{"id":11171,"date":"2012-03-29T19:34:20","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T00:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=11171"},"modified":"2012-03-29T19:34:20","modified_gmt":"2012-03-30T00:34:20","slug":"stand-by-me-by-neta-jackson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=11171","title":{"rendered":"Stand by Me by Neta Jackson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour<\/a><\/strong><\/span> book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Today’s Wild Card author is: <\/strong><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Neta Jackson<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

and the book:<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stand By Me<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
Thomas Nelson (March 13, 2012)<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

***Special thanks to Rick Roberson The B&B Media Group, for sending me a review copy.***<\/p>\n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>As a child growing up on the campus of a Christian school where her parents taught, Neta Jackson began creating imaginary worlds at a young age. Loving horses but not having one, she wrote stories about them instead. By the time she reached high school, she had so honed both imagination and writing skills that when her English teacher submitted one of her stories to a Scholastic magazine writing contest, it won first place. With that first win, Jackson knew beyond the shadow of a doubt she wanted to be a writer. She\u2019s been writing ever since.<\/p>\n

After marrying the love of her life, Dave Jackson, the couple chose to settle in the Chicago area where Neta had attended college. Throughout their marriage, the Jacksons have worked together as a team, writing a multitude of books together on topics ranging from medical ethics to stories of gang kids, sometimes sharing the task with other experts who have served as co-writers. Together, they have also penned forty historical fiction accounts of Christian heroes, called the Trailblazer Books, along with another five-volume series called Hero Tales: A Family Treasury of True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes.<\/p>\n

These days, both are busy penning their own works of adult fiction. Jackson began her individual effort in 2003 with the Yada Yada Prayer Group series, inspired by her real-life Bible study group, a multi-cultural gathering of dynamic women who have played an important role in her life for over fifteen years. Since publication of the first Yada Yada Prayer Group novel, the seven-book series has sold over a half-million copies and given rise to countless prayer groups across the country and the publication of a personal prayer journal for prayer group participants. In 2008, Where Do I Go?, her first book in the four-book House of Hope series, was published. The second book in the series, Who Do I Talk To?, won a Christy Award in 2010 for excellence in Christian fiction. Recently, the fourth book of the series, Who Is My Shelter?, was nominated for Best Inspirational Novel for 2011 by RT Book Reviews. Stand by Me is the first in Jackson\u2019s new SouledOut Sisters series.<\/p>\n

The Jacksons have been married 45 years and have raised two children plus a Cambodian foster daughter. They continue to live in urban Chicago where, together, they enjoy writing, gardening and spending time with their grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Visit the author’s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>How does God expect us to get along with those people who are always causing us pain? Are we supposed to keep helping those who repeatedly take advantage of us? Exactly what is the key to living in peace with difficult people? These are the questions award-winning author Neta Jackson addresses in her latest novel, Stand by Me (Thomas Nelson), the first book of her newest series, SouledOut Sisters.<\/p>\n

Inspired by her own Bible study group, Jackson began several years ago to write about a multi-cultural gathering of dynamic women in a collection of books known as the Yada Yada Prayer Group series. Since publication of the first Yada Yada Prayer Group novel in 2003, the seven-book series has sold over a half-million copies and given rise to countless prayer groups across the country. Jackson followed the Yada Yada novels with the four-book House of Hope series. Though the series is not dependent upon its predecessors for understanding, Jackson has used the individual lives of familiar characters to introduce some of the more complex issues prevalent in our modern society. By allowing her characters to lead the way, Jackson has shed light on issues like drug addiction, the stigma associated with HIV\/AIDS and even the racial conflicts that can so easily arise within any culturally diverse group.<\/p>\n

In her newest work, Stand by Me, Jackson introduces her readers to Kathryn Davis, a young college student who has left her prestigious Phoenix family behind to move to Chicago after dropping out of medical school against her father\u2019s protests. Her newfound faith in Christ helps temper the realization that she has stepped out of her family\u2019s good graces, but does little to alleviate the pain of their rejection.<\/p>\n

When Kat discovers the dynamic multi-cultural membership at Souled Out Community Church, she longs to be part of it. But her unconventional behavior and brash eagerness have not helped her win favor with the church members. And, much to her dismay, Avis Douglass, the one woman in the church whom she most admires and would love to know better, is the one who is the most aloof.<\/p>\n

Kat has no idea that, after being confronted by a number of serious problems all at once, Avis and her husband, Peter, are beginning to question God\u2019s will for their lives. Having been recently estranged from her HIV positive daughter and being worried about her welfare, Avis would like nothing more than to quietly retreat into the recesses of her faith and find the answers she seeks. Her attempts to do so, however, are thwarted at every turn by the flamboyant Kat, who has apparently decided to foist herself on their lives whether they want her to or not.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Product Details:
\nList Price: $15.99
\nPaperback: 400 pages
\nPublisher: Thomas Nelson (March 13, 2012)
\nLanguage: English
\nISBN-10: 1595548645
\nISBN-13: 978-1595548641
\nAND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:<\/span> <\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

PROLOGUE<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
Midwest Music Festival, Central Illinois<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n


\n<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Kat Davies ducked into the billowing exhibition tent staked down in a large pasture in central Illinois like a grounded Goodyear blimp. She\u2019d been at the Midwest Music Fest three days already\u2014didn\u2019t know it was a Christian festival until she got here\u2014and needed a little respite from the music pulsing morning-till-night on the Jazz Stage, Gospel Stage, Alternative Stage, Rock Stage, Folk Stage, and a few more she\u2019d forgotten.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Besides, she\u2019d be heading back to Phoenix in two days, and sooner or later she needed to figure out how to tell her parents she\u2019d \u201cgiven her heart to Jesus\u201d after the Resurrection Band concert last night. Maybe this tent had a quiet corner where she could think. Or pray. Not that she had a clue how to do that.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Kat had a good idea how they\u2019d react. Her mother would flutter and say something like, \u201cDon\u2019t take it too seriously, Kathryn dear. Getting religion is just something everyone does for a year or two.\u201d And her father? If he didn\u2019t blow his stack at what he\u2019d call \u201canother one of your little distractions,\u201d he\u2019d give her a lecture about keeping her priorities straight: Finish pre-med at the University of Arizona. Go to medical school. Do her internship at a prestigious hospital. Follow in the Davies\u2019 tradition. Make her family tree of prominent physicians proud.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Except . . . she\u2019d walked out of her biochemistry class at UA one day and realized she didn\u2019t want to become a doctor. She\u2019d tutored ESL kids the summer after high school and realized she liked working with kids. (\u201cWell, you can be a pediatrician like your Uncle Bernard, darling,\u201d her mother had said.) And the student action group on the UA campus sponsoring workshops on \u201cLiving Green\u201d and \u201cSustainable Foods\u201d had really gotten her blood pumping. (Another one of her \u201cdistractions,\u201d accord- ing to her father.)<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Was it too late to pursue something else? Her parents were already bragging to friends and co-workers that their Kathryn had received her letter of acceptance into medical school a few months ago. Feeling squeezed till she couldn\u2019t breathe, she\u2019d jumped at the chance to attend a music fest in Illinois with a carload of other students\u2014friends of friends\u2014just to get away from the pressure for a while.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
What she hadn\u2019t expected was to find so many teenagers and twenty-somethings excited about Jesus. Jesus! Not the go- to-church-at-Christmas-and-Easter Jesus, the only Jesus she\u2019d known growing up the daughter of a wealthy Phoenix physician and socialite mother. That Jesus, frankly, had a hard time com- peting with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.<\/wbr><\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
But these people talked about a Jesus who cared about poor people. A Jesus who created the world and told humans to take care of it. A Jesus who might not be blond and blue-eyed after all. A Jesus who said, \u201cLove your neighbor\u201d\u2014and that neighbor might be black or brown or speak Spanish or Chinese. A Jesus who said, \u201cAll have sinned\u201d and \u201cYou must be born again.\u201d The Son of God, who\u2019d died to take away the sins of the world.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
That Jesus.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
That\u2019s the Jesus she\u2019d asked to be Lord of her life, even though she wasn\u2019t exactly sure what that meant. But she desper- ately longed for something\u2014Someone\u2014to help her figure out who she was and what she should do with her life. The guitar player in the band who\u2019d challenged the arm-waving music fans last night to be Christ-followers had said, \u201cJesus came to give you life\u2014life more abundantly! But first you must give your life to Him.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
That\u2019s what she wanted. Abundant life! A life sold out to something she could believe in. To give herself to one hundred percent. So she\u2019d prayed the sinner\u2019s prayer with a woman in a denim skirt whose name she never learned, and a \u201cpeace like a river\u201d f looded her spirit.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Last night, anyway.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
But by the light of day, she was still heading in a direction\u2014medical school\u2014that she didn\u2019t want to go.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Big fans circulated the air in the large tent, though mostly it just moved the stif ling July heat around. Thick, curly strands of her long, dark hair had slipped out of the clip on the back of her head and stuck in wet tendrils on her skin. Redoing the clip to get the damp hair off her neck and face, she wan- dered the aisles, idly picking up brochures about Compassion International, Habitat for Humanity, and YWAM. Huh. What if she just dropped out of pre-med and did something like this Youth With A Mission thing. Far from Phoenix and the Davies Family Tradition. Go to Haiti or India or\u2014<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cNice boots,\u201d giggled a female voice nearby.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Kat glanced up from the brochure. A cute brunette with a shaggy pixie cut grinned at her from behind a booth that said Find Your Calling at CCU! Kat self-consciously looked down at the Arizona-chic cowboy boots peeking out beneath her designer jeans and f lushed. Ever since she\u2019d arrived at the fes- tival, she felt as if she\u2019d walked into a time-warp\u2014girls in tank tops, peasant skirts, and pierced nostrils, guys wearing pony- tails, tattoos, shredded jeans, and T-shirts proclaiming Jesus Freak. Kat had felt as conspicuous as a mink coat in a second- hand store.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cThanks. I think.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
The young woman, dressed in khaki Capris and a feminine lemon-yellow tee, laughed. \u201cThis your first time to the Fest? Where\u2019re you from?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Kat felt strangely relieved to be talking to someone else who didn\u2019t look like a throwback to the seventies. \u201cPhoenix. First time.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cWow. You came a long way.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cYou?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cDetroit. But during the year I\u2019m a student at CCU in Chicago. I get a huge discount off my festival fee if I sit at this booth a couple hours a day during the Fest.\u201d The girl grinned again and extended her hand across the stacks of informational literature. \u201cI\u2019m Brygitta Walczak.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Kat shook her hand. \u201cKathryn Davies. But my friends call me Kat. With a K.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cLike \u2018kitty kat\u2019 ? That\u2019s cute. And . . . blue eyes with all that dark, curly hair? Bet the guys love that.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Ignoring the remark, Kat glanced up at the banner above the booth. \u201cWhat does CCU stand for?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cChicago Crista University. Usually we just call it Crista U. Located on the west side of Chicago. I\u2019ll be a senior next year. Christian ed major.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cChristian ed? What\u2019s that?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re kidding.\u201d Brygitta eyed her curiously. \u201cMm. You\u2019re not kidding. Uh, are you a Christian?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Kat allowed a wry smile. \u201cFor about twelve hours.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
The pixie-haired girl\u2019s mouth dropped open, and then her amber eyes lit up. \u201cThat is so cool! Hey . . . want a Coke or something? I\u2019ve got a cooler back here with some soft drinks. Wanna sit? I\u2019d love some company.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Brygitta dragged a folding chair from an unmanned booth nearby, and Kat found herself swapping life stories with her new friend. Unlike Kat, who had no siblings, Brygitta came from a large Polish family, had been raised in the Catholic church, \u201cwent Protestant\u201d at a Youth for Christ rally in high school, planned to get a master\u2019s degree at Crista U, and wanted to be a missionary overseas or a director of Christian education somewhere.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cSorry I\u2019m late, Bree,\u201d said a male voice. \u201cUh-oh. Two gor- geous females. You\u2019ve cloned yourself. I\u2019m really in trouble now.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Kat looked up. A young man about their same age grinned at them across the booth. He was maybe six feet, with short, sandy-brown hair combed forward over a nicely tanned face, wire-rim sunglasses shading his eyes. No obvious tattoos or body piercings. Just cargo shorts and a T-shirt that said CCU Soccer.<\/span><\/div>\n
Brygitta jumped up. \u201cOh, hi, Nick. This is Kat Davies. She\u2019s from the University of Arizona, first time at the Fest. Nick Taylor is my relief. He\u2019s a seminary student at Crista\u2014well, headed that way, anyway.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Nick slid off his shades and flashed a smile, hazel eyes teasing. \u201cSo, Miss Blue Eyes. Has Brygitta talked you into coming to CCU yet?\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Kat laughed and started to shake her head . . . and then stopped as her eyes caught the logo on the banner across the booth. Find Your Calling at CCU.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Transfer to Crista University? Why not?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nMY REVIEW:<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the first book in the SouledOut Sisters<\/em> series, Stand by Me<\/a> continues the fine tradition of Jackson’s previous two series – the Yada Yada Prayer Group<\/em> and Yada Yada House of Hope<\/em>. Readers familiar with the earlier series will welcome a cast of characters who seem like old friends. In addition, new characters have been introduced who will quickly find their place in readers’ hearts.<\/p>\n

Long time favorite Avis is prominently featured in\u00a0Stand by Me<\/a> but in a bit different light than we are used to seeing her. Although still a strong Christian with a leadership role in her church, Avis seems to be in one of those “valley” periods of her life. She is terribly worried about the welfare of her estranged daughter and grandson, her husband is restless and suggesting major changes to their lives, and she has just learned that her own job may be at risk. When a group of college students move into the apartment below, Avis is less than welcoming. She finds them disruptive, especially the apparent ringleader Kat who seems to intrude in Avis’ life every time she turns around.<\/p>\n

As expected, Jackson has penned an excellent narrative with realistic characters who struggle with the same issues most of us face on a regular basis. A major theme in\u00a0Stand by Me<\/a> seems to be about how we judge others – whether by racial differences, age differences, appearance, personalities, etc. A strong message of forgiveness and reconciliation is also woven throughout.<\/p>\n

Neta Jackson’s books are always entertaining but are also thought provoking. I always come away from one with plenty to ponder and hopefully change my own life for the better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-contemporary-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11171"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11184,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11171\/revisions\/11184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}