Pastor Albertina Merci, the former blues singer turned minister, juggles rap, romance, family, and faith in the third book in this delightful series.
     The unexpected arrival of fifteen-year-old rapper J Love hits Pastor Merci with the force of a whirlwind. When J’s mother is killed in a tragic bus accident, Albertina is named his legal guardian. The situation quickly complicates her budding romance with Mario, the owner of a thriving L.A. café. 
     As Albertina struggles to keep things on an even keel, J embarks on a dangerous journey of his own. Seduced by Bishop Henry Gold’s daughter Damitra, J abandons his career as a gospel rapper and joins the flashy, materialistic world of gangsta rap. Pastor Merci must draw on every ounce of faith she has to bring everyone’s voyage to a happy ending. 

      Elyse, Susan, and Grace couldn't be happier when their friend Pat organizes a reunion for past residents of the Chicago housing project where they all grew up. It is, after all, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its opening, and like their long-ago home, the lifelong friends are also turning fifty. But none of them suspects the event will have life-altering changes...
      Elyse plans to attend with her husband, but as usual lately, he bows out, pleading fatigue. He's thirteen years her senior, and Elyse fears he's slowing down. But does that mean she has to? 
      Susan also arrives alone. Her marriage is faltering since her diagnosis of breast cancer. But when she runs into a former flame, it feels like time has stood still... 
      Twice divorced, Grace needs a distraction, and she finds it in Eric. Once a cute kid four years Grace's junior, Eric is now a handsome man whose age doesn't matter--but their differences in financial status might... 
      And forced by her parents to give up the love of her life after a family tragedy, Pat never again found love. When an old friend from law school sees a media report about the reunion and contacts her, will she at last find the love that's eluded her?
     Now it's time for four friends to kick off a new chapter in each of their lives as past memories join with present temptations and future hopes...   

       Zora Nella Hampton Johnson knows exactly where she comes from her daddy won't let her forget. Of course, for that privilege, he keeps her in Prada and Kate Spade. He chooses her boyfriend, her car, her address and ignores not only her mother, but her own love of painting, art and the old ways of her granddaddy's soulful AME church. Her daddy may be a preacher, but somewhere among the thousands of members, Zora has lost God. And she wants him back.
       Nicky Parker, a recent graduate of Berkeley and reformed playboy, also suffers the trials of being a preacher's kid, and he can't remember the last time he saw eye-to-eye with his white, racist, Republican, Southern Baptist father. What he does remember and it will be forever burned in his brain despite myriad prayers to Jesus is the way Zora looked the first time he saw her.
       When they meet at a Bible study far from their respective home churches, the first churlish, sarcastic sparks that fly sizzle with defensiveness. But God has a special way of feeding the flames, and though from different flocks, these two lost sheep will find Him and much, much more.