Grounded (Windy City Neighbors)

GROUNDED
...But Hope May Be Just Across the Street

Grace Meredith is a beloved contemporary Christian recording artist whose career--and personal life--hits unexpected turbulence. She feels grounded--in more ways than one.
Grace s fiancé, bothered by her outspoken stance on purity and her near-constant travel, has broken off their relationship. Exhausted and unable to continue her current concert schedule, Grace returns home to Chicago, where she is soon stranded in a major snowstorm. Facing new questions about her future and her faith, Grace finds herself connecting for the first time with the residents of her neighborhood. What she discovers in these unexpected relationships could change everything.

Welcome to the Neighborhood
The first in the Windy City Neighbors series, Grounded is an uplifting, contemporary story about ordinary people wrestling with the spiritual and practical issues of real life. The series employs the innovative storytelling technique of parallel novels, each with its own drama and story arc, but whose characters lives become intertwined and affect one another. Grounded welcomes you to Beecham Street--a typical, isolated American neighborhood that might just be a place of hope.

The Jacksons, authors of the wildly popular Yada Yada books, bring their typical charm to a new Chicago-based story, the first in the Windy City Neighbors series. Readers will feel as though they know each character personally after finishing Grounded, in which Grace Meredith, a popular Christian singer, faces a crisis of faith after several personal and professional setbacks. Grace is known both for her voice and for her commitment to purity before marriage. She believes in her message and uses her concerts to share it. When her own relationship comes to an end, however, she begins to doubt the truth of what she preaches: “You’re worth waiting for.” On top of that, her singing career takes a turn when she gets handed over to a new manager. Pride in her independence and her role as a “good Christian girl” have led Grace to unconsciously hold others at arm’s length. When new neighbors move in, she is surprised to find herself opening up and breaking down the walls she didn’t realize she’d built. --Carolyn Richard