{"id":6118,"date":"2010-10-18T18:35:08","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T23:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/\/?p=6118"},"modified":"2010-10-18T18:35:08","modified_gmt":"2010-10-18T23:35:08","slug":"catching-moondrops-by-jennifer-erin-valent-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=6118","title":{"rendered":"Catching Moondrops by Jennifer Erin Valent"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour<\/a><\/strong><\/span> <\/strong> 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


<\/p>\n

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


<\/p>\n

Jennifer Erin Valent<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

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


<\/p>\n

Catching Moondrops<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (September 20, 2010)<\/p>\n

***Special thanks to Maggie Rowe of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
\n for sending me a review copy.***<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Jennifer Erin Valent is the 2007 winner of the Christian Writers Guild’s Operation First Novel contest. A lifelong resident of the South, her surroundings help to color the scenes and characters she writes. In fact, the childhood memory of a dilapidated Ku Klux Klan billboard inspired her portrayal of Depression-era racial prejudice in Fireflies in December. She has spent the past 15 years working as a nanny and has dabbled in freelance, writing articles for various Christian women’s magazines. She still resides in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia.<\/p>\n

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


<\/p>\n

Product Details:<\/p>\n

List Price: $12.99
\n Paperback: 384 pages
\n Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (September 20, 2010)
\n Language: English
\n ISBN-10: 1414333277
\n ISBN-13: 978-1414333274<\/p>\n

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:<\/span> <\/strong>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

There\u2019s nothing in this whole world like the sight of a man swinging by his neck.<\/p>\n

Folks in my parts liked to call it \u201clynching,\u201d as if by calling it another word they could keep from feeling like murderers. Sometimes when they string a man up, they gather around like vultures looking for the next meal, staring at the cockeyed neck, the sagging limbs, their lips turning up at the corners when they should be turning down. For some people, time has a way of blurring the good and the bad, spitting out that thing called conscience and replacing it with a twisted sort of logic that makes right out of wrong.<\/p>\n

Our small town of Calloway, Virginia, had that sort of logic in spades, and after the trouble it had caused my family over the years, I knew that better than most. But the violence had long since faded away, and my best friend Gemma would often tell me that made it okay\u2014her being kept separate from white folks. \u201cLong as my bein\u2019 with your family don\u2019t bring danger down on your heads, I\u2019ll keep my peace and be thankful,\u201d she\u2019d say.<\/p>\n

But I didn\u2019t feel so calm about it all as Gemma did. Part of that was my stubborn temperament, but most of it was my intuition. I\u2019d been eyeball to eyeball with pure hate more than once in my eighteen years, and I could smell it, like rotting flesh. Hate is a type of blindness that divides a man from his good sense. I\u2019d seen it in the eyes of a Klansman the day he tried to choke the life out of me and in the eyes of the men who hunted down a dear friend who\u2019d been wrongly accused of murder.<\/p>\n

And, at times, I\u2019d caught glimpses of it in my own heart.<\/p>\n

The passage of time had done nothing to lessen its stench. And despite the relative peace, I knew full well that hearts poisoned by hateful thinking can only simmer for so long before boiling over.<\/p>\n

In May of that year, 1938, that pot started bubbling.<\/p>\n

I was on the front porch shucking corn when I saw three colored men turn up our walk, all linked up in a row like the Three Musketeers. I stood up, let the corn silk slip from my apron, and called over my shoulder. \u201cGemma! Come on out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

She must have been nearby because the screen door squealed open almost two seconds after my last words drifted in through the screen. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCompany. Only don\u2019t look too good.\u201d I walked to the top of the steps and shielded my eyes from the sun. \u201cMalachi Jarvis! You got yourself into trouble again?\u201d<\/p>\n

The man in the middle, propped up like a scarecrow, lifted his chin wearily but managed to flash a smile that revealed bloodied teeth. \u201cDepends on how you define trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma gasped at the sight of him and flew down the steps, letting the door slam so loud the porch boards shook. \u201cWhat in the name of all goodness have you been up to? You got some sort of death wish?\u201d<\/p>\n

A man I\u2019d never seen before had his arm wound tightly beneath Malachi\u2019s arms, blood smeared across his shirt front. Malachi\u2019s younger brother, Noah, was on his other side, struggling against the weight, and Gemma came in between them to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe ain\u2019t got the good sense to keep his mouth shut, is all,\u201d Noah said breathlessly.<\/p>\n

I went inside to grab Momma\u2019s first aid box, and by the time I got back out, Gemma had Malachi seated in the rocker.<\/p>\n

Gemma gave him the once-over and shook her head so hard I thought it might fly off. \u201cI swear, if you ain\u2019t a one to push a body into an early grave. Your poor momma\u2019s gonna lose her ever-lovin\u2019 mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with his younger brother and sister, Malachi lived down by the tracks with his widowed momma\u2014as the man of the house, so to speak. He\u2019d taken up being friends with Luke Talley some two years back when they\u2019d both worked for the tobacco plant, and they\u2019d remained close even though Luke had struck out on his own building furniture. Malachi was never one to keep his peace, a fact Gemma had no patience for, and she made it good and clear many a time. Today would be no exception.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoin\u2019 around stirrin\u2019 up trouble every which way,\u201d she murmured as she pulled fixings out of the first aid box. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to pick fights with your own kind. Can\u2019t say as though you wouldn\u2019t benefit by a poundin\u2019 or two every now and again. But this foolin\u2019 around with white folks\u2019ll get you into more\u2019n you\u2019re bargainin\u2019 for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man who\u2019d helped Noah shoulder the burden of Malachi reached out to take the gauze from Gemma. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you let me get that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma didn\u2019t much like being told what to do, and she glared at him. \u201cI can clean up cuts and scrapes. I worked for a doctor past two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malachi nodded towards the man. \u201cThis here man is a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was putting iodine on a piece of cotton, and I near about dropped it on the floor when I heard that. Never in all my born days had I seen a colored man claiming to be a doctor. Neither had Gemma by the looks of her.<\/p>\n

\u201cA doctor?\u201d she murmured. \u201cYou sure?\u201d<\/p>\n

He laughed and extended his hand to her. \u201cLast I checked. Tal Pritchett. Just got into town yesterday. Gonna set up shop down by the tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma handed the gauze over to him, still dumbfounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat d\u2019you think about that?\u201d Malachi grinned and then grimaced the minute his split lip made its presence known. \u201cA colored doc in Calloway. Shoo-whee. There\u2019s gonna be talkin\u2019 about this!\u201d<\/p>\n

The doctor went to work cleaning up Malachi\u2019s wounds. \u201cI ain\u2019t here to start no revolution. I\u2019m just aimin\u2019 to help the colored folks get the help they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you\u2019re goin\u2019 to start a revolution whether you want to or not.\u201d Malachi shut his eyes and gritted his teeth the minute the iodine set to burning. \u201cFolks in these parts don\u2019t much like colored folk settin\u2019 themselves up as smart or nothin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma watched Tal Pritchett like she was analyzing his every move, finding out for herself if he was a doctor or not. I stood by and let her assist him as she\u2019d been accustomed to doing for Doc Mabley until he passed on two months ago. After he\u2019d bandaged up Malachi\u2019s right hand, she seemed satisfied that he was who he said.<\/p>\n

Noah slumped down into the other rocker and watched. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to get yourself an education and stand for your right to make somethin\u2019 of yourself. It\u2019s another to go stirrin\u2019 up trouble for the sake of stirrin\u2019 up trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t doin\u2019 it for the sake of stirrin\u2019 up trouble. I done told you that!\u201d Malachi flexed his left hand to test how well his swollen fingers moved. Ain\u2019t no colored man ever goin\u2019 to be free in this here county . . . in this here state . . . in this here world unless somebody starts fightin\u2019 for freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSlaves was freed decades ago,\u201d Noah said sharply. \u201cWe ain\u2019t in shackles no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we ain\u2019t free to live our lives as we choose, neither. You think colored people are ever gonna be more\u2019n house help and field help so long as we let ourselves be treated like less than white people? No sir. We\u2019re less than human to them white folks. They don\u2019t think nothin\u2019 about killin\u2019 so long as who they\u2019re killin\u2019 is colored.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you go bunchin\u2019 all white people together, Malachi Jarvis,\u201d I argued. \u201cAin\u2019t all white folk got bad feelin\u2019s about coloreds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malachi waved me off in exasperation. \u201cYou know I ain\u2019t talkin\u2019 about you, Jessilyn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noah had his hands tightly knotted in his lap and was staring at them like they held all the answers to the world\u2019s problems. \u201cAll\u2019s you\u2019re doin\u2019 is gettin\u2019 yourself kicked around.\u201d He looked up at me pleadingly. \u201cThis here\u2019s the second time in a week he\u2019s come home banged up.\u201d<\/p>\n

I put a hand on Noah\u2019s shoulder and set my eyes on Malachi. \u201cWho did it?\u201d<\/p>\n

He put his bandaged right hand into the air, palm up. \u201cWho knows? Some white boys. You get surrounded by enough of \u2018em, they all just blend in together like a vanilla milkshake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow\u2019s it you didn\u2019t see them? They jump you or somethin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t ask me, Jessie. I was just mindin\u2019 my own business in town and then on my way home, they start hasslin\u2019 me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he was doin\u2019,\u201d Noah corrected, \u201cwas tryin\u2019 to get into the whites-only bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma sniffed in disgust. \u201cShouldn\u2019t have been in no bar in the first place. There\u2019s your first mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhites-only, too.\u201d Noah kicked his foot against the porch rail and then looked up at me quickly. \u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

I smiled at him and turned my attention back to Malachi. \u201cIt\u2019s a good thing Luke ain\u2019t here to see this. He don\u2019t like you drinkin\u2019 and you know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

His eyeballs rolled between swollen lids. \u201cI don\u2019t know why he gets his trousers in a knot over it anyhow. Ain\u2019t like there\u2019s prohibition no more. And he\u2019s been known to take a swig or two himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLuke says you\u2019re a nasty drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is.\u201d Noah knotted his hands back in his lap. \u201cAnd he\u2019s been at the bottle more often than not of late.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuit tellin\u2019 tales!\u201d his brother barked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t tellin\u2019 tales; I\u2019m tellin\u2019 truth. They can ask anybody at home how late you come in, and how you come in all topsy turvy. He comes home in the middle of the mornin\u2019 and sleeps in till all hours the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about your job at the plant?\u201d Gemma asked.<\/p>\n

Malachi closed his eyes and waved her off, but his brother provided the answer for him. \u201cLost it!\u201d He loosened his grip on his hands and snapped his fingers. \u201cLike that. There\u2019s goes his income.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I\u2019ll get another job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, like there\u2019s jobs aplenty around these parts for colored folk. And anyways, if you find one, how you gonna\u2019 keep that one?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma had her hands on her hips, and I knew what that meant. I leaned back against the house and waited for the lecture to commence.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou talk a fine talk about colored folks needin\u2019 to stand up for equality, but you ain\u2019t doin\u2019 it in any way that\u2019s right and good. You\u2019re goin\u2019 about town gettin\u2019 people\u2019s goat, and tryin\u2019 to get in where you ain\u2019t wanted, and gettin\u2019 yourself all liquored up and useless. Now your family ain\u2019t got the money they depend on you for, and why? Because you walk around livin\u2019 like you ain\u2019t got to do nothin\u2019 for nobody but yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m standin\u2019 up for the rights of colored folks everywhere.\u201d Malachi was angry now, pink patches spreading on his busted-up cheeks. \u201cYou see anyone else in this town willin\u2019 to go toe to toe with the white boys in this county?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t put a noble face on bein\u2019 an upstart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malachi pushed Tal\u2019s hand away and sat up tall. \u201cYou call standin\u2019 up to white folks bein\u2019 an upstart?\u201d<\/p>\n

Doc Pritchett tried to dress the wound on Malachi\u2019s temple, but Malachi pushed his hand away again. That was when the doctor had enough, and he smacked his hands on his thighs and stood up tall and determined in front of Malachi. \u201cI ain\u2019t Abraham Lincoln. I\u2019m just Doc Pritchett tryin\u2019 to fix up an ornery patient, and I ain\u2019t got all day to do it. So I\u2019m goin\u2019 to settle this argument once and for all.\u201d He pointed at Gemma. \u201cShe\u2019s right. There ain\u2019t no fightin\u2019 nonsense with more nonsense, and all\u2019s you\u2019re doin\u2019 by gettin\u2019 in the faces of white folks with your smart attitude is bein\u2019 as bad as they\u2019re bein\u2019.\u201d Then he pointed at Malachi. \u201cAnd he\u2019s right, too. There ain\u2019t never a change brought about that should be brought about without people standin\u2019 up for such change. And sometimes that means bein\u2019 willin\u2019 to fight for what\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma swallowed hard and didn\u2019t even try to argue. My eyes must have bugged out of my head at the sight of her being tamed so easily.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I\u2019m all for civil uprisin\u2019,\u201d Tal continued. \u201cI don\u2019t see nothin\u2019 wrong with colored folk sayin\u2019 they won\u2019t be walked on no more. I don\u2019t see nothin\u2019 wrong with wantin\u2019 to use the same bathroom as white folks or sit in the same chairs as white folks. Way I see it, none of that\u2019s goin\u2019 to change unless someone says it has to.\u201d He squatted down in front of Malachi again and stared him down nose to nose. \u201cBut all this hot-shottin\u2019 and show-boatin\u2019 ain\u2019t goin\u2019 to do nothin\u2019 but get your rear end kicked. Or worse. You aim to stand tall for somethin\u2019? Fine. Stand tall for it. But don\u2019t you go around thinkin\u2019 these battle scars say somethin\u2019 for you. You ain\u2019t got them by bein\u2019 noble; you got them by bein\u2019 stupid. All\u2019s these scars say is you\u2019re an idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was one of the best speeches I\u2019d heard from anyone outside my daddy, and if I\u2019d ever thought for two seconds put together to see a colored man run for governor, I figured Tal Pritchett would be the man for the job. As it was, I knew he was the best man for the job he had now. Sure enough, being a colored doc in Calloway would be a challenge. But I figured he was up for it.<\/p>\n

Regardless, he shut Malachi up, and for the next five minutes we all watched him finish his job with skill and finesse. When he\u2019d fixed the last of Malachi\u2019s face, he stood up and clapped his hands. \u201cSuppose that should do it. Don\u2019t see need for any stitchin\u2019 up today. Let\u2019s hope there\u2019s no cause for it in future.\u201d Then he looked at me. \u201cYou got someplace out here where I can wash up?\u201d<\/p>\n

I held my hand out toward the front door. \u201cBathroom\u2019s upstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hesitated. \u201cI\u2019d just as soon wash up out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

I caught the reason for his hesitation but didn\u2019t know what to say. As usual, Gemma did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI done lived in this here house for six years now, and I\u2019m just as brown as you. You can feel free to go on up to the bathroom, you hear?\u201d<\/p>\n

He looked from Gemma to me, then back to Gemma before nodding. \u201cYes\u2019m.\u201d And then he disappeared inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cMa\u2019am,\u201d Gemma muttered under her breath. \u201cAin\u2019t old enough to be called ma\u2019am, least of all by a man no more\u2019n a few years older\u2019n me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what happens once you start gettin\u2019 them crows feet . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma whirled about and gave Malachi the evil eye. \u201cDon\u2019t go thinkin\u2019 I won\u2019t hurt you just because you\u2019re all bandaged up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noah got up and paced the porch until Tal came back outside. \u201cDoc, you have any problem gettin\u2019 your schoolin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tal shrugged and leaned against the porch rail. \u201cNo more\u2019n most, I guess. There\u2019s a lot to learn. Why? You thinkin\u2019 about goin\u2019 to college?\u201d<\/p>\n

You could have heard a pin drop on that front porch. Never, and I mean never, in all the days Calloway had been on the map, had there ever been a single person, white or black, to step foot at a college. The very idea of that mark being made by a colored boy was a surefire way to start war.<\/p>\n

And Noah knew it.<\/p>\n

He looked at his feet and kicked the heel of one shoe against the toe of another. \u201cAin\u2019t possible. I was just wonderin\u2019 aloud, is all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean it ain\u2019t possible? All\u2019s you\u2019ve got to do is work hard. You can get scholarships and things.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Noah took a look at his brother, whose face was hard and tight-lipped, and nodded off toward the road. \u201cNah, there ain\u2019t no use talkin\u2019 over it. We\u2019d best get home anyhow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tal didn\u2019t push the subject. He just picked his hat up off the porch swing and plopped it on his head. \u201cMiss Jessie. Miss Gemma. It was a fine pleasure to meet you, and a kindness for you to give us a hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should stop by sometime and meet my parents,\u201d I said. \u201cThey\u2019re off visitin\u2019, but I\u2019m sure they\u2019d be right happy to know you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019d be right happy to know them, too.\u201d He turned his attention to Gemma. \u201cYou said you worked for a doctor?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked for Doc Mabley. He was a white doctor. Died some two months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe let you assist?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly with the colored patients. Doc Mabley was kind enough to help some of them out when they needed it. Otherwise I kept his records, kept up his stock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019ll tell you, Miss Gemma, I could sure use some help if you\u2019d be obliged. An assistant would be a good set of extra hands, and I could use someone known around here to make my introductions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma eyed him up before slowly nodding her head. \u201cReckon I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWouldn\u2019t be much pay, now, you know. Ain\u2019t likely to get much in the way of fees from the patients I\u2019ll be treatin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t matter so long as I have good work to put my hands to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat it would be. My office is right across the street from the Jarvis house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malachi snorted. \u201cShack\u2019s more like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRoom enough for me,\u201d Tal said. Then to Gemma, \u201cYou think you could stop in sometime this week to talk it over?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can come day after tomorrow if that suits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNine o\u2019clock too early?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, sir! I\u2019ve kept farm hours all my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

He grinned at her. \u201cNine o\u2019clock then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNine o\u2019clock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malachi watched the two of them with his swollen eyes, a look of disgust growing more evident on his face. He\u2019d made no secret over the past year about his admiration for Gemma, and the unmistakable attraction that was growing between her and Tal was clearly turning his stomach.<\/p>\n

\u201cMind if we go home?\u201d he muttered. \u201cBefore I fall down dead or somethin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma tore her eyes away from Tal to roll them at Malachi. \u201cWould serve you right if you did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd on that cheery note . . .\u201d Malachi groaned on his way down the steps. \u201cI\u2019ll bid you ladies a fine evenin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

I gave Noah a playful whack to the head, but he ducked so it only clipped the top. \u201cLuke will be back home tomorrow evenin\u2019. He\u2019ll be itchin\u2019 to see you, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m itchin\u2019 to see him.\u201d He took the steps in one leap, tossing dust up when he landed. \u201cYou tell him to come on by and see us real soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd tell him to bring his cards,\u201d Malachi added. \u201cHe owes me a poker rematch.\u201d<\/p>\n

I squinted at him suspiciously. \u201cOnly if you play for beans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate beans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malachi leaned on Tal for support and Noah scurried to catch up and help. I watched them go, but I wasn\u2019t thinking much about them. I was thinking about Luke. It had been two months since he\u2019d left to collect customers for his furniture-making business, and every day had seemed like an eternity.<\/p>\n

The very thought of him got my stomach butterflies to fluttering, but one look at Gemma told me it was another man who had stolen her attention. \u201cThat<\/p>\n

Doc Pritchett\u2019s a fine man.\u201d I looked at her sideways with a smirk. \u201cLooks about twenty-five or so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood marryin\u2019 age.\u201d<\/p>\n

She crossed her arms defiantly. \u201cJessilyn Lassiter, what\u2019s that got to do with anythin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly what I said. I\u2019m only statin\u2019 fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMm-hm. I hear ya. You\u2019d be better off keepin\u2019 your facts to yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

She grabbed the first aid box and headed inside, but the sound of that door slamming told me I\u2019d got to her.<\/p>\n

It told me Tal Pritchett had got to her, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MY REVIEW:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Catching Moondrops<\/a>, the third book in the Calloway Summers<\/strong><\/em> series, takes place in Calloway, Virginia during the summer of 1938. Jessilyn and Gemma have grown into young women and their lives have been relatively peaceful for awhile. Then about the time their friend Malachi begins to lash out at racial prejudice, Tal Pritchett, a young black doctor sets up his practice in town. It isn’t long before Klan activity begins to escalate and violence quickly erupts.<\/p>\n

With each incident, Jessilyn’s anger and bitterness festers. Although she believes in God, she doesn’t understand the ‘light’ she sees in the people she loves – her parents, Gemma, Luke, and Miss Cleta. A frightening encounter ends with a serious accident and Jessilyn’s reactions reveal how hardened she has let herself become.<\/p>\n

Valent’s characters are realistic with strengths and flaws with which most people can identify. The plot accurately relates events and sentiments of that time period. The book is filled with an abundance of\u00a0 human emotions such as love, hate, bitterness, anger, joy, prejudice,\u00a0 faith, and forgiveness. Catching Moondrops<\/a> as well as the entire Calloway Summers<\/strong><\/em> series is well worth your time.<\/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":[8,34,41,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-historical","category-romance","category-southern"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6118"}],"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=6118"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6140,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6118\/revisions\/6140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}