Where Do I Go?

October 20, 2008
Jackson's Yada Yada series has sold half a million copies, and this new offshoot series—the Yada Yada House of Hope—promises the same. Gabrielle Fairbanks moves to Chicago with her businessman husband, Philip, leaving their sons behind at boarding school in Virginia. She literally stumbles over a homeless woman, an event that changes Gabby's life. She looks her up at Manna House, a homeless shelter, and first finds welcome and eventually a job. But her husband is hostile toward both Gabby and her job. Can she juggle her angry husband and his new business, her sons when they come home for the summer, her ill mother, her job and her growing interest in God? While the plot certainly generates interest, readers may become weary of Gabby's lack of grit when it comes to Philip, as well as his selfishness and anger toward his wife. But the book's dramatic ending highlights both, leaving readers eager for the next installment in the series.