Gabrielle Fairbanks has nearly lost touch with the carefree, spirited young woman she was when she married her husband fifteen years ago. But when the couple moves to Chicago to accommodate Philip's business ambitions, Gabby finds the chance to make herself useful. It's there she meets the women of Manna House Women's Shelter; they need a Program Director-and she has a degree in social work. She's in her element, feeling God's call on her life at last, even though Philip doesn't like the changes he sees in her. But things get rough when Philip gives Gabby an ultimatum: quit her job at the shelter or risk divorce and losing custody of their sons. Gabby must take refuge, as in the song they sing at Sunday night worship: "Where do I go when there's no one else to turn to? . . . I go to the Rock I know that's able, I go to the Rock."

Sometimes you find hope in the last place you look.

Gabrielle Fairbanks has nearly lost touch with the carefree, spirited young woman she was shen she married her husband sixteen years ago. But when the couple moves to Chicago to accommodate Philip's ambition, Gabby longs for the chance to find real purpose in her own life.

A chance encounter with a homeless woman suddenly opens a dooor she never expected. The women of Manna House Women's Shelter need a Program Director--and she has the right credentials. Gabby's in her element, feeling God's call on her life at last, even though Philip doesn't like the changes he sees in her. But she never anticipated his ultimatum: quit your job at the shelter or risk divorce and losing custody of our sons.

In this moment, Gabby's entire foundation shifts. She must find refuge, as in the song they sing at Sunday worship: "Where do I go when there's no one else to turn to . . . I go to the Rock I know that's able, I go to the Rock."

For everyone who loves the best-selling Yada Yada Prayer Group novels comes a brand new series sprinkled with familiar faces and places from the Yada Yada world. It's the perfect novel to start with--or to meet friends from past Yada stories.

Neta Jackson's award-winning Yada books have sold roughly 500,000 copies and are spawning prayer groups across the country. She and her husband, Dave, are also an award-winning writing team, best known for the Trailblazer Books—a 40-volume 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). They live in the Chicago area, where the Yada stories are set.

When Gabby, who has recently moved to Chicago with her husband while their sons are at boarding school, takes a homeless lady to the local shelter, she hardly suspects it will be a life-changing experience. Yet, something about the Christ-centered Manna House draws her back repeatedly, until she takes a position there as a program director. Through this new opportunity, she begins to pick up the scraps of a long-neglected relationship with God. However, her husband is afraid that her job will have an impact on his fledgling business enterprise, so he pressures her to give it up. The marriage becomes tense, and Gabby learns to find refuge in Christ’s words in Matthew 11:28: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (NIV)

Where Do I Go? is realistic and easy to follow. Gabby is three-dimensional and relatable, her problems are real, and her reactions to them are believable. Her relationship with her husband is quickly distinguishable as one that is strained and unhealthy, whereas those that she forms with the people of the Manna House are godly and edifying.

Gabby is a refreshing change from most Christian fictional characters I have experienced. She has her own personality, rather than bits and pieces of other personalities. She finds herself thrown up against very real, yet common problems. Gabby finds more and more throughout the book that she does not have it all together, as she thought, but her relationship with God is believable in that it is built up gradually from almost nothing. There is no definite point at which she surrenders her life completely and embarks on a flawless walk with God; she continuously struggles with her faith in a very real way. The people she interacts with at the Manna House are not perfect, either. They all have their own struggles as well, but they lean on each other to make it through.

Overall, I was extremely impressed with this novel. I would recommend it to any woman who cares for realistic Christian literature that could have a powerful impact on her life. -- Rebekah R. Blomenberg, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com

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