jacksons would stoop to that level.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: Grounded by Dave & Neta Jackson

Dave and Neta Jackson are masterful word weavers. They take a simple story about a group of women meeting at a conference in Chicago and, suddenly, there are threads leading in all kinds of unexpected directions. One thread eventually leads to Harry Bennett who, at first glance, is a kindly older gentleman working as a doorman. Then, as the threads are woven and lengthened, we learn that there is much more to Harry’s story than we first realized.

Grounded adds a few more threads to that story. It isn’t as emotionally gripping as some of their other books but it does continue the Jackson’s theme that the Lord can help us meet the challenges we face in every day life. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the relationship of Harry and Estelle—two people who genuinely love each other and are there for each other when problems arise. I also enjoyed seeing the other side of their interactions with neighbors, especially what happens with Grace Meredith. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

[Jalynn Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Review:

Harry and Estelle are enjoying the retired life, when Harry gets a call from the captain of his old police department. The captain has a job for him, but Harry says no immediately. Harry has enough problems to deal with like plans for his mom to move in and his son in prison.



But tragedy strikes when his mom has a stroke and passes away quickly, leaving the room for her empty. And that's where his son comes in, being released from prison that leaves his son in need of food and a place to stay. This defiantly causes him to want to get out of the house so he calls up the captain and takes the job. Posing as a blind man, he rides the Amtrak railway daily with his guide dog, a.k.a drug-detection dog. He finds the pleasure of this job when he nabs his first criminal.



This is the second book in the Windy City Neighbors series. Here is a link to the first book in the series that I reviewed entitled, Grounded.

**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from CFBA.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s always fun to read series where you get to see the other parts of stories and this is what happens in the Windy City Series.

The first book in the series, Grounded, shares the story of Grace and in her story you meet Harry Bentley and his wife.

In Derailed you find out exactly what was going in their lives while Grace was going through her stuff.

Harry is a very likeable character and will be familiar to Neta and Dave Jackson fans, along with his wife, Estelle.

Harry is in a strange place in his life, a place I believe many older adults can find themselves in. Taking care of a grandchild, a wayward child comes to live with him, a mother who they have to place in assisted living. Just a lot to deal with. I believe we often think when we get older life gets easier, but that isn’t always the case.

Some valuable lessons can be learned through this book. I am sure Neta Jackson fans will be very pleased with this new edition.

A copy of this book was given to me by the publisher through the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance in exchange for an honest review.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read from Dave & Neta Jackson!

I loved the Yada Yada books and all that came after. It's great to see those original characters pop up from time to time as this story continues. The fact that this book centered around Harry Bentley was great for me because he's one of those characters that I've come to love. :) I actually liked this book better than Grounded, the first book in this series, because it had more of the characters that I'm familiar with.

I'm still intrigued with the Parallel Novel technique that these two are using in this series. Usually you only get to see one part of the story. Here, you're seeing all of the different pieces and how they fit together. I can't wait to see what's coming up next!

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book by Wynn-Wynn Media in return for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own, and I received no monetary compensation for this review.

[Christine Barth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review of this book.

Since I didn't see much information on this I didn't realize it was part of the Yadda Yadda Men series. I've never been a huge Yadda Yadda fan - I like the younger POV of the Soul Sisters series better.

However, once you get past the first few chapters of review of character stories (appreciated by me since I hadn't read them, probably not appreciated by those who have read the rest), I did end up liking the book.

Harry's experience with Amtrak police was the most fascinating part, and there was plenty of action at the end. The scenes with Harry's mother (won't say more to avoid spoilers) were really quite moving.

The rest, however, was kind of ho hum. Fans of Yadda Yadda will like. Those of you who don't like that series probably can skip this one.

[Lauri Rottmayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am familiar with Neta Jacksons' Yada Yada Prayer Club books and love them. This book, told from one of the Prayer Club's husband's was just as good.

These books take place in Rogers Park in Chicago, the neighborhood where I grew up. Every time I read one, I feel like I'm going home as I can picture the setting so well.

This story is about Henry and Estelle. They are newly married and having their grandson living with them. DaShawn's dad is in jail but is released and comes to stay with them as they are just moving into a new Brownstone. Henry goes back to work as a detective with Amtrack and is assigned to the K9 unit with his partner, Corky. Corky is an awesome dog character, a spunky, smart black lab.

The story is wonderful and watching the faith of the characters grow, heartwarming. I highly recommend this book and Neta Jackson's other books if you haven't read them! :-)

[Kristin Stocking · Rating 5 out of 5]

Derailed is a great stand-alone novel, though its charm is that it the fleshes out the details of a what appears, on the surface, to be a sleepy Chicago suburb. After having met sweet Grace in Grounded, we have the opportunity to explore her neighbors, the Bentleys. The intrigue of Harry Bentley's job, while working out the complexities of his past, his relationship with his ex-con son, raising his grandson, and supporting his wife makes for an compelling read. I truly appreciate Harry's struggles as "life" re-arranges his plans and he seeks to find his way in the midst of the turmoil. Terrific read. It is a great read for teens and older.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love reading a Neta & Dave Jackson book, whether it be the "Yada Yada Prayer Group" series, "Yada Yada House of Hope" series, "Harry Bentley's Second Chance"series, "Souled Out Sisters" series, or this latest one "Windy City Neighbors" series.
I love how the authors interweave characters from all their series into each new book. It's not just a handful of characters I have been getting to know after all these years, but families in their communities as well. A pleasure to read.

Awaiting the next two installments of the series: "Penny Wise" and "Pound Foolish". Read on!!

[Debbie Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book in the Windy City Neighbors series. This one from Harry Bentley's point of view. It was great to get more details of the work he does on Amtrak and more details about his family. What lovely people of God. Saved at a later age, Harry is still working out his relationship with God. Because of previous choices in his life before he knew God he has much to work on with his son as well. This was a great book and comes highly recommended... but read book one first... Grounded... it was great as well.

[Whit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book, free, in a Goodread's First Read's Giveaway. Thank you! Even though this was Christian fiction, the story had a lot of suspenseful moments/action intertwined with scripture and beautiful songs of faith. I absolutely loved Harry and Estelle and the concern they showed for their neighbors and loved ones. The other characters were somewhat zany but still down to earth. This book reminded me that - "Judge not less ye be judged!" Nicely Done!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just starting to pick up and read again after raising kids and just living life. This book was won from Good Reads. I had never read any books by these authors. But I thoroughly enjoyed becoming acquainted with this family and ins & outs of their family woes. I loved that it has a taste of suspense/mystery in it, and it actually took me in a different direction than I anticipated.
I will read more by these authors in the future......

[Loretta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 'parallel' story to the YadaYada Prayer Group series of stories. Some of the same people show up but in very minor roles and it is not necessary to have read the other books. This story kept my interest and was somewhat suspenseful, especially the 2nd half of the story. I appreciate the main character's wife, Estelle, and her focus on praying. Interesting mix of people and their lives.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed the faith, the questions brought on by the things of the works and the simplicity and yet travails of Harry Bentley.
I didn't like the vernacular at first but I got into the place and person more by virtue of it which enabled me to enjoy the characters that much more.
The story was thoughtful and interesting.

[Mia Adorno · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first like others I found this book a bit repetitive of the first one but towards the end it got quite a bit better. I didn't like the POV but I am glad that they attempted to wrap up things that were left dangling in the first book. It wasn't a page turner but since it's part of a series I'll keep going.