Come to the Table

I am so fortunate to be sent so many books that I rarely request books for review. I only ask for my favorite authors/series. My blog readers well know I grab up Neta Jackson's books as soon as they come out.

Her latest is Come to the Table, the second SouledOut Sisters book. (A spin-off series of the Yada Yada Prayer Group and Yada Yada House of Hope series.) If you haven't read Stand by Me, it will be hard to pick up on what is going on in this book. You'll greatly benefit from reading the other series to be able to keep up with ALL the other characters in Come to the Table


About the book: 

Kat Davies is suddenly wondering if her good deed was a bad idea. Kat may be new in her faith, but she’s embraced the more radical implications of Christianity with reckless abandon. She invited Rochelle—a homeless mother—and her son to move in the apartment she shares with two other housemates. And she’s finally found a practical way to channel her passion for healthy eating by starting a food pantry at the church. Her feelings for Nick are getting harder to ignore.

The fact that he’s the interning pastor at SouledOut Community Church and one of her housemates makes it complicated enough. But with Rochelle showing interest in Nick as a father-figure for her son, their apartment is feeling way too small. But not everyone thinks the food pantry is a good idea. When the woman she thought would be her biggest supporter just wants to “pray about it,” Kat is forced to look deeper at her own motives. Only when she begins to look past the surface does she see people who are hungry and thirsty for more than just food and drink and realizes the deeper significance of inviting them to “come to the table.”

My take:

As much as I love Neta and her books, this one was not my favorite. There were times when I felt the story was bogged down my minute details that weren't necessary to the story. I don't necessarily think she included more than she normally does, but it seemed like too much this time. Such as I don't need to know every ingredient in that night's dinner or all the details of what was in each load of laundry being taken in and out of the washing machine.

Also, the main characters in this book are younger than in the previous books, and some of the word choices didn't seem realistic for Kat and Edesa. Especially, Edesa having come from Honduras. It could be a regional thing too, but I just don't think "wash and wear" and "criminy" were the best selections. It bugged me.

From seeing other reviews, I'm also not the only person who has had trouble connecting with Kat. There's also only two books in this series, but it was left at the end like there was more to be told in the next installment.

But on the positive side: I felt really convicted to help stock up the church food pantry. After next payday, I'm going to do that.

You could really see spiritual growth in Kat and a maturity she had been lacking.

If you've read all of Neta's other books, you definitely should get a copy so that you can find out all the good news and updates from her characters that have become almost real to all of her readers.


Check out a preview!



About the author:

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.

Find out more about Neta Jackson and her books at www.daveneta.com.


This book was published by Thomas Nelson, and I received this book from their Book Sneeze program in exchange for an honest review.

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